Advisory report: Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Lowering Voting Age and Increasing Voter Participation) Bill 2018
Eichhorn, J., & Bergh, J. (2021) Lowering the Voting Age to 16 in Practice: Processes and Outcomes Compared. Parliamentary Affairs, 74(3): 507-521.
Minimum requirements:
1200-1500 words, not counting references (10% variation permitted).
Minimum of 8 references (see below for more for guidance on appropriate sources).
Chicago referencing only, with page numbers included with all sources (and not just direct quotations).
1.5 spacing minimum
Keep the use of subheadings to a minimum (no more than 4 in the analysis section, preferably 3).
Elements of the Policy Brief (template)
Below is an overview of some of the matters that you should cover when developing your Policy Brief.
1. Purpose ( Introduction): High level overview that sets out the purpose of the brief. It should include a brief description of the issue, and a clear statement of why this issue/reform matters. The introduction should be between three to five sentences (one paragraph).
2. Analysis (substantive section of the report)
Background to the issue (contextualises the issue by explaining the particular policy proposal, what problem the reform seeks to address, and its use elsewhere (whether in Australia or overseas, if relevant)
Critique of the reform proposal (Illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal, with reference to the evidence of its implementation in other jurisdictions (other states, for example) or countries.
3. Recommendation/s: Justify, using evidence, whether the proposal should be implemented, modified or rejected Provide a recommendation. This might be support for the proposal, rejection of the proposal in favour of the status quo or a modification of the proposal.
4. Summary: Like the purpose section, the summary this should be fairly short but provide the reader with a succinct summary of what the topic examined and what has been recommended and why.
5. References:
A minimum of eight (8) substantive sources. Substantive sources are generally defined as those sources which have been through some kind of review or vetting process and its authorship is authoritative (written by an expert in the field).
Academic texts (articles and books) [a minimum of 5 of the eight minimum sources]
Newspaper articles permitted
Government and NGO reports permitted
Wikipedia, unit lecture material, dictionaries and Generative AI are not permitted information sources but may be use for background purposes.
Use Chicago referencing. Must include page numbers with all in-text references, and not just direct quotations. When might you be permitted to not include in-text references? When referring to the report/study overall argument. Otherwise, all information sourced must include the page numbers from where it was taken.
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