Crime

Investigating an Issue and Proposing a Solution: Op-Ed

 

For our final project you’ll be writing what is essentially an op-ed. Op-ed stands for opposite the editorial page and they typically appear in newspapers (though now you can also find them in online magazines). While Op-Eds, Letters to the Editor, and Opinion columns are all slightly different, they tend to be grouped together in one opinion section. This should tell you something! Op-eds are, in fact, based on opinion. But that does not mean they are pure opinion pieces. This is why for our op-ed we will be incorporating substantial evidence in order to support our positions. So what makes an op-ed?

 

Op-eds are typically written by people not employed by the newspaper. They are often a member of the local community who wants to weigh in on a particular topic or an expert that wants to get a position or information out there. This means these authors have something they want to say and they want their audience to listen to them! Something has motivated this person to sit down and write into their paper. They want to accomplish something. Op-eds, while they can be on a range of topics, always:

 

· Have a clear point of view

· Are supported by logical argumentation and evidence

· Are easy to understand

· Advocate for something specific

 

People don’t tend to write op-eds about issues that are settled or largely unimportant. So you won’t really see an op-ed about why vanilla custard is better than chocolate custard. One, we all know twist is the only right choice. Two, this isn’t really a pressing enough issue to inspire someone to sit down and write into their local or national paper. So you want to choose a topic that is meaningful. Op-eds are often on controversial subjects—new legislation, elections, court cases, etc.—but they can also be on very local issues—new apartment buildings and zoning, new parks, local taxes, school sports teams. You want to assume that your audience does not know a lot about your issue, or does not have all the information they need, so you will need to provide that background context as well as making your own argument.  

 

Quality of thought is very important here. While we have seen that using logical fallacies, misinformation, and intellectually dishonest tactics can often persuade an audience in the moment, they irreparably damage our ethos. Thus, we will avoid these things. We will present un-biased, reliable, research-based information and arguments to our reader. We will follow facts and logical thinking and use rhetoric not to manipulate our readers, but to best engage with and convince them of our position.

 

You will be focusing on a local issue. Your goal is to persuade your audience of your viewpoint or position on whatever topic you choose while also providing the necessary background information. This means you need to put forth a logical argument with solid evidence. You will also want to suggest some (supported by evidence) solutions to your issue.

 

Remember, you MUST choose a topic from the list provided or have had your topic approved by me.

My topic of interest first choice is Hate Crime Laws in South Carolina, USA.

Scholar source and annotated bibliography completed are all tied in together.

 

This paper will essentially have two main body parts: a background section where you will lay out the necessary contextual information on the topic you have chosen and your persuasive section where you link this research to your position on the local issue and attempt to persuade your audience to agree or implement your proposal.

 

NOTE: I am not necessarily asking you to solve these issues! For example, if you choose something like the opioid crisis, that is something experts have been trying to address for years. I do not expect you to suddenly come up with the magical solution that will fix it. What you would want to do is look at something that has been proven to help. It can be something small. Is there something another city implemented that really helped? A needle exchange program? Making sure all police and first responders have NARCAN? An outreach or educational program that has had good results? How might we implement a similar program?

 

Paper requirements:

1,250-1,500 words (about 5-6 pages)

5-6 reliable sources, ONE of which MUST BE SCHOLARLY (yes, you may use the same sources from your Annotated Bibliography, but you can also update/change them)

MLA formatting including a Works Cited page

 

Successful papers will:

· Have a clear and direct thesis that states the author’s position

· Be clearly organized with effective topic sentences

· Use sources in an effective and convincing way

· Use reliable sources (or, if a biased source is being used, the reasons for this are made clear to the reader)

· Correctly cite secondary sources

· Be on a specific topic

· Consider opposing views

· Have a clear and supported proposal

· Have a logical and fallacy free argument

· Keep their audience in mind

· Establish a trustworthy ethos

· Use direct and easy to understand language

 

Tone:

Op-eds tend to be semi-formal in tone. This means that you can use I and contractions, but they are not overly conversational. You are trying to create a reliable, knowledgeable ethos that makes people want to listen to you, so your writing should reflect that.

 

Example:

 

If I were writing on an issue in my former hometown of Quincy, MA I might choose diversity on the police force. This is an important issue because, while the city of Quincy is around 30% East Asian, only about 5% of the police force is of East Asian descent. For my background section I would want to look into scholarly studies on representation in police forces – what does the scholarship say on whether or not police forces should reflect the communities they serve? Once I’ve established the background for the issue I would want to examine the specific case of Quincy and provide my reader with census data and data from the police force. I might look into complaints filed by race or see if there are any local newspaper articles on the topic (there are!). I might also look into the justification government leaders have given for this discrepancy – what barriers do they face if they’ve tried to recruit more diverse officers. Finally, I would want to provide my reader with actions I think should be taken. These actions need to be reasonable and supported by evidence, so I’ll need to be really informed about what would work. This might mean looking at other cities with a similar problem and seeing what they’ve done to solve, or at least address, it.