Guidelines+for+working+papers

Working paper topics

 * 01 Innovation platforms, institutional strengthening, value chains
 * 02 Productivity enhancement
 * 03 Scaling and knowledge exchange

Key messages
Decide what key messages you want to convey. Base the draft around these messages.

Possible structure
Depends on whether you intend the working paper to be a forerunner of a journal article or to be a standalone paper. If you want to turn it into a journal article later, use a structure and length that the journal you are targeting will accept. If it is to stay as a working paper, you have more freedom to choose the structure you want. Target length: 7,500–10,000 words (15–20 A4 pages) Consider using the following structure:

Lead

 * Introduces the subject, grabs the reader’s attention.
 * Explains what the story is about.
 * Describes the problem and explains why it is important.
 * Explains the context and causes of the problem, as well as the effects it has.
 * Introduces the key actors and their roles.
 * Explains what you did, how you did it, the problems you encountered, and what you did to overcome them.
 * Describes the results of the intervention, the benefits gained, and whether the benefits have spread. Give evidence to support your assertions.
 * Explains whether the approach can be used elsewhere, and the problems that remain.
 * Describes what you learned and gives recommendations for the future

Another possible structure
This is a traditional journal article structure.

Introduction

 * Background, purpose, review of the literature
 * Presentation of the findings, data, tables, graphs

Illustrations
Bring ideas for illustrations – flow diagrams, labelled diagrams, or drawings. We can make sketches during the writeshop and commission an artist to draw them later. Each brief will have one or perhaps two illustrations.

Photos
We can include photos to illustrate the text, so bring them with you. Requirements: excellent quality, stunning composition, superb lighting. JPG format, at least 1 megabyte in size. Make sure you know who the photo should be attributed to, and that you have permission to use it. Write a caption describing what the photo shows and how it relates to the topic of the brief. Bring other photos with you for the artists to refer to when they are drawing the illustrations.

Authors
Names and contact information (organization, email address) of the authors or others who can provide more information.