How To Write A Compelling Opinion Essay

Though they are regarded differently, reported stories and op-eds have striking similarities. Most people believe opinion writing to be an imprecise and emotion-driven art. An 800-word piece, in this view, is just 800 words of how a writer feels on any given topic. However, opinion writing has much less to do with stating how you feel and more with how you can wrangle everything you know, report and research, into a coherent argument. Much as they would with newswriting, journalists can use the tools of the trade — observing, reporting, research and storycraft — in writing their opinions, even when they come from lived experience. In this 1.5 hour course, we’ll break down a couple of examples of opinion-based journalism, while also exploring ways into writing journalistic opinion pieces, as well as talking about when to deploy our opinions as journalists. We’ll explore questions like, “What is the point of the opinion piece?” and explore where such writing is useful and necessary.