Op-Ed Piece
“The Op-Ed piece is a “real world” exercise that requires not only a thorough understanding of both sides of an issue, but an ability to understand the audience.”[1]
Imagine you are writing a “op-ed” response to a curated blog post catering to a college-educated audience (that’s you guys) of history hobbyists. The conclusion made in the blog is:
“Californians have consistently been ethnically progressive and environmentally conscious throughout history.”
Because you just took California History and want to move beyond the virtual shouting match of “I’m right, you’re wrong, so there,” prevalent across social media, you elect to write an op-ed response on your own website.
For this assignment, please do the following:
Within the context of what we have covered, consider the argument made above and decide whether you agree or disagree with the statement.
Using any available information from what we have covered in class please outline an evidence-supported persuasive response that clearly defines your position and then guides the reader through your reasoning. Use evidence from across our class timeline wisely and explicitly state how the evidence supports your conclusion for or against the statement. Please visit the Smith College Op-Ed Guidelines for some ideas.
Once you have an outline (optionally you can share it with me for feedback), draft your paper by expanding on the structure you built in your outline. Include additional details and/or evidence you found that supports your stance. (Hint: Primary sources are highly valuable and often persuasive as evidence).
