Rhetoric & Composition I Rotating Header Image

Op-Ed Project

Because it’s drawing near the end of long school year, and because I think all of you have an argument — or advocacy, if you prefer that word — inside of you, you have some real license and flexibility in your Op-Eds. The only things to keep in mind:

  • Be brave. Don’t play it safe. Take a stand on something you care about and that you want us to care about. No bullshitting. We’ll work in a bullshit-free zone, like we deserve.
  • Persuade us, don’t “prove”
  • It can be an exploratory essay, if you prefer, where you are trying to figure something out, and as readers, we get to watch over your shoulder. 
  • We’re not married to the text essay: if you want to produce an audio essay feel free; if you want to create a remix, feel free; if you want to propose an alternative format, feel free.

Options:

  • A persuasive Op-Ed essay based on your Contextual Analysis topic — 750 words +/- — or, as we brainstormed in class today:
  • “This is Water”: A Syllabus — this one won’t be an essay, obviously — it’ll be a syllabus
  • Why I Hate the New York Times
  • Can you be a good person and a capitalist?
  • How Are You? No, Really — How Are You?
  • A Letter From a Millennial to Generation X.

Have another idea for argument/advocacy/persuasion you want to run by me? Email me!