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BASIC TIPS ON HOW TO WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

 

1. Before writing your letter, review the newspaper’s policy on letters to the editor.

 

2. Open your letter with a strong statement that comments on an article, editorial, or other letter that appeared in the newspaper

 

3. Close with the thought you’d like readers to remember. Instead of focusing your attention at a reporter, editor, or expert who got it wrong, consider the central point you want people reading the letter to take away.

 

4. Be grammatically correct. The paper will correct any minor spelling errors, but they won’t edit letters where the sentences make no sense.

 

5. Be polite. Don’t be mean, hateful, a name callers and avoid personal attacks.

 

6. Be specific. If you’re commenting on an article in the paper, mention the day and page number of the article. Don’t assume the reader knows what you’re talking about: Tell them.

 

7. Stick to one topic. Deal with one issue, article or speech in one letter. Keep your letter as short as possible by focusing on one, or at most two, major points. Try and keep it around 250 words, and be sure to stay under the paper’s word limit.

 

8. Use facts, statistics, citations, or other evidence to back up your arguments. Quote other experts who commented on the same subject, especially if the news article did not mention them.

 

9. State your qualifications, if useful to the letter.

 

10. Be original. Don’t sound like everyone else. Give them something new Use your own voice.

 

11. Read your letter out loud. Does it sound good? Does it make sense? Ask someone to review your letter to be sure your writing is clear and you are getting your point across.

 

12. Send the letter to more than one newspaper, if appropriate. Smaller papers print letters too.

 

13. Save a copy. Just in case they edit it, you’ll know exactly how it was changed. Editors will modify your letter for clarity, and could cut parts of it entirely if it is too long. It’s best to send a short, well written letter to avoid the chance that you may disagree with the changes the editor makes.

 

14. Include all the necessary information about yourself that the newspaper asks for. When sending e-mail, this means your city and telephone number. When sending a letter by mail, make sure it’s typed (or legible) with your full return address as well as phone number and signature. This is for your protection, so others can’t sign your name to their letter.

 

15. Keep track of any response you get.

 

16. There are many places to express your opinion, not just letters to the newspaper. There are weekly and monthly magazines. There are internet web sites, blogs, Usenet newsgroups, and chat rooms. Express yourself, in friendly terms, in conversations with friends or in social situations.

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