A précis is a short summary of a longer written work.  A good précis will summarize, as succinctly and accurately as possible, the main point(s) of the article and illustrate the basic structure of its argument. 

A précis is a short summary of a longer written work.  A good précis will summarize, as succinctly and accurately as possible, the main point(s) of the article and illustrate the basic structure of its argument.  Imagine yourself preparing a short memorandum for a busy colleague or superior who must wade through a vast quantity of important information in a short period of time.  What does he or she need to know about the arguments in this article?   How effectively can you communicate that in no more than 300 words?
Concision, clarity, and accuracy are the goals of this assignment.  Extensive quotation of the article is both unnecessary and unwise.  If done properly, this assignment will be quite difficult.  As with all course essays, please prepare and upload your precis in a Canvas-compatible file format such as .doc, .docx, .rtf, or .pdf.  Please note that Canvas cannot digest OS X Pages documents at this time.