What is a rhetorical précis?

Definition: a concise summary of a text containing 4 sentences,

including what the text says and how it says it

Sentence 1: [name of author, genre of text, title of work, year of

publication] + [verb, such as “claims,” “argues,” or suggests”] + “that” +
[main idea of article]
Sentence 2: explain how author develops and supports main idea
Sentence 3: [author’s purpose for writing] + [“in order to”] +
[explanation]
Sentence 4: identify audience and/or author’s relationship with
audience