Lede Thesis Argument 1St San Diego State Universi
Assignment #2: Opinion-Editorial on Relevant Social Issue. Due by end of Week 3. Reflecting on the sample opinion-editorials (op-eds) from your weekly reading and the lecture(s) from Professor Centanni, write a 500-700 word op-ed that enters the civic discourse in our current world about race in America.
This is obviously a charged and sensitive set of issues. My goal in this unit is not to teach you what to think. Instead, I want to help each of you consider how you arrive at your beliefs. Part of that will be your ability to engage less with the conclusions of our sample texts and your own writing, and more with the norms of this writing genre. In other words, you will earn your grade by showing adherence to the norms of the genre, staying focused on the actual issue, and exhibiting writing mechanics indicative of an upper-division college student.
In order to guide each of you down an appropriate path of critical thought, I will provide a few prompts for you to choose from. Your op-ed should only address one of them, not multiple. For those of you who have an idea of your own, feel free to consult with me and I will help you target the idea in a sufficient manner.
While I will not grade you on your beliefs, I will be highly critical of your commonplaces, premises, and logical fallacies. Review Heinrichs’s chapters 14 and 15 to become more aware of how to avoid faulty foundations in your writing and in your thinking.
Be prepared to structure your pieces similar to the examples. For your op-ed, consider the following structure:
Lede
Thesis
Argument
1st Point
2nd Point
3rd Point
“To Be Sure” Paragraph
Conclusion
(*structure taken from The OpEd Project, n.d.)
For more information about what each of these elements entail, please see: https://www.theopedproject.org/oped-basics (Links to an external site.)
Note: An average opinion-editorial contains between 12 and 20 paragraphs, so do not dedicate a single paragraph to each element outlined above. You may have to split some of the above ideas into multiple paragraphs.
In terms of citation practices, you will reference where your evidence comes from, but it will be cited according to journalistic standards rather than academic norms. You should not have a References or Works Cited page. Just make sure all information is accounted for in narrative citations. Your voice will be intellectual, but it will be less formal.
Prompts (select one, or consult with me to create your own)
1. Let’s assume that police departments will continue to be funded. What are some concrete steps that local governments and police departments can make to improve their interactions with people of color?
2. Let’s assume that police departments begin to lose their funding. What are some ideas for cities and municipalities to restart organizations that can serve and protect communities in ways that truly work for all members of society?
3. Let’s assume that there truly are officers of the law who do their jobs in a way that is beneficial for all members of society. How can these officers help re-shape policing in their departments? How can they reasonably look for – and hold accountable – officers who are not following reasonable protocol?
4. If you are in favor of athletes kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequity, what should society do to help the cause? What should other players do? What should the NFL do?
5. If you are against athletes kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequity, what are other forms of protest that would a) be more acceptable, b) garner as much attention, and c) actually help the anti-racism movement succeed?
6. What can Generation Z do next to help make sure the momentum around stopping racist practices in our country stop? What can older generations (Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers) do to help?
7. Let’s assume that privilege is undeniably a real thing. What are some concrete ways that people who were born into privilege can begin actively contributing toward equity in our country?