Parliamentary Democracy in Asia( Only India, China, and Japan)

Précis/Reaction Memo Directions

Your précis should be emailed to me by 8 am the morning you will present the memo. I create a file of the memos for that day and email them to be copied so memos received after 8 am will not make the copy order and you will not receive full credit.

Please create and save your document as a Word file, without any formatting. At the top of the document, center the title of the article you will write on and your name. The rest of the document should be 1 or 1.5 spaced (not double spaced) in Times New Roman, 12 pt. font with no page numbering. Do not include a heater, footer or any other document formatting. I edit your document and cut and paste it with others so the document needs to be clean without any odd margins, formats, or other issues. Documents that contain such formatting will be docked in the grade given for not following these technical instructions.

Along with your analysis and summary, you should include at least 3 questions to provoke class discussion. These may be included in the narrative of your document or you may set them off at the end.

The précis is at best a well-reasoned, thoughtful analysis which brings issues to light and raises questions about the reading and how it connects or disconnects with other readings/ideas discussed in the course. It is not the place to engage in heavy criticism or attempts to undermine theorists or their ideas which would be impossible to do given the limited scope of the assignment. It is also not a book report or a summary, we can all read, a précis isn’t the place to present lengthy quotes or outline the reading. These are low level tasks to be done on one’s own to prepare and review. It is also appropriate to raise ideas you are exploring in your other class, recent events or other ideas that seem related. Try to have fun with it and allow yourself the time to ponder what you are writing, revise and reframe.