What Is Précis Writing ?

The Effective Ways of Writing Précis

INTRODUCTION:

A precis is a summary. Precis writing is an exercise in compression. A precis is the gist of a

passage expressed in as few words as possible. A precis should give all essential points so that
anyone reading it will be able to understand the idea expressed in the original passage.

A precise is like a miniature portrait of the passage: it retains the absolute essential points
accompanied by the mood and tone of the author of the passage. The one aspect that needs to be
taken care of is that one should not add one’s subjective interpretation or comments to the précis
and should try to retain the original author’s voice and opinions. As far as the writing style is
concerned, the writing should be clear with effective sentences (no rambling) and diction should
be flawless. Ultimately, it is the coherence of the views presented in the précis that matters, and
this can be achieved by making sure that one is concise and to the point.

Unnecessarily long sentences should be avoided and the transition from one point to another
should be smooth and consistent. Finally, the précis should make sense and be logical in its
content and presentation.Note that precis writing is different from paraphrasing. In a paraphrase
you should give all the details: you should not leave out any details. A paraphrase will be at least
as long and sometimes longer than the original. A precis, on the other hand, must always be
shorter than the original. It should express only the main theme that too as briefly as possible.

There are no rigid rules regarding the length of a precis. But as a general rule, it should not
contain more than a third of the total number of words in the original passage.

 Most people read carelessly and fail to fully comprehend the meaning of the passage. Precis
writing forces them to pay attention to what they read because no one can write a summary of a
passage unless they read it carefully. So summarizing teaches one to read with concentration.

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Precis writing also improves your overall writing skills. It teaches you how to express your
thoughts clearly, concisely and effectively. You learn to choose your words carefully and
construct your sentences logically and concisely.

What a Precis is Not?

 While keeping the above in mind, you need to keep in mind what a precis is not. The
following are some of the things that should 'not' be a part of or a reflection of the precis:
 simply a summary of a passage.
 simply an abstract of a passage.
 an outline of a passage.
 a mere selection of a few important sentences from a passage.
 a collection of disconnected facts and statements.
  is marked by clarity, brevity and precision.
 is not just lifting of the sentences from the original. It should be written in the precis
writer's own words.
 is a miniature version of the original passage.
 must have a logical order and be well-knit and well connected.
 must have coherence.
 must use linking devices such as so, therefore, and, because of further etc.
 must follow the order of ideas of the original extract.
 must have a title.
 is written in reported speech.
 must not contain any details not found in the original.

Do's and Dont's of Précis Writing

 Do's in a précis: Start your précis by highlighting the main idea of the passage and you
should create a contextual environment where you can place the necessary points.
 Once the main idea is established in the précis, you can present the methods, points, facts
etc. used by the author of the passage.

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  Compress and clarify a lengthy passage, article, or book, while retaining important
concepts, keywords, and important data.
 Remove what is superfluous and retain the essence of the work.
 Always remember that mentions about history should be advisably done in the past tense.
 State the purpose of the research or piece of writing (why was it important to conduct this
research or write on this topic?)

Don'ts in a précis:
 Do not express your own opinion, wish, remark or criticism.
 Do not insert any question in your précis. Its significance, if essential, may be expressed
by a statement.
 Do not use abbreviations or contractions.
 Do not be shaky. This suggests that most probably, you have not understood the sense of
the passage properly.

Precis in the making

When one is writing a précis, he/she should take care of a few essential points. The first thing is
that one needs to convey the general idea of the argument with absolute clarity. The second thing
that you need to do is to make sure that all the important points of the original passage are
included in the precis. Lastly, make sure that the language of the précis is clear, crisp and
concise, and follows the rule for correct diction.
The following rules are general guidelines you should follow while writing a précis:
1. Closely read the passage, and identify the central idea of the passage. It is vital to identify
the general idea of the passage and incorporate it into one’s précis.
2. Look-out for the total number of words. If the number is not provided, quickly calculate
the number using approximations.
3. To understand the passage clearly, make sure that you read the passage closely, and give
it a couple of reads before you start writing the précis.
4. Highlight the most important points in the passage, and make notes. Leave out all non-
essential information from the précis.

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 5. Provide an apt heading to your précis.
6. Note making is an essential task for writing précis. You should try to arrange the points
in the most logical order, and ensure the order of thought is the same as the original.
7. The three grammatical rules you need to follow while writing a précis are: write it in the
third person, indirect form and appropriate past tense.
8. It is advisable to provide designations of officials rather than names and titles. In case the
official designation is not provided, you can use the personal name. Kindly be consistent
with the pattern you adopt.
9. Make sure you review your rough draft, remove the chinks and ensure that you have
made no language-related errors.
10. Before writing your précis, make sure you have a glance over the original to make sure
you have not missed anything.
11. Finally, a wise policy would be to count the words of your precis and put them down in a
bracket at the end.

Rhetorical Précis

A rhetorical précis will demonstrate your writing skills to professors, as well as your ability to
express your thoughts intelligibly. Make sure your paper highlights the following qualities:

 Clarity, which means a reader should understand what an author intended to convey.
Achieve it by using simple language and structure.

 Correctness, which means you should watch spelling, grammar, and punctuation you
use, as well as facts, figures, and dates you address.

 Objectivity, which means candid construal of the information. Don’t give your opinion
in a précis.

 Coherence, which means the logical interconnection of the ideas from the original. Your
audience shouldn’t lose their interest while reading.

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 Conciseness, which means avoiding unnecessary details in your précis. Don’t omit
essential facts but avoid wordy expressions, repetitions, wateriness, etc.

Follow a Precis Format and Structure

A rhetorical précis is not an argumentative or expository essay, but its structure looks the same.
As well as any college essay, a precis consists of three parts:

Introduction

This is a single sentence including the following information:

 the author’s name

 the title of the original piece

 the publishing date (in parentheses)

 power verbs determining the author’s thesis (“explains,” “argues,” “proves,” etc.)

 your thesis itself.

Some experts suggest starting your précis with a hook and then restating the author’s thesis.
Others say this type of academic writing doesn’t need hooks in the introduction. The best
decision would be to ask a professor about the format you may use.

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