Making Your Voice Heard
Student Central | Students in Action | The Art of Advocacy Intro | Activities | Related Article: Making Your Voice Heard
If you're under eighteen, you can't vote in local, state and federal elections. But that doesn't mean you can't make your voice heard. Well-written, well-argued letters can be powerful and persuasive tools. You may choose to write to your state or federal Senator or Representative about a particular issue close to your heart, or a law that affects you. Elected officials want and need to hear from their constituents-that's you. Remember that elected representatives pay attention to letters they receive. If a politician receives one letter about an issue, he or she will usually assume that at least ten other people hold a similar opinion.
You don't need a lot of resources to write a letter. What you need is a pen, some paper, an idea, and an opinion. You need to have something to say about a law, something happening in your community, a story you read in the newspaper, or an action a member of Congress has taken. Some basic facts about your issue wouldn't hurt, either. Facts add credibility to, or grounds for your position. If you are armed with some facts to back up and support your opinion, your letter will be stronger.
The article below outlines some of the techniques you should use to craft a powerful and persuasive letter once you've researched your issue a bit.
Whom Should You Write To?
Whom you should write to depends on what you want to write about. If you have strong opinions on a local issue that impacts you-for example, recycling in your neighborhood-you should probably write to a local politician, such as your alderman, city council member, or mayor. If the issue relates to a state matter, such as health care or the use of the death penalty in your state, you should write to your state Representative or Senator. If you have a strong opinion about a national issue, then it makes sense to write to your federal congresspersons. And if you have something to say about an issue that has recently received newspaper coverage, it makes sense to write to a Letter to the Editor (see sidebar).
You may have strong opinions about several issues, but it is usually more effective to write a separate letter about each issue.
Drafting a Letter
You should start your letter with an introduction to explain why you are writing and state your opinion. For example, a letter to a member of Congress might begin, "I believe schools in your constituency need more funding."
In the body of your letter, you should state your opinion and support it with evidence or arguments. This is where your facts come into play. You should set out what you know about the topic, and also refer to any relevant action the person or institution you're writing to may have taken. The most persuasive letters relate the reason for writing to personal experience. Explain how the issue at hand affects you personally, your friends, your family, or your community.
Make sure your letter is well-structured. Start each paragraph with a topic sentence-that is, a sentence that sets out the theme of the paragraph. Topic sentences help signal to the reader where your argument is going and make it easier to read and understand. The rest of the paragraph should elaborate on or exemplify the theme. When you move on to your next point, start a new paragraph.
You should finish your letter with a conclusion, in which you re-state your opinion and propose some action. If you are writing to an elected representative, you may wish to say politely and clearly that the stance they take will affect your vote (once you turn eighteen). Request a reply to your letter. If you ask the member to explain his or her position, you are more likely to receive a letter that replies to what you said, rather than a "form" letter. You may wish to wrap up with the words, "I look forward to hearing from you."
Be Civil
Your letter will be most powerful if it is well argued, well structured, and civil. Letters tend to be more formal than emails or phone calls, and your tone should be suitably polite. Even if you have very strong feelings or emotions about a particular issue, you should be sure to keep the tone of your letter relatively restrained. Your letter is more likely to be taken seriously if you can set out your position without using emotional language or making unsubstantiated claims.
Finalizing Your Letter
Once you have a draft, carefully review and edit your letter. Remember short letter are more likely to be read in full by politicians. Edit your letter until it is clear, concise, and to-the-point. Make sure you follow all the letter-writing conventions set out here.
Make Letter Writing a Habit
Writing letters is a great way to make your voice heard in government and in the public sphere. Get in the habit of writing letters to your elected representatives if you feel strongly about a piece of legislation or something happening in your community. Read the letters on the Letters to the Editor pages of your local newspapers to pick up some letter-writing tricks, and try your hand at submitting a letter to your local newspaper. And encourage your friends, your parents, and others to write letters to their elected representatives.
Finally, you'll find a mock up of a letter, famous examples of issue-oriented letters, and information about how to reach your congresspersons elsewhere in Students in Action.
Katie Fraser is a former program manager and editor with the ABA Division for Public Education.
The Conventions of Letter Writing
It's easy to write an email-you just write down what you have to say and press send. Writing a letter is a little different because there are well-established rules of style and format that you should adhere to. When you write a letter, make sure you observe the following guidelines:
- Include your return address at the top of the letter. You may wish to include your phone number and email address too.
- Include the mailing address of the person you're writing to.
- Don't forget to date your letter.
- Start your letter with a greeting or salutation. If you don't know to whom the letter should be addressed, you may begin your letter "Dear Sir/Madam", or "To whom it may concern." A letter to the editor might begin with the words "To the Editor". If you are writing to a member of Congress, you should begin "Dear Senator [insert last name]", or "Dear Representative [insert last name].
- If you wish, you may include a line stating what the letter is about. For example, if you're writing a letter to your local Senator asking for more bike lanes in your part of town, you could include the line: "Re: Bike Lanes in Hyde Park." A letter to the editor might commence with a reference to the story it responds to, such as "Ref: Children Left Behind, August 17."
- At the end of your letter, you will need to sign off. There are formal conventions for this too. If your letter was addressed to a specific person, then you should you should end the letter with the words "Yours Sincerely," followed by your name. If your letter was not addressed to a specific person by name, then you should end your letter with the words "Yours Faithfully", followed by your name.
- Remember to sign your letter. If you write a letter using a computer or typewriter, you should type your full name and sign above it, in pen.
Write a Letter to the Editor
In addition to writing to elected officials, you can also make your voice heard by writing a letter to the editor of a local or national newspaper. Letters to the editor are published every day on the opinion page. They are read by many members of the public, and are also closely tracked by journalists and politicians, because letters to the editor represent the concerns of the reading public.
There are a few things to keep in mind when writing a letter to the editor:
- Be newsworthy. If you have something to say about an article in today's newspaper, write a letter today. Newspapers won't publish letters about old news.
- Identify the story you're responding to. The usual format is: "In arguing that young people should be denied the vote until they are 25 ("No Vote for Kids," Daily News, August 6, 2006), your editorialist…"
- The larger newspapers are less likely to publish so-called "Soapbox Letters", which do not directly refer to something reported in the paper.
- Newspapers may receive hundreds of letters every day. The ones that stand out will present one key idea. Short punchy sentences should support that idea.
- Be witty, but civil.
