Opinion columns present focused arguments supported by analysis and evidence. They usually appear in magazines or newspapers, and to a lesser extent in journals and on the Web. The focus of the argument is often a recent event or controversy that has been covered elsewhere in the publication. It is common, for example, to find an opinion column in a newspaper advancing an argument about an event reported in a front-page story. The issues addressed in opinion columns generally reflect the interests of regular readers of the publication in which they appear. A column in the New Yorker, for instance, is far more likely to make an argument about literature or the arts than would a column in Field & Stream.

Opinion columns are typically brief, usually containing fewer than a thousand words. Compared to longer argumentative genres, such as essays and articles, they tend to rely more heavily on personal experience and reflection than on evidence from other sources, although it is not unusual for columnists to advance arguments about claims made in other publications. In general, opinion columns are designed simply, often as a single column of text without any illustrations or headings.