Policy Writing

1 Credit · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course will meet on the following dates: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 Wednesday, January 27, 2016 Wednesday, February 3, 2016 Wednesday, February 10, 2016 Wednesday, February 17, 2016 Communicating is something we do constantly. We write. We speak. The environments in which we communicate are constantly changing. Understanding how we communicate to policy makers in shifting environments is important to success in our professional lives whether we are in government, private or NGO sectors. Above all, this seminar is designed to help you think about communicating analysis – in written form -- in a public policy environment. The objective is to identify the tools for skillfully and effectively presenting your analysis to senior policy makers whose most precious commodity is not what you are conveying, but the time they devote to hearing or reading what you convey. You will also learn how to brief your written product orally. Rarely will you write a paper and slip it under your boss’s door. Communication is never done in a vacuum so this seminar will stress the importance of team-building and peer review for good communications. It will include class participation through oral briefings and a written paper. We will learn how peer review can improve the quality of our message -- and learn how to take helpful critiques of our own work. This is not a writing class – at this point all of you should know how to write -- but we will focus on a few helpful rules that can improve our writing. It is not a public speaking class but we will talk about briefing techniques for conveying key written information most effectively. This is not a new-media class but we will discuss the impact of social media on policy communications.