In this video, we will look at a sample editorial in order to understand the writing gestures that the author performs as they write this essay. We will focus on some vital aspects of writing an editorial in this video, including the beginning and ending, ways of bringing in research, and the tone of the FA. Let us focus on some essential skills that we need to build to be able to write a good editorial essay or an opinion piece. Given that we barely have 750-800 words to make our point, attracting the reader's attention is crucial here, effective editorials begin with a strong hook, which draws the reader's attention to the topic right away, but in a powerful manner. The same principle applies to how this brief piece will end. It should reinforce your argument but do so in a way that leaves an impression on the reader. Clarity is of utmost importance in writing an editorial, the reader should be clear about what you're arguing for and how your evidence supports your argument. The evidence should not be provided merely as a list of items but should connect effectively to your argument. This can be achieved to some extent by following some stylistic practices. Some of them being the use of the active voice rather than the passive voice in your writing and a careful choice of words. Using active voice makes you not only more present in your writing but the writing itself sounds more direct and clear. Spending some time on the choice of words is very important because it makes your writing crisp and precise. Given that you have only 800 words to make your point, every word has to convey specific meaning in your editorial. A vital aspect of writing editorials or writing for popular media, in general, is that it provides you with more space to establish or connect with the reader through your language, pitch, and tone where applicable, good editorials are known to have use humor and irony very effectively or adopted a conversational tone for part of their essay in order to establish a sense of connection with the reader. The writer, however, has to be careful that their tone does not slide into a preachy tone but communicates with their readers with respect. The other delicate balance that writers have to be mindful of in their language is between writing simple short sentences to ensure comprehensibility but avoiding cliches, which would make their writing tiresome. Last, speed is paramount. Editorials are generally written on a current team which needs a prompt response or commentary. Even though the editorial needs to be backed up with research, the writer has to be aware that their editorial will be irrelevant if it is published long after the issue has ceased to occupy center stage in the public eye. Writers have to practice writing drafts of their editorials essays in shorter time. The sample editorial that I have chosen for us to work with in this video is from the UK newspaper, The Guardian, published on May 25th. This editorial titled another desperate day, comments upon the horrific incident of a mass gun shooting in an elementary school in Texas, US, which had taken place on May 24th, which had seen the deaths of 19 students and two teachers. Here is how the editorial begins. Notice how the editorial draws in the reader. The first sentence appeals to an emotion that probably was the foremost in the minds of all the readers. The unbearable thought of very young school children dying in such a brutal attack. The second sentence, however, follows up with an even more powerful idea. It says the killing of at least 19 pupils and two teachers is not as it should be unthinkable. Why is this a powerful way of articulating this tragedy? By saying that this killing should be ideally unthinkable, but is actually not, the author is very effectively gesturing towards how these killings are becoming routinized in the US. These two sentences together constitute a very powerful beginning of this editorial essay, which already is telling us partially about the perspective of the editor. Notice how the tone, however, immediately shifts to factual information about similar killings in another school in Connecticut state and in a supermarket in New York State. This information actually follows up expertly on the idea of killings in the US now becoming routinized. By telling us that similar killings had happened across the US a decade ago and 10 days ago, the author expertly underlines the point of gun killings no longer remaining such an unthinkable thing it actually becoming a routine thing in the US. Moving on to the next paragraph, the author wastes no time in giving us relevant data based upon their research on the extent of gun violence in the US. Notice the sentences are short, but full of relevant data. US as being ahead of all countries in number of guns, the increasing murder rate and the high number of deaths of under 18 persons due to gun violence and how many of these deaths occur in disadvantaged neighborhoods. These figures and numbers together depict the alarming extent of gun violence and its victims in the US very clearly. Notice how the editor chooses to end this section full of figures and data with appealing to our emotions again by saying that many school aged victims of gun violence from disadvantaged neighborhoods hardly get noticed, even though they probably deserve similar love and protection from the society. It is useful to see how the writer of this editorial carefully builds a narrative around this incident by gradually expanding from the immediate event to the larger context of gun violence at the national level of policy changes and of politics. In the following paragraph, the writer gestures towards what policy needs to be adopted. That is of banning assault weapons and the challenges of the same, that they are still an inadequate measures and lawmakers cannot pass even this small measure. They follow it up by describing the falling support for gun control and gesturing towards the Republican Party's trouble on support and celebration of gun rights in the US. These paragraphs though we haven't read them completely here thus serve to bind this narrative into a coherent whole by giving us a clear idea of what is required to be done in terms of policy and what political challenges come in the way of this action. We see that the author already starts moving towards closing the essay when they move towards recommendations. Note how the recommendation is very crisp and straightforward that local gun violence programs work and so the increase in their funding is the step in the right direction, but also that it is not an adequate response. It is crucial that the editorial also points towards what more can be done by saying that misogyny needs to be addressed. Here, the lay audience might not always be clear to what misogyny means. It's notable that the editorial also clarifies it in the following sentence as the expression of hatred against women and attacking them, a pattern visible across many mass shooters. We will now take a look at the first and the last sentences of the concluding paragraph of the editorial in order to see how effective endings work. Given that the topic of mass shooting of school children is an especially distressing event, the editorial also chooses to rely on rhetoric to demand more from the state and administration in terms of an adequate response. The first sentence tries to capture the mood of most of the citizens and observers from around the world as they watched yet another incident of mass shooting in a school in the US with no sense of hope. When the author says that against the state that has failed to curb its gun control laws, even in the face of persistent campaigning by affected families. There is an underlying sense of accusatory tone in the sentence. The paragraph ends by saying that even though sadly these killings no longer have become unthinkable, inaction against them must be unthinkable. This is a powerful ending, since it ties back seamlessly to be idea expressed in the introduction. But it also takes this idea of an unthinkable action and instead chooses to label the state inaction against this violence as unthinkable and hence is unacceptable. By saying that inaction must be thought of as unthinkable. The editorial is also exerting its readers to hold the state accountable and push the administration and all the stakeholders included in putting a stop to this. Conclusion. We have seen in this video an example of an editorial essay and how it expertly combines language, style, rhetoric, and concrete evidence in order to build a crisp but powerful commentary on a contemporary topic. Thank you.
