Writing Assignment

With rhetoric, we’re talking about the way language is used. The word précis is French for precise. So a rhetorical précis is going to require a precise use of language.

What it is:

A rhetorical précis is a highly specialized format for summarizing written work. It consists of exactly 4 sentences, each of which has a specific, pre-determined function and purpose. It is designed to facilitate critical reading and to present a summary that retains the logic, organization, and emphasis of the original text in a highly compact and precise form.

What those 4 sentences do (briefly):

1. Identifies the context of the text and the author’s main point

2. Describes the way the author develops and supports the main point

3. Describes the author’s purpose or goal

4. Describes how the article fits in with the overall topic you are researching or the skill for which you are preparing.

Why it can be difficult:

In general, the shorter a piece of writing is, the more difficult it is to write. You don’t have as much room to make your point, and you must choose language that is precise and to the point without sacrificing the essential parts of the précis. You are taking a longer work (sometimes much longer) and distilling its essential details into four sentences in a way that will make sense to someone who has not read the original work. With the précis, you are also being asked to write within a very specific format, and you must follow the format exactly.

Why it can be useful:

To write a successful rhetorical précis, you will need to be able to identify the main point of a text, how that main point is developed or supported, and what the author’s purpose is. These are essential components of strong critical reading ability and reading comprehension in general. The rhetorical précis forces you to get hands-on experience with these skills.

It can also be useful as you move through your academic career and have to work more frequently with a larger number of involved, complicated, lengthy academic texts. If you can write rhetorical précis for such texts, then you can refer to the précis as a way of reviewing the multiple texts without having to skim 20 to 30 pages for each one. They can help you keep such sources organized, and they can provide ready-to-use summaries since they have been written in your own words already.

What each sentence needs to include (specifically):

Sentence #1 will include the following, in the following order:

· Name of the author and, when possible, a phrase describing the credentials of the author

· The type (such as essay, lab report, research paper, etc.) and title of the work

· The year (inserted in parentheses)

· A rhetorically accurate verb (such as “asserts,” “argues,” “suggests,” “implies,” “claims,” etc.) that describes what the author is doing in the text

· A that clause in which you state the main point (thesis statement or, in a lab report, hypothesis) of the author’s text

Sentence #2 will include the following:

· An explanation of how the author develops and/or supports the main point (such as by comparing and contrasting, narrating, illustrating, defining, testing, etc.)

· Present your explanation in the same chronological order that the items of support are presented by the author in the text

Sentence #3 will include the following:

· A statement of the author’s apparent purpose (what is the author trying to do)

· Followed by an in order to clause in which you explain why the author wants to do that (such as in order to persuade, inform, demonstrate, etc.)

Sentence #4 usually includes information about the intended audience and the author’s tone. However , for this project you will be dealing with academic articles, and so the audience and tone will be fairly obvious. Since that is the case:

Sentence #4 will include the following:

· A statement of how this article relates to the overall topic that you are researching (how does it fit in with or what does it add to your other sources, or why is it valuable for the research you are doing on this topic?)

What a rhetorical précis might look like:

1. ______ (author’s first & last name) ___________, _____ (author’s credentials) _______, in their ___ (type & title of text) ____________________ (year), argues that _____________________________________________________________________.

a. Rhoads, Mitchell, and Rick, registered nurses and professors, in their “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder after Katrina” (2006), argues that many survivors of hurricane Katrina suffer from PTSD resulting from the mental trauma caused by the storm, and supplies ways to help ease the disorder.

2. He/she supports this claim by first ______________, then _________________________________________________, then ___________________________________________________, and finally ___________________________________________________.

a. They support this claim by first stating the conditions in which they suffered, then supplying data on how many people on average suffer from PTSD after natural disasters, then by giving specifications on who is most likely to suffer from it (with many of the traits described being those who were in Louisiana during the storm), and finally, by supplying information and data on effective ways to help ease the problems associated with PTSD.

3. __ (author’s last name) _____’s purpose is to _____ (what the author does in the text) __________ in order to ___ (why the author wants to do what they have done in the text) _________________________________.

a. Rhoads, Mitchell, and Rick’s purpose is to inform and educate its readers in order to show the mental struggle many people who lived through Katrina face, and methods that can provide support and help to those affected.

4. This article ____ (how the text fits in with or what it adds to the research you are conducting) __________.

a. This article will serve as a scientific article to compare against popular sources for project one.

When put together, here is the completed rhetorical précis:

Rhoads, Mitchell, and Rick, registered nurses and professors, in their “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder after Katrina” (2006), argues that many survivors of hurricane Katrina suffer from PTSD resulting from the mental trauma caused by the storm, and supplies ways to help ease the disorder. They support this claim by first stating the conditions in which they suffered, then supplying data on how many people on average suffer from PTSD after natural disasters, then by giving specifications on who is most likely to suffer from it (with many of the traits described being those who were in Louisiana during the storm), and finally, by supplying information and data on effective ways to help ease the problems associated with PTSD. Rhoads, Mitchell, and Rick’s purpose is to inform and educate its readers in order to show the mental struggle many people who lived through Katrina face, and methods that can provide support and help to those affected. This article will serve as my scientific article to compare to my two popular articles against for project one.

Another sample rhetorical précis:

Kruse, D., & McBeath, A. A. (1980). Bicycle accidents and injuries: A random survey of a college population. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 8(5), 342-344.

Diana L. Kruse and Andrew A. McBeath, orthopedic surgeons at the University of Wisconsin, in their research report “Bicycle Accidents and Injuries: A Random Survey of a College Population” (1980), suggest that data gathered from police reports or medical records is insufficient to determine the actual frequency and severity of bicycle accidents. They support this claim by conducting a random survey of college students regarding bicycle accidents and injuries, collecting the data, comparing it with results from police reports and medical records, and finding that medical records “would have reflected only 20% of the accidents” and police reports “would have reflected only 8% of those involved in accidents” in the surveyed population (p. 344). Kruse & McBeath’s purpose is to determine the frequency and type of bicycle accidents and injuries within this specific population in order to gain a more accurate picture of such incidents in the general population. This article serves to provide important background information for my argument that more effective measures need to be taken to protect bicyclists traveling on roadways.

[Remember that if you include quotes, as in the above example, you will need to include page number citations for each quote. Quotes should be used very sparingly, if at all. It is best to paraphrase whenever possible in a rhetorical précis.]

Where you can find additional samples and tips: