argumentative text

Texts

2022

We explain what an argumentative text is, its resources, types and other characteristics. Also, its structure and examples.

The argumentative text conveys an author's position on a topic.

What is an argumentative text?

An argumentative text is one text oral or written in which the author seeks to transmit a perspective on a specific topic or series of topics, that is, that has as objective convince the reader to take a certain position. In this they differ from expository texts.

Argumentative texts are normally considered synonyms of the dissertation, the rehearsal or opinion, since in their approach to the specific issue they use strategies persuasion, that is, strategies that make the approach to the subject convincing in the eyes of the reader.

However, to do this type of text, use:

  • Exhibition resources. They offer the reader the information relevant.
  • Narrative resources. They can tell stories that show the focal point.
  • Rhetorical resources. They are formal tools to enhance or beautify the meaning of the text.

These resources can be:

  • Verbatim quotes from a book or publication;
  • References text to an authority in the area;
  • Examples and illustrations;
  • Abstractions, generalizations, enumerations;
  • Schematics and simulated situations;
  • Paraphrase and reformulations;
  • Descriptions and stories.

Everything always in function of giving strength to the own points of view.

Types of argumentative text

Argumentative texts can be of a very different nature, depending on their construction, their mechanisms of developing and his context of appearance. Here are some possible types:

  • essays. Is about literary texts, in which the author freely discusses or reflects on a topic of his choice, to propose, aesthetically, a point of view.
  • Electoral propaganda. Typical texts of political contests that try to convince the other through arguments more or less rational or emotional, of assuming a specific political stance, facing an election, membership, etc.
  • Advertising. Those texts linked to the consumption from products, which try to convince us to buy a specific brand or the advantages of a specific product over its competition.
  • Opinion texts. Appeared in the media (editorials or opinion articles), tend to promote a certain social, political or intellectual perspective among the readers of a newspaper or the viewers of a television program.
  • Legal texts. Many legal texts defend a type of interpretation of the laws written in codes or in the Constitution, through arguments and deductions and references to past cases. It's what trial lawyers do.

Characteristics of an argumentative text

An argumentative text can use logical, emotional or affective arguments.

The argumentative texts are characterized by:

  • Have a persuasive intention, that is, want to convince the reader of something.
  • Use arguments to convince, which are reasoned propositions through the gradual and careful presentation of information, accompanied by its desired interpretation.
  • Organize your content in the most convenient way for the intended purpose.
  • Make use of strategies typical of other types of text (expository, narrative).
  • They do not always respond to a formal argumentative sequence, especially when it comes to spoken language.
  • You can use different types of arguments: logical, emotional or affective.

Structure of an argumentative text

An argumentative text is generally made up of three fundamental parts:

  • Introduction or approach. What is the starting point or approach to an initial situation, from which the trouble to be addressed in the text. Also known as "premises" or "data."
  • Thesis or proposition. Which is the set of ideas to defend argumentatively, which tend to emerge from the approach, by way of inferences.
  • conclusion or synthesis. Final stage to which the arguments lead and which summarizes the point of view of the author of the text on the matter.

There may also be a previous thesis, which is a previous starting point that is rescued in the text (a research from another, an old text, etc.), and a counter-argument stage, that is, a phase in which arguments contrary to one's own, coming from previous texts or from the author's imagination, are fought beforehand.

Examples of argumentative texts

Some online examples of argumentative texts are:

  • "How the president returns", Editorial journalistic in the newspaper Clarín (Argentina).
  • "Brexit also has a Christmas carol", political propaganda (video) against the abandonment of the European Union by Great Britain, in Euronews.
  • “7-up advertising spot”, 2019 advertising spot (video) for a popular soft drink.
  • "Why do I think euthanasia should be legalized", opinion article by Javier Sádaba in Filosofía & co.
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