Teaching students to write for real life: Policy paper writing in the classroom

Abstract

During their time at university, political science students frequently only learn to write for the academic setting. However, not all students will come to work in academia, nor do they want to. When entering the job market, they often do not have the writing skills that are demanded by potential employers and have to learn them on the fly. Simulating cooperative policy-writing processes in the classroom not only gives students the opportunity to acquire these skills, but also helps them make important connections between the theory taught in the classroom and the real-life policy-making process. Using the practical example of a policy paper-writing simulation, this article illustrates how posing a policy-writing challenge from the field of foreign policy making can equip students with a grasp on theories of policy making, their practical application, and policy writing as a practical skill. © 2013 American Political Science Association.