AS ESTRATÉGIAS ARGUMENTATIVAS UTILIZADAS EM TEXTOS DE OPINIÃO PRODUZIDOS POR CANDIDATOS AO PROGRAMA DE AÇÃO AFIRMATIVA DE INGRESSO NO ENSINO SUPERIOR – PAAES – DA UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE UBERLÂNDIA

This research has analyzed the way opinion and arguments are presented in texts of opinion, written by high school students who took part in the entrance exam of the Federal University of Uberlandia. In order to carry out this investigation, a corpus was compiled with 50 texts of opinion, which were written by the students while they were sitting the aforementioned entrance exam. There has been identified the argumentative strategies deployed by the students, as well as the effective use of such devices by them (KOCH, 2003; GUIMARÃES, 1987). Thus, there has been verified that the candidates used with greater frequency the following argumentative devices: but, also, thus, and, yet, already, or, like, because. Such devices are used to add more arguments to support the same conclusion, as well as to introduce counter-arguments. The least used devices were the ones that emphasize a stronger argument to support a conclusion.