Chapter 12 (Reflection)

Chapter 12 was over advocacy writing. Letters to the editor is another task that has a set of rules that need to be followed. For example, you are to keep the letter short, begin it with “Dear Editor or “To the Editor.” My first important takeaway from this section is that these letters are to carry a positive tone to create a positive impression about your organization. In doing so, you must avoid criticism and name-calling. If you don’t then that will be seen as big “UH OH.”

The second takeaway what “op-ed” articles are. Before reading this chapter I had never even heard of this type of article. Now I know it stands for “opposite the editorial.” Op-ed articles allow you to get more in depth about a subject.

My last takeaway was position statements. Position statements are formal and deal with important issues as well as controversial. To me, it seems like when writing a position statement it needs to be taken very seriously just like a research paper (cringe)

One thing I read that is most useful for my writing goals was  “talking points.” Whenever you are doing talking points for your company, you have to be clear and use the same language because if you don’t your stakeholders are going to end up confused about the message you are trying to get across.

I found the advice over speech writing to be most useful to my current writing because these types of speeches are not read by the audience but instead they are heard. So whenever it comes to writing them out you have to write them in an entertaining conversational style. The overall advice I received from this chapter is that when I write I need make the best first impression to my audience while getting my point across quickly.

What made me think about public relations writing in a new way is that it is to your best interest to create catchy and strong headlines or else your work can be rejected completely by editors.