We explain what the argumentative text is and what its general characteristics are. Also, what is its structure and examples.
What is an argumentative text?
An argumentative text is a type of writing that expresses coherence through reasoning that refutes or justifies something, in order to persuade the reader.
It can be expressed in writing or as an argumentative speech, with the aim of convince the reader or listener about a particular topic through approaches and arguments based on logic and emotion.
An argumentative text expresses the ideas, opinions and point of view of the issuerunlike other types of texts such as scientific, narrative or legal texts, which are impartial with regard to the subjectivity of the issuer.
See also: Opinion article
Characteristics of the argumentative text
Before starting to write an argumentative text, it is necessary to be clear about the idea you want to convey and based on what types of arguments you are going to express it:
- Emotive-affective arguments. They are those that aim to generate empathy and convince through emotions and feelings.
- Rational arguments. These are those that appeal to the receiver’s logical thinking capacity.
The content itself will then be developed, with the help of certain linguistic resources or strategies in order to support the hypothesis, such as:
- The analogy. It consists of the parallelism or relationship of similarity between two elements that are different at first glance.
- The statistical data. It consists of reliable numerical information that can be compared and analyzed.
- The exemplification. It consists of providing examples from everyday life that represent the topic presented in the thesis.
- The textual or direct quote. It consists of a faithful transcription of the words of an author or published document and the entire sentence is written between quotation marks.
Structure of the argumentative text
The structure of an argumentative text consists of three parts:
- The introduction. It refers to a brief description of the thesis or fundamental idea, in order to introduce the reader to the topic and a specific context in order to then be able to develop the arguments in the rest of the writing.
- The body of the argument. It refers to the development of the thesis itself, making use of different linguistic resources. The objective is to convince the reader, so the information must be clear, organized and have a meaning or coherence.
- The conclusion. It refers to the last part of the writing (which may consist of several paragraphs) in which the hypothesis put forward is justified in a concise manner. That is, a logical reasoning is expressed that gives meaning to all the arguments mentioned.
Examples of argumentative texts
They are argumentative texts:
- Scientific articles. They usually have technical language and are aimed at a specialized audience.
- Newspaper articles. They do not always include the author’s signature.
- Legal documents. Such as appeals, protection resources or contracts.
- Political speeches. In which arguments are often manipulated in order to serve partisan interests, and not just debate political issues.
- Advertising guidelines. They are not usually reliable sources of information, due to the economic interests that hide or exceed the topic presented.