In one important sense, all language use has an argumentative edge. When you greet friends warmly, you wish to convince them that you are genuinely glad to see them, that you value their presence. Even apparently objective news reporting has strong argumentative overtones. By putting a particular story on the front page, for example, a newspaper argues that this subject is more important than others; by using emotional language or by focusing on certain details, a newscaster tries to persuade the audience to view an event in a particular way.

Emily Lesk’s primary purpose in her essay “Red, White, and Everywhere” is to reflect on her own identification with one particular American icon, Coca-Cola (4l). But her essay clearly has an argumentative edge, asking readers to examine their cultural identifications and to understand the power of advertising in creating and sustaining such identifications.

It’s possible, then, to read any message or text, verbal or visual, as an argument, even if argument is not its primary purpose. In much academic writing, however, argument is more narrowly defined as a text that makes a claim (usually in the form of an arguable statement) and supports it fully.