Welcome to Lesson Five. Some readers have only two minutes to spare. This lesson shows you how to write for them, using the short policy brief.
Watch the lesson above. What is said in it is written out below, for reading and revision.
A policy brief is written for someone who must decide: a minister, a diplomat, an editor. They are busy people. They want to know what is happening, why it matters, and what they might do about it.
A brief has a simple shape. The problem, in two sentences. Two or three realistic options, each with its chief advantage and its risk. And your recommendation, with the reason for it. One page is quite enough.
You need not submit a separate brief. Instead, use this thinking in your commentary: make your ending practical. Say who should act, and what they should do first.
Your third task is a first draft of at least four hundred words, with your argument, your evidence, and a practical ending. It need not be perfect. Submit it using the form beneath this video.