You are pleased with your research and would like to continue examining these three sites, but you receive bad news. Someone wants to build a tourist resort on the site in East Africa. The company that discovered the cave while they were preparing to dig the tunnel wants to continue its work. Another company wants to build a shopping center on top of the third site. All of these projects are important and will generate jobs and money. The projects also have many supporters. How important are the archaeological sites? You think they should be preserved and therefore you go to government agencies to seek help. The officials are interested but point out that you do not have a lot of public support. If nobody knows how important these sites are, how can they spend the time and money protecting and preserving them?

You decide to reach out to the editor of a major newspaper. The articles in this newspaper are available throughout the world via the Internet. The editor is delighted to help you. “Why don’t you write an op-ed?” she asks. “That will let people know how important these sites are.” You agree; but there’s one problem. You’ve never written an op-ed before. What is it and how do you do it?