You might want to go read up on Mars before you publish that essay... Mars has an atmosphere and lots of water ice. You can grow plants on Mars by compressing the atmosphere. You can use the atmosphere plus water to make methane rocket fuel, and water to make LOX.
For Venus, the way to build a colony is to place it way up in the atmosphere, at Earth pressure.
I know plenty about Mars. The atmospheric pressure at the surface is 600 pascals; the water is almost entirely polar. This is not a habitable planet, as evidenced by the fact that it is totally devoid of life.
Venus is even worse; it has a day longer than its orbital period.
If your idea of a good life is floating above a pool of noxious gases, there are plenty of places on Earth you could accomplish the same for much less money and effort.
Why'd you say Mars has no water or air, if you know it has water and air? You also don't know if it has life or not. If these are examples of how you're going to argue in your essay, I don't think you're going to convince many people.
For Venus, the way to build a colony is to place it way up in the atmosphere, at Earth pressure.