What particular professional writing skill/genre would be most useful for a university graduate looking to intern or get a first a job in Brussels (EU, IO, NGO, or adjacent)? Trying to add a more practical assignment to my EU & Europe seminar. #EUsky #SoTLsky - ThreadSky

colinmbrown.bsky.social • 62 days ago

What particular professional writing skill/genre would be most useful for a university graduate looking to intern or get a first a job in Brussels (EU, IO, NGO, or adjacent)?

Trying to add a more practical assignment to my EU & Europe seminar. #EUsky #SoTLsky

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drleatongray.bsky.social•61 days ago

Look at the UK POST Notes briefs and create one on a relevant topic.

mattcrespi.bsky.social•62 days ago

For NGOs, I suspect grant writing is a clear winner in terms of ways a newbie can contribute w/writing on Day 1, unless it's paired with other skills too. For government stuff, my guess is summarizing things for your bosses: can they be trusted to clearly communicate a tome in a page or two?

mattcrespi.bsky.social•62 days ago

Obviously very dependent on the particular job and organization, but I have heard govt and business people alike say their most valuable junior folks are ones they can trust to turn a big mess of information into something clear & concise, without leaving out key information.

colinmbrown.bsky.social•62 days ago

I agree with the summarizing; I have concerns that because AI is often mediocre but just ok enough at this, the skill will be *viewed* as less useful and I haven't quite figured out how to frame it for students yet that captures the intellectual work (and value) behind it.

mattcrespi.bsky.social•62 days ago

AI is OK (even good?) at turning something long and well written into something short and useful, but if the long thing is a mess -- say, with a key detail that changes everything or a critical caveat buried in a footnote -- will it put that in the summary?

mattcrespi.bsky.social•62 days ago

Can AI read with an eye for just things that will impact a particular program or population? In general I hope folks aren't trusting generative AI to produce answers they can't easily verify as good or bad.

mattcrespi.bsky.social•62 days ago

All that said, it doesn't matter if I'm right if employers don't believe me. But if they're that all in on AI, do any generalist writing skills move the needle on the perceived value of an intern?

colinmbrown.bsky.social•62 days ago

That's a really good point, I am afraid that there are/will be a lot that are all enough in that we get a lot of the (bad) latter scenario...but those aren't should continue to value it.

cvxydias.bsky.social•62 days ago

Others will chime in with greater professional expertise working _in_ those settings (and I will want to read what they write!), but FWIW: I assign policy briefs in my European politics class, with your stated goal in mind. Glad to share assignment prompts, if that would be of interest.

cvxydias.bsky.social•61 days ago

If not having a DB account is an issue for viewing the files, please email me ([email protected])

cvxydias.bsky.social•61 days ago

I'm hoping 🤞 that this link will allow you to view the Word and PDF versions I assigned in Fall 2021, which is the last time I taught European Politics. Feedback welcome. Cheers! https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/b44uavj7cxp6naiinrdcr/AF0kYeB5ToUwSIz_i44hCgQ?rlkey=5zykpff8sp829h1kvi7etk35c&st=6uwnycvo&dl=0

colinmbrown.bsky.social•61 days ago

Thank you! I'll look at it on Monday but can confirm the link works!

bjolliffscott.bsky.social•62 days ago

I would love to see this assignment, please!

colinmbrown.bsky.social•62 days ago

Yes please! Thank you!

candrae.bsky.social•62 days ago

By the time students come to the seminar in which I have them do a practical assignment, they've usually already written a few policy briefs. So to mix things up, I let them do communications strategies. My students seem to enjoy this and find it useful - and the marking is usually good fun

movadek.bsky.social•62 days ago

probably something along the lines of succinctly summarising policy developments in a niche area. Not just writing but also research skill though

colinmbrown.bsky.social•62 days ago

Great idea, thank you!

siebznet.bsky.social•62 days ago

One of my most useful class exercises in undergrad was a small-group project to craft 2-3 page policy briefs based on HBS cases.

siebznet.bsky.social•62 days ago

Was good practice for the sort of collaborative writing that is done in many professional workplaces.

mmeprice.bsky.social•62 days ago

Grant proposal?

colinmbrown.bsky.social•62 days ago

I do that in another class, I think it's not quite the right fit for this course but highly endorse in other contexts!

colinmbrown.bsky.social•62 days ago

(the other writing assignments are two book reviews, one for an academic journal and one for newspaper or LRB/NYRB type publication)

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