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How To Write an Op-ed: A Step By Step Guide

There’s a formula that we call the “ABCs” that can be used to write compelling op-eds, columns, or blogs. The same formula can also be used to write almost any document that offers up an argument or gives advice. This is a “news flash lede,” a comment that will make sense in a  moment .

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The ABC Formula

This formula for writing op-eds is based on our experience and our op-eds that appeared in the  New York Times , the  Wall Street Journal , and the  Washington Post .  I first came across a version of this formula while I was at  US News and World Report . It was called “FLUCK,” and we have tweaked it a bit since then. 

This is probably obvious, but this ABC formula is meant to guide writers rather than restrict them. In other words, these are recommendations, not a rigid set of instructions.

Better yet, think of the formula as a flexible template for making an effective argument in print—one that you personalize with your specific style, topic, and intended audience in mind.

This guide is divided into five parts.

Part I: Introduction:  In this section, we give a brief overview of the approach and discuss the importance of writing and opinion.

Part II: The ABCs:  Here we cover the important steps in writing for your audience: Attention, Billboard, and Context.

PART III: The ABCS in Example:  In this section, we give you different examples of the ABCs in action and how to effectively use them.

PART IV: Pitching:  Here we will go over how to effectively pitch ideas and submit ideas to an editor for publication.

PART V: Final tips and FAQs: Here we go over a few more key things to do and answer the most commonly asked questions.

Part I: Introduction To Op-Eds

Op-eds are one of the most powerful tools in communications today. They can make a career. They can break a career.

But there’s often lots of mystery around editorials and op-eds. I mean: What does op-ed even stand for?

Well, let’s start with editorials. Editorials are columns written by a member of a publication’s board or editors, and they are meant to represent the view of the publication. While reporting has the main purpose of informing the public, editorials can serve a large number of purposes. But typically editorials aim to persuade an audience on a controversial issue.

Op-eds, on the other hand, are “opposite the editorial” page columns. They began as a way for an author to present an opinion that opposed the one on the editorial board. Note that an op-ed is different than a letter to the editor, which is when someone writes a note to complain about an article, and that note is published. Think of a letter to the editor as an old, more stodgy form of the comments section of an article.

The New York Times  produced the first modern op-ed in 1970, and over time, op-eds became a way for people to simply express their opinions in the media. They tend to be written by experts, observers, or someone passionate about a topic, and as media in general becomes more partisan, op-eds have become more and more common.

How to start . The first step for writing an op-ed is to be sure to: Make. An. Argument.

Many op-eds fail because they just summarize key details. But, wrong or right, op-eds need to advance a strong contention. They need to assert something, and the first step is to write down your argument.

Here are some examples:

• I want to write an op-ed on the plague that are drinks that overflow with ice cubes. This op-ed would argue that restaurants serve drinks with too many ice cubes.
• Superman is clearly better than Batman. In this op-ed, I would convince readers why Superman is a better superhero than Batman.
• My op-ed is on lowering the voting age in America. An op-ed on this topic would list reasons why Congress should pass a law to allow those who are 14 years old like me to be able to vote in elections.

How to write.  So you have yourself an argument. It’s now time to write the op-ed. When it comes to writing, this guide assumes a decent command of the English language; we’re not going to cover the basics of nouns and verbs. However, keep in mind a few things:

• Blogs, op-eds, and columns are short.  Less than 1,000 words. Usually between 500 and 700 words. Many blogs are just a few hundred words, basically a few graphs and a pull quote often does the job.
• Simplicity, logic, and clarity are your best friends  when it comes to writing op-eds and blogs. In other words, write like a middle schooler. Use short sentences and clear words. Paragraphs should be less than four sentences. Please take a look at Strunk and White for more information. I used to work with John Podesta, who has written many great op-eds, and he was rumored to have given his staff a copy of Strunk and White on their first day of employment.
• Love yourself topic sentences.  The first sentence of each paragraph needs to be strong, and your topic sentences should give an overall idea of what’s to follow. In other words, a reader should be able to grasp your article’s argument by reading the first sentence of each paragraph.

How to make an argument.  This guide is not for reporters or news writers. That’s journalism. This guide is for people who make arguments. So keep in mind the following:

• Evidence . This might be obvious, but you need evidence to support your argument. This means data in the forms of published studies, government statistics, and anything that offers cold facts. Stories are good and can support your argument. But try and go beyond a good anecdote.
• Tone . Check out the bloggers and columnists that are in the publications that you’re aiming for, and try to emulate them when it comes to their  argumentative tone . Is their tone critical? Humorous? Breezy? Your tone largely hinges on what type of outlet you are writing for, which brings us to…
• Audience .  Almost everything in your article — from what type of language you use to your tone — depends on your audience. A piece for a children’s magazine is going to read differently than, say, an op-ed in the Washington Post. The best way to familiarize yourself with your audience is to read pieces that have already been published in the outlet you are writing for, or hoping to write for. Take note of how the author presents her argument and then adjust yours accordingly.

Sidebar: Advice vs Argument.  Offering advice in the form of a how-to article — like what you’re reading right now — is different than putting forth an argument in an actual op-ed piece.

That said, advice pieces, like this  one  by Lifehacker or this  one  by Hubspot, follow much of the same ABC formula. For instance, advice pieces will still often begin with an attention-grabbing opener and contextualize their subject matter.

However, instead of trying to make an argument in the body of the article, the advice pieces will typically list five to ten ways of “how to do” something. For example, “How to cook chicken quesadillas” or “How to ask someone out on a date.”

The primary purpose of an advice piece is to inform rather than to convince. In other words, advice pieces describe what you could do, while op-ed pieces show us what we should do.

Part II: Dissecting The ABC Approach

Formula.  Six steps make up the ABC method, and yes, that means it should be called the ABCDEF method. Either way, here are the steps:

Attention  (sometimes called the lede): Here’s your chance to grab the reader’s attention. The opening of an opinion piece should bring the reader into the article quickly. This is also sometimes referred to as the flash or the lede, and there are two types of flash introductions. They are: Option 1.  Narrative flash . A narrative flash is a story that brings readers into the article. It should be some sort of narrative hook that grabs attention and entices the reader to delve further into the piece. A brief and descriptive anecdote often works well as a narrative flash. It simultaneously catches the reader’s attention and hints at the weightier argument and evidence yet to come.

When I first started writing for US News, I wrote a flash lede to introduce an article about paddling school children. Here’s that text:

Ben Line didn’t think the assistant principal had the strength or the gumption. But he was wrong. The 13-year-old alleges that the educator hit him twice with a paddle in January, so hard it left scarlet lines across his buttocks. Ben’s crime? He says he talked back to a teacher in class, calling a math problem “dumb.”

Option 2.  News flash . Some pieces — especially those tied to the news — can have a lede without a narrative start. Other pieces, including many op-eds, are simply too short to begin with a narrative flash. In either of these instances, using the news flash as your lede is likely your best bet.

If I were writing a news flash lede for the paddling piece, I might start with something as simple as: Congress again is considering legislation to outlaw paddling.

• Billboard  (also often called the nut graph): The billboard portion of the lede should do two things:

First, the “billboard” section should make an argument that elevates the stakes and begins to introduce general evidence and context for the argument. So start to introduce some general evidence to support your argument in the nut portion of the lede.

For an example of a nut graph for a longer piece on say, sibling-on-sibling rivalry, consider the following:  The Smith sisters exemplify a disturbing trend. Research indicates that violence between siblings—defined as the physical, emotional, or sexual abuse of one sibling by another, ranging from mild to highly violent—is likely more common than child abuse by parents. A new report from the University of Michigan Health System indicates the most violent members of American families are indeed the children. Data suggests that three out of 100 children are considered dangerously violent toward a brother or sister, and nine-year-old Kayla Smith is one of those victims: “My sister used to get mad and hit me every once in a while, but now it happens at least twice a week. She just goes crazy sometimes. She’s broken my nose, kicked out two teeth, and dislocated my shoulder.”

Second, the billboard should begin to lay the framework of the piece and flush out important details—with important story components like Who, What, When, Where, How, Why, etc. A good billboard graph often ends with a quote or call to action. Think of it like this: if someone reads only your “billboard” section, she should be able to grasp your argument and the basic details. If you use a narrative flash lede, then the nut paragraph often starts with something like: They are not alone. So in the padding article, for instance, the nut might have been: “Ben is not alone. In fact, 160,000 students are subject to corporal punishment in U.S. schools each year, according to a 2016 social policy report.”

For another example, here’s a history graph from a recent op-ed by John Podesta that ran in the  Washington Post :

“To give some context: On Oct. 7, 2016, WikiLeaks began leaking emails from my personal inbox that had been hacked by Russian intelligence operatives. A few days earlier, Stone — a longtime Republican operative and close confidant of then-candidate Donald Trump — had mysteriously predicted that the organization would reveal damaging information about the Clinton campaign. And weeks before that, he’d even tweeted: ‘Trust me, it will soon [be] Podesta’s time in the barrel.’”

If you’re writing an advice piece, then similar advice applies. A how-to guide for Photoshop, for example, might include recent changes to the program and information on the many ways that Photoshop can be used to edit pictures.

• Demonstrate:  In this section, you must offer specific details to support your argument. If writing an op-ed, this section can be three or four paragraphs long. If writing a column, this section can be six or ten paragraphs long. Either way, the section should outline the most compelling evidence to support your thesis. For my paddling article, for instance, I offered this argument paragraph:  The problem with corporal punishment, Straus stresses, is that it has lasting effects that include increased aggression and social difficulties. Specifically, Straus studied more than 800 mothers over a period from 1988 to 1992 and found that children who were spanked were more rebellious after four years, even after controlling for their initial behaviors. Groups that advocate for children, like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Education Association, oppose the practice in schools for those reasons.

While narrative can be vital when capturing a reader’s attention, it’s equally important to offer hard facts in the evidence section. When demonstrating the details of your argument, be sure to present accurate facts from reputable sources. Studies published in established journals are a good source of evidence, for instance, but blogs with unverified claims are not.

Also, when providing supporting details, you should think about using what the Ancient Greeks called ethos, pathos, and logos. To explain, ethos refers to appeals based on your credibility, that you’re someone worth listening to. For example, if you are arguing why steroids should be banned in baseball, you might talk about how you once used steroids and their terrible impact on your health.

Pathos refers to using evidence that plays to the emotions. For example, if you are trying to show why people should evacuate during hurricanes, you might describe a family who lost their seven-year-old child during a hurricane.

Logos refers to logical statements, typically based on facts and statistics. For example, if you are trying to convince the audience why they should join the military when they are young, provide statistics on their income when they retire and the benefits they receive while in the military.

• Equivocate : You should strengthen your argument by including at least one graph that briefly describes—and then discounts—the strongest counterargument to your point. This is often called the “to be sure” paragraph, and it hedges your bets about the clarity of your piece with phrases such as “to be sure” or “in other words.”Here’s an  example  from a recent op-ed in Bloomberg:  Of course, that doesn’t mean that Hispanics simply change while other Americans stay the same. In  his 2017 book  “The Other Side of Assimilation: How Immigrants Are Changing American Life,” Jimenez recounts how more established American groups change their culture and broaden their horizons based on their personal relationships with more recently arrived immigrant groups. Assimilation isn’t slavish conformity to white norms, but a two-way process where the U.S. is changed by each new group that arrives.
• Forward : This is where you wrap up your piece. It carries greater impact, though, if you can write an ending that has some oomph to it and really looks forward. So try to provide some parting thoughts and, when appropriate to the topic, draw your readers to look toward the future. If you began with a narrative flash lede, it’s optimal whenever possible to find a way to tie back into that introductory story. It allows you to simultaneously finalize the premise of your argument and neatly conclude your article. In an  op-ed  about gun violence that ran last year, minister Jeff Blattner looks toward the future and seamlessly ties the end of his piece back to his lede with this simple but effective kicker:  If we don’t commit ourselves to solving them together—to seeing one another as part of a bigger “us”—we may reap a whirlwind of ever-widening division. Let Pittsburgh, in its grief, show us the way.

An op-ed needs to advance a strong contention. It needs to assert something, and and the first step is write down your argument.

Part III: The ABCs In Example

Now that we have gone over the basic ABC formula, let’s examine a recent blog item and identify the six ABC steps.

Written by E.A. Crunden, the piece appeared in  ThinkProgress  and is titled, “ Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is embroiled in more than one scandal .”

• Attention :  “A controversial contract benefiting a small company based in his hometown is only the latest possible corruption scandal linked to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke…” This opening sentence introduces the most recent news on Zinke while also signaling that other scandals might be discussed in the article.
• Billboard :  “On Monday, nonprofit watchdog group the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) accused Zinke’s dormant congressional campaign of dodging rules prohibiting individuals from converting political donations into individual revenue.” The second paragraph adds more information about Zinke’s alleged missteps.
• Context :  “Zinke’s other ethical close-calls, as the CLC noted, are plentiful.”  This provides some background to the main argument and lets the reader know that Zinke has a long history of questionable ethics, which the author expands upon in the following paragraphs.

• Demonstrate :  “As a Montana congressman, Zinke took thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from oil and gas companies, many of whom drill on the same public lands he now oversees…”  Here the author gives specific evidence of Zinke’s actions that some believe to be unethical. This fortifies the argument. The following few paragraphs continue in this vein.

• Equivocate :  “I had absolutely nothing to do with Whitefish Energy receiving a contract in Puerto Rico,” the interior secretary wrote in a statement on Friday.”  In this case, the equivocation appears in the form of a counterargument. The writer goes on to dismiss it by presenting additional clarifying evidence to support his point.
• Forward:   “Monday’s complaint comes amid a Special Counsel investigation into Zinke’s spending habits, as well as a separate investigation opened by the Interior Department’s inspector general. Audits into Puerto Rico’s canceled contract with Whitefish Energy Holdings are also ongoing.”  These final two sentences “zoom out” from the specifics of the article, showing that the main news item (i.e., Zinke’s poor ethics) will continue to be relevant in the future. These forward-looking sentences also circle back neatly to the point of the flash news lede by reiterating that “Monday’s complaint” is yet another in a growing list against Zinke.

Part IV: Pitching

When it comes to op-eds, most outlets want to review a finished article. In other words, you write the op-ed and then shop it around to different editors. In some cases, the outlet might want a pitch — or brief summary— of the op-ed before you write it.

Either way, you’ll need a short summary, even just a few sentences that describe your argument. Here is an example of the pitch that I wrote that landed me on the front page of the Washington Post’s Outlook section. Note that this pitch is long, but I was aiming for a more feature-like op-ed.

I wanted to pitch a first-person piece looking at Neurocore, the questionable brain-training program that’s funded by Betsy DeVos.  

DeVos just got confirmed as Secretary of Education, and for years, she’s been one of the major investors in Neurocore. Located in Michigan and Florida, the company makes some outlandish promises about brain-based training. The firm has argued, for instance, that its neuro-feedback programs can increase a person’s IQ by up to 12 points.

I was going to take Neurocore’s diagnostic program to get a better sense of the company’s claims. As part of the story, I was also going to discuss the research on neuro-feedback, which is pretty weak. Insurance companies are also skeptical, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan recently refused to reimburse for Neurocore’s treatments. I’d also discuss some of my research in this area and talk about some of the dangers of spreading myths about learning.

There’s been some recent coverage of Neurocore. But the articles have typically focused on the conflict of interest posed by the company since DeVos herself has refused to disinvest. What’s more, no one appears to have written a first-person piece describing the experience of attending one of their brain training diagnostic sessions.

A few bits of advice:

• Newsy.  Whenever possible, build off the news. A good way to drum up interest in your piece is to connect it to current events. People naturally are interested in reading op-eds that are linked to recent news pieces — so, an op-ed on Electoral College reform will be more relevant around election season, for instance. It’s often effective to pitch your piece following a major news event. Even better if you can pitch your op-ed in advance; for example, a piece on voter suppression in the United States might be pitched in advance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Here’s an  article  from McGill University that has some advice on this idea.
• Tailor.  Again, in this step of the process, it’s worth considering the audience of the publication. For example, if you’re writing in the business section of a newspaper, you’ll want to frame the article around business. If you are writing for a sports magazine, you’ll want to write about topics like “Who is the greatest golfer of all time, Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus?”

Also, websites sometimes have information on pitching their editors. Be sure to follow whatever specific advice they give — this will improve your chances of catching an editor’s eye.

Advice pieces describe what you could do, while op-ed pieces show us what we should do.

Part V: FAQs And Tips

I have lots to say. Can I write a 3,000-word op-ed?

Not really. Most blog articles, op-eds, and columns are short. What’s more, your idea is more likely to gain traction if it’s clear and simple. Take the Bible. It can be broken down to a simple idea: Love one another as you love yourself. Or take the Bill of Rights. It can be shortened to: Individuals have protections.

I want to tell a story. Can I do that?

Maybe. If you do, keep it short and reference the story at the top and maybe again at the bottom. But again, the key to an op-ed is that it makes an argument.

What should do before I hit submit?

We could suggest two things:

• Make sure you cite all your sources. Avoid plagiarism of any kind. If you’re in doubt, provide a citation via a link or include endnotes citing your sources.
• Check your facts. The  New York Times  op-ed columnist Bret Stephens says it this way: “Sweat the small stuff. Read over each sentence—read it aloud—and ask yourself: Is this true? Can I defend every single word of it? Did I get the facts, quotes, dates, and spellings exactly right? Yes, sometimes those spellings are hard: the president of Turkmenistan is Gurbanguly Malikguliyevich Berdymukhammedov. But, believe me, nothing’s worse than having to run a correction.” For more guidance, see Stephen’s  list of tips for aspiring op-ed writers .
• Read it out loud. Before I submit something, I’ll read it out loud. It helps me catch typos and other errors. For more on talking out loud as a tool, see this  article  that I pulled together some time ago.

What’s the difference between a blog article and an op-ed?

A blog article can be about anything such as “What I had for lunch today” or “Why I love Disney World.” An op-ed typically revolves around something in the news and is meant to be persuasive. It typically runs in a news outlet of some kind.

What if no one takes my op-ed?

Be patient. You might need to offer your op-ed to multiple outlets before someone decides to publish it, and you can always tweak the op-ed to make it more news-y, tying the article to something that happened in the news that day or week.

Also, look for ways to improve the op-ed. You might, for instance, focus on changing the “attention” section to make it more creative and interesting or try to improve the context section.

What is the best way to start writing an op-ed?

Before writing, make sure to create an outline. I will often write out my topic sentences and make sure that I’m making a strong, evidence-based argument. Then I’ll focus on a creative way to open my op-ed.

Don’t worry if you get writer’s block while writing the “attention” step. You can always come back and make it more interesting. Really, the most important step is having an outline.

Should I hyperlink?

Yes, include hyperlinks in your articles to provide your readers with easy access to additional information.

–Ulrich Boser

15 thoughts on “How To Write an Op-ed: A Step By Step Guide”

Thanks for this excellent refresher!

I am writing this with the hope that the leasing of the port of Haifa will not come to fruition,It will give the Chinese a strong foothold in the middle east. No longer will the United States 6th fleet have a home away from home..May i remind those who are in command that NO OTHER COUNTRY in the world has helped Israel more than the US.and it would be a slap in the face of our best friend and cause many , many consequences in the future for the state of Israel. I pray to G-D that those in charge will come to their senses and hopefully cancel the agreement. M A, Modiin

Excellent piece of writing ideas, Thanks a lot for sharing these amazing tricks.

INTERESABTE TODA LA INFORMACION

Gracias, Julio!

Good information

So glad you enjoyed it!

Glad it was helpful. Did I miss something in your comment?

Well done, But it’s needs practice!! Hands on!

Write with is one of the most critical steps of the writing process and is probably relevant to the first point. If you want to get your blood pumping and give it your best, you might want to write with passion, and give it all you got. How do you do this? Make sure that you have the right mindset whenever you are writing.

Create a five-paragraph editorial about a topic that matters to you.

Reading this I realized I should get some more information on this subject. I feel like there’s a gap in my knowledge. Anyway, thanks.

Thank you very much for your really helpful tips. I’m currently writing a lesson plan to help students write better opinion pieces and your hands-on approach, if a bit too detailed for my needs, is truly valuable. I hope my students will see it the same way 😉

Thank you for sharing your expertise. Your advice on incorporating storytelling, providing evidence, and addressing counterarguments is invaluable for ensuring the effectiveness and persuasiveness of op-eds.

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What Is an Op-Ed Article? Op-Ed Examples, Guidelines, and More

Have you ever wondered the name of those articles in newspapers or online that seem to be more conversational in style than standard news stories?

These are called op-ed articles, and they are an entirely different style and format of writing that is typically found in the opinion section of a newspaper, magazine, or website.

In this article, I’m going to answer the question what is an op-ed article by digging into exactly what an op-ed article is as well as looking at some op-ed examples, how to write an op-ed, and how (and where) to submit an op-ed.

What Is an Op-Ed Article?

Op-ed stands for “opposite the editorial page,” and an op-ed article is an article in which the author states their opinion about a given topic, often with a view to persuade the reader toward their way of thinking.

Despite the “op” in “op-ed” not standing for “opinion,” op-eds are often called opinion pieces because, unlike standard news articles, the authors of op-eds are encouraged to give their opinions on a certain topic, as opposed to simply reporting the news.

Op-eds are sometimes written by a ghostwriter, which means somebody writes the op-ed on behalf of someone else (such as a businessperson or politician), then the intended author makes some tweaks, with the final version being attributed—bylined—to the intended author instead of the ghostwriter.

Anonymous Op-Eds

Op-eds can also be anonymous, although for larger publications, such as the New York Times , Wall Street Journal , and Washington Post , an anonymous op-ed is typically only allowed when the writer’s job (or in extreme cases, their life) would be jeopardized if their name or other distinguishing details were disclosed. In cases when an anonymous op-ed is allowed to go ahead, the author’s true identity is known by the publisher.

Whether or not anonymous op-eds should be allowed to be published comes up for frequent scrutiny, the most recent episode of which being in September 2018 after the New York Times published an anonymous opinion piece by a senior official working in the Trump administration. (In October 2020, former chief of staff in the Department of Homeland Security, Miles Taylor, publicly confirmed that he had authored the article.)

Op-Ed Responses

Often, op-ed articles are written in response to something that is happening in the news at a particular time; such as during a climate change summit or election cycle, or they are written as a response to another op-ed, whether the first opinion piece was published in the same newspaper or, for example, somebody decided to write an op-ed in the New York Times in response to an op-ed that appeared in the Wall Street Journal .

While there is no generalized word limit for an op-ed, most published op-eds run under 1,000 words. The New York Times notes that:

Written essays typically run from 800 to 1,200 words, although we sometimes publish essays that are shorter or longer.

Op-Ed Examples

For an article to be an op-ed it must, as noted above, appear in an opinion column. As many people find themselves reading op-eds after clicking a link online, op-ed columns typically also have the words ‘Opinion’ or ‘Guest Essay’ displayed above or close to the column’s headline.

If you’re looking for op-ed examples, look no further than the opinion pages of three of the largest newspapers in the United States, namely the New York Times , Wall Street Journal , and Washington Post opinion pages (for a longer list, see the How (and Where) to Submit an Op-Ed section below).

The Difference Between Op-Eds and Regular Articles

Some columns that look like a good op-ed article example are in fact lifestyle articles that, while not being timely in relation to the news of the day, aren’t defined as op-ed articles because they are purely factual, with no opinion being given.

Articles I have personally written for the New York Times , New York Observer , Quartz , and similar publications had to be meticulously sourced and fact-checked before publication; and my opinion surrounding any of the topics in question was not taken into consideration, unlike for an op-ed.

That’s not to say you can simply make up facts when writing an op-ed. You can’t have your own opinion about the year Queen Elizabeth II was born (1926), the height of the Empire State Building (1,454 ft.), or the length of the Great Wall of China (21,196 km). Depending on what your op-ed is discussing, you can sprinkle your opinion in around facts, but those facts must be deep-rooted in order for your audience to get on board with your argument—and for a reputable source to choose to print your article.

How to Write an Op-Ed

Of course, knowing what an op-ed is and knowing how to write an op-ed are two different things entirely.

Here are my top five tips on how to write an op-ed:

• Get to the point: The moment a reader (or your potential editor) starts reading your op-ed article they need to know what it is about, and why it matters to them.
• Have a clear thesis: Submitting a meandering opinion column is a surefire way to ensure you do not hear back from the editor. Outline your entire op-ed before sitting down to write, and keep a clear thesis in mind.
• Write what you know: While many factors go into the op-ed selection process, having authority in the topic you’re writing about, as well as a persuasive argument, is required above all else.
• Write for the publication you’re pitching: Don’t use technical phrases if it is a non-technical publication. Look into what they have published on your topic in the past. How can you advance this discussion?
• Stick to the rules: Most op-ed sections list their rules for publication. These often include information on how to source your facts, a well as the house style.

How (and Where) to Submit an Op-Ed

It’s easy to submit an op-ed to either a national or local newspaper, or to a trade publication in your field. Assuming you’ve read my advice on how to write an op-ed above, here are the links you’ll need to submit an op-ed to the following newspapers:

• New York Times
• Wall Street Journal
• Washington Post
• Los Angeles Times
• Houston Chronicle
• Chicago Tribune
• San Francisco Chronicle
• Tampa Bay Times
• Dallas Morning News
• Denver Post
• Seattle Times

If you want to submit an op-ed to your local newspaper or a trade publication, look in their opinion columns for information on how to send in your submission, or search for their name alongside the word “submissions” online.

I hope this article on what an op-ed article is will help you on your journey toward writing and submitting your first op-ed to a major newspaper or publication.

If you’re interested in hearing more from me, be sure to subscribe to my free email newsletter , and if you enjoyed this article, please share it on social media, link to it from your website, or bookmark it so you can come back to it often. ∎

Benjamin Spall

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How to Write An Op-Ed: The Ultimate Guide (2024)

Learn how to write a compelling op-ed with our step-by-step guide. From research to revisions, discover the secrets to crafting impactful opinion pieces.

Table of contents

For effective op-ed writing, keep it short (700-800 words) with a clear thread throughout. 

Identify your topic and theme early, back your argument up with solid research, and use a compelling opening and memorable ending. 

Maintain a consistent, engaging voice, and revise for clarity, coherence, and accuracy.

What is an op ed piece?

Originally, an op-ed appeared op posite the ed itorial page in a newspaper (hence, ‘op-ed’).

Today, it represents a column where the writer shares a strong, informed, and focused opinion on a relevant topic for a specific audience, typically in a media outlet.

In this guide, we’ll explore the key aspects of opinion writing, from defining your point to crafting a compelling argument.

5 key features of a typical op ed column

When writing an op ed article, consider the following factors to make your piece stand out:

• Length : Keep your op-ed short, usually between 700 and 800 words. This forces you to be concise and get straight to the point. For example, if you’re writing about climate change, briefly present alarming statistics and propose specific actions instead of diving into the lengthy science.
• Defined point : Ensure your op ed submission has a clear main point. Communicate this point from the start and reinforce it throughout the piece. For instance, if you’re arguing for renewable energy, focus on the benefits and feasibility of switching to renewable sources.
• Point of view : Your perspective is crucial, and your op-ed should reflect a strong and unique viewpoint . For example, if you’re discussing educational reform, argue for the importance of integrating technology into classrooms from your perspective as a teacher who has seen its benefits firsthand.
• Clarity : Ensure your argument is clear and logical. Your readers should easily understand your position and the reasons behind it. For example, if you’re writing about public health for an online publication, clearly outline the steps needed to improve healthcare access.
• Voice : Every op ed column should contain the columnist’s strong, unique voice. This makes your piece engaging and personal. For example, if you’re discussing urban development, share personal stories of how changes in the city have impacted your community in your everyday speaking style. Your opinion editor will work with you to shape it for the letter.

Focusing on these elements will help you craft a resonant op-ed or column.

Questions to ask for an effective op ed project

Before you start writing your op-ed or column, ask yourself the following questions to ensure your piece is clear and impactful:

• Do I have a clear point to make? : Make sure you have a specific point you want to convey, and clearly define your main argument. For example, if you’re writing about the importance of mental health awareness, your main point might be that society needs to prioritize mental health resources and support. State this argument upfront in your letter.
• Who cares? : Identify your target audience and explain why your argument matters to them. Writing with a specific audience in mind can help you tailor your message. For instance, if you’re addressing parents in your column about school nutrition, explain why healthy meals are crucial for their children’s academic performance and well-being . This will resonate better than if you were writing for an average reader.
• Is there substance to my argument? : Back up your argument with facts, data, expertise, and solid reasoning. For example, if you’re advocating for renewable energy, provide statistics on its environmental and economic benefits. An essay with an informed opinion on the issue retains your readers’ attention better.

Answering these questions will help aspiring op-ed writers create a focused and persuasive opinion column.

Topic and theme

Every successful op-ed or column must have a clearly defined topic and theme. 

These elements are crucial in guiding your writing and ensuring your piece is coherent and focused.

• Topic definition : Identify the main subject of your column. This is the person, place, issue, incident, or thing you’ll focus on. Usually, you should state the topic in the first paragraph. For example, if you’re writing about climate change, your topic might be the impact of rising sea levels on coastal cities .
• Theme exploration : Beyond the topic, explore the overarching idea or message of your column. This is the big picture that ties everything together. Your theme should convey why your topic is important. For instance, in a column about climate change, your theme might be the urgent need for sustainable practices to protect future generations .
• Placement : Decide where to introduce the topic and theme in your piece. Often, the topic is introduced early on, while the theme can appear early or develop as the piece progresses. For example, you might start with a personal experience about experiencing extreme weather, then expand to the broader theme of the global climate crisis.

By clearly defining your topic and theme, you create a strong foundation for your op-ed or column. 

This helps you stay focused and ensures your readers understand the importance of what you’re discussing.

To write a compelling op-ed or column, you need to base your opinion(s) on solid research. This gives your piece credibility and depth. 

Here are the key aspects of conducting research for your op-ed:

Research your op ed idea widely

Your op-ed should be grounded in facts, quotations, citations, or data from reliable sources. 

This supports your argument(s) and makes your piece more persuasive. 

For example, if you’re writing about healthcare reform, include statistics from reputable health organizations and recent policy updates from an elected official.

Choose the right research method

There are two primary methods of research you can use:

• Field research : This involves going to the scene, conducting interviews, and gathering primary materials, observations, and knowledge. For instance, if you’re writing about local environmental issues, you might visit affected areas, interview residents, and observe the conditions firsthand.
• Library and internet research : This involves using secondary sources such as graphs, charts, scholarly articles, and data from the internet. For example, if you’re writing about the economic impact of remote work, you could cite studies and reports from academic journals and research institutions. Additional resources to leverage include media articles, a related press release, or books.

Conducting thorough research ensures your op-ed or column is well-informed and credible. 

It also helps you provide a balanced view and anticipate counterarguments, strengthening your overall argument.

A strong opening grabs your readers’ attention and sets the stage for your argument. 

Here’s how to craft an effective opening:

• Hook : Start with a compelling hook to draw readers in. This could be a strong claim, a surprising fact, a metaphor, a mystery, or a counter-intuitive observation. For example, you might begin an op-ed piece on education reform with a startling statistic: “In our city’s schools, only 60% of students graduate on time.”  
• Strong claim : “We must overhaul our education system now.”
• Surprising fact : “Did you know that over half of our city’s schools lack basic supplies?”
• Metaphor : “Our current education system is a sinking ship, and we need to steer it to safety.”
• Mystery : “Why are our brightest students failing?”
• Counter-intuitive observation : “Smaller classrooms might not be the solution to better education.”  
• Foundation : The opening should briefly lay the foundation for your argument. Introduce the main point you will be discussing and hint at the direction your piece will take. For instance, after presenting a startling statistic about graduation rates, you might hint at the solutions you will explore: “To address this crisis, we must rethink our approach to teaching and learning.”

Crafting a strong opening sets the tone for your op-ed page and encourages readers to keep reading. 

We’ve written a separate guide to intros that you can learn from as an aspiring op-ed writer or editor.

Having a strong voice is critical to a successful op-ed or column. 

Your voice makes your piece engaging and unique, allowing readers to connect with your perspective on an important issue. 

Here’s how to develop and maintain a compelling voice:

The typical op-ed is conversational. Imagine yourself having a chat with your readers on a specific topic, and you’d be on the right track. 

Use lots of “you” and “I” to create a direct and personal connection: 

“You might think remote work is just a trend, but I believe it’s here to stay.”

Range of voice

Your voice can vary depending on the specific topic and your style. 

It can be contemplative, descriptive, humorous, authoritative, or any combination of these. 

For instance:

• Authoritative : “Research shows that smaller class sizes lead to better student outcomes.”
• Contemplative : “Reflecting on our education system, it’s clear we need change.”
• Descriptive : “Picture a classroom where every child feels engaged and inspired.”
• Humorous : “If our classrooms were as outdated as our education policies, we’d still be using chalk and slate.”

Consistency

Maintain a consistent voice throughout your op-ed. 

This helps keep your readers engaged and ensures your piece feels cohesive. 

For example, if you start with a conversational tone, don’t switch to an overly formal style halfway through.

Sometimes, your voice might be influenced by the publication you’re writing for. 

Get in the habit of reading other columns or op-eds from the same publication to understand the preferred style. 

For instance, if you’re writing for a publication known for its witty and informal tone, your piece should match that style. 

On the other hand, a syndicated columnist for the Washington Post would probably write with a different tone.

By developing a strong, consistent voice, you make your op-ed more engaging and relatable, ensuring that your readers stay interested and understand your perspective.

The ending of your op-ed is just as important as the opening. 

A strong conclusion leaves a lasting impression on your readers and reinforces your main argument.

You have two types of endings: 

• Open ending : This type of ending suggests rather than states a conclusion, leaving the reader to ponder. For example, “What kind of future do we want for our children?”
• Closed ending : This type of ending clearly states the conclusion, resolving the main point of the piece. For example, “Implementing these reforms will ensure every child has the opportunity to succeed.”

Here’s how to create an effective ending:

• Echo or answer the introduction : Your ending should connect back to your opening, either by echoing it or answering a question posed at the beginning. For example, if you started with a statistic about graduation rates, you might end with a hopeful note on how proposed reforms could improve those rates.
• Foreshadowing : The ending should be foreshadowed by thematic statements throughout the piece. This creates a sense of cohesion and ensures your argument flows logically to its conclusion. For instance, if you’ve discussed various education reforms, your ending might highlight the most promising solution.
• Memorable detail : The last sentence should be one of the most memorable parts of your op-ed. Use a powerful statement, a call to action, or a poignant observation to leave a strong impression. For example, “Our children’s future depends on the choices we make today.”

By crafting a strong ending, you ensure that your op-ed leaves a lasting impact on your readers, effectively driving home your main points and encouraging further thought or action.

Revision checklist for a successful op ed page

Revising your op-ed or column is essential to ensure clarity, coherence, and impact. 

Use this checklist to guide your revision process:

• Accuracy : Verify all facts, statistics, and quotes. Ensure that your information is correct and comes from reliable sources. For example, double-check data from health organizations if you’re writing about healthcare.
• Clarity : Ensure your ideas are communicated clearly. Avoid jargon and complex sentences. For example, instead of saying, “The implementation of educational reforms will necessitate substantial fiscal investments,” say, “We need to spend more on education reforms.”
• Coherence and unity : Check that your piece flows logically from one point to the next. Each paragraph should connect to the one before and after it, creating a cohesive argument. For instance, if you discuss the benefits of renewable energy, ensure that each point builds on the previous one.
• Simplicity : Keep your language simple and accessible. Use short sentences and everyday words. For example, instead of “ utilize ,” say “ use .”
• Voice and tone : Maintain a consistent voice and tone throughout your piece. Make sure your writing is engaging and matches the style of the publication.
• Source credit : Properly credit all sources you use. This adds credibility to your piece and allows readers to verify your information. For example, “According to a report by the World Health Organization…”
• Opinion consistency : Ensure that your opinion remains consistent throughout the piece. Avoid contradicting yourself or shifting your viewpoint without clear justification.

By following this revision checklist, you can polish your op-ed or column to make it clear, cohesive, and compelling. 

This helps ensure your message is effectively communicated and leaves a strong impression on your readers.

Final thoughts on op ed writing

Writing an op-ed or column is a powerful way to express your views and contribute to public discourse. 

Let’s recap the key points:

• Introduction : Understand the purpose and significance of an op-ed.
• Distinguishing characteristics : Focus on length, defined point, point of view, clarity, and voice.
• Questions to ask : Ensure you have a clear point, know your argument, identify your audience, and have substance to support your claims.
• Topic and theme : Clearly define your topic and theme, and know where to place them in your piece.
• Research : Conduct thorough field and library/internet research to support your argument.
• Openings : Use a strong hook and set the foundation for your argument.
• Voice : Develop a strong, consistent voice that engages your readers.
• Endings : Create a memorable conclusion that echoes your introduction and ties your points together.
• Revision checklist : Ensure clarity, coherence, simplicity, accuracy, source credit, and opinion consistency.

Apply these principles to write a jargon-free opinion piece that communicates your views, persuades your audience, and contributes to the conversation. 

And remember: your unique voice and perspective are what make your piece stand out. 

Happy writing!

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How to Write an Impactful Op-Ed

by The Writing Workshop | Feb 8, 2024 | Persuasive Writing

What is an op-ed?

An op-ed goes by many names—an editorial, opinion piece, commentary, page op, etc.—but it is, in essence, a piece of writing within the public view that expresses an informed opinion focused on a specific topic or problem. Op-eds are fairly new as a writing style, first coming to prominence in the early 1900s as a way to attract the public back to print news in the age of radio. Today, they serve a similar niche; newspapers face a budget crisis as readership is at an all-time low, and op-eds offer a low-cost solution to providing daily content that engages readers in a way that more traditional journalism simply can’t.

The modern op-ed writer is not restricted by occupation either; professors, politicians, researchers, and professionals use them to take control of the narrative on a given topic rather than entrusting social media and search algorithms to do the job. There is also a rising trend in the sciences to compliment research with op-eds to address limitations in their work that can lead to pervasive misinterpretations.

For example, in early 2023, Cochrane, an influential organization that collects databases and reviews research, published an ambiguously worded review of RCT studies on masking and hand washing that led to gross misinterpretations of the study’s conclusions, even by one of its authors . Researchers and epidemiologists, including the editor in chief at Cochrane , were quick to point out that the study did not come to a conclusion due to a lack of evidence alongside glaring inadequacies in the review . Given the mistrust in science that has permeated from Covid-19 misinformation, academics continue to dispel the significance of the article months after its original publication .

Why does this matter? Well, just like in research writing, where you are one piece of a larger puzzle contributing to the cannon of knowledge on a given topic, op-ed writing is about making a small yet meaningful contribution to this cannon using persuasion. Unfortunately, many of the tools used to purvey a greater understanding can also be used to distort and mislead. While there is certainly something to be said of the severity and degree to which misinformation impacts the public in a digital age (in an op-ed, perhaps?), it is just an amplification of the truth’s dependence on the status quo; your job as an op-ed writer is to add nuance to widely held assumptions by offering alternative opinions, evidence, and interpretations.

So where do you begin? Well for one, you need some expertise on the topic you are writing about; persuading your audience to believe something you don’t understand yourself would be both unethical and a poor reflection of your abilities. You will also need to understand who you are writing to and what they care about, so let’s start there!

Identifying your audience

Good writing always has an audience, but writing to a large group of folks, each with their own unique needs and beliefs, can often be difficult. Your job in an op-ed is to speak to the aligned values and attitudes of your audience.

• Do you speak to what is most important to your audience?
• Is there a clear benefit to reading your piece?
• Do you present information in a way that is new and interesting to the audience?
• Does your audience have biases or preconceptions about the issue? Can you manage them?
• How do you want your audience to react to this piece?
• Is the language appropriate?

Successful op-eds also capitalize on what the audience may know (or not) about the topic.

• What does your audience already know about the topic?
• Is there a varying level of knowledge or familiarity with your topic?
• Does your audience “know” because they trust that someone does?
• What is new to your audience?
• Do you present new information in a way that is easy to understand?
• Why does your audience not know this information?

All writers struggle to understand their audiences, but for op-eds, it’s a little easier. Given the popularity of op-eds in most US newspapers, you can look to what other writers do in their pieces to engage readers—just remember that the point of an op-ed is to challenge a prominent belief or interpretation, and if you write only to those who share your views, you will lose the hearts and minds of those open to a critical dialogue on the topic.

For more on understanding your reader’s unique needs, check out our post below!

Choosing a role

Everyone from professional journalists to professors and politicians—including the president—writes op-eds. There are plenty of reasons someone would be compelled to write an op-ed, but we think it’s useful to divide them into three distinct roles, listed below, that a policy professional will find themselves in at one time or another.

The Witness

The Witness offers a firsthand account of the problem, whether they experienced it themselves or witnessed it in action. Witnesses focus on the material and human costs, but the true power of their opinion lies in their testimony, often speaking truth to power and serving up a distinctly human-centered narrative of what’s going on. Witnesses should focus on creating a strong narrative that is representative of the problem and conveys the cost of ignoring it.

The Practitioner

The Practitioner occupies an important space between witness and expert. The practitioner experiences the problem secondhand—through aid or non-profit work, for example—but uses their insider knowledge to further educate their audience on its root causes, often moving from problem identification to a solutions-focused narrative. Practitioners are challenged to create short, effective narratives followed by evidence-based arguments to contextualize their observations; they should lean into their role and the credibility it provides but be cautious in appealing to themselves as an authority in place of evidence.

The Expert can be both a witness and/or practitioner (a practicing epidemiologist, for example), but their power lies in their extensive knowledge of the problem and the landscape in which it occurs. While it may seem easy for the experts, they are plagued with the “curse of knowledge” and challenged to write about complex ideas in way that an average reader will understand. Experts should lean into their extensive knowledge but be careful in presenting too many contingencies, caveats, and abstractions. Experts tend to jump around in their op-eds, which can often disorient a reader, so having a second set of eyes that represents their intended audience will always be helpful.

Once you’ve identified where you fall within this spectrum, it’s time to begin developing your argument.

The nuts and bolts of an op-ed

Structurally, an op-ed can be somewhat free-form, and there will be a lot of variation between different schools of writers (i.e. researchers, academics, journalists, activists, etc.), but a deductive structure is always a great starting point, even if you alter it after your essentials are in place. To start, focus on creating adequate context for your argument in the first paragraph—making sure to provide your reader with the essentials—and then move on to crafting a strong connection between that background information and your argument in the second paragraph. From there, go point by point, keeping in mind that journalists use line breaks more often than academic writers, dividing each piece of evidence along with its analysis into individual paragraphs rather than adjoining them to their topic sentence. For more on deductive structure, read our post below!

Every op-ed should have a clear purpose that can be intuited in the first few paragraphs. However, the central claim of an op-ed often differs from an academic thesis in that it requires some action on your reader’s part. You may want them to consider, reconsider, deny, approve, march, vote, or a whole host of other activities, but your argument should always move toward a call to action. Aside from being persuasive, your piece should also:

Those writing for monthly publications will have a little more flexibility here, but your central claim should have some degree of relation to what is going on right now . Maybe it’s that the problem has finally reached its tipping point, or that some event has made it front and center in the public eye, but whatever it is, it should activate existing knowledge in your audience. Regularly reading the news will be essential to your success in the op-ed space as readers are simply uninterested in rehashing the issues of the past or predictions of the future unless they are pertinent today.

Start with a leading sentence

Traditional journalists often write a setting sentence to start their feature pieces (i.e. “John Doe sits on his front porch looking at his latest bill from the doctor.”), but you have much more flexibility in an op-ed. The goal in your leading sentence should be to entice your audience into reading your piece while providing them with a general sense of the topic or problem. Check out a few examples below (UChicago students have unlimited access to the New York Times via the library page).

• The air pollution in Emma Lockridge’s community in Detroit was often so bad, she had to wear a surgical mask inside her house.
• Tyler Parish thinks of himself as “the last dinosaur.”
• What comes to mind when you think of a mom-and-pop small business: A hardware store? A diner? A family-run clothing store or small-scale supermarket?

Get to the point

Timing is everything in an op-ed. If you present your case for change too early, the reader might not have the background knowledge they need to understand or support it; however, if you wait too long, they may lose interest. Depending on your topic, your point—one main argument per piece being the standard—may come sooner or later, but it should always be clearly stated by the halfway mark.

In this recent piece by Peter Coy on commercial real estate in the New York Times , notice how quickly the author presents his point. He uses the first paragraph to contextualize new information that will be familiar to the audience while attaching the issue to the larger concern of a potential banking crisis, then uses the second paragraph to present his argument (skepticism in the Fed’s approach to inflation as it pertains to commercial real estate). The New York Times has covered domestic inflation on a daily basis, so Coy is both capitalizing on this existing knowledge while encouraging the reader to further invest by presenting nuance and evidence for it. While this piece is heavier on the jargon than we would recommend, it is to be expected when targeting a more specific group.

In contrast, this piece on antitrust law by the editorial board of the Washington Post uses the first few paragraphs to explain a more complex issue that the reader may not be familiar with given the current direction of the FTC. Their main claim—that this is a classic example of antitrust enforcement—comes later because readers may not understand how Google’s ad stack functions nor the alleged monopolistic behavior within that space.

Create a realistic call to action

While a policy maker, organization, or politician may be the one who implements change, be sure to include your audience in the call to action as they will be essential in pushing your decision-maker to action. For example, you might want a senator to support a bill that you think will institute change; in this case, you should think of the voters in their district and how you can make the value of your argument resonate with them through a boycott, petition, or other activist work. 

Adding counterpoints to increase credibility

Sometimes it helps to present an argument against your own, which can earn credibility from a skeptical audience or consideration from one that is potentially hostile. A counterpoint assures readers that you’ve considered both sides and wrestled with discordant data or situations that don’t neatly fit the narrative thus far. Basic and fair counterpoints rhetorically position you to make your strongest case before the close. Avoid choosing a weak or widely discredited claim as a counterpoint—often referred to as a “strawman” argument—and instead focus on summarizing the most prominent or pervasive criticism of your main point.

The rebuttal, on the other hand, refutes the counterpoint while introducing a subclaim that directly addresses it. In the case that a previous claim already addresses the counterpoint, do not repeat it verbatim; instead, expand on that point’s scope with additional analysis or evidence to accommodate the counterpoint.

Sign posting language will be a useful tool in writing a compelling and concise counterargument, so make use of language like:

• Some might argue that . . . However . . .
• While it can be said that . . .
• There is a widely held belief that . . .  but . . .

Counterarguments (the counterpoint plus the rebuttal) should come at the end of your piece, right before the conclusion. If your piece contains a call to action, make sure to set yourself up for success in your counterargument (a good sign post to add in this case is “that is why . . .”).

Counterarguments can also be the focus of an op-ed when a belief about a given topic has become fallacious or dangerous to public discourse—a phenomena all too common in our current age. Politicians will often use these longform critiques to respond to opponents during election cycles, but in light of controversial bills and rulings within the United States, many have stepped up to the soapbox to dispel common myths and misinformation about a whole host of issues.

We think a recent op-ed on the value of the humanities in higher education by Professor John Keck did this exceptionally. Notice how he uses his first paragraph to build context through timeliness, capitalizing on the recent comments surrounding Texas’s HCR 64, an immigration bill, and their unwarranted criticism of higher education. As he progresses through his critique, he gradually reorients his reader to his home state and the work that he does there, navigating his role of the expert while utilizing the tools of the practitioner to give his narrative a distinctly human focus.

Using a behavioral framework to better persuade your audience

Knowing your target audience’s priorities, values, and concerns will help you craft an argument that is most likely to resonate with them. To better analyze how a given policy narrative might strike our potential readers, we can use insights from social-psychological theories like the Moral Foundations Theory, which was developed by Jonathan Haidt and colleagues to explain how individuals’ moral values are shaped by their cultural, social, and evolutionary contexts. Moral Foundations Theory won’t reveal exactly how your audience will react to your argument for change, but no theory can. At the Writing Workshop, we like to think of these social-psychological theories as additional tools in your kit to help you make quicker and better informed decisions about the arguments, evidence, and language you use within your piece rather than empirical frameworks you can apply with certainty.

If you are interested in acquiring other tools to help you become more persuasive, we recommend checking out the work of Paul Slovic and Daniel Kahneman as well. For further reading on Moral Foundations Theory, check out our post below:

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How to write an op-ed

Through editorials, psychologists can alert the public to the work they do that addresses society’s greatest problems. Here’s advice on how to write an op-ed with impact.

By Katherine Lee

February 2018, Vol 49, No. 2

Print version: page 66

In an age when science is regarded with skepticism—even dismissed as “fake”—there’s an increasing need for psychologists and other scientists to communicate their work directly to the public. One powerful tool for disseminating research is through op-ed pieces. Such essays can, for example, showcase how psychologists’ expertise is promoting equality, advancing new treatments and helping the nation heal after disasters.

“I view it as my social responsibility as a social scientist to write op-eds,” says Jaana Juvonen, PhD, professor of developmental psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She has written several pieces for lay audiences, including the 2017 op-ed “ I Study the Psychology of Adolescent Bullies. Trump Makes Perfect Sense to Me ” for The Washington Post . “If I can shed light on something timely, then I need to communicate it,” says Juvonen.

With a growing stream of news and social media outlets all clamoring for content, there’s never been a better time for psychologists to communicate their expertise, says Lisa Damour, PhD, a senior adviser to the Schubert Center for Child Studies at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and author of a monthly column in The New York Times about adolescence. “Everything is amped up and sped up, and we have ways to communicate with the public that we didn’t before,” she says.

While psychologists and psychology students may wonder whether they should carve out time from their already packed schedules to write op-eds, Juvonen points out that these articles also pay career dividends. “Op-eds can reach the largest audience we as researchers can ever reach,” she says. They can also establish you among the media as the go-to person on key issues.

With those points in mind, here are nine strategies for writing columns that editors will welcome and people will read:

• Come up with a news hook News outlets, both print and online, are much more likely to accept a piece about a topic that’s dominating national or local headlines, such as a congressional vote on mental health care or a perennially popular subject, such as stress management or child development, says Juvonen.
• Tailor your op-ed to the news outlet’s audience If it’s a local paper, talk about how the topic affects the local community. For example, a local newspaper may be interested in an op-ed that offers insights on how the opioid crisis is affecting the community and discusses the latest research on treatment, says Jamie Bodenlos, PhD, associate professor of psychology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, in Geneva, New York. If it’s a national outlet, make sure the topic is broad enough to be of interest to readers nationwide.
• Read the publications you want to write for “Read those platforms to get a sense of style, length and level,” says Damour. One of the best columns to read regularly is “Gray Matter” in The New York Times Sunday edition, which features opinion columns about science and society, suggests Kim Mills, of APA’s Communications Department.
• Ditch the jargon Psychologists are taught to be very careful about how they cite, quote and describe, but if they try to do that in an op-ed, it won’t be accessible, says Juvonen. Instead, she says, “think about how you would reach your parents, grandma or next-door neighbor.” The best way to explain your work to the public is to write as if you’re talking to a good nonpsychologist friend, suggests Damour. To make sure you aren’t using too many technical terms, ask a nonacademic friend to critique your draft and make sure it is free of confusing language.
• Lead with your conclusion In academia, scientists carefully lay out the groundwork that supports their ideas before they articulate their conclusions. But in an op-ed, that order is reversed, says Damour. Start with a conclusion and then unpack it for readers. For example, a research manuscript might begin with a discussion of how spanking children may affect their mental health later in life, then present evidence that supports that conclusion. In an op-ed, writers should start out with the key finding that corporal punishment is not effective and can lead to a host of negative outcomes.
• Go light on the data Remember that you’re not writing a research paper or study, says Bodenlos. So, while you should offer numbers and statistics that illustrate your key points, limit how much you include to keep your piece streamlined.
• Make it compelling “What captures people is a story, a narrative,” says Alison Gopnik, PhD, professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, who writes a monthly column called “Mind & Matter” for The Wall Street Journal . “Ask yourself, is there a way of integrating narrative with the scientific material that doesn’t sacrifice the science?” She suggests incorporating a joke or a personal anecdote and including lots of specifics, not abstract statements. “Put in some bit of vivid detail—what something smelled like, looked like, felt like,” Gopnik says.
• Consider a range of outlets “We don’t all need to shoot for The New York Times ,” says Bodenlos. Submit your articles to media outlets including Psychology Today and HuffPost, which are always looking for content, suggests Mills. You can also build a following on social media and publish your content there. “We’re all publishers today,” says Mills.
• Make it exclusive Don’t submit your op-ed to multiple outlets simultaneously, thinking that this will increase your chances of getting it published, says Mills. Most newspapers insist on exclusivity. If you don’t hear back from an editor within a week of submitting, follow up with an email asking if a decision has been made because you’d like to submit the piece elsewhere.

Dr. Damour’s monthly columns on adolescence appear at www.nytimes.com/column/well-adolescence . Dr. Gopnik’s monthly columns appear at www.wallstreetjournal.com under “Mind & Matter.”

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Writing Studio

How to write an op-ed.

These tips are based on an “ On Writing ” panel hosted by the Writing Studio and the Russell G. Hamilton Graduate Leadership Institute on November 20, 2019 that included Professor of Communications Bonnie Dow, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Strategic Communications Ian Morrison, Professor of History Moses Ochonu, and Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Science Jonathan Gilligan.

Why Write an Op-Ed in Graduate School?

As our panelists pointed out, writing op-eds can be a useful exercise, even an important piece of academic training.

It can be a way for you to take your research, your expertise, and communicate to the public and make an engagement with people who aren’t in the academic world, regardless of where the op-ed is placed.

Writing an op-ed, in other words, is a way of practicing, or putting your effort into saying, “My work matters.”

Know Your Audience

“Really take the time to think about, where am I trying to place this? Who are their readers? How do they want to hear this? What is going to grab their attention?” – Ian Morrison

As an op-ed writer your audience is twofold: you need to think about both the publisher’s attention—for which you will be competing with thousands of other submissions—as well as the reader’s. For this reason, an attention-grabbing first paragraph, if not first sentence, is paramount.

It also helps to think about the role of opinion pages: as a forum for opinion, they create conversations that live beyond the pages of the publication in which they originally appear. In other words, op-eds seek to amplify the discussion.

Really take the time to think about where you are trying to place the op-ed, who the readers are, what and how do they want to hear this, and what is going to grab their attention. At the same time, aim to be interesting and relevant. You need to address issues in the public conversation.

Organization and Style

“Examples and anecdotes engage readers. Opening with an example, an anecdote, or with a startling statistic works really well at the top of an op-ed.” – Bonnie Dow

Short paragraphs—two to three sentences, maybe four—are a must. If you submit traditional academic paragraphs, you risk having them shortened by the publisher in ways you don’t like. You might end up with something that doesn’t make sense to you. So keep your paragraphs short.

Use structure to build to your point. In other words, make the paragraphs do the work of transitions and previews for you. Instead of saying “first,” “second,” or “third” in op-eds, start a new paragraph when you want to say something.

Use short, punchy, declarative sentences. This will help you stick to the word limit and avoid a situation in which the publisher chops up the piece for you. You absolutely want to maintain control of your own message. Be wary of semicolons or colons; if you need the latter, your sentences are probably too long. Use active rather than passive writing.

Content and Accuracy

“If you’re looking for places to have an impact, look at all the media that you can engage with. The op-ed is one specific thing, and it is one specific writing style, and one specific medium.” –Jonathan Gilligan

Think about your goals and your narrative. Ask yourself, does it fit with other op-eds I’ve read? Can I accomplish my goals using this structure of writing? Remember: don’t under-qualify things. Factual accuracy is incredibly important. If you write an op-ed and you oversimplify, your words are out there permanently.

Avoid giving the wrong impression of too much certainty that comes from blunting nuance or veering close to misrepresentation (even if there is wiggle-room for justification). That’s part of the struggle: strive for simplicity, be punchy, but make sure that you are willing to stand behind exactly what you said the way you said it with your reputation as a scholar.

And remember: Always proofread, proofread, proofread!

How To Write An Op-Ed

The Definitive Guide (2024)

What You're Going To Learn

In this post, you’re going to learn how to write an op-ed in 2024.

At Pinkston, we help develop, edit and place hundreds of op-eds a year for thought leaders, CEOs, politicians, professors and other experts in national publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal to The Washington Post and USA Today and more.

In this guide, we’ll be discussing what makes a successful op-ed and how you can improve your chances of getting yours published. It includes:

• Real-life examples
• Actionable, practical strategies
• Downloadable op-ed guide

So, if you want to have a better chance of getting your op-ed published in top-tier publications, then this guide is for you.

Let’s start with the basics:

Understand the Media.

What drives the news cycle? What are reporters looking for in a story? How can you break through the noise? Learn how you can tell your story clearly, effectively and uniquely.

• What is an Op-Ed?

Why Write an Op-Ed in 2024?

• Writing your Op-Ed
• The Writing Basics

Op-Ed Structure

Don't have time to read the whole guide now?

We'll send you a free digital copy so you can read it at your own convenience. Plus, we'll include a bonus chapter.

What is an Op-ed?

An op-ed is a short essay that expresses the opinion of an author on a particular subject.

The term “op-ed” comes from an opinion page created by the New York Times in 1970 , which meant, literally, “opposite the editorial page.” The term stuck, and today, op-eds are found everywhere from print publications to online media.

Are op-eds even a viable form of communication in a time when the traditional media landscape is shifting ?

In short: yes, if you do it correctly.

Writing an op-ed is an opportunity for you to write about the issues you care about or introduce an idea to new audiences. It’s also a chance for you to tell your story on your terms. In today’s increasingly fast-paced reporting environment, it’s often hard to make your voice heard through social media or television appearances alone. With an op-ed, you can craft a piece that will present your truth in an unfiltered medium and make a lasting impact on your audience.

Op-eds establish you as a respected voice in your field and open the door to new opportunities. As a matter of fact, successful op-ed writers have gone on to gain speaking, hosting and panelist invitations, book deals and other opportunities.

Some people think writing an op-ed is just preaching to the choir. But a 2018 study by Yale and the Cato Institute showed that op-eds have a strong and lasting effect on people’s positions and can actually change their perspective on an issue – not just in the short term, but in the long term.

In the study, researchers split 3,500 people into two groups—a control group who did not read any op-eds but were asked about their positions on specific op-ed issues; and treatment groups of those who read op-eds from the NYT, WSJ, Newsweek and USA Today on various topics, like climate change and federal spending. Sixty-five to seventy percent of readers said they agreed with the author of the op-ed they read. Only 50% of the control group agreed with the author’s point.

The effect is not restricted to an uneducated audience, but it also goes for key opinion leaders. The study was also performed with a group of 2,000 “elite readers”: professors, politicians, journalists, thank, bankers and congressional staffers. The results were the same.

Writing Your Op-Ed

Step 1: choose your topic first; know your audience.

Before you start writing, you should identify your ideal publication and who the typical readers are for that publication.

Your piece might not end up in that specific publication, but it’s a good way to determine what the tone of the writing should be.

For example, if you’re writing for USA Today , you’ll be writing for a more general audience – anyone from a stay-at-home parent to a business traveler in a hotel.

If you want your piece to appear in The Washington Post , consider writing for politically-minded readers.

For the Wall Street Journal , your readers will probably be people well-versed in business and finance.

Read the outlets where you would like your op-ed to be published so you can get a sense of what topics they publish and what kind of writing they like.

STEP 2: MAKE IT CURRENT

Track the news for the topics that matter to you and think about tying your op-ed to something that’s happening in current events – for example, a political event, a study that’s just been released, or a change in the markets.

Besides news-of-the-day angles, you can also tie a piece to big-picture topics or challenges that are relevant to a modern audience – like taxes, retirement, or health care.

Remember that the news moves fast. If your op-ed is referencing something coming up – like a holiday or an election – try to write the piece as early as possible, before a publication’s slots on that topic fill up.

If you’re writing about something that has just happened, you’ll want to write and submit it as soon as possible – ideally within hours of an event’s occurrence. The ideal time to publish a piece about something that just happened is the day after the event.

In reality, your op-ed should fall into one of these three categories. Your title, or headline, should state this topic upfront so the reader knows exactly what to expect.

STEP 3: WRITE ABOUT WHAT YOU KNOW AND HAVE AN OPINION

It’s important to pick a topic you’re passionate about – if you care about what you’re writing about, your readers will too.

This topic can be something related to your work, but it could also be something you came across in your day-to-day life. If you’re writing as a representative of a company or organization, think about the issues that might help strengthen that organization’s profile.

Next, think about what take on that topic might catch a reader’s eye.

This could be a provocative or unexpected view on a current issue, a solution to a problem or challenge people face, or a new thought on a neglected subject.

If it’s a news headline, what is your unique take on it? If it’s a more general topic, think about why this issue is relevant to people right now.

Regardless of your take on a topic, your piece should always have an opinion or an argument. An op-ed is not simply an educational or explanatory literature.

Remember that it’s okay to use the first-person “I” voice in an op-ed.

Here are some examples of op-ed topics:

• Carbon offsets are not enough. Leaders need to change the way we work to address climate change. (Fast Company)
• The Great Reshuffle is over. Welcome to the Big Stay. (Fortune)
• Why this modified pig heart transplant is a huge deal. (CNN)
• Nuclear power could save air quality. At what cost to the water? (LA Times)

THE WRITING BASICS

Op-eds don’t have to follow the same structure or pattern, but generally, this is a good road map to follow:

STEP ONE: THE LEDE

The lede, also known as a hook, is the opening sentence of your op-ed. It is what will hook your reader and should describe the event, situation or issue that prompted you to write your op-ed in the first place.

This can be a recent headline, a new statistic, a surprising fact, or a personal story or observation. You’ll want to keep this in the first paragraph.

Your lede could be:

• Something that just happened, is happening or is coming up in current events. For example: "After the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that a Colorado web developer may refuse to create wedding websites for same-sex couples, the implications of the decision are becoming clear." (AdAge)
• Recently-released research, for example, "A recent study by the Pew Research Center suggests that the content of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s seismic “I Have a Dream” speech is fading in Americans’ collective memory.” (USA Today)
• A generally relevant topic that people should take note of.
• A persona story or observation that’s relevant to your argument.

To read more examples of successful ledes, download our “How to Write an Op-Ed” guide.

STEP TWO: THE FIRST PARAGRAPH

Next, you’ll want to state your particular argument or opinion on this hook, and why it’s relevant to a reader. This should immediately follow the hook, and should be conveyed in one to two sentences within the first or second paragraph.

Here’s an example of a strong op-ed opening paragraph:

“A 40-year-old man arrives in my hospital’s emergency department, blue from not breathing. It takes several rounds of medication and ventilators to save his life. That same day on the medical wards, an overhead speaker pages a “rapid response” announcement to my elderly patient’s room; she cannot wake up. And down the hallway, a middle-age finance manager is causing a scene because he isn’t prescribed the IV medication he wants. All of these scenes happen on a daily basis, not just in my hospital but in those around the country. And all three of these patients’ ailments have the same cause: opioids .”

This op-ed, written by a physician about the opioid crisis, uses a storytelling tactic, setting the scene with strong details.

Another Example:

“More than 115 biotech companies have announced layoffs this year, on track to easily surpass 2022’s numbers. While this is not a new trend, the current trajectory is concerning, as it portends more difficult times ahead for the pharmaceutical industry–already in the midst of a major upheaval. It should also be another wake-up call to pharma executives: the old way of doing business needs to change–and urgently.”

In this op-ed, the author uses a statistic to establish authority, then tells you upfront what she’s going to talk about.

STEP THREE: SUPPORT YOUR OPINION

The middle, or body, of your op-ed is the part where you convince a reader why your argument or opinion is valid. This will take up the bulk of your piece and you should aim for 3-6 short paragraphs between your introduction and conclusion.

Each individual paragraph should be its own point and can utilize one of these example types.

You should always use specific examples to support your claims. These examples could be:

• Statistics (like results from research or surveys)
• Personal stories or anecdotes
• A story about a person affected by the issue
• Problems caused by the status quo
• Details about the solution you’re proposing
• Bullet points or a list, if you are offering multiple solutions

Here is an example of a supporting paragraph for an op-ed titled “As antisemitism rises, Holocaust education is a deeply personal topic for me” (USA Today)

“A 2018 MIT study found that false information travels six times faster on social media than the truth. This is alarming. It’s difficult enough for adults who are aware of what’s going on to make sense of it. Absent any protections, these young minds are navigating a minefield of information while still learning what truth is.”

Note how the author, who is arguing for the urgency of teaching students more dynamically about the Holocaust, establishes his authority by citing a reputable source.

Want to learn how to write an Op-Ed for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY or other national news outlet?

STEP FOUR: CONCLUSION

In your last paragraph or last two paragraphs, remind readers why this issue should matter to them.

Your conclusion is an opportunity for you to really drive home your point and leave the reader with something that they can walk away with. There’s a good chance that your last words will be the one that your reader remembers, so use them to their full potential.

You conclusion can include a recap of a solution you’re proposing, provide advice or a recommendation.

Here are some real-life examples of all three potential endings:

• A recap of the solution you’re proposing: “As the number of Holocaust survivors and citizens of the world who lived through World War II dwindles, it is through stories, objects and memories that the Jewish people’s legacy lives on. Survivors like me need to know that our experiences have meaning and that our community cares about what becomes of us. To make sure atrocities such as the Holocaust never happen again, we need to keep these stories alive.” (LA Times)
• Advice or a recommendation: “Hot spot policing works. Focusing surveillance and resources on the small group of individuals who commit most of the violence works. Employing street outreach workers to engage with these individuals also works, when properly implemented. The best time to redouble these strategies is when violence is already on the decline, giving the police and community groups more time to be proactive.” (USA Today)
• A call to action: “Anyone in either party who aspires to national leadership must resist these teachers unions and do what’s right—fight for families’ right to self-determination, especially for poor children trapped in failing schools. In Pennsylvania, we will never give up on this battle.” (The Wall Street Journal)

STEP 5: REVIEW YOUR OP-ED

Besides checking for spelling, grammar and length, review your op-ed to make sure it’s clear and concise. The best way to do this is to ask someone who isn’t an expert in your topic to read it. Does it make sense to them? Are there areas that need more clarity? Another great way to review a piece of writing is to read it out loud. Often, our brains overlook errors when we are reading silently; when we read something out loud, we can more easily catch errors or sentences that need adjustments.

Op-Ed rejected?

Download our free PDF and learn 6 common reasons why editors pass on op-ed submissions.

Remember, when you’re writing an op-ed, have these three important things:

• Relevant topic
• Your own opinion
• Evidence to back it up.

This is the start to crafting a well-written, interesting op-ed that will catch the eye of editors and readers alike.

Op-eds are a way to communicate your individual voice, personality and opinion. They are an opportunity for you to write about issues you care about, tell a personal story or introduce a provocative idea to new audiences. Despite changes in media, op-eds are still published by most major publications, and they continue to be one of the best tools for thought leadership today.

Your opinion matters. Learn how to get yours heard.

Download our free guide that includes a bonus chapter.

Your opinion matters; let it be heard.

Download our free PDF guide on how to write an op-ed and get an additional bonus chapter.

• Writing & Media

Writing Effective Op-Eds

Do you have an interesting opinion to share? If you can express it clearly and persuasively in an op-ed article, you may reach millions of people, sway hearts, change minds and perhaps even reshape public policy. In the process, you may also earn recognition for yourself and your department, all for less effort than it takes to write a professional journal article.

University Communications has a strong record of placing op-ed articles in many of the nation’s leading news outlets. Our team developed these guidelines to help you write an article that media outlets may accept for publication.

As you think about writing opinion pieces, please keep in mind that competition is fierce at top opinion outlets such as The New York Times and the Washington Post. That’s never been truer than right now, so it’s smart to remain flexible regarding where your piece may land.

If you’re a faculty member with an idea in the works, please reach out for guidance to the communicator in your school or unit, or contact Eric Ferreri at University Communications, to improve your chances of success.

Track the news and jump at opportunities.  Timing is critical. When an issue is dominating the news — whether it’s a war, a stock market panic or just the latest controversy on a reality TV show — that’s what readers want to read and op-ed editors want to publish. Whenever possible, link your issue explicitly to something happening in the news. If you’re a researcher studying cancer, for instance, start off by discussing the celebrity who died yesterday. Or, look ahead to a holiday or anniversary a week from now that will provide a fresh news peg (and enable editors to plan the story in advance).

Limit the article to 750 words.

Make a single point, and do it well.  You cannot solve all of the world’s problems in 750 words. Be satisfied with making a single point clearly and persuasively. If you cannot explain your message in a sentence or two, you’re trying to cover too much.

Put your main point on top.   You have no more than 10 seconds to hook a busy reader, which means you shouldn’t “clear your throat” with a witticism or historical aside. Get to the point and convince the reader that it’s worth his or her valuable time to continue.

Tell readers why they should care.  Put yourself in the place of the busy person looking at your article. At the end of every few paragraphs, ask out loud: “So what? Who cares?” Will your suggestions help reduce readers’ taxes? Protect them from disease? Make their children happier? Explain why.

Offer specific recommendations:

• An op-ed is not a news story that simply describes a situation; it is your opinion about how to improve matters.
• An op-ed is not a journal article. It needs to be personal–both in terms of having your personal voice and perspective come through, and also in covering a topic that is personal to the readers.
• Don’t be satisfied, as you might be in a classroom, with mere analysis. Op-eds are, by definition, opinions and they should advocate persuasively for something. How exactly should your state protect its environment, or the White House change its foreign policy or parents choose healthier foods for their children? You’ll need to do more than call for “more research!” or suggest that opposing parties work out their differences. The best opinion pieces have a clear, persuasive and well-argued call to action. They should answer the question: What do you want the reader to do, think or feel as a result of your piece?

Showing is better than discussing.  You may remember the Pentagon’s overpriced toilet seat that became a symbol of profligate federal spending. You probably don’t recall the total Pentagon budget for that year (or for that matter, for the current year). That’s because we humans remember colorful details better than dry facts. When writing an op-ed article, therefore, look for great examples that will bring your argument to life.

Embrace your personal voice.  The best of these examples will come from your own experience.  If you are a physician, describe the plight of one of your patients, and then tell us how this made you feel personally. If you’ve worked with poor families, tell a story about one of them to help argue your point. In so doing, your words will ring truer and the reader will care more about what you are saying.

Use short sentences and paragraphs.  Look at op-ed articles in your target outlet and count the number of words per sentence, then use the same style, relying mainly on simple declarative sentences. Cut long paragraphs into two or more shorter ones.

Avoid jargon.  If a technical detail is not essential to your argument, don’t use it. When in doubt, leave it out. Simple language doesn’t mean simple thinking; it means you are being considerate of readers who want to learn something by reading your piece.

Use the active voice.  Don’t write: “It is hoped that [or: One would hope that] the government will …” Instead, say “I hope the government will …” Active voice is nearly always better than passive voice. It’s easier to read, and it leaves no doubt about who is doing the hoping, recommending or other action.

Avoid tedious rebuttals.  If you’ve written your article in response to an earlier piece that made your blood boil, avoid the temptation to prepare a point-by-point rebuttal. It makes you look petty. It’s likely that readers didn’t see the earlier article and, if they did, they’ve probably forgotten it. So, just take a deep breath, mention the earlier article once and argue your own case. If you really need to rebut the article, forego an op-ed article and instead write a letter to the editor, which is more appropriate for this purpose.

Acknowledge the other side.  Op-ed authors sometimes make the mistake of piling on one reason after another why they’re right and their opponents are wrong. Opinions that acknowledge the ways in which their opponents are right come across as more credible and balanced. When you see experienced op-ed authors saying “to be sure,” that’s what they’re doing.

Make your ending a winner.  In addition to having a strong opening paragraph to hook readers, it’s also important to summarize your argument in a strong final paragraph. That’s because many casual readers scan the headline, skim the opening and then read the final paragraph and byline. In fact, many columnists conclude with a phrase or thought that appeared in the opening.

Relax and have fun.  Remember that an op-ed article is not an exercise in solemnity. Opinion editors despair of weighty articles  and delight in an academic writer who chooses examples from “Entertainment Tonight” as well as from eminent authorities.

Don’t worry about the headline.  The newspaper will write its own headline. You can suggest one, but don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it.

Offer graphics.  If you have a terrific illustration, photo, video or other asset that might accompany your article, alert the editor when you send it.

How to submit an article.  Almost all outlets now post guidelines about how they prefer to receive op-ed submissions. In general, they provide an e-mail address where you can submit the article electronically, but check first. Always be sure to include your contact information, and say whether you have a photo of yourself available.

Where to submit the article.   The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal–as well as other national publications such as USA Today–receive a staggering number of submissions, the overwhelming majority of which are rejected. Think about the audience that will most benefit from hearing your argument and tailor your submission plan accordingly.

Regardless of where you send it, you will fare best with arguments that are provocative, humorous, personal or unexpected.

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Expert Commentary

How to write an op-ed or column

Tip sheet on formulating, researching, writing and editing news opinion articles.

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License .

by The Journalist's Resource, The Journalist's Resource January 28, 2013

This <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org/home/how-to-write-an-op-ed-or-column/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org">The Journalist's Resource</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://journalistsresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/cropped-jr-favicon-150x150.png" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;">

The following is reprinted courtesy of Jeffrey Seglin , lecturer in public policy and director of the Harvard Kennedy School Communications Program :

An op-ed piece derives its name from originally having appeared opposite the editorial page in a newspaper. Today, the term is used more widely to represent a column that represents the strong, informed and focused opinion of the writer on an issue of relevance to a targeted audience.

Distinguishing characteristics of an op-ed or column

Partly, a column is defined by where it appears, but it shares some common characteristics:

• Typically, it is short, between 750 and 800 words.
• It has a clearly defined point.
• It has a clearly defined point of view.
• It represents clarity of thinking.
• It contains the strong, distinctive voice of the writer.

Questions to ask yourself when writing an op-ed or column

• Do I have a clear point to make? If so, what is it?
• Who cares? (Writing with a particular audience in mind can inform how you execute your column. Who is it that you are trying to convince? Why are you targeting that specific reader?)
• Is there substance to my argument?

Topic and theme

Every successful op-ed piece or column must have a clearly defined topic and theme.

• The topic is the person, place, issue, incident or thing that is the primary focus of the column. The topic is usually stated in the first paragraph.
• The theme is the big, overarching idea of the column. What’s your point in writing about the chosen topic and why is it important? The theme may appear early in the piece or it may appear later when it may also serve as a turning point into a deeper level of argument.

While columns and op-ed pieces allow writers to include their own voice and express an opinion, to be successful the columns must be grounded in solid research. Research involves acquiring facts, quotations, citations or data from sources and personal observation. Research also allows a reader to include sensory data (touch, taste, smell, sound or sight) into a column. There are two basic methods of research:

• Field research: going to the scene, interviews, legwork; primary materials, observations, and knowledge.
• Library, academic, or internet research: using secondary materials, including graphs, charts, and scholarly articles.

Openings and endings

The first line of an op-ed is crucial. The opening “hook” may grab the reader’s attention with a strong claim, a surprising fact, a metaphor, a mystery, or a counter-intuitive observation that entices the reader into reading more. The opening also briefly lays the foundation for your argument.

Similarly, every good column or op-ed piece needs a strong ending that fulfills some basic requirements. It:

• Echoes or answers introduction.
• Has been foreshadowed by preceding thematic statements.
• Is the last and often most memorable detail.
• Contains a final epiphany or calls the reader to action.

There are two basic types of endings. An “open ending” suggests rather than states a conclusion, while a “closed ending” states rather than suggests a conclusion. The closed ending in which the point of the piece is resolved is by far the most commonly used.

Having a strong voice is critical to a successful column or op-ed piece. Columns are most typically conversational in tone, so you can imagine yourself have a conversation with your reader as you write (a short, focused conversation). But the range of voice used in columns can be wide: contemplative, conversational, descriptive, experienced, informative, informed, introspective, observant, plaintive, reportorial, self-effacing, sophisticated or humorous, among many other possibilities.

Sometimes what voice you use is driven by the publication for which you are writing. A good method of developing your voice is to get in the practice of reading your column or op-ed out loud. Doing so gives you a clear sense of how your piece might sound – what your voice may come off as – to your intended reader.

Revision checklist

Below are some things to remember as you revise your op-ed or column before you submit it for publication. You should always check:

• Coherence and unity.
• Simplicity.
• Voice and tone. Most are conversational; some require an authoritative voice.
• Direct quotations and paraphrasing for accuracy.
• That you properly credit all sources (though formal citations are not necessary).
• The consistency of your opinion throughout your op-ed or column.

Further resources

Below are links to some online resources related to op-ed and column writing:

• The Op-Ed Project is a terrific resource for anyone looking to strengthen their op-ed writing. It provides tips on op-ed writing, suggestions about basic op-ed structure, guidelines on how to pitch op-ed pieces to publications, and information about top outlets that publish op-eds. Started as an effort to increase the number of women op-ed writers, The Op-Ed Project also regularly runs daylong seminars around the country.
• “How to Write an Op-Ed Article,” which was prepared by David Jarmul, Duke’s associate vice president for news and communications, provides great guidelines on how to write a successful op-ed.
• “How to Write Op-Ed Columns,” which was prepared by The Earth Institute at Columbia University, is another useful guide to writing op-eds. It contains a useful list of op-ed guidelines for top-circulation newspapers in the U.S.
• “And Now a Word from Op-Ed,” offers some advice on how to think about and write op-eds from the Op-Ed editor of The New York Times .

Author Jeffrey Seglin is a lecturer in public policy and director of the Harvard Kennedy School Communications Program .

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Op-Ed, explained

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The Los Angeles Times’ mandate is to offer readers provocative, thoughtful commentary from all kinds of writers with as broad a range of views as possible. Op-Ed articles, unlike the editorials, do not reflect the opinion of the newspaper, its owners or its editorial board. Rather, the Op-Ed section is where individuals with no institutional connection to The Times can voice their opinions.

Almost no subject is off-limits. We run articles on politics, culture, economics, history, foreign policy, the great issues and controversies of the day in Los Angeles, California and around the world. We run graphic op-eds where illustrators and cartoonists make their point more through image than text. We run personal essays and humor pieces, as well as articles on science and sports and movies and family life. The only unifying characteristic is that all Op-Ed pieces have an idea and a point of view — and stimulate intellectual engagement with the subject.

We commission exclusive articles from experts in countless fields. We also receive hundreds of unsolicited submissions every week, including many thoughtful pieces from people who have never published anything before. In addition, the Op-Ed page is where you’ll find our roster of columnists — Robin Abcarian , Jackie Calmes , Jonah Goldberg , LZ Granderson and Harry Litman . They are all seasoned writers and observers, offering unique perspectives on the most urgent topics of the day.

We hope that you’ll find the Opinion pages surprising, inspiring and, most importantly, able to challenge the way you look at the world.

Want to know how to submit an article to Op-Ed? Click here

Need more information?

• Please call (213) 237-2121 for recorded Op-Ed guidelines.
• If you are responding to something we’ve already published, you can submit a Letter to the Editor here .

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Rice Speechwriting

Write an op-ed like a pro: expert tips and tricks, why the world needs your idea.

The business of the government did not stop during COVID. School boards still met. City councils and state legislatures still met. Congress sometimes met. Elected and appointed decisionmakers got up each day and still made decisions on your behalf. Did you have a voice?

It may seem worrisome that we as a society have lost sight of the necessity of argument, science, and evidence, but if you turn to the op-ed pages of publications you’ll find plenty of people making their voice heard.

Op-eds are a powerful way to share your thoughts and opinions on subject matter that is important to you. Whether it’s politics, social issues, or current events, op-eds provide a platform for individuals to voice their perspectives and ideas. To write an effective op-ed, it’s important to have a clear argument or thesis statement, support your claims with evidence and examples, and engage the reader with strong writing and a compelling narrative. By sharing your unique perspective on subject matter that matters to you, you can make a difference in shaping public discourse and promoting change.

Op-eds are an effective way of expressing opinions and sparking discussions on important topics. They provide a platform for writers to share their thoughts and ideas with a wider audience, while also encouraging critical thinking and debate. Writing an op-ed requires careful planning and research, as well as the ability to present arguments in a clear and concise manner. A successful piece of writing should be thought-provoking, engaging, and well-supported by evidence. Whether writing for oneself or on behalf of someone else, the key is to focus on the issues that matter most and present them in a persuasive and compelling way to media outlets.

Op-eds are an important way to share your opinion on a particular topic. When writing an op-ed, it is important to keep in mind that opinion editors are looking for articles that provide a fresh perspective on the issue at hand. While it is essential to back up your opinion with credible sources and well-organized information, editors also appreciate a touch of humor and fun. A good op-ed should present a valid argument that challenges conventional wisdom and offers new information and insights into the topic. So, take your time, do your research, and craft an opinion piece that will make a lasting impact on your readers.

An op-ed is a powerful tool for expressing one’s views and influencing public opinion. However, writing an effective op-ed requires more than just having a strong opinion. To help ensure your piece is well-received and impactful, it’s important to follow a checklist of key elements. This checklist might include having a clear thesis statement, providing evidence to support your argument, acknowledging counterarguments, and using persuasive language. By following these guidelines, you can increase the chances that your op-ed will resonate with readers and have a meaningful impact on the issues you care about.

Why write an Op-Ed?

COVID cut down the number of in-person events where we could debate ideas. Videoconferences are poor substitutes for the moments when we could teach, debate, and learn, from one another. Social media posts only travel so far as the self-curated-echo-chamber algorithms allow them to. However, a well-thought-out op-ed will endure beyond a screen full of half-muted conversations and fleeting attention spans.

An op-ed can…

• Introduce ideas to readers who had not previously considered your perspective
• Increase your credibility and authority
• Spread your message across the platforms of publications with far greater reach than your social media feed or email list
• Bring more followers to your cause
• Raise awareness for your mission, your nonprofit, your company, or your candidacy
• Start a conversation in your community with like-minded people and decisionmakers
• Influence the decisions affecting your life and that of your family and friends

What is an op-ed vs. an opinion piece or letter to the editor? (the actual meaning of op-ed)

The principles in this guide are applicable to any of the above types of opinion pieces. Op-eds are traditionally found in newspapers — the term is a holdover from when print newspapers would print opinions “opposing the editorial page.” But online media has changed what a newspaper or magazine can be, so for the purposes of this guide, I’ll use “op-ed” and “opinion piece” interchangeably throughout. Other synonyms you may run into with any publication include “guest view,” “guest voices,” “guest opinions,” you get the idea.

Letters to the editor are typically much shorter than any op-ed or opinion piece (usually 50 or 100 words) and often run in newspapers. Follow the same guidelines here but condense them down. You get to make one point and the more emphatic you can be the better.

The principles in this guide can help you whether it’s for an op-ed in your local newspaper or national publication; an opinion piece for a solely-online publication or blog; a quick letter to the editor…

But who am I to suggest my op-ed for submission?

Who are you not to write one?

Op-eds are not relegated to the multi-degreed professors, authors, and “important idea people.”

Any of the following qualify you to write an op-ed:

• You have a lived experience whose voice is missing from a current debate or question
• You have discovered something interesting about how the world works
• You have your own take on a solution to a common debate or problem in the world
• You have an opinion or idea contrary to what most think is the right course

Ultimately, timing matters: Your experience, discovery, or opinion, must be timely and tie into a current issue covered by the publication to which you are submitting

How do you write an opinion piece with a strong thesis? Why this guide and what will you get out of it?

By the end of this guide, you will have all the tools necessary to pitch an op-ed, write it well, and get it published.

You will learn:

• How to pitch your piece and how to stay in bounds for what the editors of a publication expect
• A straightforward approach to writing and organizing your piece: Hook, Teach, Ask
• How to deconstruct great op-eds and model them for your piece
• Step-by-step instructions from brainstorming to writing to editing to publishing
• How to troubleshoot common mistakes that prevent publication
• What to do with your opinion piece after it’s been published

How this guide is different from others out there:

There are some incredible pieces of advice if you just google “how to write an op-ed” but this guide is going to stick closely to what we can learn from the examples of op-eds and opinion pieces already published. You’ll discover that there are seldom strict rules and instead guidelines to follow. Each publication will have its own rules for what it accepts but beyond those, it’s about following principles rather than rigid rules.

A bit about me — Eddie Rice: I am a freelance ghostwriter who loves to help leaders tell better stories through speeches, op-eds, guest posts, podcasts, and media appearances. I have worked with business leaders, nonprofit executives, political candidates, and association presidents.

Objective 1: Learn what the best op-eds do and how to reverse engineer paragraphs in great op eds to get inspired for topic ideas and structure

Overview: what do the best op-eds do.

The best op-eds and opinion pieces teach . Sure, some argue, some demand, but if you approach your piece as an opportunity to teach you will have a better chance of changing minds and effecting change.

You can teach through history, through anecdotes, through personal testimony, through well-chosen statistics, through research, through envisioning likely implications, through showing the shortcomings of an argument, through any method that helps the reader better understand your perspective.

In today’s world, jargon is everywhere. It’s used in industries from tech to finance and can be intimidating for those who aren’t familiar with it. However, when writing an op-ed, it’s important to avoid jargon as much as possible. Using plain language allows readers to better understand your argument and engage with your ideas. While jargon may serve a purpose in certain contexts, it can often obfuscate or cloud your message instead of clarifying it. So let’s keep it simple and speak to our readers in clear, concise terms that everyone can understand.

Alternatively, the best op-eds are not infomercials for the organization, company, book, or candidacy, you represent. Sure, you can draw attention indirectly to what you are doing in your work but the end goal of your opinion piece is to teach the reader something new about a current issue.

The OpEd project is an initiative that aims to increase the voices of underrepresented groups in op-ed writing. It seeks to address the lack of diversity in opinion pieces published in mainstream media by providing training, resources, and support to individuals from marginalized communities. The project recognizes the power of op-eds to shape public discourse and influence policy decisions. By amplifying diverse perspectives, the OpEd project helps ensure that important issues are not overlooked or misrepresented. As a society, we need to value and prioritize diverse voices in op-ed writing, and initiatives like the OpEd project play a crucial role in achieving this goal.

How to use the op-ed examples: Reverse engineer great writing

This guide contains numerous examples to not only help make the points necessary but to give you a starting point for several approaches to op-eds and opinion piece writing .

As you read these and those of the publication where you will submit your piece, ask the following questions to figure out how the author put their piece together:

• What was the author’s overall main point or “ask” of the reader?
• What type of evidence did the author use? Rather than focus specifically on what was said, how did the author make their case? Imagine they were a lawyer or investigative journalist, how did they put together their case? Was it mostly an emotional appeal, a logical fact-based one, or some mix?
• What made you want to keep reading? What happened in the first paragraph that made you say, “This is worth my time to keep reading?”
• In the middle, what did the author do to convince you they were right? How much time did they spend on their opinion? Did they ever address opposing viewpoints? Some op-eds and opinion pieces don’t (which is OK depending on the subject).
• How did the author close? Was your mind changed in the end? Was that the author’s objective? Did you gain a new perspective? Did you already agree with the author and have your views confirmed? Did you want to find out more about the author and their cause?
• Why do you think the op-ed/opinion piece was published at that moment? What was going on in the world at the time to make the piece timely? Reading past op-eds can give us a sense of what issues mattered at that moment to that publication’s readers.

Objective 2: Learn the Hook, Teach, Ask Method, see how it applies to three effective op eds, and start brainstorming ideas for your piece.

Op-ed format: hook, teach, ask — the method explained.

One method that helps with organizing an op-ed is “Hook, Teach, Ask.” This method will help you organize your thoughts and the eventual piece itself. We’ll get into the specifics of each portion later on in the guide when you’re ready to write the piece.

Hook: Begin in a way that grabs the reader and makes them want to read more. This is also your opportunity to layout the main themes and question you’ll be exploring. Some ways to hook your reader: Declarative sentences, hypothetical situations, surprising statements and quotations, stories and vignettes, recreated conversations — anything that will make a reader stop scrolling and say, “This sounds interesting, I want to find out more.”

Teach: The main body of your op-ed should be devoted to teaching your point of view. Use historical examples, vignettes, personal testimony, statistics, research findings; you can also take this opportunity to explain your background and why you’re writing this piece.

Ask: Have a clear ask ready at the end. It could be as general as advocating for something like registering to vote or eating less meat; it could be as specific as urging the passage or defeat of specific legislation.

The final paragraph of an op-ed is crucial in leaving a lasting impression on the reader. It should effectively summarize your argument and reiterate your stance on the issue. Additionally, it can serve as a call to action, encouraging others to take steps towards making a positive change. By crafting a strong final paragraph, you have the opportunity to leave a lasting impact on your readers and inspire them to take action. So, be sure to give it the attention it deserves!

3 Op-Ed Articles to Learn From:

A few op-eds that follow this model with the parts outlined (click each one to read in full):

A Murder Case Tests Alexa’s Devotion to Your Privacy by Gerald Sauer

“Think of the assistants like really smart dogs. They’re always ready to react to specific commands. Also like a really smart dog, they can remember those commands forever. And this concept of an always-on, always-connected, always-remembering listening device is where it gets intriguing.”

What I love about it:

• The author builds his case through historical examples, legal examples, and current news.
• It takes one issue — the use of voice data collected by law enforcement via the Echo — and raises a larger one, “but the company has failed to address the real problem: Why is all that data just sitting in Amazon’s servers in the first place?”
• The author uses realistic hypothetical examples to demonstrate that the problems raised are plausible — how often do we hear people bring up improbable implications instead?

Hook: Sauer starts off with a declarative sentence, “THE AMAZON ECHO can seem like your best friend — until it betrays you.” In one sentence, you have the opinion piece summed up with the major themes. If you can’t think of such a sentence immediately, write your entire piece and then figure out what the opening sentence should be based on the rest of the piece.

Teach: Sauer uses history, legal examples, descriptions of current digital assistants beyond the Echo, analogous cases with smartphones and other listening devices, and reasonable hypothetical examples — all to teach us of the dangers of these wonderful assistants

Ask: Rather than a specific call-to-action such as “go vote,” it’s more of a consumer beware, “Millions of people are putting digital assistants in their lives with no clue about the potential havoc this Trojan horse could bring. Based on what Amazon and Google say about their devices, everyone needs to recognize the unresolved legal issues involving this new technology. Beware of who, or what, is listening.”

Questions to think about:

• Can you take one issue a current news story presents and demonstrate that it raises a larger one?
• What other technologies in our lives do we take for granted where we are trading privacy (or safety or some other value) for convenience?
• If you are arguing that a course of action should not be adopted (such as the passage of a law) can you create believable hypothetical scenarios that show those effects?

It’s Time to Talk About Death by Sunita Puri, M.D.

“Americans are not good at talking about death. But we need to be prepared for when, not if, illness will strike. The coronavirus is accelerating this need.”

• The author sets the scene as if you were there — you can experience what she has experienced in end-of-life discussions
• The Ask at the end is incredibly detailed and specific — a reader can walk away knowing what to do and say in these situations
• It’s a great example of the right profession, the current issue (COVID), and larger issues (end of life, limited healthcare resources) all coming together in one piece. Timing is crucial with many op-eds and this one demonstrates how all three parts come together for a piece published in the NY Times
• You get an insight into the author’s own discussions with her parents on the issue of end-of-life decisions

Hook: Dr. Puri opens with a scene where she brings the reader into one of the discussions she had with numerous patients — replete with dialogue and description — as if we were reading a novel.

Teach: The author gives us her own advice on end-of-life discussions and then relates a personal story of having those same discussions with her parents.

Ask: This ask, as opposed to the one in the Wired piece, is a series of questions that provide a guide for the type of questions a person should be asking their parents and loved ones about end-of-life decisions. Relevant 3rd party resources are also given.

• Is there a way to demonstrate that your perspective, a current issue, and a larger “life” issue, can all come together for the piece you’re writing? Are you someone earning a minimum wage and there’s an issue on the ballot to raise it? Can you also discuss what it means to be able to have a comfortable life?
• If you’re an author, can the work you’ve done for a book be repurposed into an op-ed such as done here? Do you have something that directly bears on a current situation or issue?
• Can you share a piece of your own life as relevant to the issue? Can you recreate those scenes as if we were reading a scene from your autobiography?
• In offering your own advice, are there 3rd party organizations and sources that you could amplify as well?

I’m a Developer. I Won’t Teach My Kids to Code, and Neither Should You. by Joe Morgan

“There are no books that teach you how to solve a problem no one has seen before. This is why I don’t want my kids to learn syntax. I want them to learn to solve problems, to dive deep into an issue, to be creative. So how do we teach that?”

• It combines the author’s own experience with parenting, his career, and argues against a current trend (teaching kids to code)
• It’s nuanced — it’s not necessarily against coding but showing that learning syntax is not the same as the overall skill of computer programming
• He addresses the argument for teaching kids to code but shows its limitations by demonstrating that knowledge of Java or C++ isn’t the same as understanding the overall philosophy of coding
• The author uses a mix of stories from his own life (servers crashing) but also of problem-solving with his son (fixing a wobbly chair, making sugar cookies) to make his case that learning syntax is not the same as problem-solving
• The author focuses on the question, “Should we teach all kids to code?” but then raises it to the larger issue about fostering creativity.

Hook: The hook is the subject of the op-ed itself — why would a coder not want to teach his kids to code? The opening paragraph sets the stage for a current debate: Why is it assumed that we should be teaching young kids the syntax of programming languages?

Teach: The author uses stories from his own life as a developer where he demonstrates that simply knowing the syntax of code isn’t enough — you need to have problem-solving skills, too. He then demonstrates that in action as he relates stories of teaching problem-solving and applying algorithms to fixing wobbly chairs and baking sugar cookies with his kid.

Ask: He heightens the debate to the larger issue of teaching kids creativity and implies that’s what we should be doing instead of just teaching the syntax of programming languages.

“But you’re not only teaching them that. You’re teaching them the world is full of interesting things to discover. You’re showing them how to be passionate and look for that ephemeral sense of quality in everything they do. The best part is that even if they don’t become coders — most shouldn’t and won’t — the same skills can be used in nearly any career, in every hobby, in every life. When we force kids to learn syntax, we reinforce the idea that if something is not a blatantly employable skill, it’s not valuable. Adults can learn syntax. Only kids can learn to embrace curiosity.”

Questions to ask yourself:

• Can your perspective as a parent (or not a parent) give a perspective to an ongoing debate?
• Can you take a contrary view towards what people might expect of you because of your profession, group identity, or way of life?
• Does a current debate rest on a faulty assumption? Can you demonstrate that through evidence or your own experience?
• Are there stories from your own life that directly and indirectly prove your point that you could tell?
• What larger issue is a current question or debate getting at? How do you add to that conversation?

This next part of the guide will guide you through the initial ideas and pitch to draft to publication. Have a doc open where you can start generating notes and ideas for your piece.

Do now: Based on the lessons above, what are some of your initial ideas for your piece? How will you make your case?

Objective 3: Determine your topic, target publication, and the initial pitch

Where to start: the pitch, the publication, and the angle.

Before you write, you want to have a clear idea of your topic, your main point, and where you want to see your piece published. Getting this all straightened out ahead of time will give you the parameters in which to write. Publications have different word limits, different tones, and styles, and cover some topics more than others — knowing this information now will prevent the need to massively rewrite portions later on. Additionally, it’s important to consider your audience, as the average reader is not going to be an expert. It’s up to you to capture their attention with a strong, well-written piece.

When it comes to writing an op-ed, the best way to effectively convey your message is through a clear and concise argument. Start by stating your main point in the opening paragraph and then provide evidence to support your claim. Use real-life examples and facts to back up your argument and make it relatable to your readers. Remember that you are trying to persuade others to see things from your point of view, so be respectful and avoid making personal attacks. Finally, end with a strong conclusion that summarizes your argument and leaves a lasting impression on the reader and includes your byline.

Topic and angle first or publication first? A debate

You can read this section in the following way: Figure out your topic and angle and then find the best publication for it.

Or, you know you want to submit to a particular publication (or they’ve asked you to) — both ways can work.

If it’s the latter, read the most recent 10 opinion pieces of the publication to get a feel for the topics and angles their authors covered and ask yourself how your piece will fit in with them (or stick out well).

Deciding your topic and angle:

The very first question any editor is going to ask is “Is your issue timely?”

Most opinion pieces that rise to the top tie into a timely news issue. They connect the author’s experience or argument into an issue of concern for that publication.

Ask yourself, “Would my topic be likely printed tomorrow if I submitted it today?” Look for the stories that the publication is currently covering and ask yourself how your view ties in with them.

Timeliness includes any connection to the following:

• A current issue in the news
• A holiday, a commemorative anniversary, the birth or passing of a notable figure, an industry day/month (e.g. National Solar Power month)
• An event getting attention — e.g. a presidential debate, the release of a controversial movie, a sports championship, a conflict breaking out
• An offensive remark made by someone notable

Another note on timeliness:

Take note of important dates in the calendar such as when budgets are passed, key votes are taken, upcoming elections, product announcements, important events. You may be able to prepare a draft of your piece way in advance and fill in the relevant details as the event draws near. You might not know the exact date something will happen (like a product announcement) but you can do the majority of the work and then add in the details once it happens.

Sometimes you may not know the outcome of an event but you want to be ready to submit your piece to a publication for immediate publication such as in the case of an election. Write a piece for each outcome and tweak as necessary if new details emerge.

One method to decide what to write about is to answer the following questions ( Go ahead and answer them in your open doc ):

• Why this topic?
• What can you add?

A second method is called the Headline or Title Method. Look at other op-eds and follow their angle as a model.

The publication may end up choosing the title for your piece but you can give it a title ahead of time as a way to help figure out what angle you want to take on your given topic. Examples are easier. Submitting your own headline with the op-ed can increase the chances of it being used and should hook readers right away as they scan the newspaper. The following is a list of op-eds and the type of angle that their author took on the topic.

As you read through each title and its angle, brainstorm possible titles for the angle you want to take for your piece. These are not hard and fast rules but it seems as though these angles appear in pieces across multiple publications.

Angle 1: I participated in a significant event and here’s what I learned about this key issue.

A man I found guilty of dealing drugs died in prison. I wish I could take that verdict back.

Angle 2: As part of a profession, I witness the following in my job and it tells us about a key issue by…

What’s the last song you want to hear before you die?

Angle 3: I am a part of <insert group of people> and I believe differently than the majority or stereotyped picture painted by the media.

Why I’m OK with my kids “falling behind” in school during the pandemic

Angle 4: How I changed my mind about…

How I changed my mind on ‘Medicare For All’

Angle 5: I discovered something interesting and here’s what it means for this key issue

A Blackjack Pro Explains How Ignoring the Odds Cost the Falcons the Super Bowl

Angle 6: Celebrating this holiday means for me or a cause/group I represent…

“ My Mexican American family never celebrated Día de Muertos. Then Abuela died. ”

Angle 7: I am a (local example) of a (national/international issue)

Cameron Kasky, Parkland student: My generation won’t stand for this

Angle 8: This event happening right now is a model for…

Opinion: You Can Learn Something From The People Of Wuhan

Angle 9: This new technology/new law/new idea will have serious repercussions for this key issue

How Tinder wrecked my mental health

Angle 10: If this course of action is taken, it will positively/negatively affect…

Can Boston be the hub of the start-up universe?

Angle 11: A current law or practice isn’t working or is flat out wrong:

The Qualifications Of Black Life: Why It’s Necessary To Do Away With Qualified Immunity

Angle 12: Condemning or praising a person/group/organization in the spotlight

Working At The Amazon Warehouse Was Always Painful. Now It’s Terrifying.

Angle 13: What you think about this current issue isn’t true (or worse than you thought)

Don’t defend the cowards who abuse the Second Amendment

Angle 14: This person’s life can teach us about…this key issue

Jonathan Wackrow, former Secret Service agent: Barbara Bush’s code name was absolutely perfect

Angle 15: This part of history can help us understand this key issue in the present

The disappearing story of the black homesteaders who pioneered the West

Angle 16: Something happened, why is it being ignored?

“ Please, President Trump, shed light on my fiance’s disappearance ”

Angle 17: Here’s what your offensive statement means…

How not to talk to someone with depression

Angle 18: Rehabilitating your reputation

“ The president attacked my reputation. It’s time to set the record straight. ”

Angle 19: Advocating for change or a particular course of action

“ Drivers, help us cyclists get home alive ”

Angle 20: This holiday means…

A math problem for Pi Day

Angle 21: I can no longer support this person, group, or company, because…

“ I can no longer justify being a part of Trump’s ‘Complacent State.’ So I’m resigning. ”

There are many more ways to phrase ways to give your opinion but in the examples above, you can see a few patterns forming:

• The author is offering a lived perspective on a key issue
• The author is warning of the dangers of new technology, law, course of action, or current view.
• The author is pushing back against the common view of an issue or how they themselves are viewed by the media
• The author is using their voice to raise awareness for a person, group, problem, or perspective, overlooked in the current conversation

A few more brainstorming ideas if you’re having trouble coming up with an idea or angle:

• Take a recent speech , social media post, newsletter, or any other piece you’ve created, and repurpose it as an op-ed.
• Talk it out with someone or alone with a recording app on your phone — just start coming up with various ideas and see where your voice leads you.

Do Now: Use one of the angles above or one from an op-ed that you want to model and give your op-ed a title as a way to brainstorm your topic and angle. Try different angles to see if they also spark ways in which you can write your piece.

Before you start writing, determine the publication where you want to pitch your piece.

Pitching: The explicit and implicit expectations of publications and editors

When the word “op-ed” is used, most of us immediately think of our local newspaper or one of the major publications with a national readership (NY Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal). Those are all fantastic starting places if you have an issue of regional or national importance.

However, many blogs and online-only magazines have space for guest views. Trade publications in your industry along with those of professional and civic groups often have room for guest views, too. Editors are hungry for content as long as it fits within their publication’s guidelines.

When determining where to pitch, ask the following:

• How many of my ideal readers will read my piece in this publication?
• Do my topic and angle fit within the ideas typically covered by this publication?

It may turn out that a niche publication might be a better place than one with a wide readership.

If you’re having trouble finding an ideal piece, try googling some form of “Your general topic” followed by “guest post,” “submit an opinion,” “guest view,” etc.

Food allergies guest post

Education submit opinion

Free-range parenting guest view

One caveat in doing this: If a publication has already covered that topic it may be some time before they cover it again unless you can give a different take.

So why worry about pitching before writing?

Well, publications have explicit and implicit requirements for the pieces they accept. Plus, it’s a best practice to submit your piece or pitch to one at a time.

Once you have your publication, look first for their explicit rules on guest submissions. Usually, there will be a link at the end of guest posts, sometimes it’s on the Contact page, other times they’ll have an explicit link in the footer of their site. If all else fails, you can email the editor overseeing guest submissions or the blog for rules and contact information.

Take a look here at the New York Times vs. BuzzFeed News:

BuzzFeed Reader: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rachelysanders/how-to-pitch-essays-to-buzzfeed-reader

A few highlights:

New York Times: how to write an op-ed nyt

Washington Post: How to

how to write an op-ed for washington post

Explicit Rules: Take note of the following before you write your piece:

• Does the publication want you to pitch an idea for a piece or for you to submit the whole thing? Some that are pressed for time want the latter as they can’t go back and forth on an appropriate topic.
• Word count — pay very special attention to this. Yes, most traditional op-eds are around 600 words but the publication will almost always spell this out.
• Topics considered for publication
• To whom do you submit your piece? What format? Does it need to be in the body of an email or is an attachment OK?
• The time when you should hear back — once that has expired, it’s OK to submit to another publication
• Payment — sometimes explicit and sometimes not.

Implicit Rules: You won’t find these in the guidelines of publications but these are the unstated rules that the publication follows. Figure them out by reading the past 10 opinion pieces.

As you read ask yourself the following questions:

• Is there an ideological range that this publication subscribes to? Everyone has a bias, and no, there are very few places where *all* views are published. Each publication will have a certain way that it views the world and will publish pieces according to it. Some will say that they want “contrary” views but then somehow they only seem to print views that are in line with a particular viewpoint. Know this ahead of time to ensure your piece will be well-received and that you have the right readership for your piece.
• What is the voice, tone, and style, accepted by the publication? Are most opinion pieces in this publication conversational, academic, lecturing, balanced, strident, etc.?
• Have certain topics been covered recently where you’ll be seen as repeating something already said?
• How do the authors typically make their points? Are the opinion pieces strongly driven by narrative and emotional appeal, or, are they more logical and fact-based?
• Can you see your essay getting published as the next one in this publication? Would it look out of place or would it be welcomed in?

By now, you should have the following in your doc:

• Your topic, angle, and potential title
• Your target publication and its rules for submitting

Forming your pitch: In most cases, you’ll submit a pitch to an editor rather than the whole piece. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

• Apply Hook, Teach, Ask, to your pitch.
• -Give a one-sentence overview of your topic, explain why you are qualified to speak on it, a general idea of how you’ll teach it, and then ask if this will work for their publication.

Example: To a regional newspaper: The state legislature is about to vote on raising the minimum wage. As a small-business owner, I’d like to show why I am in fact for this rather than against it like so many of my colleagues. My goal is to demonstrate that when my employees can make more they are happier, more productive and that there are ways for small business owners like myself to make the numbers work on our end. With the vote happening next month, I’d like to submit my piece in advance of our legislators voting on it.

2. Be nice when you follow up if you don’t hear anything — if their rules don’t state it, waiting 3–5 business days is OK.

3. Do not submit to more than one publication at a time. Wait whatever their time limit is and go on from there.

Readers and editors will want to know why you for a particular issue — that is, what is your authority to write on this piece? This doesn’t mean your degrees (but it can) but consider any of the following ways to demonstrate that you are the right person to take on your issue:

• You have done original research on the issue
• You have lived an experience that the current debate overlooks
• You were at an event being covered by the media and want to give your perspective on what the event itself and/or your participation means
• You are providing a contrary point of view to something commonly held (or perceived)
• You can demonstrate that a current controversial policy or solution is working or is not
• Your profession, or an experience, at your job can shed light on a larger issue
• Your participation in an event, group, tradition, can help the readers better understand an ongoing issue.

So let’s start writing

Step 2: Begin with the end in mind — who is your ideal reader, what point do you want to make, and what is your ask?

Now that you have your angle, rather than writing the Teach and the Hook part , consider first the Ask. What do you want to build towards in the end?

Do you want your readers to join your cause if you represent a mission-focused group?

Do you want a particular law to change? A bill defeated or passed?

Do you simply want someone to have changed their mind after hearing your perspective?

You can get incredibly prescriptive such as this one in the NY Times on end-of-life conversations:

By starting with the ending in mind, you will be able to build the rest of the op-ed towards this conclusion. It’s OK if in the course of writing you determine that a new ask is needed based on your arguments. But argue to one conclusive ending as you’ll only have 600 words or so.

Additionally, authors often take their conclusion as an opportunity to tie their piece to an even larger theme to make their point. Their op-ed centers around one debate but then they tie into something larger.

Here are some conclusions as examples:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/15/opinions/florida-shooting-no-more-opinion-kasky/index.html

I’m just a high school student, and I do not pretend to have all of the answers. However, even in my position, I can see that there is desperate need for change — change that starts by folks showing up to the polls and voting all those individuals who are in the back pockets of gun lobbyists out of office.

Please do it for me. Do it for my fellow classmates. We can’t vote, but you can, so make it count.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rinacummings/amazon-warehouse-was-grinding-me-down-then-coronavirus

I am a human. Not a machine.

I learned that the New York City Council is considering legislation that would require big corporations like Amazon to pay extra during this crisis to compensate us for the increased risks we are taking on and make it harder for them to fire us on a whim. Going to work is a health hazard during this crisis, but we need the money, and people need to get the supplies we are sorting. A bit more pay and some job security would ease a lot of stress. They say we are essential, but Amazon treats us like we’re expendable.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/drivers-help-us-cyclists-get-home-alive/2018/05/11/afa50624-539d-11e8-9c91-7dab596e8252_story.html

Drivers, first and foremost, need to obey the rules, especially as the number of cyclists grows. If there is a next time, I doubt I will be as lucky. Cyclists count on drivers to make it home again alive.

What is the conclusion you want to reach with this piece? What larger themes does your piece tie into?

How do you want your reader’s mind to have changed by the end?

What do you want your reader to do after reading your piece?

Step 3: How will you teach your reader your point of view?

The central part of an op-ed is how it teaches its readers the author’s point of view and perspective.

Many times, the teaching portion features a story but not always and not always that of the author. However, the personal narrative is quite helpful across many. Story and narratives dominate this list for good reason: they are most likely to hold the attention of readers and have been shown to be more memorable than statistics and factual arguments. Look for a way to balance if needed to lend credibility to your argument by balancing emotion and logic to make your point.

Depending on how much space you have, you can use a combination depending on what fits for the tone and overall point of the piece.

• A story that happened to you
• The story of another person/group
• The story of research
• Well-chosen statistics/research report findings
• Likely implications if a course of action is taken or not taken
• News reporting
• Pictures, graphs, and charts — submit these along with the piece if you feel they will help illustrate a key point.

Do you need to address an opponent’s viewpoint or argument?

For some pieces, this will be expected if you are responding to the views of someone else or directly trying to refute an argument you find lacking. However, the opinion piece is your piece — anyone with a differing viewpoint can submit their side. It is not your job to make their argument for them and devote precious space to their side. This is especially true in arguments where sides of issues are given disproportionate attention even when the facts and arguments are overwhelmingly against them. It’s up to you and the publication publishing your piece for the tac you’ll take.

Do now: Write out the portion of your piece where you teach your point of view. See what works from all of the methods above and any others that you would use to teach people your point of view. Imagine you were having a conversation with an open-minded person at a party or over email, how would you make your point to that person?

Step 4: How to start your op-ed to hook the reader’s attention to keep on reading?

Now that you have a strong ask and a case to be made, it’s time to create the hook that will lead readers to the rest of your op-ed.

The first sentence of your op-ed should be where you spend the most time to hook the reader. Typically, a strong declarative sentence will do the trick. It should be immediately apparent what the rest of the piece is about or at least enough to get the reader to keep on reading. Other methods to hook the reader: A surprising statistic or sentence; a hypothetical posed to the reader; recreated dialogue; setting a scene like in a novel; a rhetorical question; a vignette from your life; a story from history

Your hook is typically your first paragraph. It can go to a second if needed. Here is what you’ll need to achieve:

• You’ve hooked the reader
• You’ve tied your piece to a timely news item
• An editor or reader, just by reading your first paragraph can tell the major themes and ideas in the rest of the piece

Let’s look at a few opening hooks:

https://www.salon.com/2020/08/08/why-im-ok-with-my-kids-falling-behind-in-school-during-the-pandemic/

If being born into Generation X ever gave me anything, it has been a lifetime of training in lowered expectations. And as we chaotically hurtle toward the start of a new school year in the midst of a still explosive health crisis , my slacker parenting technique has never been stronger.

Earlier this week, the New York Times ran a feature on a now all-too-familiar theme. “ Worried your kid is falling behind? ” the headline blared. “You’re not alone.” As the Times explained, “As kids start school with more online learning, parents wonder whether they’ll ever catch up. Here’s how to set them up for success.” Granted, the article advised moms — surprise, no fathers were interviewed — on “creating fun, low-key learning opportunities,” but the phrase “falling behind” nevertheless appeared three times in the body of the article.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-disappearing-story-of-the-black-homesteaders-who-pioneered-the-west/2018/07/05/ca0b51b6-7f09-11e8-b0ef-fffcabeff946_story.html

Ever heard of Blackdom in New Mexico? Dearfield in Colorado? What about DeWitty in Nebraska? Didn’t think so. Neither had I several years ago. But they were once vibrant African American homesteading communities. Today their buildings are falling to ruin, their locations are mostly unmarked, and the achievements of their pioneers are mostly forgotten.

At Dearfield , the walls and roof of the lunchroom, once an important gathering place, have collapsed. The decaying building sits behind a chain-link fence. The substantial wood-frame house of the settlement’s founder, Oliver Toussaint Jackson , built in 1918, has been vandalized. Although listed in 1995 on the National Register of Historic Places, and despite local efforts to save it, Dearfield is undergoing demolition by neglect.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/whats-the-last-song-you-would-want-to-hear-before-you-die/2019/01/11/0619909e-cf02-11e8-a3e6-44daa3d35ede_story.html

Windblown rain lashes against the hospital windows in an uncertain rhythm that seems even more unsteady as I enter the patient’s room near the nursing station. There is music in this room. Two people sit in chairs by the bed of a patient, a woman who is lying very still. I recognize the voice of Elton John coming from a tablet computer on the bedside table. He’s singing “Crocodile Rock.”

“She liked this,” says the woman’s daughter, smiling and rolling her eyes, as though to say “Elton John, really?” The dying woman’s husband glances at his daughter, then at me, and says, “We followed the advice from one of the nurses to play some music in her last few hours and days.” He smiles slightly, as if in apology for the jaunty tune ( I never knew me a better time and I guess I never will ) in this solemn setting.

What you don’t want to do:

Throat clearing: Burying the lede and the purpose for writing this op-ed; giving too much background information early on; giving your credentials and biography.

Your bio will normally be at the end of the piece. If you need to provide the reader with who you are and why you’re writing this piece, that’s typically done in the paragraph after the hook.

Do Now: Go ahead and write the opening for your piece. Try various openings. Can you open with a story? Recreated dialogue? (you don’t need exact quotes, to save space you can condense as long as you remain truthful)

Putting it all together:

Now you should have in your doc an outline or at least a first draft of each portion of your piece. It may sound disjointed at this point, so go ahead and write it from the beginning to the end in one voice to ensure each part flows together.

Op-Ed Templates:

• Hook, Teach, Ask

Your evidence and claim 1

Your evidence and claim 2

Your evidence and claim 3

Refutation of common arguments against the claims above

Conclusion and Call to action

Straight Refutation (sometimes necessary):

Intro/Hook/Lede

Opponent’s Claim 1 and why it falls short

Opponent’s Claim 2 and why it falls short

Opponent’s Claim 3 and why it falls short

Your argument or a better way of viewing the issue

Conclusion and Call to Action

Tips on writing the draft:

The First-person is OK! Op-eds and opinion pieces are your opinions so feel free to break free from a feature piece style or typical staid 3rd person objective journalistic view.

You don’t have to give digital ink to the other side. Sometimes you may need to refute an opponent’s argument but these 600 words are yours — let any opponent respond if needed. Some pieces are set up to enter into a debate while others may need to summarize the opposing point of view but other times you have a personal experience where there is no space needed for someone to call that into question. To be sure, it is important to acknowledge any flaws in your argument and address any obvious counter-arguments in order to strengthen your op-ed.

Argue the hell out of your side; teach your side well; you don’t need to hold back. The more passion, power, and determination you have the better. This piece is your point of view and moment to teach — let other submitted op-eds do the other work of responding or refuting. However, it is important to resist the temptation to prepare a point-by-point rebuttal, as it can make you look petty.

Admitting that you were wrong about a previous idea or have changed your mind on an issue is a great tack to take and the perfect basis for an op-ed. It’s persuasive to hear, “I used to support X candidate but now I’m voting for…” or “the current party is not the one I grew up with…”

Vulnerability sells when telling your personal story. If there’s a part that’s relevant where you can be vulnerable with your reader you’ll have a better chance at leaving a lasting impression than trotting out some facts that anyone could have looked up. Your story is yours and yours alone — don’t be afraid to tell it.

Use other op-eds as models. Even ones not in your subject area, find ones that you like and take apart their structure.

Giving context for your views almost always comes in the 2nd paragraph rather than the first. The first paragraph is there to invite the reader in and lay the groundwork for why you’re arguing but your background, historical context, etc. often come just after the 1st to help the reader better understand where you’re coming from.

Write in a tone appropriate for the publication you’re submitting to — go back to the exercise of reading the previous 10 opinion pieces published by that publication. Can you get away with being breezy and light as you write? Is the tone academic? Serious?

Step 5: Key questions to ask in the editing process

Once you have a draft that you love or are OK with, leave it alone for a few hours or a day to give yourself a break.

Then come back and edit it:

As you edit, ask yourself the following:

• Am I following the guidelines laid out in the top publication where I want to submit? Does this piece look similar in style, tone, and approach, to recently published opinion pieces? (“Same but different”)
• Do all parts — Hook, Teach, Ask — flow together? Is any transition needed between paragraphs?
• To make it shorter, can I replace a series of words with fewer or one that mean the same thing?
• Are parts repeating themselves? Can I cut those?
• Does my intro avoid “throat-clearing” (i.e. where too much background is provided and the lede is buried)?
• Are my claims backed up by citations and credible sources? Are those sources readily available to anyone needing to fact-check them?
• If my main mode of teaching is through facts and statistics, is there a way to add in an emotional story or narrative? Conversely, if my main mode is a personal story, is there a way to enhance it through citing statistics or facts?
• Does my piece tie into a timely news event? If not, can it be modified to do so? N.B. This may happen where you may have your central argument ready to go but nothing timely to tie it to. You can either pitch what you have and explain the situation (the editor may have an idea) or you can wait until a newsworthy moment pops up.
• Is this op-ed self-serving or will readers genuinely come away with a new perspective?
• If you choose to refute another argument, did you present it in its best light rather than worst? Ironman vs. strawman
• If my work doesn’t fit into a current trend or theme, does it touch on an evergreen topic? Birth, life, death, cultural identity, mental illness, chronic illness, parenting, taking care of parents. (find examples of these to link to)

Should you have others look over your work before submitting it to an editor?

Yes — if you have time, seek out the services of a writer or editor with a background in journalism or PR (Google is your friend). I’d be wary of friends and family unless you can trust that their eye and grammar skills will be up to par. Don’t give it to the relative who believes that everything you write is worthy of the New York Times.

Why your piece is going to get rejected:

• Problem: The topic has been covered extensively by this publication or similar ones that the readers read.
• Cure: Find a unique angle or perspective that hasn’t shown up yet
• Problem: It doesn’t tie into any timely issue
• Cure: Wait and keep it in your back pocket or revise the main argument to tie into something going in. Don’t try and force the issue but if you can tweak it just enough you’ll be OK. Alternatively, if you want to comment on breaking news, have an op-ed you can tailor to the situation prewritten. Often you’ll be able to predict events within your industry or what types of changes to the law may happen even though they may be months off from happening. Let’s say there’s an upcoming election with two candidates, you can write two op-eds, one for each outcome, and have them ready as soon as the results are tallied.
• You don’t have the authority — you might not be the best person to write the op-ed
• Cure: Pitch first and demonstrate to the editor that you do have the authority before writing the full piece. If a full piece is required in lieu of a pitch, ensure that you have stated how your background makes you qualified to write it. It doesn’t need to be tons of degrees but you need some connection that says, “OK, this person is enough of an authority to publish this.” The publication doesn’t want to look silly.
• It’s clearly a first draft — no one has the time to go back and forth with numerous grammar and spelling revisions. The first draft you write should not be the first draft that the editor sees.
• Cure: Revise and get the help of a writer with a journalism or PR background (Google is your friend); college professors in those areas are great, too.
• There were just too many submissions — sometimes this happens but if the issue is ongoing you might be considered for a later date to get published. It’s OK to ask and resubmit.
• The publication doesn’t want to appear biased — this happens more often with local papers and covering political campaigns. If you’re running for office and the paper prints your op-ed, they will probably want to hear from your opponent.
• Cure: If the race is notable, ask the paper if they would accept dueling op-eds and to reach out to your opponent (yikes, could backfire). Publish early before announcing your candidacy — ideally not the day before because that will look tricky. But if the upcoming election isn’t getting any coverage yet and there’s no buzz and you’re still undeclared and have an opinion, go for it. Alternatively, see if there are other publications that would accept your op-ed or larger ones that might not be local but where you could re-share the piece on your social media and email list. “Hey, I wrote this piece for Forbes…”
• No support for your arguments — include the links and stats that you referenced to make it easy to fact-check. A straight emotional piece may not get accepted and you may need facts or stats to back up your position (but check with what has been published in the past)

Once published, what’s next?

Put your op-ed on your social media channels. Share the link via your email newsletter — always to the original source. Is there someone that you want to have an in-depth conversation with over the piece such as a legislator? Send it over as part of your introduction.

With online pieces, almost every publication wants their work to be shared. The exception might be if it’s behind a paywall but check with the editor if you aren’t sure.

Other tips not covered above:

Are all op-eds and opinion pieces essays?

No! The New York Times has a series of op-eds in comic form and video:

Comic: THE DIARY PROJECT: 400 Hours. $500. When I learned about the death of Latasha Harlins, I decided to make an appointment with myself. By Laura Park

Video: America Wrote the Pandemic Playbook, Then Ignored it

If you want to go this route and have the partnerships for creative content like this, go ahead and pitch that idea to the editor.

Do all op-eds need to be serious?

Satire and comedy can make great points when done well:

Sonny Bill Williams’s thoughtless act of generosity has ruined sport for ever by Stuart Heritage

In bad taste or not, I’ll keep my Comic Sans by Joseph Epstein

What’s next to get your byline?

Find an issue you’re passionate about and your unique take on it. Pitch the idea to a publication that will welcome it. Write it up and hit “send.” Then email me and let me know how it went.

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Op Ed Essay Made Easy: Example And Topics From Experts

Do you have an op ed essay task but no idea how to go about it? You are not alone because a lot of people get stuck even before starting. Whether the trouble is in picking good op ed essay ideas or do not understand the right format to use, we are here to help.

This post is a comprehensive guide on how to write an op ed essay. Keep reading to find out more about the best op ed essay format and useful writing tips. To cap it all, we have listed the best 60 op ed topics for essay.

Table Of Contents

Op-Ed Essay Definition

How to write a good op ed essay, op ed essay example, writing an op ed essay: a step-by-step guide, top op ed essay writing tips, interesting op ed essay ideas.

Before looking at how to write a good op ed essay, it is crucial to start by answering the question, “What is it?” Traditionally, it is an opinion piece, mainly used in print media, appearing opposite the editorial page (hence the name “op-ed). These are essays done by authors who are not affiliated with the publisher and are used to provide an opinion to provoke discussion and thought among the readers.

Op-ed essays are slightly longer than the common letter to the editor and have become very common in both print and digital media. Because they offer expert opinions, it is important to start by learning how they are done by reading other top op ed essay examples in specific areas. However, most people still find using op ed examples essay not be enough and opt to seek essay writing help.

When writing an op ed essay, perhaps the most important thing is getting the right topic because it shapes the opinion that you will work on. Try to dig deeper into the topic and answer the question, “What is the latest trend about it?”

Like a standard essay, it is crucial to start your work by developing a good essay structure. Here is the most preferred op ed essay format, but you can also develop a different one.

A news hook. Thesis. Argument. 1 st point. 2 nd point. 3 rd point. Address counterarguments Op ed essay conclusion.

This Op ed is based on the article “Trump, and Great Business Ideas for America”. This is an economic review posted by Shiller Robert in the New York Times. The article mainly discuss the ideas that the new president elect of the United States of America, Donald Trump has on the nation. In essence, the people are hopeful that he will transform the nation’s economy since is a leader who has been in business and management for various years. Economists consider that this is an experiment that will prove whether the skills and techniques of a manager can be vital in enhancing the economy of a nation. Therefore, because of his success in business the Americans are expected that the economy will substantially improve. For Donald Trump, it is vital to be keen on the steps that he will take since people are expecting too much from him especially regarding economy.

Classical School

School of thoughts plays a vital role in the today’s economy. In essence, there are several ways in which the school of thoughts is applied mainly to enhance and solve economic challenges. Therefore, it is imperative to inform the members of the public the need to apply economic school of thoughts to enhance the economy. One of the major commonly use economic school of thoughts is the classical tool. The classical school of thought is regarded as the first economic school of thought that was developed by a Scottish economist Adam Smith. Hunt asserts that the main argument of the school is that the best way to enhance economy is to leave the markets alone (2). In this case, it means that the government had a minimal role to play. This means that the classical economic thought advocated for a free market that involves minimal or no rules. Thus, regarding explaining the value of the classical school, the determining factors were cost of production and scarcity. Concerning macro economy, there are self-re adjustment terms that allow the economy to automatically return to full employment.

Neoclassical School of Economics

This is a school of thought that emerged mainly as an improvement of the classical theory of economics. The school is also currently referred to as the marginal revolution. However, as an advancement of the classical school the theory left various aspects. Some of the most common aspects that were dropped include the value theory and the distribution of wealth in the society. As a result, neoclassical approach focuses on the strategies that promote effective allocation of scarce resources in the various markets. In that connection, there is a great emphasis on how various participants in the market such as the customers and producers utilize the function of utility and production. To achieve success in such markets, they must consider factors such as budgets and constraints. This is the main reason the neoclassical theory introduced the mechanism of maximizing utility and it challenge of cost minimization.

In addition to the above, the neoclassical school of thought can be defined as the theory that emphasizes the efficacy of the products and how it affects the market in terms of supply and demand. In essence, it is clear that the markets are based on the customers due to their control of the market forces such as price and demand. This is mainly because the goal of the consumer is utility maximization whereas the role of the goal of the business is to enhance profits. In that connection, there is a great emphasis on how various participants in the market such as the customers and producers utilize the function of utility and production.

The Theorist That Supports the Human Behavior School of Thought

Landreth and Colander confirm that Elton Mayo is the theorist who best supports this school of thought. Various principles are emphasized by the school of thought (10). One of the most important policies is employee motivation. By accepting diversity, managers demonstrate his management skill of motivating the employees to enhance their performance. The second principle of behavioral school of thought is leadership. This can be explained by the fact that managers can enable to adapt to internal changes swiftly. As well, the other principle of the theory is employee development. The management styled established by managers should ensure that employee development supports the people-focused strategy.

In conclusion, it is elemental to note that the economic school of thoughts may vary in one way or another. However, all these schools of thoughts such as the classical thought and the behavioral schools should be employed to enhance economic growth and development. There are various assumptions that are made in the neoclassical school of thought. One of the major assumption is that the decisions that are made are usually rational due to the availability of completed information about the product and service. The second assumption is that customers compare the available products and services in the market with the primary objective of making effective deceived based on utility. The third and most crucial assumption of the neoclassical economic school is that the primary objective of business is to maximize on profit making. On the contrary, customer’s main objective is to have improved satisfaction while using the service or product. Therefore, as the new president elect of the United States of America takes office he must ensure that the right polices are implemented to enhance economy. Otherwise, improving US economy might be a great challenge to overcome.

After developing the preferred structure for your essay, it is time to write a high-quality piece to impress readers. It might be a great idea to closely check another top op-ed essay example to learn how different components are put through.

• Develop a News Hook

Because an op ed essay is designed for the media, it is crucial to target a trending topic in the local, national, or global headlines. The first few sentences should also grab the reader’s attention, making him/her want to read more. During the just-concluded presidential elections, some topics revolving around the violence on the capitol, the American voting system, and the policy shift between outgoing President Trump and incoming President Joe Biden, would have been excellent.

• Tune Your Op Ed Essay to Match the Targeted Audience

If you read a high-rated op ed essay sample, one of the most notable things is the focus on a specific audience. For example, local print media might be targeted at providing insights on how wearing face masks affect the spread of COVID-19. So, it will be a great idea to try and understand the audience.

• Understand the Targeted Publication

As we have mentioned, op ed essays are written pieces of opinion, but they must follow the rules and guidelines of the targeted media. This means that although you might have a lengthy piece, it has to be cut to size to fit the recommended number of words for the respective media. Other attributes include a sense of style, level, image size and font.

• Back-Up Your Arguments with Facts

While it is true that you are writing a personal opinion, it is paramount to ensure it is based on facts. Once you bring out key arguments, try to incorporate data and statistics to reinforce them. Go ahead and use historical facts to bolster the case. Counterarguments can also help you to sound more professional and avoid bias.

• Use the O p Ed Essay Conclusion to Call Readers to Action

After articulating all the points in your essay, you should not leave readers hanging. Well, if you were discussing a very serious issue, be it the COVID-19 vaccine or the danger of the latest video games, the conclusion should be used to call readers to action. For example, you can ask people to go and get the vaccine, select non-violent games, speak against school bullying, or other actions.

The following op ed essay writing tips will come in handy to help you to stay focused, sharpen your skills, and craft top-notch work.

Try to make the op-ed essay as clear as possible. Even if you are working on a complex topic, it might be a good idea to ditch the complex words or explain them well when they appear in your essay. Take your time practicing how to write a good op ed essay. Particularly, it can be a good idea to check another op ed essay sample done by a professional and try crafting a better piece. Make sure to follow the guidelines for the essay you are writing strictly. These include the essay structure, number of words, style, font, and other formatting particulars. Proofread your work well. Once you are through working on your essay, make sure to proofread it well and clear all sorts of errors. You might also want to seek the assistance of expert writers when proofreading the work.

Top 30 Op Ed Topics for Essay

Now that we have looked at what is an op ed essay and tips for making it outstanding, what are some of the best topics to consider? Check out our top 60 op ed essay topics and pick the preferred option. You can use op ed essay ideas as they are or tweak a little to suit your preference.

There is nothing as enjoyable as writing a good op ed essay about a topic that you like . Here are some interesting op ed essay ideas to consider:

• Are professional athletes and actors paid too much for their work?
• Should we have a specific dress code for teachers in school?
• Nuclear weapons: Are they killing devices or global peacemakers?
• The bulk of high-level jobs are done by men. Should the government set a specific percentage of these jobs for women?
• What are the impacts of inaccurate sleep patterns?
• What factors contribute to the development of a good movie?
• Death penalty: Should it be abolished globally?
• What age should be considered appropriate for dating?
• Voting age: Should it be lowered to 11 years?

Top Op Ed essay ideas on Environment and Conservation

If you love the environment and conservation, here are some awesome op ed essay ideas.

• Use of animals in scientific research: Up to what extent is it acceptable?
• Zoos are often considered necessary, but they cannot be alternatives to natural environments.
• Are we doing enough to protect endangered animals?
• Is it impossible to address global warming?
• Facing the facts: Is it possible for the globe to entirely rely on green energy?
• Why do most governments hide their information on global warming?
• Are the benefits of electric cars worth the huge investments being directed into the industry?
• Explore the main arguments for or against keeping animals in zoos.
• What are the effects of whaling in the sea?
• Should we develop technology to bring back extinct animals, such as dinosaurs?

Education-Related Op-Ed Essay Topics

Education is one of the broad areas, meaning that identifying some good topics for your essay can be challenging. To help you out, here are some excellent topics suggestions.

• Should girls and boys be taught in separate classes?
• Imagine your geography teacher wants to take your class for a different subject and she is taking suggestions from students. What subjects should she pick? Write an essay supporting your decision.
• Has the modern generation become too dependent on computers?
• Should we replace all the textbooks with tablet computers?
• Should wealthy countries be compelled to share their wealth with poorer nations?
• Space exploration: Is it a worthy undertaking?
• Should we abolish all forms of punishment in schools?
• Using Homework in schools: Should it be abolished?
• College violence: Is it related to video games.
• Should students who are talented in sports go to school?
• Distance learning in modern education: Comparing the pros and cons.
• Students grading their teachers: Should it be allowed in schools?
• Should smartphones be allowed in elementary schools?
• If you had a chance to bring one person to a place that is so special, who would that be?

Culture Opinion Essay Opinion Essay Ideas

Here are some great cultural opinion essay topics to consider for your work.

• The bulk of 21 st -century fashion can result in serious eating disorders.
• Music and generation gap.
• Should a tax be placed on all junk to address the problem of obesity?
• If we wake up and found that the world has no rules and government, what would it be like?
• Online video and music streaming: What are the associated pros and cons?
• Anti-war culture in the 21 st century.
• Is fashion important?
• Should all companies screen their employees for mental disorders?
• Is the internet helping or destroying companies today?
• Online communications: A demonstration of how it affects physical relationships.

History Op Ed Essay Topics

Check out the leading op ed essay topics in history.

• Monarchy system in modern society: Does it have any benefits?
• The benefits of learning history
• Comparing Buddhism and Islam.
• Gender bias in the Roman Empire?
• Holocaust: How were the lessons learned used to shape modern-day Israel?
• Vietnam War: A closer look at the bias in media coverage.
• Slave Trade: Imagining a new world if the slave trade never took place.
• The distortion of Martin Luther King’s message today.
• Should the history of World War I and II be abolished to espouse a new globe?

Nursing and Psychology Op Ed Topics for Essay

If you are in nursing, medicine or psychology-related areas, here are some great easy ideas to consider:

• Why nurses and physicians should have very close cooperation.
• How effective is WHO in addressing global pandemics?
• Herbal practitioners and traditional medicine: Are they the same?
• Causes of racial bias in healthcare.
• Physical education and its role in reducing anxiety.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD): What are the best solutions?
• Nursing theorists: Are they relevant in nursing studies today?
• Legalization of cannabis use: Is it a good idea?

Time to Seek Writing Assistance

Now that we have provided a step-by-step guide to writing quality op ed essays, can you craft one? If it is still challenging, you need to keep trying, but how do you craft the op ed essay at hand? You should consider seeking essay writing help from experts.

Good custom essay firms work with professional writers in different areas and can craft some of the best pieces. Indeed, they are likely to have handled similar tasks before, and you can count on them for excellent essays. You will also love the fact that essay writing help is cheap, and your task can be completed very fast. With professionals, no writing task is too tough!

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What Is an Op-Ed Article?

Definition & Examples of an Op-Ed Article and How to Write One

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An opinion piece was traditionally published in print media opposite the editorial page (hence the term "op-ed"). These articles generally come from an author not affiliated with the media publisher and are used to publish an opinion that is meant to create thought and discussion among readers.

Sometimes people or organizations in positions of influence, respect, social status, or expertise need assistance writing and effectively communicating their educated opinions. Often, they turn to freelance writers for assistance.

What Is an Op-Ed?

Generally, op-eds are used to reflect opinions of an author or group. They are usually longer than a regular letter to the editor , often being written by a subject matter expert or otherwise notable person with the qualifications to have an opinion (or written by someone else for them).

A freelancer will sometimes be used as a ghostwriter—writing using someone else's byline. Additionally, public relations firms often write these articles, in attempts to forward an agenda. The op-ed is then published in a spot where it will be noticed, either in the traditional spot opposite the editorial in printed media, or somewhere on a website where viewers will see it.

These opinion pieces are relevant articles written to address popular or unknown issues, or in response to opinions expressed elsewhere.

Often, a biographical paragraph or two accompanies the piece to lend credence to it and the author. Sometimes, a photo of the author accompanies the piece in the biography portion.

If you are a freelance writer and have found a client who needs an op-ed written, there are a few key concepts you should use when submitting an opinion article. You'll have to be clear on the opinion, know how to hook the readers, understand the audience, back up the opinion with facts, follow any formatting rules, and give the readers a call to action.

How to Write an Op-Ed

The client will generally dictate the opinion for you, and give you the main points they would like to have covered. You may have written for them for a long time and are familiar with their opinions—it still helps to be sure that you understand their goals and thoughts on the issues, as opinions and outlooks can change over time.

Own the Opinion

When you are given someone else's opinion to write about, it can be difficult to agree with it. One problem ghostwriters have is not agreeing with a topic they are writing about which can cause problems writing an effective piece. You want to assume an adopting role of the opinion until the work is finished, which can allow you to write better for the entity you are creating content for.

Know what the desired effect of the op-ed is—whether it be a call to action, or a call for further thought. This will give you an idea of how you can sway or reinforce the reader's thoughts on the topic.

Start With a Hook

Your reader is going to make a decision within the first few sentences whether or not the piece is worth reading. It's a good idea to start by introducing the issue along with a story that personalizes it. Be brief and make sure the hook is relevant to the issue. For example, if you have witnessed a violent crime, and the op-ed supports measures to reduce crimes, you could briefly tell a story about it to make it relatable.

Aim Correctly

Be familiar with theaudience—think of who reads the medium the article will be published on, and who reads about the issue you're addressing. This might assist you in making decisions about the kinds of words you use (e. g., technical terms or jargon), or what kinds of stories you tell.

Avoid industry-speak and jargon to reduce topic confusion and audience limitation. Explain concepts to broaden the understanding for readers that are not industry experts.

Opinions need evidence and support. Generally, data and statistics are used to reinforce the points being made. Historical facts and figures can be used to help bolster the case being made as well.

Follow the Formatting Rules

It's important to follow the style guidelines and word count given by the publication the piece is going to be published in. This reduces the amount of editing that may be needed to get the article up to par and reduces the time spent going back and forth between you, your client, and their publisher.

End With Action

Don't leave your readers wondering what comes next, or what they can do about a particular issue. You should leave them with a call to action, and give them some actions they can take. For example, if the issue is supported by candidates running for office, you might tell your readers to cast their votes for the candidate in their district that reflects the opinion in the article.

Key Takeaways

• Op-eds are opinion based articles.
• These pieces are sometimes contracted out to freelancers for ghostwriting.
• Op-eds should be backed with facts, figures, and statistics to be credible.
• 17 Ways to Write a Conclusion for an Article
• Different Types of Newspaper Articles for Freelancers
• What Is a Freelance Writer?
• Magazine and Article Submission Interviews
• Learn How to Become a Speech Writer
• Freelance Writing Rates: How Much Can You Charge?
• How to Write a Profile or Interview-Based Article
• 25 Examples of Writing That Pays Well
• Pick the Best Writing Style Guide for Your Projects
• Learn How to Write a Freelance Writer's Contract
• 30 New Freelance Jobs for Writers
• Types of Insurance for Freelancers
• The Freelance Writer's Salary
• How to Craft a Writing Pitch
• Freelancer Letter of Introduction: An Example
• Sample Contract, a Letter of Agreement

New York Times Opinion Guest Essays

Learn more about New York Times Opinion guest essays, including how to submit a guest essay for review and publication.

New York Times Opinion guest essays deliver an argument in the author’s voice, based on fact and drawn from expertise or experience. Our goal is to offer readers a robust range of ideas on newsworthy events or issues of broad public concern from people outside The New York Times.

We welcome ideas for submissions in all media, including audio, illustration, data and visualization . 

If you’d like to submit a video guest essay , please visit New York Times Opinion Video guest essay for more information on the submission process. 

Select an option below to learn more: 

What is a Guest Essay?

Opinion guest essays were known as Op-Eds because they appeared in print opposite the editorial page. At its core, an Opinion guest essay provides an argument defined and substantiated with evidence. Rich discussion and debate, combined in a unique way, offer New York Times readers a better understanding of the world. Inviting “intelligent discussion from all shades of opinion” has been core to the work of The Times since 1896, when our publisher Adolph Ochs declared it part of the newspaper’s mission.

We believe in the value of creating space for people who aren’t journalists and who often have no institutional affiliation with The New York Times to speak directly to readers instead of being mediated through a reporter. By design, these arguments and voices often contrast with or challenge those of our newsroom and our own Opinion columnists and editorials . 

Guest essays should provide New York Times readers with the most robust, wide-ranging and distinctive collection of arguments and ideas available.

Guest essays can take many forms, such as: 

• A place for experts to share knowledge and offer illuminating counterarguments: Where experts can present findings, highlight problems and propose solutions to the public and to one another. We seek out essays from experts in which they make an original, robust argument based on their unusual or deep expertise. Economists, lawyers, doctors, teachers, psychologists, playwrights and many others may have expertise on a given topic that can advance an important argument.
• First-person accounts: Where everyday people can share their experiences in their own words, often coupled with reporting or research, in a way that compels readers to see the world in a different light.
• A platform for public officials: Where public officials can make their case, explain their position or tell their stories. Because these individuals already have significant platforms, their essays are held to especially high standards and offer readers newsworthy insight.

We discourage essays that are fundamentally responses to other Opinion articles, columns or editorials. The best forum for responses is the Letters page. To send a letter, email [email protected] .

What Makes a Guest Essay Great?

This is an ever-evolving question because what we look for depends on the news and the issues in public conversation at any given moment. 

The best Opinion essays: 

• Challenge and engage audiences that do not necessarily agree with the writer’s point of view. 
• Give specific and original insight into complicated problems or thorny ideas. 
• Anticipate readers’ questions and even confusion around news that has an impact on their lives and the world. One important role of a guest essay is to clarify and explain the stakes of changes and world events.
• Start conversations, influence policymakers and have an impact far beyond the pages of Times Opinion. 
• Delight readers with great writing and originality and open a window to a world they might not otherwise see.
• Have a word count typically from 800 to 1,200 words, although we sometimes publish essays that are shorter or longer.

Our Standards

Originality: Essays must be original and exclusive to The New York Times — meaning they cannot have appeared elsewhere in any form in print or online.

Ethics and conflicts: Guest writers are expected to avoid any conflict of interest or the appearance of such conflict and comply with The Times’s policies on ethical journalism .

Fact-checking: Before we publish your article, it must be fact-checked. If an essay is accepted for publication, the guest writer will be asked to submit an annotated copy of the essay, listing the relevant sources for each factual assertion.

• We focus our checking on verifiable facts (for example, the number of Americans without health insurance, the median household income, the date a law was enacted).
• We also investigate broader factual assertions (for example, “No one named to the court in the postwar period was as conservative as Justice Scalia or as liberal as Justice Brennan,” “Laos is one of the world’s most corrupt nations”) that may need to be qualified, explained or stated with greater precision or nuance.
• We look at the factual evidence cited to verify that the methodology is sound and that the data is presented with precision and balance. 
• We prefer primary sources (for example, an N.I.H. research paper) to secondary ones (a news article about the paper’s findings).
• If we determine that a particular fact cannot be verified, we will not publish it. 

We will work to verify the facts in your article, but as the writer, you bear the ultimate responsibility for the accuracy of your work. We cannot fix anything after publication without appending a correction, and corrections are permanently archived. Past errors are a factor when we consider whether to accept future work from a writer.

How Do I Submit an Opinion Guest Essay?

To submit your guest essay, please complete this form . 

When submitting your essay: 

• Explain the professional or personal background that connects you to the argument or idea in your essay. 
• Include sources (in hyperlinks in the text or in parentheses) for key assertions made in your essay. 

A member of our staff will read and review every submission, but because of the large number of messages we receive, we may not be able to respond to everyone individually. Unfortunately, we have to reject many excellent essays and ideas. If you do not hear from us within three business days, you should feel free to submit your work elsewhere.

How Do I Contact Other Teams?

• To contact the Editorial Page editor, email [email protected] . 
• To report a factual error in a news article, email [email protected] . All letters asserting factual errors will be forwarded to the appropriate editors.
• To contact Op-Docs, email [email protected] . 

To send a letter to a specific Sunday section :

• Book Review: [email protected]  
• Magazine: [email protected]  
• Metro: [email protected]  

Can't find what you're looking for?

Developed in collaboration with Dr. Dan Pomeroy, manager of MIT’s International Policy Lab .

Criteria for success

A successful op-ed…

• Provides a strong, provocative opinion
• Focuses on a clear, single issue
• Is both important and timely
• Supplies facts and anecdotes that support the main message
• Avoids unnecessary technical jargon
• Leaves the reader a memorable take-away message

Structure diagram

Identify your purpose.

The opinion pages in newspapers and magazines (and their equivalent in online outlets) are often among the best-read sections of a publication. As such, writing an opinion piece is an opportunity to reach a massive audience and influence the conversation of the general public. Further, decision-makers also see these opinions; politicians and their staff track opinion editorials, as do executives and higher-ups at companies, nonprofits, and think tanks. Thus, an op-ed provides two mechanisms for influencing public policy: indirectly by placing an issue for the public to consider, and directly by appealing to these decision-makers.

As a researcher at MIT, you’re an expert in your field at a highly respected institution. You’re a prime candidate to write an op-ed, particularly on topics that influence or are influenced by your research projects, program, institution, field – or, importantly, your professional and personal experiences. Newspaper and magazine editors want strong opinion pieces from experts whom their readers will consider both highly credible and passionate about a topic. And you want to write an op-ed because it can magnify the societal impact of your work and field.

Analyze your audience

The readership of news outlets varies significantly, e.g., the NY Times demographic is quite different than that of the Kansas City Star. To even get past the paper’s editor, your piece needs to cover a topic that’s important to the paper’s readers. Then to be effective, you need to connect with those readers (or at least the ones important to your strategic goal). You can appeal to their values, ethics, emotions, etc.

For example, if you’re writing an op-ed advocating for science funding and targeting a paper with a conservative audience, you can appeal to their readers’ values and ethics by focusing on how scientific research benefits their local industries. As another example, if you’re writing an op-ed on the importance of net neutrality, you can immediately appeal to your readers’ emotions by reminding them how infuriating it can be to deal with internet service providers.

Plan your writing process

Prior to starting the writing process, consider the following questions that will help direct the content and style of your op-ed.

Show your passion with descriptive language and narrative.

Don’t use an academic argument: Regulations to reduce mercury are needed to protect tribal populations because of higher fish intake from subsistence fishing and unique cultural practices.

Do use a compelling story: In the rainy Pacific Northwest, tribal populations spend much of their time on boats hunting swordfish, shark, and king mackerel to feed their families and for use in cultural rituals. Unfortunately, mercury levels in these fish are putting the health and safety of their community in serious jeopardy. The federal government needs to take vulnerable populations like this into account when developing mercury regulations.

Use active voice (i.e. active verbs).

Active: This experience convinced me that we need to support science.

Passive: I was convinced by this experience that we need to support science.

Turn numbers or statistics into specific and easy-to-understand references or examples.

Difficult to understand: Since the pre-vaccination era, the estimated annual morbidity rate in the U.S. decreased from 530,000 to 70.

Easy to understand: Thanks to vaccines, the measles virus that used to infect hundreds of thousands of Americans each year is now virtually eliminated.

Avoid jargon and acronyms

Jargon-filled: Nonintrusive load monitors can disaggregate total energy use by appliance.

Jargon-less: Advanced smart meters can tell you how much energy each of your appliances use.

Avoid clichés – they dilute your message

Examples:  “It’s not rocket science,” “is the holy grail,” “avoid like the plague”

Submitting Your Piece

Prior to submitting your piece, make sure the op-ed meets your target paper’s formatting requirements (word length, etc.) and read their submission instructions. As a general rule, only submit your op-ed to one publication at a time. If your piece is extremely timely, you can provide a time limit for consideration in your cover letter, after which you plan to submit the op-ed to another paper.

When submitting, the body of the email should contain a succinct paragraph establishing why the issue is important, why their readers care, and why your expertise and/or experiences qualify you to write this piece. After this paragraph, provide a brief (1-3 sentences) bio, your contact information (phone number, email address, and mailing address), and the wordcount of the piece (both the full length and length including the title and bio).

An example pitch is provided below.

After submitting, follow-up with a phone call to the editor. Be prepared to pitch it directly as they may have missed the email. Leave a message if he or she does not answer. Do not incessantly hound them, but it is ok to send follow up emails or phone calls if you have not heard back after a couple days.

If you do not hear back from the editor in 10 days or your op-ed is rejected outright, try another paper, or you can shorten it and resubmit your piece as a letter to the editor (might be a different editor). While shorter, letters are still very visible.

Example Pitch

I’d like to submit an opinion piece on the March for Science happening next Saturday 4/22.

I am a CT native, PhD physicist, and currently manage Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s International Policy Lab. The goal of this piece is to explain why, as a scientist, I am joining the March for Science, how science impacts CT, and to urge others to join. I am hoping it can be placed this weekend or sometime next week, just ahead of the March.

The piece is exclusive at 641 text/691 with title and bio notes. Happy to make any needed edits.

Home address: XXX Phone: YYY

Thank you for your consideration,

-Dan [op-ed pasted below and attached]

Further Resources

• Writing an Op-Ed – From the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), this article provides key points to consider when writing an op-ed as well as three examples of science focused op-eds.  The article is a part of their larger Communication Toolkit provided under the AAAS Center for Public Engagement with Science & Technology Program.
• Op-Ed Writing: It’s OK to Argue for Something by Brooke Smith & Sarah Sunu from COMPASS.  In addition to providing tips and resources for writing op-eds, the authors also link to several scientist-authored op-eds featuring a wide variety of arguments.
• Ten Steps to Writing an Op-Ed by Joanne Omang, free-lance writer and former Washington Post reporter. Provides insight into the necessary components of an op-ed from an editor’s perspective along with her “ten steps” you should consider prior to writing your op-ed.
• Op-Ed and You by Trish Hall, Senior Editor, New York Times. Provides an editor’s perspective on “what makes the cut” out of the “flood” of op-eds submitted to the New York Times every day.
• Writing Op-Eds – From the Union of Concerned Scientists, this article provides information on the basic structure of op-eds and gives concrete tips towards optimizing your message and improving your chances of having your piece placed.
• The Op-Ed Project – Started as a social venture aiming to increase the number of op-eds from women and other underrepresented experts. The website provides tips for writing an op-ed , guidelines for pitching your op-ed to an editor , and information on op-ed submittals to leading news publications .

Resources and Annotated Examples

Annotated example 1.

Marcel Bruchez on the March for Science (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) 117 KB

Annotated Example 2

Eric Lander and Eric Schmidt on investing in scientific research (Washington Post) 103 KB

Annotated Example 3

Maria T. Zuber on coal emissions (Washington Post) 100 KB

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Critical Writing Fall 2024: Library guide for Dr. Fayyaz Vellani's Class: Researching the Op-Ed

• Getting started
• News and Opinion Sites
• Academic Sources
• Grey Literature
• Substantive News Sources
• What to Do When You Are Stuck
• Understanding a citation
• Examples of Quotation
• Examples of Paraphrase
• Chicago Manual of Style: Citing Images

Researching the Op-Ed

• Researching Prospective Employers
• Resume Resources
• Cover Letter Resources

Many of the same research techniques you learned during the white paper can be applied to your op-ed research (e.g., finding images, searching news articles, ethical treatment of sources).  To get started, you will want to search for a publication that features Op-Eds and that would have an interest in your topic.  As a college student, you are likely to find your local newspaper receptive to publishing an Op-Ed by you, because they are eager to present the views of younger writers and to attract a younger, college-educated market. However, if you wish to publish your views in your hometown paper, you will need to make your topic relevant to hometown readers, as we’ll discuss in the next section.   

• To find your hometown newspaper information, visit ProQuest News & Newspaper - Go to "Advanced Search" located above the search box; enter your hometown and into the search box; under "Document type," select "Editorial" and click on the "Search" button to see your results. 

ReThink Media - A Millennial Guide Companion: Where to Pitch your Op-Ed 

Move-On - How to Place an Op-Ed in your Local Newspaper

The OpEdProject - Submission Guidelines for Online and Print Publications

The WriteLife - 22 Websites and Magazines That Want to Publish Your Personal Essay

You can also find publications that feature Op-Eds by typing “Op-Ed and (your topic) into the search box of Google.  This will provide you with a range of publications that have already focused on your or a related topic.

Finding Op-Eds; Analyzing the Publication’s Genre

Once you have identified a venue, it’s important to see if they have already published Op-Eds on your intended topic or a related topic. For example, let’s say you wish to publish an Op-Ed on the housing shortage. You search your target publication to see if they have written other Op-Eds on the housing shortage, rental shortage, housing affordability, and related kinds of Op-Eds. This will tell you if they are receptive to your topic, and also tell you if what you wish to write about has already been covered by this publication. If so, you will either need to move on or take a different angle. As you peruse the history of their prior editorials on your topic, you will also get a feel for whether they will only publish a certain viewpoint (say, conservative or liberal, teens or seniors, and so forth). Whenever you encounter a new genre, it’s important to do a genre analysis. As a professional writer (one who is publishing Op-Eds, in this case) you should be sure to research your target publication before pitching an editorial to them.  Individual newspapers and other publications often have a very distinct style and set of conventions.    Along with the search tools mentioned above, you can also search for Op-Eds using the following databases: 

• Academic Search Premier (EBSCO) or Business Source Complete (EBSCO)  - Enter your term(s) into the search box; in the "Document Type" box, select "Editorial;" click on the "Search" button at the bottom of the page to see your results. 
• Nexis Uni  - To the left of the large search box, click on the " All Nexis Uni " dropdown. Select " News ," and under " Article Type ," check the box next to "Editorials & Opinions;" enter your search terms into the search box and click on the magnifying lens to the right to see your results.   
• Factiva  - Under the "Free Text Search" box, click on the "Subject" arrow; click on the + sign next to "Content Types," then click on the word "Editorial," which will highlight it in yellow; enter your term(s) into the "Free Text Search" box; adjust the "Date" under the "Free Search Box;" scroll down and click on the arrow next to "More Options," and select “Headline and Lead Paragraph” from the drop down menu labeled "Search for free-text terms in" so that you get better, more relevant results; click on the "Search" button to see your results. 

Linking Current News to Your Op-Ed Topic

Editors of Op-Eds generally prefer that your editorial is linked to current news, particularly in their market.  For example, the Philadelphia Inquirer will favor Op-Eds that are discussing matters of direct interest to Philadelphians, and will welcome it if you have links in your Op-Ed to other stories or Op-Eds the Inquirer has published. If you are writing about a topic that is of interest to your selected venue’s readership, but its not linked to current news or to the venue, do your best to emphasize its relevance to the venue’s readership. Use the tools above, and the search box of your target publication, to see if there are any news stories related to your topic.

Where to Send your Pitch and Op-Ed

Once you settle on your intended publication, use their search box to find their “submission guidelines.”  For example, here is the link to The Philadelphia Inquirer - Opinion Submission Guidelines: Op-Eds, Commentary and Letters to the Editor

Typically if you cannot find a “submission guidelines” link for a newspaper, you will likely find that information on the paper’s Op-Ed Page. The same is true for most online publications. If you cannot find submission guidelines, look for the "Contact Us" section of their website, which is where they sometimes list the submission guidelines. If not, send an email to the person listed as the editor of the Op-Ed, editorial, or opinion page. Failing that, send an inquiry to whomever seems to be the most logical choice for advising you of where to send an Op-Ed.

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Jamelle Bouie

What Really Matters Is How Presidents Think About Power

By Jamelle Bouie

Opinion Columnist

The American presidency is a strange office.

It is the most powerful elected position in the world. To hold the position is to lead a nation of more than 330 million people with a vast and intricate government that touches every aspect of daily life. You are responsible for trillions of dollars in spending, and you must manage the actions of countless civil servants, from your direct appointees — who number in the thousands — to their underlings. You wield the full might of the American military and have direct access to a device that could, with the press of a few keys, end life as we know it.

From the moment you open your eyes to begin a new day to the moment you close them for a few hours of slumber, your conscious mind is occupied by an endless storm of crises and concerns. You decide which need your direct attention and which can go to the relevant aide or secretary. You must find the time — your most precious resource — to plan, prioritize and categorize the problems and opportunities that come your way. And you will be judged for the success or failure of your administration on any number of issues — whether or not you were responsible, whether or not you had any control over them.

The buck, after all, has to stop somewhere.

But here is where it gets strange. All that power comes with limits so hard that it can feel, at times, like you don’t have any at all. You can spend only what Congress allows you to spend. You have discretion to execute the law, but that can be curbed, even erased, by a vote of the Supreme Court.

There are things you can do by fiat — otherwise known as executive orders — but those can be overturned by a court or reversed by the next administration or resisted outright by hostile state governments. Lasting change, if that’s what you want, requires a vote of the legislature, which is to say that you have to put your goals in the hands of people who may not have your interests in mind, whether or not you share the same party. You can be a towering figure abroad — leading the nations of the free world in a crusade against aggression — and a fumbling, even weak one at home. Our constitutional order may be unbalanced, with an executive and judiciary whose influence seems to outstrip that of the legislature, but the checks and balances that do exist can still stymie the plans of an ambitious president.

Those of us who observe and study American politics are more than aware of all this when we try to analyze and explain a given president. But rarely does the reality of the office ever factor into our quadrennial struggle over which man or woman will hold it.

Consider the most recent presidential debate . The moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC News, pressed the candidates, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, on a wide range of policy questions. Topics included the economy, inflation, immigration, border security, the war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza. The moderators — perhaps following the concerns of undecided voters who say they want more specificity — scrutinized the candidates on their plans and, when appropriate, asked for details.

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