For the purposes of this class, a précis is a tight, carefully crafted explanation of how an argument works. See the template below for an explanation of what this document looks like.
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MLA Citation: Provide a properly formatted citation of the work.
Focus: What is the focus of the argument? This is a one sentence statement of the author's focus, and it should be an attempt to encapsulate the argument in the broadest terms possible.
Logic: How does the argument work? This section will include a one sentence statement of the argument's logic and a demonstration of that logic. It may be helpful to use a table to show how the argument works: its claims, its evidence, how those claims and evidence work.
Example might be:
Logic statement: Smith argues that existing methods fail to address the awesomeness of technology and thus proposes a new method that does addres awesomeness.
| Existing Scholarly Method | Limits of that method | New Method Proposed by Author and how it addresses thos limits |
| [example] | [example] | [example] |
| [example] | [example] | [example] |
Or:
Logic statement: Jones divides all technologies into "artistic technologies" and "rhetorical technologies" in order to explain their differing affordances.
| Technology | Type (artistic or rhetorical) | Affordances |
| [example] | [example] | [example] |
| [example] | [example] | [example] |
Implications: What are the implications of this work? These implications might be phrased in terms of the author's own scholarly conversation or they can be phrased in terms of your own scholarly conversation. What is novel about this argument? How does it extend the scholarly conversation? How can it be applied to your own scholarly interests? You may also explain the implications of this argument for the central text of our class, Google Wave (e.g. Smith's argument allows us to apply a new method in order to examine Google Wave's awesomeness).
