All of us have opinions whether it's about which is the best restaurant in town or what kind of transport policy is best suited for our city. If you are a researcher or a professional in a specific sector, you most likely have some things to say about the latest developments in your field or issues that you think more people need to know about. In this lesson, we'll talk about what an op-ed is, what editors look for in an op-ed, and how to start writing an op-ed. To put it very simply, an opinion piece, also called an op-ed, is an article that comments and gives an opinion on an issue. Remember newspapers. This is where the word op-ed comes from. Much before we had countless news websites and blogs. It was only in newspapers where an expert could give an opinion on an issue. Op-ed is derived from opposite the editorial, as this is where such a piece would appear in a newspaper. Op-eds or opinion pieces, have a clear position and argument and you need to be persuasive, but your opinion has to be based on fact supported by evidence. It cannot be a purely personal piece just about how you think and feel on a topic. So who writes an op-ed? An op-ed is written by someone with special expertise or credibility in a certain field. This is one form of writing published in newspapers or websites that is usually written by guest writers and non-journalists and staff reporters unlike say, a news report or an investigative piece. For example, this op-ed about how India needs to focus on much more than just toilets to address sanitation issues was written by Kavita Wankhade, a sanitation professional. Researchers and practitioners who work in a particular field can find op-eds and effective way to take this knowledge beyond academia. Typically op-eds are up to 700, 800 words long in print, or up to 1,000 or a bit more online. This is significantly shorter than journal articles, reports, or policy papers. So being concise is really important. You need to have a clear point domain and you need to make it quickly. Op-eds can be of two kinds. One, they can be timely pieces that focus on topics currently in the news, such as a new policy announcement or an event which happened recently, like a climate disaster or a protest, or an ongoing economic or political development. Two, they can be an introduction to a new idea or a perspective that was not evident in the media until the writer has brought it up. Or they could put forward solutions to an issue. Op-eds are sometimes readers first introduction to an important issue. Because general readers are not likely to read a report from an organization's website or a subject-specific journal, they're more likely to come across something on this topic when they browse their daily news. What do editors look for in an op-ed? While we can write op-eds on just about any topic, it's not easy to get them published. Editors are swamped with pitches daily, so what can you do to get their attention and make sure your article stands out? You need to pitch something that is original, well-written, and compelling. Because these are some of the key elements that an editor looks for. Writing about timely topics that are already in the news at that point in time definitely helps editors get interested in your article. For instance, around the time governments announce their annual budgets, you have a better chance of successfully publishing an op-ed on, say, insufficient funding for primary education. This news hook is more effective than if you pitch it when no related news development has happened. Op-eds also need to be accessible for a non-specialist audience and should not be too dense. A classic rule in journalism is never underestimate your readers intelligence or overestimate their level of information. So you too, as a researcher, need to strike a balance between not dumping down your idea, but also not diluting what you want to see. The idea is to generate discussion among a larger audience and drive public debate. When you start writing an op-ed, ask yourself, do you have a clear point to make? If yes, what is it? This is your topic. The person, place, issue, incident, policy. The one thing that is a primary focus of the piece. Think about your audience. Who would or should care? General readers may or may not have much prior knowledge on this topic. Do you have a specific reader group you are targeting? What is the overall message you want to get across? Several people have opinions and are possibly writing about them. How was your piece different from this? When you get in touch with an editor to pitch your piece, you can refer to module 1 for more on pitching. You need to tell an editor why they must publish your piece at that point in time, and what you will be telling the reader that they haven't already read. Our next section, five questions to help you develop your idea, sums up these tips and can be used as a quick guide on how to begin writing an op-ed.
