Guidelines for Writing Project Briefing Paper for ECON 4740 – Fall 2005

What is a Briefing Paper?

Your briefing paper should be 5 pages, not counting ancillary information (title page, table of contents, annexes, references, bibliography, etc.) If you need to exceed that page number, that's fine, but don't exceed it by much.

A common duty of a policy professional is to “brief” decision makers about a particular issue, situation, or scenario. The purpose of "briefing" is to provide a clear and concise exposition of the situation or issue, any policy dimensions and implications, and recommendations for action.

A good briefing, including yours, should include:

 a clear statement of the topic of the brief and short summary of the issue (one paragraph);  a relevant and brief background to the issue(s) (2-4 paragraphs);  a concise analysis of the issues, policy implications, and policy options (3-4 paragraphs);  conclusions & recommendations for action, which may include your opinion, backed up by evidence and support (2-4 paragraphs);  any "annexes" or appendices with supplemental information (for example a table of statistics or a map) that you feel the decision maker might find useful but which is not necessary to an understanding of the issue.

For some good examples of briefing papers, see the following: European Parliament Briefing Papers on European Union Enlargement - links to several briefing papers analyzing applicants to the EU (www.europarl.eu.int/enlargement/briefings/default_en.htm) Africa Action - Nigeria Elections (2003) Briefing Paper (www.africaaction.org/docs03/nig0304b.htm)

Choosing your topic:

This can be the most overwhelming part of the research process – a professor says “write a paper on a topic related to this course” and you, the student, are left hanging. What exactly is a “topic related to this course?” The professor may go hog-wild and give you a little more advice “from the general topic, narrow your focus to a specific area.” That little piece of advice doesn’t really help too much. In the end, this adds to alienation on your part and detracts from the experience of research writing.

I do want you to write a paper on a topic related to this course. But to help you choose this topic, let me offer a little more guidance. Think of your topic in terms of a question or problem. Think of yourself as an analyst, advocate, or evaluator. Doing this will improve your chances of finding something that isn’t overwhelming and is manageable, and that will lead to a better grade.

In our course, we focus on the international financial system. For your project, you want to ask a question or pose a hypothesis related to this. For example,

The current so-called “Bretton Woods II” system, wherein we’ve returned to essentially a system of currencies pegged to the U.S. dollar, is/is not inherently unstable.

The concept of “onerous debt” means that countries such as Iraq should/should not have all of their debt forgiven.

Mexico has had a history of both political and economic instability, which is often manifested in massive peso devaluations. Capital flight due to devaluations exacerbates economic and political instability. How can Mexico keep its currency stabilized and reduce the possibility of future capital flight?

Note that this does NOT mean that you must write about something that no one has ever written about before. It DOES mean that you are going after answers, proofs, or arguments that are new to YOU.

To help choose your topic, you might want to go through the book, course schedule, IMF website, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, and other in- depth media sources to see if a specific area catches your attention.

To focus your topic -- and to make sure you pick something interesting, manageable, and fun for you to research -- sit down and practice writing questions like those above to help you focus your project. This is harder than it sounds, BUT it also will save you a lot of grief when you start your writing! Besides focusing your area, it will help you formulate a thesis or question in your mind that will be the overarching theme of your project. That will make everything else just that much more easy!

Writing the Paper (due Tuesday, November 22):

To help you start: Use your research question that you posed, as suggested above. Before even doing your research, expand on that question to write your summary introduction paragraph in essay form. This will (1) help you focus where you need to put your energy on finding sources, and (2) help you feel more confident that you know exactly what you’ll be briefing on.

For example: "This briefing will address the question of whether Iraq's debt should be forgiven based on the premise of 'onerous debt.' At issue is whether sovereign loans (that is, loans issued to a country by other countries or international financial institutions) that were issued to the regime of Saddam Hussein should be paid for by the citizens of Iraq even though the money lent to the government was not spent in the citizens' best interests and arguably added to Hussein's repression of his country. This is an interesting issue in light of the fact that although several proponents argue for total debt relief for Iraq based on onerous debt, there are several dictatorships and tyrannies around the world that arguably are in similar positions, yet the developed world expects the citizens of those nations to pay off at least some of their debt. The problematic aspect of this topic is the fact that Iraq borrowed money during Hussein's regime not only from the international financial institutions, but also and primarily from Arab League nations who do not subscribe to Paris Club debt reductions. As such, if debt relief were found to be a desirable treatment for Iraq, most of its creditors are under no obligation to do so, and many are reluctant to do so given Iraq's oil wealth. This issue is of great significance because ...... "

This opening paragraph would help you focus on the fact that you need to find out about (a) how much Iraq owes its creditors , (b) what Paris Club debt forgiveness involves, (c) what other countries might be in similar situations, and many other pieces of needed information that “fall” out of that paragraph. From this, you can structure your source search.

Once your question is formulated and sources found, you will follow the format given above. This includes writing recommendations and conclusions. You are welcome to use well-reasoned, evidence-based opinions in these recommendations. The final recommendations are what most readers (in the “real world”) want – they are the payoff. Make sure you don’t treat them as an after-thought!

Remember, if you have questions or concerns, feel free to come see me! I’m here to help.