Instructor: Sheila Suess Kennedy

Black Lives Matter, Dreamers, #metoo, gun control, global warming. Most of us have strong opinions about these issues, among others, and would like to be able to express ourselves in a way that might help effect change on the local, state, or national level. But how?

Sheila Suess Kennedy’s op eds and blog posts on current events never fail to bring clarity, insight, and even humor to the wide range of topics she writes about. They pop up frequently on Facebook pages, with comments like “Yes!” Right on!” “What she said!”

Now you can learn the strategies she uses to write passionately, in a compelling voice. “In an op-ed, you will have approximately 750 words in which to give a reader sufficient background/context to understand the importance of the issue, and convey two or three “take-aways,” Kennedy says. “A blog post will lose readers if it is much longer than 750.” Participants in this class will consider the importance of accuracy in presenting their ideas and learn methods to determine the credibility of available information upon which they intend to rely. They will participate in an exercise to help them establish a topic and takeaways, identify their audience, and come up with an eye-grabbing title. You’ll leave the class with the draft of a blog post or op ed you can hone toward publication.

Sponsored by the PEN America’s Press Freedom Incentive Fund.

Sheila Suess Kennedy is Professor of Law and Public Policy at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. She is a Faculty Fellow with both the Center for Religion and American Culture and the Tobias Center for Leadership Excellence, an adjunct professor of political science and founder of the Center for Civic Literacy at IUPUI. In addition to her books, Professor Kennedy has published numerous book chapters and articles in scholarly journals and law reviews. She has been a columnist for the Indianapolis Star, Inequality.org and The Indiana Word, and she continues to write regular columns for the Indianapolis Business Journal. Professor Kennedy blogs daily at www.sheilakennedy.net, and is a frequent contributor to other blogs and periodicals.