The Democratic Party of Alachua County encourages the submission of letters to the editor to local newspapers. These letters are vital to our efforts to get the Democratic message out. We need your help!
Here are some tips on writing letters to the editor:
- Time your letter appropriately. Try to write about issues that are relevant
to the news of the day, or issues that are getting a lot of press at the time. - State the point of your letter in the first sentence, and spend the rest of the letter backing up your statement. Reiterate your original point at the end.
- Use data whenever available. One key statistic to back up your statement can add much more weight to your argument than without it.
- Keep it short – 250 words maximum, or below the limit stated by the publication.
- Stay on topic. Avoid extraneous information that does not back up your original point.
- Write concisely. Try to avoid overly long sentences.
- Keep the tone light. Use humor to help get your point across, and no matter how angry you may be about a particular issue, try not to let that anger come across in your letter.
- Use a personal voice. It’s a letter, so it doesn’t need to be written as you would an article.
- If you are writing to support a candidate, make sure you emphasize the need to elect or reelect that person. Include an election date.
- Don’t get bogged down in rebuttals of previous arguments. If you are responding to another letter, try to respond to their general argument, rather than breaking it down point-by-point.
- Unless it is a statewide publication, only write letters to your local paper. It’s much more likely to get published this way.
courtesy of wisdems.org
Gainesville Sun
E-Mail: voice@gvillesun.com
Mail: Voice of the People, The Gainesville Sun, 2700 SW 13th St., Gainesville, FL 32608-2015
Fax: 352-338-3128
High Springs Herald
Letters to the Editor
P. O. Box 745,
High Springs, FL 32655
Or submit online
Independent Florida Alligator
letters@alligator.org
