How to Write a Letter to the Editor

This was the final project for my analyzing writing class. The assignment was to create a how to guide on how to write in a particular genre. We then had to give a presentation on our how to guide. I chose to write about letters to the editor as I feel like it is not a super popular genre that is discussed today. It’s something with an outward facing audience that a large amount of people read and know about but is not as common as a blog. The key was to make it very easily readable and organized. I had never really written in this how to style but I felt it was simple as if explaining to a friend about how to go about a task. There isn’t a formal thesis and argument the key is to just give an overview of how to write a letter to the editor step by step. It begins with an introduction where I explain what a letter to the editor is and its purpose and then I explain how to pick a topic and audience, how to compose your letter and finally I give some key tips for writing a successful letter.

I think this was a good exercise in explaining something to the lowest level and making sure that you have the examples to explain what you are saying accurately and precisely. The whole last section of the paper was providing successful examples that people could look at and draw from when writing their own letters. But you don’t want to make the guide too overwhelming such that people don’t want or don’t take the time to read it. It is a delicate balance. It is less discussion about the importance of these letters and more about the functionality. In that way it differed from other papers I had written at Wake. But I really enjoyed the opportunity to write and think about writing in a different way.