Teach Write: What Is an Essay For?

Welcome to Teach Write! This column draws on my 20 years’ experience teaching writing to kids, university students, and adult learners. It includes ideas and exercises that teachers can use in the classroom, and creative writers can use to level up their process.

Happy New Year, and welcome to January, also known as “the start of a new semester.” Which means it’s a perfect time to talk about the most common form of writing assigned by university professors – the essay. Students in high school, colleges, and other institutes of higher learning will also find today’s column helpful, as we answer the question “what is an essay for?”

First, a caveat – there is more than one type of essay. If you’re in any way uncertain about what your instructor is asking you to do, find out! Trust me, getting some clarity before you start writing will save you a whole lot of time down the road. But for our purposes today, we’re going to focus on the most common type of academic essay: the argumentative essay.

As you may recall, we’ve been talking about the importance of understanding the purpose of what we’re writing before we actually start. Unlike other forms of writing, where the goal can be a bit more obscure, the purpose of the argumentative essay is right there in the name:

To make an argument.

But let’s take that one step further and ask, “What is the purpose of an argument?”

If you answered, “To convince someone that I’m right,” you get a gold star.