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Argument visualization: tree diagrams exposing the logical structure of argumentative texts

Design · All designs
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description

Argument visualizations are tree diagrams that illustrate the logical relations in argumentative text. "Claims, the sentences contained in white boxes, are the fundamental units of argument visualizations", grouped beneath horizontal green brackets labeled "because" (reasons, which aim to raise confidence in a conclusion) or red brackets labeled "however" (objections). Their "hierarchical layout is intended to re flect the hierarchical structure of real arguments", with color and grouping cues binding elements that share a common function; dashed borders mark premises that remain implicit in the text. In the seminar, students produced such visualizations of real scholarly texts as the medium for analysis, discussion, feedback, and revision.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

  • Training uses real academic texts rather than highly simplified arguments
  • Timely, detailed, individualized instructor feedback on students' visualizations
  • Students actively generate their own representations rather than receiving explanations of the readings

Constraints

  • The present findings do not disentangle the contribution of visualization itself from the intensive, interactive course and its explicit focus on argument analysis

Target Learners

  • undergraduate students, primarily first-year students at a selective university

Learning Goals

  • analytical reasoning
  • parsing argumentative texts into logical components
  • constructing and evaluating written arguments

Claims

Examples

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Key Sources

  • Simon Cullen, Judith Fan, Eva van der Brugge and Adam Elga (2018). Improving analytical reasoning and argument understanding: a quasi-experimental field study of argument visualization. npj Science of Learning 3:21. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-018-0038-5
Page metadata
Field Value
type design
id argument-visualization-tree-diagrams
title Argument visualization: tree diagrams exposing the logical structure of argumentative texts
description Argument visualizations are tree diagrams that illustrate the logical relations in argumentative text.
status review
generated by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-26
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — simon-cullen-2018

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