The “Briefing Note” as a Pedagogical Tool for Teaching Politics and International Relations

Abstract

When new graduates begin employment in industries such as government, consultancies, or the nongovernmental sector they are expected to have the skills needed to write politically-informed reports accurately. Teaching how to write briefing notes provides students with an important skill, but also provides an effective instrument for examining integrated comprehension of course content. In this article, we explain why briefing notes are a useful pedagogical device, some guidelines on when to use them and how to structure the assignments, and an indication of where we have found them to be successful instruments for enhancing student learning. We suggest briefing notes are a flexible assessment technique that aligns well with traditional teaching approaches as well as newer techniques such as active and problem-based learning.

Keywords:

• Briefing notes
• writing skills
• transferable skills
• active learning

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fabrício H. Chagas-Bastos

Fabrício H. Chagas Bastos is a Research Associate with the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne. His research interests focus on inequality, poverty, and social identity (recognition and status), merging International Relations with Social Psychology seeking to understand the role of Latin America and the Global South within the 21st-century international order. His articles have appeared in Policy Studies and Latin American Politics and Society.

Sean W. Burges

Sean W. Burges is a Senior Lecturer in International Relation in the School of Politics and International Relations and Deputy Director of the Australian National Center for Latin American Studies, both at the Australian National University (ANU). His research focuses on Brazil and North-South and South-South relations through a Brazilian and Latin American lens. He is a winner of the 2018 Luciano Tomassini Latin American International Relations Book Award offered by the Latin American Studies Association (LASA).

We are, respectively, the former Director of the Graduate International Studies programme at the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia and the current Convenor of the Bachelor of International Relations at the ANU.