Precis for article, “The Rhetorical Précis”

In the article “The Rhetorical Précis”, Margaret K. Woodworth describes a concept to actively read and summarize books and articles as to be able to interpret the main ideas presented in such writings.  The author illustrates the form of the rhetorical précis in an outline that can be easily interpreted by her readers.  This outline is presented as a four sentence paragraph in order to illustrate how to go about summarizing the important aspects of any written work.  In illustrating the concept in a scholarly manner, Woodworth’s method appeals to those educated individuals who desire to read actively in a manner as to be able to summarize and interpret the main idea of any book or article.