Writing a Précis Essay
Abstract
A rhetorical précis is an academic writing that summarizes another piece of text. This type of work recapitulates the main ideas and arguments in the article considered. It provides an insight into its author’s thesis statement. The primary aim is to provide accurate details about the essay in question. Working papers must analyze the content and the delivery of a spoken or written discourse. The approach answers the questions “what” and “how” concerning the work under analysis. In practice, good papers contain an introduction, body, and conclusion. The opening paragraph includes a hook and a thesis statement. The essay’s body consists of a summary of the main concepts and arguments. One should end the paper with a summarizing paragraph, which states the thesis statement. Some common phrases used in précis include argue, call attention to, define, deny, show, point out, prove, suggest, inform, persuade, disclose, report, and convince. Competent selection of the words can enhance the overall quality of the information communicated.
Keywords: Rhetorical précis essay, thesis statement, and transition.
Writing a Précis Essay
Introduction
A rhetorical précis refers to academic writing that summarizes another piece of text. An individual summarizes the main ideas and arguments to provide an insight into its author’s central argument. The term précis is a French word that means a summary. In this case, one should focus on giving accurate and summative details about a source. Valid papers must analyze the content and the delivery of a spoken or written discourse. The approach answers the questions “what” and “how” concerning the work under analysis. In practice, a précis should include brief quotations to convey a sense of the style and tone. Other essential sections should consist of a terminal bibliographical reference. Effective practicing of this type of writing promotes precision in writing and reading. The nature of a précis encourages one to employ a variety of sentence structures that enhance meaning.
Technical Requirements for Précis Essay
The size of rhetorical précis essays varies depending on the sources under consideration. For instance, the size may vary from one paragraph to several pages. The following are the technical requirements for a rhetorical précis essay.
Word Count
A rhetorical précis essay may have words ranging from one-hundred to one-thousand, depending on the source under analysis. The shortest précis essay should have at most four sentences that give a precise summary of the spoken or written discourse. A four-page précis essay contains several paragraphs like an introduction, body section, and a conclusion. These structures allow writers to give an accurate summary of the source.
Structure
The basic structure of a précis essay includes an introduction, body, and conclusion. The introduction section should identify the source and explain how the authors develop the main argument. The opening section should have a thesis statement showing the central evidence in the essay. The body paragraphs give precise details supporting the main arguments. In practice, the writer must follow the sandwich when developing the body paragraphs. This method enhances the clarity of the concepts presented. The closing passage should restate the thesis statement and summarize the main ideas presented. Hence, a rhetorical précis essay must follow a specific structure to enhance the overall communication.
A rhetorical précis should have four sentences. The first line should provide bibliographic information about the source c. An explanation of how the author develops and supports the thesis should follow. The third sentence should include a statement of the author’s apparent purpose. Finally, one should end the précis with the description of the intended audience and the relationship established between the author and readers. Therefore, a short d rhetoricalonsid ereprécis follows a different structure when compared to the essay.
Format
Rhetorical précis essays should follow an academic and informative format. For instance, the précis essay should use first- and second- person language to present the main arguments. The writer must focus on communicating the main arguments presented in the article under consideration. From a practical perspective, useful papers should contain informative details about the sources c.
Terminologies
Précis essays require specific terminologies that allow writers to respond to different questions. The following are some of the vocabularies that remain enhance the quality of the rhetorical précis papers.
The “what” question. Response to this question allows the writer to identify under analysis. Some of the terms used to determine the sources include:
- News, magazine, or journal article
- Book review
- Editorial
- Research report
- Bibliographical essay
- Biography
- First-hand report
The “how” question. Responding to this question allows a writer to state the rhetorical verb utilized in the essay. Some of the terminologies include:
- Analyzes – the terms shows that the source is an analysis of a specific topic
- Argues – this word suggests that the source in question makes an argument.
- Asserts – this verb implies that the sources considered makes an assertion
- Discuses – this verb shows that the original text engages in a critical discussion of a specific topic.
- Explains – this term shows that the spoken or written discourse gives a detailed and clear clarification on specific issues.
- Focuses on – this verb affirms that the text summarized concentrates on a particular subject.
Other terminologies in this category allow the writer to describe the method used in the spoken or written discourse. Such words include comparing, contrasting, retelling, explaining, illustrating, defending, demonstrating, defining, describing, listing, arguing, showing, and justifying. Other important terms include relating, reporting, noting, emphasizing, pointing out, and highlighting. Effective use of these terminologies ensures that those who read précis essays can understand the primary methods used in the original article.
The why question. Responding to this question allows readers to understand the factors the purpose of the précis essays. Some of the useful terminologies used in this category include argue, call attention to, define, deny, show, point out, prove, suggest, inform, persuade, disclose, report, and convince. These terms play a crucial role in elucidating the writer’s attention to writing the précis essay.
The “whom” question. Responding to this question allows the writer of précis essays to mention the target audience. Some of the common terminologies used include formal, impersonal, casual, informal, humorous, emotional, friendly, reasoned, logical, and exaggerated. A reader looking for an academic précis may search for words like formal, rational, or motivated. An individual searching for an entertaining summary can consider some words like humorous, emotional, or casual.
Template for a Précis Essay
A précis essay must follow a specific structure to enhance the ability to communicate the intended message. The most acceptable structure should include an introduction, body, or conclusion. The following are the factors that one must consider for each section:
Introduction
The opening paragraph identifies the source summarized and the principal argument made. The introduction should begin with a hook that grabs the reader’s attention. One can use different types of attention-grabbing phrases depending on the source. The writer should set the context of the essay by identifying the right scholarly sources and the author. This information allows readers to know the scope of the composition. Other important details that should appear in the first passage include the claim or purpose of the article. The last sentence should be a thesis statement that communicates the central argument or message presented in the précis essay. Some essential points that one should remember may include:
- An explanation of how the author develops or supports the thesis. This information should follow a chronological order.
- A clear statement of the author’s apparent purpose – In practice, an “in order” phrase should follow this information.
- A description of the intended audience – Compelling portrayals should establish the relationship that one develops with the target audience.
Body Paragraph
The body of the précis essay should explain how the article in question appeals to rhetorical aspects. For instance, one should explain how items consider appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos. In this case, a writer must focus on providing adequate details about the text in question. This approach helps to convince the readers that the article under analysis presents convincing arguments. Therefore body paragraphs should provide sufficient information to support the thesis statement in the essay.
Each body paragraph must follow the sandwich rule to present a single idea. The writer must include a topic sentence, supporting evidence, explanation, and closing sentence that transitions one section to the other.
- The topic sentence contains the main argument that one intends to discuss in a paragraph. The topic sentence must relate to the thesis statement provided in the introduction. Besides, one should not cite any source in this section.
- Evidence sentence contains details obtained from the source analyzed. In practice, one may include a paraphrase or a direct quote in this section. Besides, the writer must follow the necessary citation guidelines.
- The explanation given should indicate how the cited evidence relates to the thesis statement. In this case, the reasons given must allow the scholar to understand the main concepts and compare them to the thesis statement.
- One can repeat the above steps three times at most.
- Each body paragraph should end with a statement that summarizes the significant concepts. This phrase must relate to the thesis statement.
- The transitioning statement should connect different paragraphs. In this case, one must select appropriate phrases to connect the ideas presented in separate sections.
Conclusion
The concluding paragraph should restate the thesis statement presented in the paper. For instance, this section should connect to the central claim made and further expound on significant concepts. One must avoid adding new details in this section. The conclusion should bring the paper into a reasonable closure. One should remember the following point:
- The last sentence, in the closing paragraph, should connect back to the hook used in the introduction.
- One should not copy and paste the thesis statement.
- The explanations given in the conclusion must help one to connect between various concepts.
Sample of a Précis Essay
Rhetoric Approaches in “Cleaning: The Final Feminist Frontier”
American culture makes females believe that women have to complete more housed chores than men. Jessica Grose is one of the female-American writers who held such beliefs. The work “Cleaning: The Final Feminist Frontier,” published in 2013, affirms that cleaning remains unbearable despite men helping with childcare and cooking. Although Grose focuses on issues that may appear irrelevant, she uses convincing facts and statistics and emotional appeals to show that women have more house chores to complete.
Grose begins her article by describing a situation where she cleans the house with her spouse. Grose and her husband remained at home during Hurricane Sandy. The composition outlines the uneven distribution of house duties. Grose advances the work by examining the role of cleaning done by other women and the factors that hinder men from taking an active part in house chores. Some of the reasons include social perceptions and the influence of the media. Grose proposes that couples should make a list of various house chores. The strategy can result in equal distribution of house chores.
Throughout the essay, Grose relies on a strong appeal to logos by stating various statistical and logical advances. For instance, Grose says that “My husband and I both work. We split midnight baby feedings …but … he will admit that he’s never cleaned the bathroom, that I do the dishes nine times out of ten” (Grose, 2013). These facts reveal that she does more work than her husband. Grose continues to give more facts about the situation of women’s work in their homes. The statement “bout 55 percent of American mothers employed full time do some housework on an average day, while only 18 percent of employed fathers do” asserts that mothers have engaged in extra duties after work (Grose, 2013). These statistics give logical support to Grose’s claims. The article further shows that husbands do not do an equal share of chores when compared to their wives. The details and numbers provided create a logos appeal and convince the readers that the problem should receive an adequate discussion.
Along with logos appeals, Grose uses pathos at the beginning of her article. Grose uses emotionally-charged words like “was eight months pregnant” at the beginning of the composition (Grose, 2013). The statement forces a reader to sympathize with the challenges that pregnant women experience. The phrase creates an image of the vulnerability of being an expectant mother. Adding to these concepts are phrases like “argued,” “sucks,” “be judged,” and “headachy” (Grose, 2013). These words create a negative perception of female experiences. Readers sympathize with women who may feel “judged” by their spouses. Grose uses words that establish the challenges that mothers experience at home, which appear as an appeal to pathos.
Grose begins by focuses on issues that affect family relations. She uses convincing facts and statistics to affirm that women complete more house chores than men. Besides, she relies on emotional appeals to show that women experience harsh conditions like judgment by their spouses. The pathos and logos concepts used by Grose affirm that American culture makes the females believe that women have more work to complete at home.
References
Grose, J. (2013, March 19). Cleaning: The final feminist frontier. The New Republic. https://newrepublic.com/article/112693/112693
Analysis of the Essay
The introduction of the essay begins with an attention-grabbing statement. The phrase “the American culture makes the females believe that women have to complete more housed chores than men” grabs the readers’ attention to the information presented in the essay. The second and third sentences provide the context of the composition and the central claims presented by Grose. The last statement in the opening paragraph is the thesis statement, which gives the central argument of the essay.
The second paragraph contains a summary of Grose’s work. This section highlights the main concepts presented in the paper. From a practical perspective, the main points presented follow a chronological order. The primary aim is to give overview details of the essay.
The first body paragraph discusses one of the main points mentioned in the thesis statement. The section begins with a transition and a statement that relates to the central claim. In this case, the second line contains a quote obtained from the article as evidence. Moreover, adequate explanations follow to show how the quoted information pertains to the thesis statement. This process appeared twice, which follows the recommendations made. The last sentence in the passage summarizes the main concepts presented in the section. Besides, the closing statement relates to the thesis statement. The third paragraph follows a similar process. The body sections followed the sandwich rule.
The conclusion of the essay restates the thesis statement. Besides, it contains more information that expounds on the specific details. The last sentence, “the pathos and logos appeals used by Grose affirm that American culture makes the females believe that women have more work to complete at homes,” connects to the hook used in the introduction. The conclusion brings the essay to closure.
Factors that Can Affect the Essay
Different factors can affect the quality of a précis essay. The following are specific challenges:
- Failure to prepare – one must engage in adequate preparation before writing the precise essay. The preparation process involves identifying the target article, reading and understanding the main concepts, and writing down the main points.
- Poor writing strategies – the most practical writing strategy includes the preparation of several drafts and peer review. Successful writers prepare several drafts and assign them to their peers for proofreading.
- Failure to consider the academic levels – précis essay for bachelor students requires one to use advanced language and sentence structure than those required at college or high school.
Conclusion
A rhetorical précis is an academic writing that summarizes another piece of text. An individual recapitulates the main ideas and arguments to provide an insight into its author’s thesis of the book in question. The primary aim is to provide accurate details about the essay on the issue. In practice, good papers contain an introduction, body, and conclusion. The opening paragraph includes a hook and a thesis statement. The essay’s body should provide a summary of the main concepts and arguments. One should end the paper with a summarizing paragraph, which states the thesis statement.