Think Pieces: What They Are and How to Write One

A think piece, also known as a thought piece, is an article or piece of writing intended to stir up the reader’s thoughts. It is usually speculative, with a lot of expository material, context, and the author’s analysis and opinion of existing ideas.

Sometimes, think pieces can lean toward the controversial, especially when they seek to challenge majority opinions. Particularly provocative pieces are often the ones that get shared all over social media or the internet.

Editors of magazines, blogs, and websites often pay for think pieces, but they are not that easy to write. This is perhaps why many writers aspire to be published in mainstream publications like The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Economist, The Atlantic, and The Saturday Evening Post, but their submissions barely get a sideways glance.

The good news is that getting a think piece published does not depend on your name or reputation; instead, quality is king. The key is being able to think deeply about a topic and offer a fresh and thought-provoking view of it.

First, let’s understand the purpose of a think piece.

What Is the Purpose of a Think Piece?

A think piece plays an important role in the world of writing. Some of its main purposes include:

encouraging people to dig deep, think through, and discuss different philosophies, including economic, political, social, and cultural issues of the present day;
bringing an analytical perspective to current understandings of different frameworks, philosophies, theories, and experiences;
presenting beliefs, ideas, and analyses in a clearly structured and concise way.

How Do You Structure a Think Piece?

Now that you know what the main intentions of a think piece are, you need to understand how its structure is meant to work.

The structure of a think piece may be considered a tool for a person to analyze a text thoughtfully but quickly. Then, this focused wrestling of ideas can be brought forward in a discussion through your writing.

In the think piece, you will need to bring out key ideas in a more concise manner than in a full-length academic paper. You will also bridge theory and practice, a term that experts call “praxis.”

Here is a recommended way of structuring your think piece:

First Paragraph: Close Reading

The first paragraph is where you will explain the topic you have chosen. Remember, the goal of a think piece is to look closely at a subject, so in this paragraph, you will be able to show just how deeply you have dug into the topic.

For best practices, this should contain a brief excerpt from a source material relevant to your chosen topic. The goal of this first paragraph is to show how you have looked closely at the topic, and found this excerpt to raise questions and issues that you want to address.

You can start this paragraph by giving a brief citation of your source. Keep in mind that the reader does not know what you are thinking, so be clear in the path of your reasoning. As you see connections to bigger issues, explore these in this paragraph, but only when they are explicitly connected to the main topic.

Second Paragraph: Main Argument of Original Source and Your Main Assumptions

Transition to your second paragraph, paying attention to the following:

Arguments: If you cited another written piece, discuss here what the article is trying to persuade the reader of. What is the goal of the piece that you are citing? If you are not quoting a specific article, you may discuss here what the main proponents are trying to argue.
Assumptions: Then, discuss the assumptions you believe the original writer or proponents have taken. Explain how you derived this understanding, especially if it’s not explicitly stated. Once you clearly establish this, you will be able to show your readers that you are coming from a place of deep understanding.

Third and Succeeding Paragraphs: Response and Application

In the third paragraph, you can then expand on your personal response to what the original writer or idea-proponent is espousing. Here are some ideas to get you thinking:

Do you agree or disagree with their point of view? In what ways, and why?
Which parts of the original idea will you be able to use?
What do you want to contribute to the topic? Explain your frames of reference.
Which parts of the original idea is common sense to you, and which ones are challenging for you to believe?
What parts of this subject provoke you, and why? (How are you provoked? Does it make you sad, angry, excited, etc.?)
What do you want to see changed because of these ideas?

Closing Paragraph

In your closing paragraph, you can summarize again all the things that you have discussed, highlighting only the main points.

Think Piece vs. Opinion Piece

Since a think piece includes the writer’s opinions about a certain issue, it can slightly overlap with an op-ed or opinion and editorial piece, but they are not the same.

One difference is that think pieces are intended to provoke a reaction or stir up discussion, whereas an op-ed piece can simply be the writer stating his opinion without any goal of being controversial.

Writing a Think Piece

It was not long ago that a think piece had the derogative meaning of an article that a journalist spins off in the absence of “real” news. After all, when you seek to analyze and comment on ideas that other people have written about, it can easily be misconstrued as simply “recycling” material.

But the truth is that a think piece can be stimulating and provocative, challenging readers to look at things in an entirely new light. One of the most encouraging descriptions of a think piece is found in the English Journal: “To the trade, a think-piece is an essay that holds forth eloquently on the author’s philosophy a la Ralph Waldo Emerson.”

If you are writing a think piece, I’d encourage you is to make sure it’s a subject that you yourself are passionate about, and which you have researched extensively. Your goal is not just to stir up controversy, but actually contribute something beneficial and worthwhile to the larger aggregate of thoughts and ideas.

Once you have that in place, you should be able to write a think piece that, even if it starts off with the analysis of an old idea, will have a longstanding impact on your readers’ minds.

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