How to Write a Letter to the Editor

Series Summary

Good writing is an important skill used in a variety of media. Whether it's writing a meeting agenda, a toast, or a magazine article, the ability to effectively communicate to a large audience stems from knowledge and execution of proper writing techniques. With such knowledge comes an understanding of the distinct differences in writing styles between creative writing, journalism, technical writing and informal writing. In this free video series on writing, teacher Laura Minnigerode discusses several tips for writing various articles and letters. Minnigerode begins by discussing how to write a letter to the editor as well as a family Christmas letter. She also explains how to write an elegy and children's magazine article. Watch these free videos and learn several lessons for writing today.

Video Transcript

"Hi, I am Laura from Youngwritersworkshops.com and I am going to talk about how to write a letter to the editor. When writing a letter to the editor, you are expressing your opinion, so you want to choose a topic that's something you really believe in, that you feel passion about. You want to make a clear argument in your letter, putting all the important information in the first paragraph. Describing your opinion or your point of view. Use the next following paragraphs to give more example to illustrate your point and your opinion. The more specific that you can be in your examples, the better. That will really give people some illustrations for why you believe the way you do. Close your letter with a concluding statement or salutation, like "sincerely" or "yours truly", a comma and your name. Be sure to format the letter in the way that the newspaper requests to receive letters. They may have that information on their web site. Generally you want to use double spacing and common margins for your letter. Find out the correct person's name to address your letter to the editor to, and send it either by mail or e-mail to the correct place at your local newspaper. Those are some ways, those are some steps to take in writing a letter to the editor."