A policy brief should:
- Provide enough background for the reader to understand the problem.
- Convince the reader that the problem must be addressed urgently.
- Provide information about alternatives (in an objective brief).
- Provide evidence to support one alternative (in an advocacy brief).
- Be short and to the point. It should focus on a particular problem or issue. Do not go into all the details. Provide enough information for the reader to understand the issue and come to a decision.
- Be based on firm evidence
- Focus on meanings, not methods. Readers are interested in what you found and what you recommend. They do not need to know the full details of your methodology.
- Relate to the big picture. The policy brief may build on context-specific findings, but it should draw conclusions that are more generally applicable.
Layout and content*
- Title
- Summary
- Recommendations
- Introduction
- The body (the main text)
- Policy implications
- Conclusions
In addition, a policy brief may contain the following as boxes and sidebars:
- A short case study
- Tables
- Graphics
- Photographs
- Authors’ details and headshot
- Acknowledgements
- Publication details
- References
- Footnotes
