The aim of this study was to show how general models of text production can account for argumentative text planning. It focuses in particular on retrieval process in 11- to 18-year-old children. Various experimental situations were designed to promote different ways of retrieving ideas from long-term memory. Essays written by students were analyzed quantitatively (number of thematic units) and qualitatively (taking addressee into account). It seems that the procedures used here had an impact on the quantitative aspect of the essays written, but had little effect on their quality, no matter how old the children were. Thus, retrieval does not appear to be the most critical process in the production of this type of text. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)