HOW TO WRITE AND PLACE AN OP-ED

Placing an article in the opinion editorial (op-ed) section of a newspaper or publication is an excellent and effective way to express your personal viewpoint about service-learning. It also may help to stimulate discussion and action within your community.

Op-eds provide the opportunity to communicate important information about service-learning. As a teacher, you could describe how service-learning helps to improve academic outcomes, not just how it provides an opportunity for youth to serve others. As a student, you could relate how service-learning allowed you to make connections with people and to learn by doing so. As a community member, you could stress how service-learning positively affects students, families and communities – often fulfilling community needs that would not otherwise be met. An op-ed can even be used as a tool to address controversy about service-learning. For example, a teacher could emphasize that service-learning does not have to be in conflict with state or district achievement standards. Instead, service-learning can be a way to improve students’ academic performance without taking away from learning “the basics.”

It is most effective to time the op-ed so that it “hooks” onto a current event. For example, an op-ed in September could address the beginning of a new school year and encourage teachers and administrators to consider incorporating service-learning into the curriculum. An op-ed during National Volunteer Week could celebrate service-learning’s ability to combine community service with classroom instruction. On a local level, an op-ed during the anniversary of the founding of your town could report on high school students who have researched and developed a community history project as part of a service-learning class.

Essential elements of an op-ed include those listed below.

• A brief headline that succinctly tells what the article is about.
• Two or three key messages, reiterated throughout the article.
• A call to action at the end of the article.
• Clear, concise language, no more than 750 words.
• Contact information and credentials for the author.

Once your op-ed is complete and ready for submission, you should send it to the editor of the editorial page at your local newspaper(s), via e-mail, fax and/or surface mail. You can obtain that person’s contact information by calling the main number at that newspaper outlet. After sending the op-ed, follow-up with a phone call to make sure he or she received the piece, and inquire whether or not it will be included in an upcoming issue.