Reflection, Unit 3.6

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Opinions. Everyone has one. As public relations professionals, we will have plenty of opportunities to advocate for our organizations with op-eds and letters to the editor. Last week in public relations writing, we had a little fun with the feature story. The Op-Ed and letter to the editor we wrote this week were just as fun. 

The key to these two is having an opinion and expressing it in well-though-out arguments that are backed up with strong support in favor of what you're saying. Op-Eds are usually around 800 words and letters to the editor are even shorter, at around 150 words. Op-Eds are well researched with plenty of evidence to use to prove an argument. 

Since we were given the liberty to choose our subjects for these two pieces, I chose Oklahoma teacher pay for the Op-Ed and collegiate athlete pay. The letter to the editor was in response to an article published by the Tulsa World. 

My Op-Ed looked at the reasons we need to raise teacher pay. I did careful research and made sure to cite recent events to give it currency. I argued four points and gave a few possible solutions, in the end, to tie it all together.

For the letter to the editor, I found an article on the Tulsa World that argued in favor of giving salaries to collegiate athletes since they bring so much profit to colleges and universities. I feel quite strongly about this subject. In my opinion, people go to college to get an education. That is why we have universities in the first place. I know many people who could have killed it in college because of their potential and intelligence. Yet, because they are from a less fortunate background, they couldn't attend college. At colleges and universities, we have athletes who get special perks and treatment all so they can throw a ball. I think no one should get a scholarship or a perk for playing a sport. That's just my opinion. It's not a popular one, but there it is. 

Public relations professionals will have to know how to write a detailed, well-researched opinion in order to advocate for their organization. This unit taught me even further the importance of research and how it can build your argument. 

I haven't ever been amazing at persuasive arguing. However, I feel that this unit and other recent units in this course has helped me to argue persuasively. As a result, I feel more confident about writing PR Op-Eds in my future career. 

This assignment was fun because it really makes you think about how your arguments would be received by opposition. If your arguments can't hold water, your opinion that is based around them is worth much either.