Library Home: Social Work Research Guide: Policy Brief

The Policy Brief & its Purpose

What is a Policy Brief?

Policy briefs provide a concise summary of current research and information so that policymakers and professionals may quickly make well informed decisions on complex issues.

What is the purpose of a Policy Brief?

A policy brief helps policymakers come to a decision on a given topic; it informs them of an issue or problem and its impact. Policy briefs give objective summaries of current research, suggest policy options, or may even argue for a particular course of action.

Formatting a Policy Brief

Format of a Policy Brief

Firstly, be sure to consult your assignment prompt or your professor for the specific requirements of your assignment. That being stated, most policy briefs do have several common features. Policy briefs typically use headings and have many short sections. Your policy brief may also include graphs, statistics, charts, and other visual aids to help communicate information to your reader. Policy briefs often include sections such as a title, executive summary, context or scope of the problem, policy alternatives, policy recommendations, appendices, and consulted or recommended sources. To read more in-depth on Policy Brief formatting and writing consult the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Writing Center webpage.

Writing Tips

Evidence - Utilize current research to support your recommendations. These may include scholarly articles, statistics, and government reports (to name a few).
Concise Writing - Avoid the use of subject-specific jargon and use direct language to summarize the issue.
Organization - Clearly label the sections within your brief and be sure to make use of images such as charts or graphs for the data obtained.
Audience - Keep in mind that most policy briefs are created for general audiences in mind, or policy makers that have a professional stake in the issue.

*Adapted from USC and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Writing Center

Databases

Social Sciences Full Text This link opens in a new window Covers the latest concepts, theories and methods from both applied and theoretical aspects of the social sciences and provides sources covering a wide array of subjects, including addiction studies, ethics, public welfare, urban studies and more.
Subjects Include: Addiction studies; Anthropology; Communications; Economics; Ethics; Family studies; Gender studies; International relations; Law; Mass media; Minority studies; Political science; Psychology; Public welfare; Social work; Urban studies.
Social Services Abstracts This link opens in a new window Social Services Abstracts provides bibliographic coverage of current research focused on social work, human services, and related areas, including social welfare, social policy, and community development.
Major areas of coverage include: Community and mental health services; Crisis intervention; The family and social welfare; Gerontology; Poverty and homelessness; Professional issues in social work; Social and health policy; Social services in addiction; Social work education; Social work practice; Support groups/networks; Violence, abuse, neglect; Welfare services.
Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window Sociological Abstracts indexes the international literature of sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. It includes the companion file Social Services Abstracts, which provides bibliographic coverage of current research focused on social work, human services, and related areas.
Social Services Abstracts provides bibliographic coverage of current research focused on social work, human services, and related areas, including social welfare, social policy, and community development. The database includes abstracts of journal articles and dissertations as well as citations to book reviews.
EBSCOhost This link opens in a new window Search multiple databases on a wide range of academic topics.
Cross-database searching allows you to search all or selected EBSCOhost databases at one go. Handy if you are unsure of which database is the best for the subject at hand.
Westlaw This link opens in a new window Online legal research service with a comprehensive collection of legal information including the current version of the law with proprietary editorial enhancements.
Includes: Cases, Statutes and regulations, Secondary sources, Practice areas, News, Briefs, Trial court documents, Public records.

Statistics

California Legislative Information - provides researchers with information on California Law Codes and Bill searching.
California Open Data - Open data is public data collected by the state through its routine business activities and published in a format that is easy to search, easy to download and easy to combine with other data sets from other sources; it does not include private or confidential data about individuals. Search by organizations, topics, state portals, documentation, and more.
California Department of Social Services, Data Portal - The Department of Social Services provides accurate and timely data which is intended to inform the public about social services programs and policies which serve more than 8 million California residents annually.

State Statistics State Statistics contains nearly 300 databases, including 150 active databases covering critical social science statistics. Explore demographics, health, education, income, security, military, economics, and more for the U.S., states, and counties. A growing number of databases provide data for cities, ZIP Codes, and Census Tracts.
RAND's research on California and its communities spans a wide analytical range, from health, education, and justice issues to military, security, and transportation.