Op-Ed Outline

Introduction 

Opening Part:

The opening section of my article will be the following: I will begin by telling a story that involves dependence of cellphones. The story will go something like this:

• Johnny was sitting with his family. His boring family as he liked to called them in front of his friends. It was just an ordinary day, an ordinary week, an ordinary year. It had begun as always: waking up, washing his hair and attending school. He had listened to his teachers, slept in the middle of a class, Math to be precise, and left the campus as fast as he had arrived. Now he was all by himself, actually, no. He was not alone. He was with his baby. The most amazing tool ever invented by men: His Blackberry. 

Body Section 

FOCUS: The focus of my article will be discussing the negative impacts of modern cellphones (i.e. Blackberrys) on teenagers. 

- Some of the points to be touched are the following: 

• Blackberry creates dependence through apps like BBM
• Blackberry hinders communication - refer to youtube video 
• Blackberry generates addiction in teenagers - causes them to do poorly in academics and call their phones babies while sleeping with them. 
• Blackberry are the new trend of teenagers that they follow because they look "cool"
• Refer to some of the statistics of how teenagers have increased their use in mass communication elements- how many messages they send, between what ages are phones common, etc. 

ORDER OF ARGUMENTS: 

1. Introduction - story that engages readers 
2. Create a broad picture of the increment in use of mass communication devices like phones- use statistics and facts from the Web. 
3. Pose rhetorical questions as to why might teenagers be addicted to Blackberrys
4. Demonstrate that teenagers are addicted to cell phones
5. Show that communication between teenagers and their families is less due to phones - share some of the posts found in walls. 
6. State an opinion related to these two arguments
7. CONCLUDE 

PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES:

Some possible techniques that I plant o employ in my article because I found them repeatedly in the examples I got for Op-Ed columns are the following: 

• Imagery - when telling a story
• Punctuation - mix short and long sentences when expressing opinions 
• Metaphor and Simile - compare a Blackberry to something inherent in human life (water, oxygen, etc.) 
• Hyperbole - exaggerate the negative effects that Blackberrys have on society.
• Testimony - strive to convince the audience that teenagers nowadays are mostly addicted to their phones through blog quotes written by a teenager (piece of evidence found while researching).
• Humor - show humor through diction and word choice that engages the audience with what they are reading. 

Conclusion 

Compare the story told at the beginning of the article with what the teenager situation is nowadays showing that Blackberry use can cause addiction and dependence in individuals, especially in teenagers. Use a mixture of short and long sentences and finalize with a short word like "That's right" that shows a colloquial use of language and adds humor to the Op-Ed.