EXAMPLES:
Here is an example precis paragraph with pop-up explanations. Let's look at it together.
Here is a sample essay which we can read together and practice doing a precis on.
And here is a large list of rhetorical verbs for academic writing.
Here is a sample essay which we can read together and practice doing a precis on.
And here is a large list of rhetorical verbs for academic writing.
EXAMPLE PRECIS PARAGRAPH:
Charles S. Peirce's article, "The Fixation of Belief (1877), asserts that humans have psychological and social mechanisms designed to protect and cement (or "fix") our beliefs. Peirce backs this claim up with descriptions of four methods of fixing belief, pointing out the effectiveness and potential weaknesses of each method. Peirce's purpose is to point out the ways that people commonly establish their belief systems in order to ask the reader to consider how their own belief system may be the product of such methods, and to consider what Peirce calls "the method of science" as a progressive alternative to the other three. Given the technical language used in the article, Peirce is writing to a well-educated audience with some knowledge of philosophy and history and a willingness to accept other ways of thinking.
Sentence 1: Author, title, date, theme (with rhetorical verb)
Charles S. Peirce's article, "The Fixation of Belief (1877), asserts that humans have psychological and social mechanisms designed to protect and cement (or "fix") our beliefs.
Sentence 2: thesis statement (with rhetorical verb)
Peirce backs this claim up with descriptions of four methods of fixing belief, pointing out the effectiveness and potential weaknesses of each method.
Sentence 3: author’s purpose (with rhetorical verb)
Peirce's purpose is to point out the ways that people commonly establish their belief systems, in order to ask the reader to consider how their own belief system may be the product of such methods, and to consider what Peirce calls "the method of science" as a progressive alternative to the other three.
Sentence 4: author’s audience/target
Given the technical language used in the article, Peirce is writing to a well-educated audience with some knowledge of philosophy and history, and a willingness to accept other ways of thinking.
TASK: Read the essay below. Read the sample precis which other students have written. Compare their work and main points.
EXAMPLE ESSAY
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'Design for Sustainability: A Practical Approach'
by Tracy Bhamra
09/05/17
1200 words
“There are professions more harmful than industrial design, but only a very few…by creating whole new species of permanent garbage to clutter up the landscape, and by choosing materials and processes that pollute the air we breathe, designers have become a dangerous breed…
In this age of mass production when everything must be planned and designed, design has become the most powerful tool with which man shapes his tools and environments (and, by extension, society and himself). This demands high social and moral responsibility from the designer.” - Victor Papanek (1985)
Design for sustainability is part of the bigger picture of sustainable development, a subject which has received considerable media attention in recent years due to a range of world wide crises which have manifested themselves as political problems: climate change, famine, disease and poverty. Since the late 1960s when Victor Papanek first blamed the design profession for creating wasteful products and customer dissatisfaction, there has been a growing feeling in many environmental circles that design and manufacture is responsible for many of the man-made stresses imposed on the planet. This fact is well-illustrated by the statistics: 80 % of products are discarded after a single use, and 99 % of materials used are discarded in the first six weeks. Though this trend is expected to change with the introduction of new product-focused environmental legislation, mainstream product design currently draws on scarce resources to create products which often have little consideration for their impact on society and the environment.
In this age of mass production when everything must be planned and designed, design has become the most powerful tool with which man shapes his tools and environments (and, by extension, society and himself). This demands high social and moral responsibility from the designer.” - Victor Papanek (1985)
Design for sustainability is part of the bigger picture of sustainable development, a subject which has received considerable media attention in recent years due to a range of world wide crises which have manifested themselves as political problems: climate change, famine, disease and poverty. Since the late 1960s when Victor Papanek first blamed the design profession for creating wasteful products and customer dissatisfaction, there has been a growing feeling in many environmental circles that design and manufacture is responsible for many of the man-made stresses imposed on the planet. This fact is well-illustrated by the statistics: 80 % of products are discarded after a single use, and 99 % of materials used are discarded in the first six weeks. Though this trend is expected to change with the introduction of new product-focused environmental legislation, mainstream product design currently draws on scarce resources to create products which often have little consideration for their impact on society and the environment.
Throughout the nineteenth century, the term ‘designer’ was vague and ambiguous, referring to a wide range of occupations: fine artists, architects, craftsmen, engineers and inventors. By the twentieth century the profession of design had developed into Industrial Design as we know it today, existing in design teams and governed by management structure.
Within industry, industrial designers tend to either work ‘in-house’, as a function of a larger organisation or as independent design consultants within a design consultancy that services a variety of different clients . Within both of these capacities industrial designers can be involved in the design and development of both consumer and industrial goods. This report focuses on consumer products. Within this sector, industrial designers can serve a wide range of industries such as pharmaceuticals, packaging, and electrical and electronic domestic products, as such their outputs can vary enormously in terms of their nature and complexity.
The concept of design for sustainability first emerged in the 1960s when Packard (1963); Papanek (1971); Bonsiepe (1973) and Schumacher (1973) began to criticise modern and unsustainable development and suggest alternatives. The second wave emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s and coincided with the green consumer revolution. Writers such as Manzini (1990); Burall (1991), Mackenzie (1991) and Ryan (1993) began to call for design to make radical changes. This wave continued to gain momentum towards the end of the 1990s and early 2000s as design for sustainability became more widespread.
Within industry, industrial designers tend to either work ‘in-house’, as a function of a larger organisation or as independent design consultants within a design consultancy that services a variety of different clients . Within both of these capacities industrial designers can be involved in the design and development of both consumer and industrial goods. This report focuses on consumer products. Within this sector, industrial designers can serve a wide range of industries such as pharmaceuticals, packaging, and electrical and electronic domestic products, as such their outputs can vary enormously in terms of their nature and complexity.
The concept of design for sustainability first emerged in the 1960s when Packard (1963); Papanek (1971); Bonsiepe (1973) and Schumacher (1973) began to criticise modern and unsustainable development and suggest alternatives. The second wave emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s and coincided with the green consumer revolution. Writers such as Manzini (1990); Burall (1991), Mackenzie (1991) and Ryan (1993) began to call for design to make radical changes. This wave continued to gain momentum towards the end of the 1990s and early 2000s as design for sustainability became more widespread.
Though there has been a long history of designers being motivated and interested in improving the environmental and social impact of the products they produce, there has been a lack of opportunity within the industrial context with case studies only starting to emerge from electronic and electrical companies in the early 1990s when companies such as Philips, Electrolux, IBM and Xerox began to promote the work they had done in this area. Although large industry commitment to integrating environmental and social issues into product development has continued to be on the rise there has been little evidence of widespread opportunity for this type of holistic thinking, in the commercial design industry.
Design for sustainability issues are currently rarely addressed in the design brief, and as such it is often difficult for designers to have the opportunity to engage with environmentally and socially responsible design in a professional capacity. This report aims to change this situation and encourage a more widespread approach to design for sustainability.
Research in the field of design for sustainability is now well established, though it can still be considered a new area. Most of the developed nations now have some form of active research into design for sustainability, covering issues such as: implementation of legislation, eco-innovation, corporate social responsibility, product service systems, eco-redesign, impacts of user behaviour, design for disassembly and reverse manufacturing.
Part of the challenge for new designers is for them to fully understand the breadth of the agenda, and appreciate what can be tackled under the umbrella of design for sustainability. Within the design community there is a general lack of awareness of many issues relating to sustainable development. Designers need to understand for themselves, and communicate to their colleagues, that design for sustainability is about more than recycling or using recycled materials.
Design for sustainability offers a new and broader context for designing. Birkeland (2002) encapsulates this by presenting a new vision for design which is:
Responsible – redefining goals around needs, social/eco equity and justice.
Synergistic – creating positive synergies; involving different elements to create systems change.
Contextual – re-evaluating design conventions and concepts towards social transformation.
Holistic – taking a life cycle view to ensure low impact, low cost, multi-functional outcomes.
Empowering – fosters human potential, self-reliance and ecological understanding in appropriate ways.
Restorative – integrates the social and natural world; recultivates a sense of wonder.
Eco-efficient – proactively aims to increase the economy of energy, materials and costs.
Creative – represents a new paradigm that transcends traditional boundaries of discipline thinking.
Visionary – focuses on visions and outcomes and conceives of appropriate methods, to deliver them.
This report aims to reverse the trend of design which contributes to global environmental and social problems, by inspiring and empowering you to make a difference. It hopes to enlighten young designers about sustainability in general, and show how better design can improve things . By considering the environment and society when you are designing, you are able to offer your clients truly good design that meets both their requirements and those of an increasingly fragile planet.
Design for sustainability issues are currently rarely addressed in the design brief, and as such it is often difficult for designers to have the opportunity to engage with environmentally and socially responsible design in a professional capacity. This report aims to change this situation and encourage a more widespread approach to design for sustainability.
Research in the field of design for sustainability is now well established, though it can still be considered a new area. Most of the developed nations now have some form of active research into design for sustainability, covering issues such as: implementation of legislation, eco-innovation, corporate social responsibility, product service systems, eco-redesign, impacts of user behaviour, design for disassembly and reverse manufacturing.
Part of the challenge for new designers is for them to fully understand the breadth of the agenda, and appreciate what can be tackled under the umbrella of design for sustainability. Within the design community there is a general lack of awareness of many issues relating to sustainable development. Designers need to understand for themselves, and communicate to their colleagues, that design for sustainability is about more than recycling or using recycled materials.
Design for sustainability offers a new and broader context for designing. Birkeland (2002) encapsulates this by presenting a new vision for design which is:
Responsible – redefining goals around needs, social/eco equity and justice.
Synergistic – creating positive synergies; involving different elements to create systems change.
Contextual – re-evaluating design conventions and concepts towards social transformation.
Holistic – taking a life cycle view to ensure low impact, low cost, multi-functional outcomes.
Empowering – fosters human potential, self-reliance and ecological understanding in appropriate ways.
Restorative – integrates the social and natural world; recultivates a sense of wonder.
Eco-efficient – proactively aims to increase the economy of energy, materials and costs.
Creative – represents a new paradigm that transcends traditional boundaries of discipline thinking.
Visionary – focuses on visions and outcomes and conceives of appropriate methods, to deliver them.
This report aims to reverse the trend of design which contributes to global environmental and social problems, by inspiring and empowering you to make a difference. It hopes to enlighten young designers about sustainability in general, and show how better design can improve things . By considering the environment and society when you are designing, you are able to offer your clients truly good design that meets both their requirements and those of an increasingly fragile planet.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bhamra, T. A. and Lofthouse, V. A. (2004), ‘Toolbox for Sustainable Design Education’. Retrieved from www.lboro.ac.uk/research/susdesign/LTSN/Index.htm (Loughborough: Loughborough University).
Birkeland, J. (2002), Design for Sustainability: A Sourcebook of Integrated, Eco-Logical Solutions (Sheffield: Earthscan Publications).
Burall, P. (1991), Green Design (London: Design Council).
Dewberry, E. L. (1996), EcoDesign – Present Attitudes and Future Directions
Heskett, J. (1991), Industrial Design (London: Thames & Hudson). Industrial Design Society of America (1999), IDSA web site. Retrieved from www.idsa.org
Lofthouse, V. A. (2001), Facilitating Ecodesign in an Industrial Design Context: An Exploratory Study, Doctoral Thesis (Cranfield: In Enterprise Integration Cranfield University).
Mackenzie, D. (1991), Green Design: Design for the Environment (London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd.).
Packard, V. (1963), The Waste Makers (Middlesex: Penguin).
Papanek, V. (1971), Design for the Real World (New York: Pantheon Books).
Ryan, C. (1993) ‘Design and the Ends of Progress’ in O2 Event: Striking Visions
Shot in the Dark (2000), Design on the Environment: Ecodesign for Business (Sheffield: Shot in the Dark)
Sparke, P. (1983), Consultant Design: The History and Practice of the Designer in Industry (London: Pembridge Press Limited).
Design for Sustainability (2006), Trends and Waves. Retrieved from www.sustainability.com/insight/trends-and-waves.asp.
Bhamra, T. A. and Lofthouse, V. A. (2004), ‘Toolbox for Sustainable Design Education’. Retrieved from www.lboro.ac.uk/research/susdesign/LTSN/Index.htm (Loughborough: Loughborough University).
Birkeland, J. (2002), Design for Sustainability: A Sourcebook of Integrated, Eco-Logical Solutions (Sheffield: Earthscan Publications).
Burall, P. (1991), Green Design (London: Design Council).
Dewberry, E. L. (1996), EcoDesign – Present Attitudes and Future Directions
Heskett, J. (1991), Industrial Design (London: Thames & Hudson). Industrial Design Society of America (1999), IDSA web site. Retrieved from www.idsa.org
Lofthouse, V. A. (2001), Facilitating Ecodesign in an Industrial Design Context: An Exploratory Study, Doctoral Thesis (Cranfield: In Enterprise Integration Cranfield University).
Mackenzie, D. (1991), Green Design: Design for the Environment (London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd.).
Packard, V. (1963), The Waste Makers (Middlesex: Penguin).
Papanek, V. (1971), Design for the Real World (New York: Pantheon Books).
Ryan, C. (1993) ‘Design and the Ends of Progress’ in O2 Event: Striking Visions
Shot in the Dark (2000), Design on the Environment: Ecodesign for Business (Sheffield: Shot in the Dark)
Sparke, P. (1983), Consultant Design: The History and Practice of the Designer in Industry (London: Pembridge Press Limited).
Design for Sustainability (2006), Trends and Waves. Retrieved from www.sustainability.com/insight/trends-and-waves.asp.