{"id":26,"date":"2010-07-23T16:10:47","date_gmt":"2010-07-23T16:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hub-dev.bates.edu\/media-relations\/op-ed-and-letter-to-the-editor-guidelines\/"},"modified":"2023-12-15T14:38:53","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T19:38:53","slug":"op-ed-and-letter-to-the-editor-guidelines-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/communications-marketing\/media-relations\/op-ed-and-letter-to-the-editor-guidelines-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-Ed and Letter to the Editor Guidelines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Some helpful guidelines and suggestions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>1. Op-ed articles and letters should express an opinion. Don\u2019t just analyze and issue; editors want to see fresh viewpoints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2. Don\u2019t be concerned that others may have better credentials to address a topic. It&#8217;s your knowledge and&nbsp; fresh approach that will engage an editor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3. Some general advice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Read some op-ed articles and letters to get a sense of their structure. For most venues, the op-ed you write should be about 600 to 800 words. A letter to the editor can be as short as one sentence or a paragraph.<\/li><li>Make your point in an interesting way, then support your statement with statistics, anecdotes, results of studies, etc. It is not enough to simply state a point of view; it must also be supported by logical argument.<\/li><li>Write tightly, simply, clearly. Avoid jargon. Don\u2019t try to explore every point. Focus on the point you feel is most interesting or important.<\/li><li>Try humor, if the piece lends itself to humor. Don&#8217;t be afraid to be personal if it helps make the point. Don\u2019t be afraid to be controversial, but don&#8217;t be outrageous. Be firm but not fanatical.<\/li><li>End with a solution or approach to the problem or issue.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>4. Ask the Bates Communications and Marketing Office for editing help: You can choose to accept or reject suggestions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>5. At the end of the op-ed or letter, briefly list your credentials to comment on a given subject. If you have written a book or lectured on the subject, say so. If a committee membership is pertinent, list it. Include telephone numbers and places you can be reached to discuss your comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>6. When writing on a topic relevant to your academic credentials, please follow your name with your position at Bates College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>7. We can&#8217;t guarantee that your submission will be used, but you can be sure that every effort will be made to place it. A succinct letter usually has a higher chance of placement because of limited space. It is usually important to write your piece while an issue is current, but be patient if your article is submitted to a series of periodicals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some helpful guidelines and suggestions 1. Op-ed articles and letters should express&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":50582,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_dimp_site_id":"","_dimp_override_contact":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"class_list":["post-26","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/communications-marketing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/communications-marketing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/communications-marketing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/communications-marketing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/communications-marketing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/communications-marketing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53638,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/communications-marketing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26\/revisions\/53638"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/communications-marketing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/50582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/communications-marketing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}