This week, Louise Holden explains how to establish a fair and balanced letters page

"Madam, - I really can't understand all the fuss and debate regarding 'same-sex marriage' in your letter pages recently. I've been having the same sex, with the same woman, for the past 24 years, and we are very happily married. - Yours, etc, Seán McPhillips, College Point, New York, US.

A debate on the merits and perils of same-sex marriage has been simmering in the letters page of The Irish Times for some weeks now, and the editor of that page, Liam McAuley, has shown considerable fairness and imagination in his selection of letters on the topic. Blogging and internet chat forums are the most popular forms of public debate at the moment; the letters page is basically the newspaper's version of a chatroom. The difference is that a letters page is edited so that the readers are spared all but the very best.

Consider a letters page for your school mag - it brings a healthy new organ of reader involvement to your publication, and gives you a chance to use some of the great wit and writing talent hiding away in your school. Given that yours is a one-off publication, you will not get the opportunity to stoke up a debate, so perhaps you could invite letters on a particular topic, such as school rules, Irish football or a current news story that affects your readers. This way you will get plenty of letters on the same topics and you will be able to present a balanced and comprehensive letters page on key issues.

If you decide to go for a more general letters page, consider the following elements when the editing process begins:

•Put up notices around school, inviting letters or e-mails for your letters page. Let writers know that they must use their real names or their letters will not be used.

•If you get a lot of letters on the same subject, choose one or two that represent the rest, but a letters page is not an opinion poll so you don't have to be too scrupulous - it's important to entertain the readers.

•Don't print letters that are abusive or potentially libellous. If in doubt, ask the opinion of others on the Mag team - one man's gentle mocking is another's mortal insult.

•You can edit letters to fill a space, but be careful to preserve the original meaning and intent of the writer

Here a few tips for getting your Letter to the Editor published:

•Be brief - you are not writing an article and the letters page editor has no room for one.

•Very short, well constructed letters can be very useful to an editor trying to use up a small space.

•Humour is always welcome.

•If you are writing about a much discussed topic, look for a fresh way of expressing it.

•Try to keep your pen cool - furious letters can make you sound like a crank.

•Next week - Getting your magazine printed