EXPOSITORY COMPOSITION:
Startling Finds on Teenage Brain by Paul Thompson “The Sacramento Bee,” Friday, 25 May 2001
SUMMARIZING TEXT: Create a descriptive outline of “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” by describing the content and purpose of each section of the text. All of the sections have been done for you. Now use the information about each section to write a descriptive summary of the text. (YOU MUST PARAPHRASE). This means extracting the main ideas from each section, explaining what the author says about them, and describing the author’s purpose. Use the Rhetorical Précis template as a guide to writing your summary. Do not write on the template.
Paragraphs 1-3
Content and Purpose: Nathaniel Brazill, a fourteen-year-old, was tried as anadult and found guilty of second-degree murder in the killing of his teacher.But research on the brain has shown that young teens are not adults in terms ofdevelopment. The purpose is to raise the question of whether teenagers should betried as adults.
Paragraph 4
Content and Purpose: The discovery that the teenage brain loses massiveamounts of brain tissue may help explain why teens commit violent crimes.The purpose is to suggest a possible connection between what happens to theteenage brain and teenage criminal behavior.
Paragraphs 5-7
Content and Purpose: Areas of the brain develop in children when childrenneed the skills. However, teenagers lose brain tissue in the areas controlling impulsivebehavior. The purpose is to suggest that the immaturity of the brain maymake it harder for teenagers to control their impulses and emotions thanfor adults.
Paragraphs 8-9
Content and Purpose: The implication of brain research is that teenagers haveless ability to think through and control their actions. This may explain why thejurors in Brazill’s case didn’t convict him of first-degree murder. The purpose isto suggest that jurors should not penalize teenagers who commit violent crimes inthe same way as adults because of the immaturity of the adolescent brain.
ACTIVITY 12
Web Work
Do a Web search for Proposition 21, the California proposition thatgave prosecutors the power to decide whether juveniles should becharged as adults for certain crimes. Read the arguments for andagainst the proposition, and then consider the questions in the nextactivity about Krikorian and Thompson’s articles so you can see arange of possible arguments.
Activity 13:
Thinking Critically
In your group, answer the following questions about the traditionalrhetorical appeals that Greg Krikorian makes in “Many Kids CalledUnfit for Adult Trial.” Write down your group’s answers so you canshare them with your classmates.
ACTIVITY 14: USING THE WORDS OF OTHERS
ACTIVITY 15: ESSAY PROMPT
ACTIVITY 16: GETTING READY TO WRITE THE ESSAY
Rhetorical Précis Worksheet
A rhetorical précis differs from a summary in that it is a less neutral, more analytical condensation of boththe content and method of the original text. If you think of a summary as primarily a brief representationof what a text says, then you might think of the rhetorical précis as a brief representation of what a textboth says and does. Although less common than a summary, a rhetorical précis is a particularly usefulway to sum up your understanding of how a text works rhetorically.
The Structure of a Rhetorical Précis
Sentence One: Name of the author, genre, and title of work, date in parentheses; a rhetorically active
verb; and a THAT clause containing the major assertion or thesis in the text.
Sentence Two: An explanation of how the author develops and supports the thesis.
Sentence Three: A statement of the author’s apparent purpose, followed by an “in order to” phrase.
Sentence Four: A description of the intended audience and/or the relationship the author establisheswith the audience.
Rhetorical Précis Sentence Starters
Sentence One (What?)
______in the ______, ______,
(Author) (A) (Title)
______that ______
(B)
______
Sentence Two (How?)
______supports his/her ______by ______
(Author’s Last Name) (B) (C)
______
______
Sentence Three (Why?)
The author’s purpose is to
______
(D)
______in order to / so that ______
______
Sentence Four (To Whom?)
The author writes in a ______tone for ______
(E) (audience)
A / B / C / D / Earticle,
book review,
essay,
column,
editorial / argues, argument,
asserts, assertion,
suggests,
suggestion,
claims, questions,
explains, explanation / comparing,
contrasting
telling, explaining,
illustrating,
demonstrating,
defining, describing,
listing / show
point out
suggest
inform
persuade
convince / formal
informal
sarcastic
humorous
contemptuous