Louisiana State University Marijuana Should Be Illegal Essay

1. Assignment Overview

The Letter to the Editor assignment consists of 2 parts.

For part 1, you will write an argumentatively sound Letter to the Editor on a policy issue of social importance of your choosing. You will post the letter to the Letters to the Editor: Part 1

2. What is a Letter to the Editor and Op-Ed?

Letters to the editor or Op-Eds were originally letters published in news outlets that challenged the opinions of editorial positions in the outlet. Now, the term op-ed is used more broadly to refer to not necessarily oppositional arguments, but more broadly argumentative, opinion essays. These might challenge editorial positions, but also make strong opinionated arguments on issues of social importance.

This is not traditional a research paper, and shouldn’t be written with an objective voice. This should be a strongly opinionated and argumentative essay, and you must support and back up your opinion/argument with outside sources and logical reasoning.

Your letter should present and advocate one side of an issue, but in the process (and in line with good refutation) should also address the strongest arguments(s) of the opposing viewpoint.

3. Selecting a topic

Your topic for your letter to the editor due in Part 1 must be a policy claim argument. This means that you will select a policy issue that you would like to argue in favor of or against and compose a Letter to the Editor that details your arguments.

Examples of Policy Claims:

• The federal government should guarantee a minimum annual income to each family unit.
• The federal government should significantly increase social services to homeless veterans in the United States.
• We should abolish the police.
• Marijuana should be illegal.
• Marriage of minors should be outlawed.
• LSU should offer free parking to all students, staff, and faculty.
• College should be free.
• The state of Louisiana should make healthcare available to all citizens at no cost.
• We should abolish the death penalty.

The format of a letter to the editor or often depends on the outlet. For this assignment, I want you to read the following advice from the New York Times and the Kennedy School that give advice on the proper way to write letter’s to the editor, and read the articles linked below as examples.

let me know if you have any questions!!