Full Rhetorical Précis Format

The full rhetorical précis is a coherent paragraph that succinctly encapsulates an analysis of the rhetorical force of a text (How and why the text persuades.). It examines they key elements of the rhetorical triangle: the context for the argument, the author’s purpose, the audience’s concerns, and the text’s construction. Your rhetorical précis should weave the following elements together smoothly using internal transitions to connect the sentences.

1.      In a single coherent sentence give the following:

1.      name of the author

2.      adjective describing tone

3.      noun describing genre

4.      title of the work

5.      a rhetorically accurate verb

6.      a that clause containing the major claim (thesis statement) of the work.

2.      In a single coherent sentence describe the relevant context and the intended audience. (e.g., At the time this piece was published, …).

3.      In 1-3 coherent sentences give an explanation of the 2-3 most important rhetorical strategies used by the author to support the argument. (e.g., He/she supports this argument by…)

4.      In a single coherent sentence give a statement of the author's purpose, using an in order to phrase.

Example:

In his reproachful essay entitled simply “Waste,” Wendell Berry indicts American society for its tacit endorsement of a thoroughly wasteful centralized economy which lays waste not only to the American land but also, more tragically, to the American people. Berry addresses his remarks to Twenty-first Century Americans who are fundamentally good, yet who, through unintentional neglect, have given in to mainstream consumer values which have blinded them to the reality of the material waste of America. Berry unveils the awful reality of their situation through his ironic use of euphemism, as signaled by quotation marks, which society uses to assuage its wasteful attitudes; through his extensive listing of concrete images of waste, to suggest the ubiquity of pollution; and through his insertion of images which evoke core values of home, patriotism, and God: flag desecration, divine Creation, and images of children and elderly. Berry crafts this argument in order to awaken his readers to a sense of the rampant waste in their lives so that they will recognize the urgency of reinstating human value through homegrown work.

Reflect on the Example

1.      What do you notice about the diction in this example?

2.      How does the writer transition from one sentence to the next in this paragraph?

3.      What type of reading is required to be able to identify the rhetorical strategies of a text?