Having trouble accessing government information? See the Libraries’ guide to Alternative Sources for Federal Information and Data.
Writing a Policy Brief: Resources
What is a policy brief?
Policy brief defined
Policy briefs are concise documents written for policy makers or a general audience to inform and persuade about a policy issue/problem and its potential solution(s). They are typically 2-10 pages long. The UNC Writing Center has an excellent tip sheet on writing a policy brief. Some information on this page has been drawn from that document.
What does a policy brief include?
- Title
- Policy problem with supporting evidence
- Potential policy alternatives
- Suggested policy solution
- Bibliography
- It often also includes a summary and charts/graphs/figures. See more about creating the latter here.
Resources to support your policy brief
These must be from reputable sources.
Scholarly Articles
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Academic Search PremierFind information on academic areas of business, social sciences, humanities, general academic, general science, education and multi-cultural topics; resource provides access to major popular and scholarly journals with many full-text articles.
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PAIS IndexA bibliographic index to the literature of public policy, social policy, and the social sciences in general. Includes full-text articles.
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ScopusDatabase of peer-reviewed journal and conference literature in the sciences and social sciences. Scopus allows researchers to perform citation searches to see how many times a work has been cited, by whom, and to rank searches by times cited, from 1996-present.
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Sociological AbstractsDatabase covering over 2500 journals in sociology, both theoretical and applied, and related disciplines including anthropology, economics, education, medicine, community development, philosophy, demography, political science, and social psychology
Policies and Policy Briefs
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CRS ReportsThe Congressional Research Service, an agency within the Library of Congress, conducts research and analysis for Congress on a broad range of policy issues.
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Find PolicySearch think tanks grouped by topic (climate, economy, development, foreign policy), geographic location, or think tanks with broad coverage.
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Google Think Tank Search EngineSearches the websites of institutions that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity. These sites are affiliated with universities, governments, advocacy groups, foundations, and non-governmental organizations. The list represents a mixture of partisan and non-partisan think tanks.
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MunicodeMunicipal Code Corporation - Consists of local government codes of ordinances from around United States. Also includes links to related organizations.
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National Conference of State LegislaturesFind state policies by issue area.
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Open Research Reports from JSTORResearch reports from 180+ think tanks
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RAND Publication DatabasePapers and reports on topics of current public policy interest, including criminal justice, education, health, national security and international affairs, energy, environment, and science and technology. Contains indexing records for all of RAND's publicly available documents, many with links to full text reports.
Topic-specific examples
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National Center for Children in PovertyYou can search for policies by state or create a table of policy dimensions across the states.
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ProQuest Trends & Policy: Immigration"A series of in-depth primary source collections to support research and learning on policy related to today’s most pressing issues. This collection connects policies implemented by the U.S. government with the data-driven results and trends of those policies and provides context with analytical reports and news articles."
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ProQuest Trends & Policy: U.S. Health"A series of in-depth primary source collections to support research and learning on policy related to today’s most pressing issues. This collection connects policies implemented by the U.S. government with the data-driven results and trends of those policies and provides context with analytical reports and news articles."
Government Information and Statistics
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Alternative Sources for Federal Information & DataUNC-Chapel Hill Library Guide
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ProQuest CongressionalComprehensive source of current and historical U.S. Congressional material, including bills, testimony, reports, documents, selected prints, the Congressional Record, the U.S. Code, Federal Register, and the Code of Federal Regulations.
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PolicyMapAccess social, economic, health and demographic data about U.S. communities and markets in this online mapping tool. View data on map, in table or chart format, and download those data that are openly available. Reports provide a summary snapshot of an area: Community Profile, Community Health Profile, Rental Housing Report, and Housing Mortgage Report.
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Social ExplorerProvides web-based access to United States Census data from 1790 to the present, and to other U.S. and international data, with the ability to make tables and interactive maps easily or export data for analysis. Data include the most commonly used variables and geographies.
Newspaper articles
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America's NewsAmerica's News is the most comprehensive U.S.newspaper resource available. It provides information on people, issues, and events in the local area or around the country. Updated daily, America's Newspapers offers tens of millions of current and archived full-text articles from newspapers nationwide in a single, fully searchable online database. It includes the complete electronic editions of 827 newspapers - with 75% of these sources not available in any other library database.
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Ethnic NewsWatchA full-text collection of newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press. This collection of articles, editorials, columns, reviews, etc. provides a broad diversity of perspectives and viewpoints.
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New York Times Academic PassUNC Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff have full, year-round access to The New York Times, including smartphone, tablet, and browser access. Please consult https://guides.lib.unc.edu/nyt-academic-pass for detailed directions on setting up your account.
Books
No need to read the entire book. You can select a chapter or two that fits with your topic. You can search for books in our library catalog. Below are example "subject heading" catalog searches.
Advanced Google Searching
Below are advanced Google search techniques along with an example of each.
- To search one specific website; site:ncleg.gov
- To search one type of website; site:.edu
- To eliminate one website; -site:ncleg.gov
- To eliminate one word, you can also use the - sign; -France
- To search for a specific filetype; filetype:pdf
- To search for a specific phrase, put those words in quotation marks; "temporary assistance for needy families"
- In our library databases, you may use OR or AND when you are conducting a search. OR will give you more results and AND will give you less. In Google, it assumes all the words you search are needed, so you don't need to write AND. If you'd like to search using OR, Google version of OR is |, Morocco|Spain means Morocco OR Spain.
- To eliminate AI results from your search; -ai
Writing & Citing
Writing
The UNC Writing Center offers online, in-person and asynchronous consultations. They also have guides to help with your writing, including one on writing policy briefs. You can also look at examples of policy briefs, like the Harvard Kennedy School of Government policy briefs. Two books on public policy writing are included below.
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The CQ Press Writing Guide for Public Policy
by
Call Number: JF1525.C59 P46 2023 (Davis Library)Publication Date: 2023 -
Public Policy Writing That Matters
by
Call Number: JF1525.C59 C35 2022 (Davis Library)Publication Date: 2022 -
Writing Public Policy
by
Call Number: JF1525.C59 S64 2023 (Davis Library)Publication Date: 2023There is also a 2019 edition of this book with the same call number at Davis Library.
Data Visualization & Design
The following resources from the Writing Center and the Libraries can be used to create visual elements for your policy briefs.
- creating figures and charts
- data visualization
- media & design guide - Undergraduate Library's Media & Design Center
Citing
- ZoteroBib - Create a citation in the style of your choice simply with an article title, URL, DOI, etc.
- APA style guide - Purdue Owl
- Guide to Citing Data
Learn about your topic
Below are some library databases and an open web resource to help you learn background information about your topic. Topic development is also a fine time to use Google, Wikipedia, and even GenAI. With all three of these, always remember to double-check the sources of this information.
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CQ ResearcherThe CQ Researcher is the perfect answer for people beginning research on current topics. It covers the most current and controversial issues of the day. From Abortion to War, each issue gives you a comprehensive review of the controversies, historical background, chronology of important events, opposing views from experts on the subject, and extensive bibliographies for additional research.
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Issues and Controversies on FileContains full text articles on current topics of interest, arranged in opposing points of view. It is intended to give users a quick grasp of the essentials of more than 250 controversial news topics. It also contains chronologies, illustrations, maps, tables, sidebars, bibliographies and contact information.
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Oxford Bibliographies OnlineProvides sophisticated online recommendations to the core scholarship on a subject as determined by experts in the field. Each module constitutes a convenient and comprehensive introduction to the essential body of literature that has shaped research on a topic. At the click of a mouse, you therefore have 24/7 access to expert recommendations that have been rigorously peer-reviewed and vetted to ensure scholarly accuracy and objectivity.
Each OBO subject database allows you to identify the core authors, works, ideas, and debates that have shaped the scholarly conversation so you can find the key literature. All the bibliographic essays have been peer-reviewed, and the specific entries are linked to full-text content available through the web or the UNC Library. The "My OBO" feature also allows you to create a personalized list of citations.
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Pros & Cons of Controversial Issues"Mission: Promoting critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, primarily pro-con format."
orcid.org/0000-0003-2533-582X