Our Previous Samples

• Discuss one major challenge you believe public policy analysts face in today’s political environment and propose at least two ways to deal with the challenge.

Discuss at least two possible advantages and two possible disadvantages of using policy issue papers. Discuss the implications of these advantages and disadvantages to the person responsible for communicating public policy. Provide an example to support your response.

1. Use the structural elements of policy writing to compose a 3–5 page policy brief that applies to a local, state, or federal issue.

• Integrate policy concepts to demonstrate your analytical insights from the readings and your own research with evidence to support remarks about policy issues and problems.
• Demonstrate full understanding of the public policy concepts and show that your application is relevant and aligns to the learning outcomes.
• Develop your brief in a cohesive manner, with a logical flow of public policy information from one topic to the next; ensure evidence from resources support your ideas and topics.
• Ensure your writing demonstrates an understanding of the relationship among materials regarding public policy obtained from all sources.
• Develop a brief that shows focus on the topic, and create a thoughtful presentation using the thesis statement to provide the focus of the paper with enough scope for in-depth discussion of the public policy concepts and application.
• Ensure the thesis statement indicates the position taken by the author in the paper, and there is strong evidence to support the public policy position.
• Developed a brief that shows expert use of the examples for public policy writing.

Assume you are a candidate for director of communications for a major metropolitan city. The job will require you to communicate to the public about a host of public policy issues such as transportation, the environment, education, taxes, and economic development. Propose how written and oral communication should be used to ensure public policy analyses are promoted and accepted by the general public.

1. Select a local, state, or national public policy that is relevant today in the local, regional, or national news
   • Examples:
     • Local: community or urban growth (examples: results of rezoning, reuse of public structures, closed down school/public buildings that will convert to private business enterprise).
     • State: Private land converted to public spaces (examples: airports, road, or highway usage).
     • Federal: Gun policy, drug policy, immigration (examples: effects on jobs, background checks, cultural changes in communities).
2. Identify how the policy was formulated from a historical standpoint and identify which stakeholders were involved in the process.
3. Appraise the position whether the policy creates a benefit for one group (or stakeholder) while other groups experience disadvantages or negative challenges because of public policy implementation.
4. Appropriately incorporate at least three quality sources. A quality source can be either grey literature, such as a news article, or scholarly, such as peer-reviewed works. In the case of public administration, government websites are appropriate quality resources.
5. Use the Stakeholder Analysis Assignment Template [DOCX].

In reference to policy outcomes and choice, discuss how you would defend hands-free cell phone usage while driving. Also contribute your initial research impressions on this topic by providing data from a state on safety/citation records. See Distracted Driving to assist in your research.

• Interest groups and think tanks certainly carry opinions that can directly influence policy makers. After careful analysis, discuss why you think policy commitments may be suspected of undue influence rather than responding to citizen needs?
• All students are required to post a minimum of two posts per online discussion thread. Students must have one original post and a minimum of one other post per discussion thread