Assignment Task, Audience: Assume you have a policy research placement with the City of Toronto Mayor’s office. You have been asked for a briefing paper about an aspect of Toronto’s divided city trends.
Topic: We will assume the Mayor and City Council in general, wants briefing papers on key priorities. You can choose which of the following topics/priorities you will write your Briefing Paper on. You can assume the (fictional for this assignment) Mayor and members of the City Council are serious about making progress and seek good advice.
The topic for I chose: Precarious Employment in Toronto
What do we currently know about the nature and extent of precarious employment and ‘working poverty’ in Toronto? What groups/communities are most affected? What course of action (policy) should the city implement and what should the city ask the provincial and/or federal government to do, and what should the private sector and/or charities and social agencies do?
Format
A briefing paper is a short report focused on a particular policy issue. Briefing papers(sometimes called white
papers) are used to inform so as to help people make decisions. They are often used in politics, business, and
interest group associations.
Briefing papers are written in formal business prose; short paragraphs and bulleted lists are desirable but should not be overly used. Subheadings are always used: this streamlines the writing and helps the reader find information.
Even though the writing style is less academic in tone, in-text citations are used, e.g., (Smith 2012:45).
Your paper must use the following memo format and have the same 5 numbered subheadings.
1. Topic
A concise statement of what the topic is. What is the reason the topic/issue is important? This section should explain in several short sentences why the issue matters. It sets out in the form of a statement what the rest of the briefing paper is about.
2. Background and Current Status of the Issue
A brief overview providing what the reader needs in order to understand what follows: how the situation/ difficulty arose and a very brief explanation of why the situation/difficulty exists. That is, what is the nature of this problem or issue?
3. Key Considerations & Options
Observations about the key concerns (factors, difficulties, complications) relating to the topic that need to be considered in making a decision on a policy option; and a concise description of the options and their pros and cons. While you will have to decide what to include and what to leave out, this section should be as unbiased as possible. Your aim is to present a summary of the information required for the reader to make an informed decision. Keep the reader’s needs uppermost in your mind when selecting and presenting facts. Remember to substantiate any statements with evidence and check your facts.
4. Conclusion and Recommendations
A summary of what you want your reader to conclude from the Briefing paper. Many readersimmediately jump to this section, so be sure it covers the points you most want your reader to be clear about. Do not introduce anything new in the conclusion. Make a recommendation(s). It should offer the most sound advice you can offer. Make sure the recommendation is clear, direct and is based on (flows from) the facts you have put forward in the previous sections.
5. References: minimum of 4 to 6 citations (in addition to required readings) – books, articles, reports. Include
only those that you mention in the text.