English 101

Outline Template: Summary/Critique

Section I. Introduction (may be one or two paragraphs)

· Provide a lead-in that will create interest for your reader. You may begin with a brief discussion of the relevance and social context of the topic and the argument

· Identify the author and essay including the essay's title and the author's main claim(s)

· State your thesis: your evaluation of the rhetorical effectiveness of the text. This is your statement of how persuasive/unpersuasive you find this argument to be for its intended audience.

Section II. Present Your Argument (multiple paragraphs.)

· Identify publication source (publisher, website, organization, college)

· Identify author's intended audience

· Discuss Structure of essay

· Identify main claims of the argument.

· Provide a map of the essay's organization/logic for your readers by describing how the essay opens, how it unfolds, and how it concludes.

· Describe how the author supports these claims--what reasons he/she offers. Point out any problems in the argument's reasoning.

· Evaluate how the intended audience might respond to the argument's overall structure and the types of evidence the author uses.

· Discuss elements of ethos, pathos, logos

· Explain how the author attempts to establish credibility and how it might influence the intended audience

· Discuss the author's appeals to pathos (the audience's emotions, values, assumptions, sense of identity) and provide a few key examples of how the author uses that particular strategy to elicit certain responses/feelings from readers.

· Discuss the author’s appeal to logos by examining the kinds of evidence the author uses to persuade readers (e.g. facts, statistics, personal experience, stories, anecdotes, etc.) and provide a few key examples.

Section III. Counter-arguments and qualifiers

· Concede: discuss elements of the text counter to your claim.

1. If you claim the author was successful, what part of the argument was not fully addressed, left out, or misrepresented?

2. If you claim the author failed, what part of the argument is solid or what part does the author do well?

· Refute: after addressing the opposition’s side, return to your position and reinforce your point. (The refutation may be part of the conclusion in some cases.)

Section I. Conclusion

A. Concluding paragraph should highlight the argument's strengths and weaknesses (may be the refutation of the concession)

B. Offer a final evaluation of the argument's overall persuasiveness and importance in the social context.