Rhetorical Précis

"A précis is not an outline, but a summary or digest. It is useful as an exercise in grasping the essential ideas of an already completed composition and in stating these ideas in concentrated form. The précis shears away all elaborations of the thought and gives only what is left, in such a way as to make the summary a complete composition. It does not, therefore, skeletonize the original composition so much as it reduces its scale… Since the précis says a great deal within a brief space, it is of great service in taking notes on library assignments and general reading." (Donald Davidson, American Composition and Rhetoric, Scribner's, 1968)

Rhetorical Précis explanation

Sentence One:Name of author with a description, the type and title of work, the date in parentheses, a rhetorically accurate verb, and the THATclause in which you state the major assertion (thesis statement).

Sentence Two: An explanation or methodology of how the author develops and/or supports the thesis.

Sentence Three: A statement of the author's apparent purpose (type of essay), followed by an IN ORDER TO phrase in which you explain what the author wants the audience to do or feel or understand as a result of reading the work (final suggestion or extension).

Sentence Four:A description of the intended audience and/or the relationship the author establishes with the audience.

Rhetorical Précis Sentence Starters

Sentence One (Who/What?)

The ______in the ______, ______

(Description/Author) (A) (Title) (B)

that ______.

Sentence Two (How?)

______supports his/her ______by ______.

(Author’s Last Name) (B) (C)

Sentence Three (Why?)

The author’s purpose is to ______in order to / so that ______.

(D) (E)

Sentence Four (To Whom?)

The author writes in ______tone for ______.

(F) (Audience)

WORD BANK – A FEW OPTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM!

A / B / C / D / E / F
scholarly article
novel
book
book review
essay
column
editorial
research paper
critique / argues/ argument
asserts/ assertion
suggests/ suggestion
claims/ claim
questions / question
explains/ explanation
declare/ declaration
affirm / affirmation
acknowledge / acknowledgement
persuades/ persuasion
convince / conviction / analyzing data
quoting major researches
chronicling historical events
comparing
contrasting
explaining
illustrating
demonstrating
defining
describing
listing
organizing / describe
alert
portray
illustrate
depict
explain
point out
suggest
inform
persuade
convince
prove
influence
provide / alter
change
emphasize
impress
move
advance
learn
educate
coerce
cease
induce
evoke
prevent
avert / formal
informal
sarcastic
humorous
contemptuous
scientific
educational
professional

Example 1

Henry David Thoreau, an American transcendentalist, in his essay “Civil Disobedience” (1849) asserts the need to prioritize one's conscience over the dictates of laws.Thoreau illustrates this belief by criticizing American social institutions and policies, most prominently slavery and the Mexican-American War.His purpose is to make readers aware of the notion that government rarely proves itself useful and that it derives its power from the majority because they are the strongest group, not because they hold the most legitimate viewpoint in order to encourage the readers to reflect on what they believe in strongly enough to take some sort of nonviolent stance.He establishes a formal relationship with his audience of educated adults who are interested in how they might “wash their hands” of government when its laws are ideologically out of line with one’s strongest beliefs.

Example 2

In his article “Idiot Warning Labels” (2000), Leonard Pitts Jr., a nationally syndicated columnist, proclaims that warning labels are spreading stupidity among the public. Pitts combines verbal irony, logical appeal, and rhetorical questioning with a variety of cultural references to support his claim. Pitts vents his frustration in order to increase awareness of how corporations intellectually demean their consumers. Pitts writes in an informal and humorous tone for an audience of typical American readers and consumers, especially those who may agree with the absurdity of such warning labels.

Example 3

Staff writer for The New Yorker Larissa MacFarquhar, in her article "Who Cares if Johnny Can't Read?" (1997), asserts that Americans are reading more than ever despite claims to the contrary and that it is time to reconsider why we value reading so much, especially certain kinds of "high culture" reading. MacFarquhar supports her claims about American reading habits with facts and statistics that compare past and present reading practices, and she challenges common assumptions by raising questions about reading's intrinsic value. Her purpose is to dispel certain myths about reading in order to raise new and more important questions about the value of reading and other media in our culture. She seems to have a young, hip, somewhat irreverent audience in mind because her tone is sarcastic, and she suggests that the ideas she opposes are old-fashioned positions.