Writing Assignment #4

Letter to the Editor

Spring, 2017

PURPOSE: The purpose of this assignment is to give you some

real world perspective on persuasion in a commonly used genre, a
letter to the editor. Letters to the editor have many purposes:
clarification, response to something read or a community issue,
joining in the conversation, etc. We will consider genre
conventions (how it should look, the tone) and why those are
important. It will also give us the opportunity to discuss the
importance of editing.

WHAT YOU DO:

For this project (your last of the semester), you will craft a letter to
the editor of either the UALR student newspaper, the Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette or the Arkansas Times. You may choose to
write IN RESPONSE to something youve read in one of these
publications OR IN RESPONSE to a current issue on campus or in
our community. These letters are narrowly focused, typically on
one issue. That issue may be a part of a larger conversation, but it
is critical to keep that narrow focus.

I will leave it up to you whether you submit the letter for actual
publication or not, but it should appear as if you will.

GUIDELINES:
300-350 words (why is that important?)
Styled as a proper letter (genre conventions)
Class workshop: Wednesday, April 26
Due posted to digital portfolio: Friday, April 28th by 11:59 p.m.