An essential part of the process of writing briefs is the editorial review. This includes copy editing, peer reviewreview, and sometimes client panel and crowd review.

Copy editing
Copy editing is the work that an editor does to make formatting changes and improvements to a brief. Copy editing is done to make sure that the document you produce is clear and accurate--that no errors of fact, grammar, punctuation, or style get in the way of the intended message. A professional and independent copy editor is best to undertake this work.

A good copy-editor will:

• clean up spellingspelling.
• improve grammar and sentence structurestructure.
• achieve consistency of elements: e.g.e.g., Footwear and footwear, percent and %, Smart Shoe and "smart shoe",shoe," customise and customize, 6.1 billion and 14.2bn. In each case, one would select the variant that makes the most sense and apply it throughout.
• decide on American, BritishBritish, or other language usageusage.
• query the use of certain words - when the author writes 'progress',"progress," for example, does he/she actually mean 'process'? "process?"
• query the meaning of particular sentences that lack clarityclarity.
• check that the references in the report match the endnotes at the back and that they are ordered sequentiallysequentially.
• request that the sources be fully cited - dates, journal names, author namesnames, or URLs.
• suggest improvements to the overall structure of the document, the order in which the sections appear, the layoutlayout, and formattingformatting.

Copy-editing is relatively cheap and fast to do if given to a professional and can turn a well-written piece into a joyjoy, tootoo, to read. A copy-edited document will also give the reader confidence in the quality of the work.

Source: Copy-editing - Wikipedia

Peer review
Peer review is the process of subjecting a brief, researchresearch, or ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the same field. Peer review requires a community of experts in a given (and often narrowly defined) field, who are qualified and able to perform impartial review. Professional future briefs always involve peer review to encourage authors to meet the accepted standards of their discipline and prevent the dissemination of irrelevant findings, unwarranted claims, unacceptable interpretations, and personal views. Publications that have not undergone peer review are likely to be regarded with suspicion by scholars and professionals.

It is difficult for an individual author or research team to spot every mistake or flaw in a complicated piece of work. This is not necessarily a reflection on the individuals concerned, but because with a new and perhaps eclectic subject, an opportunity for improvement may be more obvious to someone with special expertise or who simply looks at it with a fresh eye. Therefore, showing work to others increases the probability that weaknesses will be identified and improved.

Source: Abridged from Peer Review - Wikipedia

Client review
It is also good practice to pass the brief for review to a client nominated panel for the same reasons. The purpose of these reviews is not to water down the findings or introduce further biases but to ensure that the brief is robust, current, highly relevant and stimulatingstimulating, and that the key question(s) it seeks to answer isare fully explored.

Wisdom of Crowdscrowds
If the briefing is not intended to be private then it can be shared with stakeholders and/or members of the public. Best practice here would allow commenting perhaps through publishing on a website.

Next: Developing perspectivePerspective Back: Future briefingsBriefings To: Shaping Tomorrow

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