Opposite of Editorial Page Assignment | Online Assignment

The last written document assigned in English 255 is the 1,000-word Op-ed, a “concept originated at the New York Times in 1970. The phrase “op-ed” literally means “opposite the editorial page,” and in its original appearances it featured readers’ responses to columns/articles written by the editors of The New York Times and other newspapers.The op-ed is covered in chapter seven, section 7.6.1 of our textbook. According to the book, the “purpose of op-ed articles is to present a variety of views on current news events, governmental policies, pending legislation, and social issues” (p. 127). In short, over the years the op-ed has evolved into the most wide-open forum available for expressing one’s views or thoughts about virtually anything. In a sense, the op-ed is the written version of the Oral Report assigned in this class because anything that you think might be worth reading about can qualify as the topic of an op-ed: personal experiences, personal opinions, personal philosophies, personal advice, personal information or knowledge or insight or understanding or random thoughts. In short, if Anyone out there can relate to it, then your topic will probably work. (The same rules about Improper content apply here as apply in the Oral Report: nothing driven by hateful prejudice or by any other sort of sick, twisted, or cruel viewpoint would be tolerated or acceptable.) Of course in the “real world’ op-eds get published in newspapers because editors think the op-eds will find an interested audience. Like the oral report, the op-ed almost guarantees an audience if it is the least bit interesting, informative, thought-provoking, or all of the above. Like the Oral Report again, the Op-ed can overlap many of the other kinds of writing that have been available to you this semester, involving political opinions, products, personality profiles, historical pieces, but also viewpoints about a whole world of other possible topics and experiences.I am uploading to Canvas some examples of op-eds, two from the “real world” and, coming to Canvas soon, two I have written that are “opinion” pieces. The first two I will post on Canvas were both published in the New York Times. Both of them are very personal. “All the President’s Girls,” by Nora Ephron, is a true story about Ephron’s experiences long ago as an intern in JFK’s (President Kennedy’s) White House. It is mostly just a humorous memory Ephron has about her internship, although it may also be a commentary on a longtime American practice of writing books about personal experiences, especially if the experiences involve sexual interaction with famous people. Another real-life op-ed published in the New York Times is Tim Kreider’s confessional about his twenty-year-long drinking career. He discusses all the fun he had and all the time he wasted getting drunk countless times for a couple of decades. This op-ed addresses the popularity and potential problems of alcohol, perhaps especially in America, where Kreider’s story takes place.Your op-ed of course should have an introductory paragraph, at least two body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. It does Not have to have a proper thesis stated at the end of the first paragraph, but still it should have a recognizable main idea or two that somehow are expressed in the introduction and somehow discussed throughout the rest of the op-ed.