THE ISSUE – This issue is most often found in the form of pending legislation or a provision of a piece of pending legislation, or government regulation. In a broader sense, a government program or policy. TOPIC SELECTION – It is recommended that adult learners choose pending legislation or a provision of a piece of pending legislation. This recommendation is based on the fact that “topical” or “hot” issues generate a wide array of critical sources (news articles, op-ed pieces, magazine and journal articles, think tank and academic studies congressional debate, position papers along with ongoing critical analysis in the media). In other words, your strategy should be to choose an interesting professionally-challenging issue where there is no lack of data that impacts your industry and issue. Again, the four selection criteria are: a current topic, interesting and controversial topic, the topic is professionally applicable, and the topic lends itself to decision analysis The Final Policy Paper must include a statement of policy issue, why the policy issue is important, some background on the topic and an initial discussion or analysis. Your overall paper should be eight to ten pages, double-spaced, using APA format