Introducing your sources

The Rhetorical Précis

Let’s Discuss:

The Rhetorical Précis (handout / templates)

• The Rhetorical Precis “is a highly structured four-sentence paragraph that highlights the essential rhetorical elements in any text.”
• The précis includes the name of the speaker/writer(s), the context or situation in which the text is delivered, the major assertion, the mode of development or support of the main idea, the stated and/or apparent purpose of the text, and the relationship between the writer(s) and the audience.
• You should use the precis when introducing a source crucial to your own argument. It can be used as a means of introducing a source that bolster’s your argument, or as summarizing a counter argument which you may later push back against.

Here’s How You Do It.

• SENTENCE 1 includes the following (you can be briefer as necessary):
• the name of author,
• a phrase describing the author’s credentials,
• the type and title of work, the date of work (inserted in parentheses),
• a rhetorically accurate verb (such as “assert,” “argue,” “suggest,” “imply,” “claim,” “posit,” etc.) that describes what the author is doing in the text,
• a THAT clause in which you state the major assertion (thesis statement/claim) of the author’s text.

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Sentence 1: Template

• (Author’s credentials), (author’s first and last name), in his/her (type of text), (title of text), published in (publishing info), addresses the topic of (topic of text) and argues that (argument).

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Example:

Toni Morrison, a well-known scholar in the humanities, in her essay, “Disturbing Nurses and the Kindness of Sharks,” implies THAT racism in the United States has affected the craft and process of American novelists.

Sentence 2:

• An explanation of how the author develops and/or supports the thesis (for instance, comparing and contrasting, defining, narrating, illustrating, defining, using humor or sarcasm, relating personal experience, depending on facts /statistics /opinion, etc.). Consider the author’s organization, use of evidence, and/or strategies used to construct his/her argument. Your explanation is usually presented in the same chronological order that the items of support are presented in the work.

Sentence 2: Template

• S/he supports this claim by___________, then___________, and finally____________.

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Example:

Morrison supports her implication by describing how Ernest Hemingway writes about black characters and by illustrating his strategies for plot development seen within his novels and short stories.

Sentence 3

• A statement of the author’s apparent purpose, followed by an IN ORDER TO phrase in which you explain what the author wants the audience to do or feel as a result of reading the work.

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Sentence 3: Template

• (Author’s last name)’s purpose is to (author’s purpose in writing) in order to (change in reader/society the author wants to achieve).

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Example:

Her purpose is to make her readers aware of the cruel reality of racism underlying some of the greatest works of American literature IN ORDER TO help them examine the far-reaching effects racism has not only on those discriminated against but also on those who discriminate.

Sentence 4

A description of the intended audience and the relationship the author establishes with the audience.

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Sentence 4: Template

• He/she adopts a(n) __________ tone for his/her audience, the readers of (publication) and others interested in the topic of______________.

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Example:

She establishes a formal and highly analytical tone with her audience of racially mixed, theoretically sophisticated readers and critical interpreters of American literature.