10-second review: On analyzing essays: what are the authors’ purposes in writing essays and how do they achieve them? Write a précis.
Title: Teaching Nonfiction Through Rhetorical Reading
Summary: Strategies for reading “rhetorically.” Teach students to annotate. Use stickies if the text belongs to the school. Outline the text. Write their questions. Ask themselves, “What did I already know? What surprised me? What do I agree with? What do I disagree with.” Write a summary of the essay.
Write a précis:
Sentence 1: Name of author, genre and title of the work, date in parentheses; a rhetorically active verb (claims, argues, asserts, defines, explores, or suggests); and a “that” clause containing the major assertions, main idea or thesis statement of the work.
Sentence2: An explanation of how the author develops and supports the thesis (i.e., evidence) usually in chronological order.
Sentence 3: Statement of the author’s apparent purpose.
Sentence 4: Intended audience.
Comment: It’s helpful to give a model of the précis in step-by-step order. Frankly, I’m going to need to try this version of a précis myself. RayS.
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