Crafting and presenting a solid written argument is one of the most important skills you can have while in college. That’s because most every kind of writing you will do in class is argument-based, even though they might not seem so at first glance.
A descriptive essay of a historical personality, a textual reading that interprets a book and a presentation of a marketing survey may look very much distanced from argumentative writing. Look closer, though, and you’ll notice the same thread.
In all of the above situations, while you don’t exactly argue for a main thesis, you do perform plenty of persuading anyway. Whether you’re getting readers to understand the heroism of a personality you’re profiling, convincing them that your interpretation of a book is sound or attempting to demonstrate the validity of your survey findings, arguing a point is exactly what you’re doing.
One important note: arguing does not necessarily imply that you’re compelling the reader to agree or disagree, as you would try to do in a persuasive essay. All it means is that you’re demonstrating evidence and sound reasoning to bolster any claim you’re putting forward, all while presenting them in a well-written manner (use a writing software to help with that).
