A good way to size up an issue is to read or prepare an issue brief. The structure of a policy brief lends itself to an analysis of political issues. First, let’s define a public policy issue: a public policy issue is one on which government action (legislative, judicial, or executive) or government monies should (or should not) be spent to help resolve a perceived problem.
Policy issue briefs are a resource utilized by business, government, and journalists, often overlooked or undiscovered by the public and neglected in school curricula, which helps fill the voids of information on issues.
These are reports done by/for business, government, academicians, and think tanks, to provide useful information on complex issues to decision-makers and those with influence, but usually are not accessed by the public, even though much of these papers and briefs are publicly accessible.
Policy papers and issue briefs are by no means in-depth and comprehensive answers to everything that needs to be known about an issue, but they are valuable tools to help provide knowledge to those who are not experts.
