In Margaret Woodworth's article "The Rhetorical Précis"
(2007) she asserts that younger students become better writers in general when they engage in daily practice in writing
summaries such as rhetorical précis. Woodworth supports her claim by suggesting
that after students have mastered the rhetorical précis process students will
be able to easily see the use of rhetoric in an article. This highly structured
four-sentence paragraph highlights the important rhetorical elements. Her
purpose in writing this article was to show how utilizing the rhetorical précis
in an English class can help improve the success of the student overall, such
as having 76% more students find understanding what they read "less difficult."
Margaret Woodworth seems to have a supportive tone towards the use of
rhetorical précis inside an English classroom. With the tremendous statistics
that support this versatile way of summarizing it seems as if Margaret
Woodworth actually uses this strategy herself. Keeping in mind that her audience
is both teachers and students, she does not fail to give crucial facts and
explain the importance of this strategy; for it will help the learning of her
audience for a lifetime.
Don't forget that a rhetorical precis is only four sentences long--not seven. :-)
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