What is an Op-Ed?

Excerpted from Karen Nikos-Rose, University of California-Davis, Strategic Communications

Op-eds became a reality late in the 20th century, seen by newspapers as a way to give people a chance to write opinions, rather than just paid columnists and editors of the newspaper. The name means “opposite editorial,” referring to its placement in the newspaper. It does not mean “opinion editorial” or any other name you may have heard. Besides newspapers, online publications, television stations, and online placement services, such as The Conversation, run op-eds or essays on various topics.

First: Read the guidelines of the publication or web site they are seeking to place in. In almost ALL cases, they must be exclusive.

Here are a few examples of OpEd guidelines from various long-standing and well-respected institutions:

The Washington Post

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/submit-an-op-ed/

The New York Times

• https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/25/opinion/tips-for-aspiring-op-ed-writers.html?mwrsm=Email

The Chicago Tribune

• https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/chi-opedguidelines-story-story.html

General Tips for Authoring Op-Eds?

Opening Paragraph:

• Attention Hook: Ensure your 1st sentence engages readers attention with an astonishing fact, notable statistic or attention grabbing piece of information.

• Content Suggestion: Express a clear and concise equity resolution. You can use ACEI’s equity agenda to derive such a premise.

Body Paragraphs:

• Content Suggestion: Focus on no more than one equity agenda item per paragraph and consider restricting each submission to one equity agenda item per OpEd.

• Content Suggestion: Include at least one piece of confirmed, fact checked data to support each assertion or suggested action included in Op-Ed.

• Content Suggestion: Explicitly connect the confirmed, fact checked data to the equity item of focus in the OpEd.

• Content Suggestion: Acknowledge any opposing opinions and refute them with facts.

• Content Suggestion: Utilize transitions between paragraphs to tie the piece together into a cohesive and unified story.

Call to Action

• Ending Iteration: Summarize your main points, offer a call to action and invite discussion

• Leave An Impression: Plant a thought that can be pondered or investigated further by the reader once they have completed reading the OpEd.