Rhetorical precis on "how artificial intelligence has changed my | ENGL-2000 | California State University, Stanislaus

GuidelinesforaRhetoricalPrecis1.pdf

Guidelines for Writing a Rhetorical Précis

A rhetorical précis differs from a summary in that it is a less neutral, more analytical condensation of both the content and method of the original text. (“Précis” means “concise summary.”) Its structure is designed for presentation of insights about a text from the perspective of a rhetorical reader. If you think of a summary as primarily a brief representation of what a text says, then you might think of a rhetorical précis as a brief representation of what a text both says and does. Although less common than summary, a rhetorical précis is a particularly useful way to sum up your understanding of how a text works rhetorically.

Part summary and part analysis, the rhetorical précis is also a powerful skill-building exercise often assigned as a highly structured four-sentence paragraph. As laid out below, these sentences provide a condensed statement of a text’s main point (the summary part), followed by brief statements about its essential rhetorical elements: the purpose, methods, and intended audience (the analytical part). Note the Précis’ Format:

How to Structure a Rhetorical Précis (in APA format)

Sentence 1: Include genre, “Title of work”, (publication year parentheses), name of author; a

rhetorically accurate verb (such as “claims,” “argues,” “asserts,” “suggests”); and a THAT clause

containing the major assertion or thesis statement in the work.

Sentence 2: An explanation of how the author develops and supports the thesis, usually in

chronological order (Does the author use stats? summarize data? use personal experience? etc.).

Sentence 3: A statement of the author’s apparent purpose, followed by an “in order to” phrase.

(The author’s purpose is to_____, “in order to” _____).

Sentence 4: A description of the intended audience and /or the relationship the author establishes

with the audience (who is the intended audience, and what is your assessment of the intended

audience based on?).

Example

In her online article “Seven secrets to a great nap” (2007), Sarah Kliff reports that

mid-afternoon naps are good for adults and lists seven tips from researchers for getting the most

out of a nap. Kliff supports her claim by summarizing advice from a sleep researcher on the

benefits of drinking coffee just before a nap, on the best ways to schedule a nap, and on ways to

avoid problems with naps. Her purpose is to inform readers that naps are beneficial from a

scientific perspective and to offer surprising, helpful, and positive information about naps in an

upbeat, easy to digest way in order to encourage her readers to try napping. Her intended

audience seems to be busy young professionals who surf the Web (this is an online article) and

who must be hooked into a quick read through casual vocabulary (such as “sleep doc,” “cup of

joe,” “snoozing habits”), and upbeat advice.

*Remember that the precis must be typed using APA format–times new roman, 12 pt font, double spaced, etc., and it must follow the 4-sentence order outlined above.

Word Bank: Feel free to use any of the words below to help you complete the rhetorical précis.

Genre:

news story,

magazine article,

book review,

editorial personal

essay, research

report

Rhetorically

Accurate

Verbs:

analyzes,

argues,

asserts,

discusses,

focuses,

explains,

suggests

How author

accomplishes

his/her goal:

comparing,

contrasting,

comparing,

retelling,

explaining,

justifying, pointing,

highlighting.

Author’s

Purpose:

argue, call

attention to,

deny, point out,

prove, suggest,

persuade,

convince.

Tone:

humorous,

emotional,

friendly,

reasoned,

logical,

exaggerated.

Opinion_Howartificialintelligencehaschangedmystudents-TheSanDiegoUnion-Tribune.pdf

COMMENTARY

Opinion: I’ve taught for 56 years. Artificial intelligence has had alarming impacts on my classes.

The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT, Tuesday, March 21, 2023, in Boston. (Michael Dwyer / Associated Press)

Sections

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/

I have noticed a growing number of student essays that are more formulaic, written in a tone and style that sounds subtly robotic.

BY DENNIS CLAUSEN

SEPT. 19, 2023 6:01 PM PT

Clausen is an author and professor at the

University of San Diego. He lives in Escondido.

This academic year I entered my 56th year of college teaching. Yes, that’s over half a century of anticipating what I would experience with the newest group of college students when I entered my university classroom. Never before had I been more apprehensive. Let me explain.

I taught my first college-level writing class in 1968. I was a teaching assistant at the University of California Riverside, and I was only a few years older than the freshmen I would be meeting the very next day. I didn’t sleep well that night. As a student, I didn’t often participate in classroom discussions. I usually sat in the back of the room and listened. Sometimes I daydreamed. Now, I was expected to lead those discussions.

That thought was more than a little frightening.

I was entering the college teaching profession in the middle of the Vietnam War. That was also a concern. Students at many campuses were known to take over classrooms and use them to deliver antiwar lectures. The very real possibility existed that I would have to yield my classroom to an ardent antiwar extremist. I shared some of their concerns about the Vietnam War, since I had a close friend who lost his brother in the conflict. Still, I was hesitant to give up my class to them.

My first class went OK. I managed to get through the discussion without revealing too much about my amateur status as a college teacher. Subsequent years had other challenges that often made it difficult to teach. Financial struggles, personal losses and a pandemic, all took a toll. Still, I overcame those challenges and learned to love the profession I had entered almost by accident.

This year was different. I didn’t face antiwar activists or others with deeply felt ideological concerns. I had students who are so dependent on technology that I fear they are turning over the power of thinking to distant, even potentially authoritarian influences.

Cellphone usage has been a problem in our nation’s classrooms for years. However, the new artificial intelligence technologies and their implications for

education exceed anything I have ever confronted. My responsibility as a teacher of literature and writing is to motivate students to confront their own humanity in many different contexts. Then I encourage them to explore their personal reactions to literary classics. Over several days and even weeks, they are challenged to write multiple drafts of an essay. This also requires them to think and rethink the essay prompt until it penetrates to some deeper level of their own consciousness.

Recently, however, I have noticed a growing number of student essays that are more formulaic, written in a tone and style that sounds subtly robotic and seldom penetrates to a deeper level of the students’ thinking process.

I did not know it at the time, but that was my first introduction to the presence of AI-generated writing in my classroom. The students’ presence in those essays gradually faded and was replaced by an intelligent-sounding, albeit artificially contrived human voice. That voice seemed to bypass the many stages of deeper thinking that reflect more sophisticated cognitive growth.

I realize my options in confronting these new slightly robotic voices are limited. I can pretend it is the student’s own writing, and we can both engage in

an elaborate charade of feedback that is meaningless to both of us. I can announce rigid penalties for AI- generated essays, and then read student written work primarily to determine whether or not it violated those restrictions. I can move all writing in- class and deny students the essential educational experience of learning to think and rewrite their own prose over a sustained period of time. Or I can simply ignore my own “lying eyes” and accept the many articles and essays that are encouraging educators to work with AI in the classroom.

Yes, I have probably outlasted my time in a university classroom. I admit that. But I can’t get over my concerns that a nation that condones plagiarism of intellectual properties and outright cheating is setting a very bad example for future generations. Even more important, it is denying young people the opportunities they truly need to develop their full potential as human beings.

This year, when I entered my classroom, I was concerned I would be looking at many students who will never reach their full potential because they have given up too much of their unique identities to today’s electronically driven educational system.

That worried me even more than the sleepless night over half a century earlier when I was about to teach

my first class.

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