Op-Ed Project
Genre: Op-Ed piece for the New York Times
Audience: Your choice (primary, secondary, and tertiary audiences)
Learning Outcomes: Rhetorical Knowledge; Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing; Knowledge of Conventions; Processes
Length: 1250-1500 words
Due Dates:
- Thursday 2/7: Statement of Purpose
- Tuesday 2/12: First Draft
- Thursday 2/14: Second Draft and Peer Editing Feedback; Workshop Participation
- Thursday 2/21: Final Draft
Your choice of projects:
Take a position on a debatable issue that we’ve encountered in the NYT so far, or that you’ve come across yourself:
- What is College For?
- Climate Experts Tussle Over Details. Public Gets Whiplash.
- “Rights Collide as Town Clerk Sidesteps Role in Gay Marriages“
- Divided by Abortion, United by Feminism
- Kristof on national parks, or famine, or Mother’s Day
- Friedman on “It’s P.Q. and C.Q. as Much as I.Q.”
- Brooks on Immigration — “The Easy Problem”
- Is the New York Times a “Liberal” newspaper?
Background
The New York Times lays it out nicely: “we look for timeliness, ingenuity, strength of argument, freshness of opinion, clear writing and newsworthiness.” (“And Now a Word From Op-Ed”)
Your St. Martin’s e-Handbook is very strong in this area, and we’ll be using it at every point along the way in the planning, drafting, revising, and proofreading stages of your project’s development:
Rhetorical Situations
