The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Preparing a brief B) ( 'urul Slewurtâ€"ILithy lit the lust IMIIL‘ ol Home & Country. .in .titttlc on lobbying u.t,~ I'ctttutcd. One method of lobbying |\ to pt'epurc .t hitcl, ottlltttittg yout personal or \ottt urgnttt. titton's \ |C\\\ on n topic. to .l Icwl ol gmetnutenl. at business or .tnotltct orgntttzutton. I he 'not‘d brtcl' conjures up :1 \ery torttml document in the minds of tnoxt people. And perhaps for that rennin, the tnsk of pt'epttrtng a brief may \ccnt lIhLlITI‘IL‘LlIIiniL‘, But it's not Here .JI'C .1 ten tips. To begin with. you or your group needs to hme a clear notton of what mu want to \EJX in the brief. otherwise ll \xon't be el'tEctite. Your brtet‘should Inn: .1 pool. Foeusstng on one goal makes the brief easier to research, it rtte. present. and more liker to gel with)“. Researching |\ the next step. There is .1 lot of information out there. The difficult part is knomng where to find it Jild then knotxing how much is enough. -\ good place to start is your iIbTLll'}: It the) do not hate the infor~ mutton you are looking for. librarians u-tll guide you to other posstbie sources. When requesting information. it is important to be as specific as possible. Hon do you into“ when you've done enough research? That's a hard question to answer. Your research will be used to support what you have said tn your brief. Do not make the mis- take of haying irrelevant information 20 H :34 C July, August. September I987 in the brief. Be sure all the informa- tion you include is pertinent. lfthcrc ill't‘ some facts which are borderline -â€" you cutt't decide to put them in or lcnn: them out â€" consider using them in your presentation of the brief. or lttue th‘III available as hack-up at the presentation. BEFORE you write the brief. know it ho u ill be reading it. There is a difâ€" Terence between preparing a brief for a federal Royal Commission and township council. Knowing your au- dience will help you to determine haw formal your brief should be. PARTS OF A BRIEF There are several components to a brief. Here they are. in the order they should appear in your brief. Title Page Include the title of your brief. or the subject you are addressing; your name or the name of your organiza- tion; the date; and the name of the group receiving your brief. Executive Summary Aim for a one-page executive sum- mary. It should highlight the brief's important points. If you do not in- clude the summary, you run the risk of someone else summarizing for you. Summary of Recommendations If you are only making one or two recommendations, they could be in- cluded in the executive summary. If there are more. they deserve a sum- mary of their own for quick reference for the busy reader. Table of Contents The pages in the brief should numbered. Another suggestion is is number the paragraphs for quick ref- erence during this presentation. Introduction Information about your or a ‘- . tion is included here. Also. yougstiiitiid introduce the matter(s) you intend to address in the brief. Main Body This is the informational part of the brief, don’t brush ovar it, as- suming no one will read all of it. Perhaps when the brief is presented it appears that little time has been . given to it. You never know, however who will read it later and it due; become a permanent record or your organization's stand on this Concern, Your brief will address either a problem, or an opportunity yet ll) be taken. In the main body. desert he the situation, dimuss the barriers involved, and present realistic options. Don’t take too long to present your information in the main body. Breity is the key â€" people will ask for more details if they want them. Conclusion Wrap-up the brief with a couple of concluding statements. You may also want to include a bibliography it the back. For more information on writing briefs and then presenting them. ask for Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food Phetsheet 87â€"031, culled Preparing and Presenting a Brief. at your local ministry office.