This is a Policy Memo paper for Environmental Studies.
“Your project this semester is to craft a policy solution to solve the environmental problem(s) you observed in your two Field Notes. A Policy Memo is a concise paper that defines a problem, explains the consequences of the problem (and why the status quo is not acceptable), outlines a range of solutions to solve the problem, and the criteria for selecting the “best” solution. Your memo should be well researched, based on your own experience documented in your Field Notes, logical, and precise. In other words, the problem and solution must be well defined, and the solution must solve the problem and alleviate the consequences of the problem.
Your Policy Memo must be between 1,800 words and 2,000 words. Any memo that is below 1,800 words or over 2,000 words will receive a penalty equal to one letter grade (even if it is a one-word difference…I am serious). Any memo that is below 1,500 words will receive a zero.
For example, if your memo is 1,499 words in length, then you will receive a zero. I will delete words that I find to be too tangential to the topic, which will reduce your word count. The bibliography does not apply to this word count.
Your Policy Memo must include these sections (although, you can develop specific headings that are more descriptive to the problem you are addressing):
Address and Contact Information: this section will have your information and the contact information of the decision-maker who can help solve the problem (you are not sending the memo, but you should think about who has the ability to solve your problem).
Executive Summary: please consult the resources below to write effective executive summaries
The Problem & Background: this section will define the problem, the consequences of the problem, and why current policies/actions/authorities are not solving the problem (in short, what is the problem, why should we care, and why does this problem exist or persist). This section should contain the information you found in your 2 academic articles found off of JSTOR for Field Note I and Field Note II.
Possible Solutions: this section will briefly outline various solutions to the problem, acknowledging that some may be more feasible than others. Solutions will vary by their technical, economical, and political feasibility. Please base the information of this section off of your own reasoning and that of 2 additional articles off of JSTOR. These articles must be in addition to the ones you used for Field Note I and Field Note II.
Your Recommended Solution and Criteria for Selecting that Solution: this section explains the best solution and why you think it is the best.
Conclusion & Limitations: this section summarizes your memo, reinforcing the executive summary, and outlines some potential limitations of your research/recommendations.
Bibliography: My formatting requirements for your bibliography and your in-text citations appear below. Just remember that you are trying to solve a practical, environmental problem that you observed and documented in your Field Notes.
In-Text Citations and Bibliography Formatting
Any Policy Memo that fails to follow the formatting as describe below will receive a penalty equal to one letter grade. Your policy memo must use in-text citations and contain a bibliography.
In-text citations should appear at the end of a sentence in parentheticals using the author’s last name, publication year, and the page number where you obtained the information, for example, (Jorgensen 2013, 562). Please use this format for two authors (Ferguson and Chen 2005, 510), this format for three authors (Ferguson, Jorgensen, and Chen 2022, 531), and this format for four or more authors (Steffen, et al. 2015, 82). Here is how you should use in-text citations with quotation marks when you are directly quoting a sentence or passage: “Congress has consistently failed to solve some serious problems with the cost, effectiveness, and safety of pharmaceuticals.
In part, this failure results from the pharmaceutical industry convincing legislators to define policy programs in ways that protect industry profits” (Jorgensen 2013, 561). Here are the examples of your bibliographic entries by author number and whether or not some of the information is missing:
Academic Article, One Author:
The basic format is Last Name, First Name Middle Initial. “Article Title.” Journal Name Volume Number, No. Issue Number (Year): Start Page – End Page. Jorgensen, Paul D. “Pharmaceuticals, Political Money, and Public Policy: A Theoretical and Empirical Agenda.” Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics 41, no. 3 (2013): 561-570.
Academic Article, Two Authors, No Issue Number: Ferguson, Thomas and Jie Chen. “Investor Blocs and Party Realignments in American History.” Journal of The Historical Society 4 (2005): 503-546.
Academic Article, Three Authors, No Issue Number: Ferguson, Thomas, Paul Jorgensen, and Jie Chen. “How Money Drives U.S. Congressional Elections: Linear Models of Money and Outcomes.” Structural Change and Economic Dynamics 61 (2022): 527-545.
Academic Article, Four or More Authors: Steffen, Will, et al. “The Trajectory of the Anthropocene: The Great Acceleration.” The Anthropocene Review 2, no. 1 (2015): 81-98.
Your bibliographic entries must be ordered alphabetically by last name of the author, like this: In the bibliography, the references should be single-spaced and with the second line (if necessary) indented. There should be a double-space between references.”