Precis Writing:
Precis Writing:
Précis-writing:
Precis writing
definition:
“A precis is a brief, original summary of the important
ideas given in a long selection. Its aim is to give the general effect created
by the original selection.” Precis writing is a concise summary that
forsakes all unnecessary details (including illustrations, amplifications, and
embellishments) in favor of reproducing the logic, development, organization, and emphasis of the original.
Precis writing aims at intelligent reading and clear,
accurate writing. It is a skill of both analysis and genesis that critically
questions every thought included and excluded, each word used to express those
thoughts, and the proportions and arrangements of those thoughts — both in the
original and in the precis. In its exaction
it mercilessly reveals an author’s wordiness and looseness or thinness of
thought and construction. It should strengthen our style, our sense of
proportion and emphasis, and our sensitivity to word meanings and an author’s
viewpoint,
Four main pillars of
Precis
1. Simple
2. Concise
3. Clear
4. Complete
Elements of Good
Precis
1. A good Precis should give leading thoughts and general impression of the
passage
summarized.
2. A good Precis should be a continuous
and compact piece of prose.
3. A Precis should be clear, concise and complete in sense of original
thoughts.
4. The precis should be written from the original author’s point of view,
without editorializing.
5. Indirect Speech should be used.
6. 3rd person pronoun should be used and should be in past tense.
A Precis must fulfill
the following requirements
1. All Important/relevant Ideas must be included
2. All unimportant/irrelevant ideas must be excluded
3. It must be in the form of a continuous
narrative
What should we avoid?
1. Avoid your own comments and other
irrelevancies.
2. Avoid borrowing sentences and
phrases from the original passage.
3. Avoid emphasizing the wrong points.
4. Avoid exceeding the prescribed
length (1/3). “5 Words could be”
5. Avoid Bad style of Grammar and
Structure.
6. Avoid redundancies of expression.
7. Avoid introductory remarks,
Illustrations, Examples and side-remarks.
8. Avoid Informal language.
Method of Precis
Writing
1. Reading:
First Reading:
(i) Read every word slowly and carefully until
you clearly understand the sense of the passage.
(ii) Look up all unfamiliar words, phrases, and
allusions
(iii) Identify the dominating idea, the essential
thought, of the passage. Ask if this idea were omitted, would the fundamental
meaning of the passage be changed?
(iv) Determine what emphasis and space to give the
thought in each section; write a heading for each section.
Second Reading:
(i) Underscore with a pencil the important facts
containing the essential thoughts. This is a process of differentiation
between what is essential and what is not. Generally,
you will omit examples, illustrations, conversations, and repetitions.
(ii) Reread your selections to see that they are wise
and adequate.
(iii) Determine if your underscoring expresses the
main ideas.
Final Reading:
(i) Rapidly and intensely reread the origin, dwelling on the
important facts selected for a precis.
(ii) If you need for more reading, you should read again,
The main idea of the passage should be clearly understood by the student.
2. Title:
We must give a striking title to our precis. The title of the precis can be found either in the first
Paragraph or sentence or the last last
paragraph.
3. Practice is merely
important for the students to achieve the goal of good precis.
Rules of Making a
Precis
A well-written précis should be a serviceable substitute for
the original work. The goal of a précis is to preserve the core essence of the
work in a manner that is both clear and concise. While writing a précis, the writer should follow the
rules of making a precis to make it an effective piece of work.
Rules of Making a Precis
Read Carefully
First read the passage twice or thrice carefully to
summarize it. This will enable you to understand the main theme of the passage.
Underlining
Underline and mark the important ideas and essential points
from the original text.
Outline
With the help of underlined ideas, draw the outline of your
précis.
Omission
Omit all the unnecessary information or the long phrases
which could be replaced by one word. All the adjectives and the adverbs can
also be omitted to make a good précis.
Don’t Omit
While making a précis, the writer should never omit the
important points and ideas which are essential to be described.
Size
Keep the fact in your mind that the length of the précis
should be the one-third of the original passage.
Indirect Speech
A précis should be written in indirect speech. If there is a
direct speech in the passage, it should be changed into indirect speech.
Tense and Person
It should be written in the third person and past tense. In
the case of universal truth, the present tense should be used.
Own Words
A précis should be written in your own words, and the writer
should abstain from borrowing words from the original passage.
Précis of a Dialogue
The précis of dialogue or conversation should always be
expressed in the form of narrative.
Objective Approach
A précis writer should adopt an objective approach. He
should not add his personal ideas to a précis. Put all the important points and
ideas in a logical order.
One Paragraph
There could be two or more paragraphs in the original text.
While making the précis, try to write all the ideas in one paragraph.
Rough Draft
After omitting all the unnecessary ideas, the writer should
prepare a rough draft to finalize it.
Final Draft
Having read the rough draft and pointed out some mistakes
which may be found in the rough draft, the writer can prepare the final draft.
In order to accomplish this goal, it helps to follow a six-step process:
Things not to be used while writing a PRECIS
1.
Examples in the passage
2.
Stories
3.
Proverbs
4.
Quotations
5.
Idioms
6.
Repetition of similar
sentences or ideas
7.
Long phrases
8.
Complex sentences having
long clauses
9.
Direct speech
Do’s of Precis Writing
Start your precis with the main idea so that reader can
quickly understand the essence of the precis
He/she will know beforehand as to what should they expect in
the written precis
While writing a precis,
make a suitable environment where all the points can be described and discussed
equally.
As the main idea or the essence is established, you can
follow it up with some methods, facts, points, etc
As a precis is concise, compress it and make sure that the
length is available for you to retain the important data, keywords, and the
concept
Removing the irrelevant data or sentence is as important as
writing the relevant points
Thus, identify the superfluous data and facts and keep the
core idea of the work only in the precis
If you are mentioning anything related to history or any
historical data than make sure that it is written in the past tense only
Also, remember to put the purpose as to why you are writing
a precis in the writing piece
This will help the reader understand what you wrote in the precis
Don’ts of Precis
Writing
A precis writing is a formal way of writing a shorter form
of the given paragraph
So, even though you have read and understood the Precis well,
do not form your own opinions
You cannot insert your own remarks and criticism in a precis
Always take the fact and data that is given in the paragraph
only
Also, during a precis
writing, you cannot insert a question. If for any reason you need to insert
make it in the form of a statement.
For a precis writing,
avoid using contractions and abbreviations
Write the full form of any given words only
Avoid being jerky. This will show that you have not
understood the passage properly and have started writing a precis
How Good a Precis Can Be?
Now that we have understood what things you should do and
what things you shouldn’t while doing a precis,
let’s understand what a good precis is? That is
to say what things should be included for a good precis? A good one should
include this rules of precis writing.
1.
It should be precise and
clear
2.
A precis writing is not
just lifting the words from the original paragraph
3.
It should be written in a
precise manner in your own words
4.
It should be a summary or a
miniature version of the original paragraph
5.
The precis must be logically connected and should have a good flow of
words
6.
It should be coherent and
for this, it can use the linking words such as and, because, therefore, etc.
7.
A precis should have an
appropriate title and the order ideas need to be original
8.
The details found in the
precis must match the details found in the paragraph
When all of these above points are understood and used in a precis, a good precis is bound to be written.
Top 10 Rules for Good Precis Writing
1. Decide Theme of
the Passage
The main theme of the passage should find out through careful reading and then the main points and
ordinary points find out for giving
importance. These things are essential for brief and clear presentation of
precis.
2. No Reproduction of
Important Sentences
The sentences of the original
passage cannot be used for precis-writing. Precis-writing is an art of
remodeling of sentences without affecting the main
theme of the original passage.
3. Have Brevity and
Clarity
Brevity is the soul of precis-writing. But, at the same
time, clarity should not be given up. Mere deletion or addition of few words of
original passage cannot be a precis-writing. Moreover, brevity should not
create any ambiguous in the minds of the
reader.
4. Reflects the
Intelligence of the Precis-writer
The style of language and words used in the precis-writing
indicate the intelligence of the precis
writer. In other words, the precis-writing preserved the spirit of the original
passage with different words and sentences.
5. Use Own Language
The precis-writer should use his/her own language for
precis-writing. The writer should not retain any significant phrases or
technical terms of the original passage. It means that the writer should use
his/her own sentences for precis-writing.
6. Avoid Direct
Speech and Use Indirect Speech
The precis-writing is presented in third person point of
view. The text of the original passage is presented in direct speech. Now, it
is the duty of the precis-writer that he/she should present in indirect speech.
7. The inclusion of Statistical Information
If statistical information is
included in the original passage, they can be used in the precis-writing for
maintaining quality. If statistical information is
excluded, it affects the very purpose of
precis-writing and conveys a different meaning.
8. Observe Proportion
Original passage is divided into many parts. Each part is
dealt with according to importance but not according to length. In this way, the
objectives of precis-writing are
achieved.
9. No Comments but
Conclusion
The precis-writer need not give any comments over the
original passage but should give conclusion. It means that the precis-writer
need not evaluate the mind of the author but interpret the original passage in
a meaningful way.
10. One-third of Original Passage
It is the general practice that the length of precis-writing
should be one-third of original passage. If so, reader can get full
information and do his/her job very effectively.
Uses of precis-writing:
1). precis-writing
is a very fine exercise in reading, most people read carelessly, and
retain only the vague idea of what they have read. You can easily test the
value of your reading. Read in your usual way a chapter, or even a page, of the
book and then, having closed the book tries to put down briefly the substance
of what you have just read. You will probably find that memory of it is
hazy and muddled. Is this because your memory is weak? No; it is because your
attention was not fully centered on the passage while you were reading
it.
The memory cannot retain what was never given it to hold;
You did not remember the passage properly because you did not properly grasp it
as you read it.
Now precis-writing force you to pay attention to
what you read; For no one can write a summary of and passage unless he has
clearly grasped its meaning. So summarizing is excellent
training in the concentration of attention.
It teaches one to read with the mind, as well as with the
eye, on the page.
2). precis
writing is also a very good exercise in writing a composition.
It teaches one how to express one’s thoughts clearly,
concisely and effectively. it is splendid corrective of the common tendency to
vague and disorderly thinking and loose and diffuse writing.
Have you noticed how an uneducated person tells a
story? he repeats himself, brings in a lot of irrelevant matter, omits to
from its proper placed what is essentially a drags it in later as an
after-thought, and takes twenty minutes to say what a trained thinker would
express in five.
The whole effects are muddled and tedious. In a precis you have to work within strict limits,
You must express a certain meaning in a fixed number of words.
So you learn to choose your words carefully, to construct
your sentences with an eye to fullness combined with brevity, and to put your
matter in a strictly logical order.
3). So practice in
precis-writing is of great value for practical life. in any position of
life ability to grasp quickly and accurately what is read, or heard and
reproduce it clearly and concisely means, is of the utmost value.
for lawyers, businessman, and government officials it
is essential.
METHOD OF PROCEDURE:
you must make up your mind from the beginning
that precis-writing means intensive brain work. There is no easy
shortcut to summarizing a passage. To tear the hurt out of passage means
concentrated thought, and you must be prepared for close attention and hard
thinking.
1) READING:
(A) First read the passage through carefully, but not
too slowly, to get a general idea of its meaning. If one reading is not
sufficient to give you this clearly, read it over again, and yet again.
The more you read it, The more familiar will it become to
you, and the clearer be its subjects, and what is said about that
subject.
Ask your self “what is it I am reading? what does the author
mean? what is his subject? what is he saying about it? Can I put in a few words
the pith of what he says”?
(B) usually, you are required to supply a title for
your precis. This is a good stage at
which o do this.
Think of some word, phrase or short sentences that will sum
up briefly the main subject of the passage. Sometimes this is supplied by what
we may call a key-sentence.
This key-sentence
may be found at the beginning or at the end of the passage.
(C) Further reading is now necessary to ensure that you
understand the details of the passage as well as its main purport.
Take it now sentence by sentence, and word by word. If the meaning of any word
is not clear, look them up in a dictionary.
Detailed study of this kind is necessary, because
a phrase, sentence, or even a
single word, may be of prime importance, and the misunderstanding of it
may cause you to miss the whole point of the passage.
2) WRITING:
(A) ROUGH DRAFTS:
You should now be ready to attempt the writing of the precis, but be sure of the limits within which
it must be compressed.
If the numbered of words is given you, this is easy: but if
you are told to reduce the passage to say, a third of its length, count the
number of words in the passage and divide by three.
The draft will probably be too long. In fact, you may have to write out several drafts
before you find to express the gist of the passage fully within the limits set.
(B) IMPORTANT POINTS:
1) The precis should be all in your own words.
2) The precis must be
a connected whole.
3)
The precis must be complete and
self-contained.
4) it is only the gist, main purport, or general meaning of the
passage which you have to express.
5) The precis must be
in simple, direct grammatical and idiomatic English.
(C) THE ART OF
COMPRESSION:
you are not bound to follow the original order of thought to
the passage to be summarized if you can express its meaning more clearly and
concisely by transposing any of its parts.
3) REVISION:
when you have made your final draft, carefully revise
it before you write out the fair copy. Be sure that its length is within the
limits prescribed. Compare it with the original to see that you have not
omitted an important point.
See whether it reads well as a connected whole, and correct
any mistakes in spelling and punctuation, grammar and idiom.
Then write out the fair copy neatly. prefixing the title,
you have chosen.
·
Characteristic and Rules of
precis
·
Characteristic of precis
·
Some characteristics
of precis are given below:
Conciseness:
This is the quality which gives the precis its name because precis is written for the purpose of
conciseness. The writer should compress the main message in the fewest possible
words without any vagueness.
Clearness:
A good precis is always easy to understand therefore the
writer should write it in simple and clear words. The basic aim of the precis writing is to convey the main theme of
the passage across the reader so in order to achieve this aim the writer should
read the passage twice and thrice for clear and vivid understanding.
Coherence:
There is a coherence in a good precis. It means that each
part must be related to other parts. In order to achieve the quality of
coherence, words are combined with the help of, however, similarly, finally
etc.
Completeness:
An incomplete passage could not be called a precis. A good
precis contains all the important points. The writer should ensure if all the
important ideas are included in the precis.
Correctness:
A good precis is correct in every aspect. An error of any
type just like grammar, punctuation, and spelling is not included in a good
precis.
Faithful Presentation:
An excellent precis is always the reflection of the original
idea. The writer does not include his own thoughts or ideas in it.
Length:
A good precis is almost one-third of the original passage. Therefore
the writer excludes all the unnecessary details from his precis.
Outdated Words:
In good precis, there
is no place for outdated words and phrases. The writer takes maximum care to
use current vocabulary.
Write in Own Words:
The writer of a precis does not borrow words from the
original passage. He expresses everything by using his own words and idioms to
short it.
Grammar:
A good precis is always written in indirect speech. There is
no mistake of grammar in it. The passage may be written in present or past
tense. The use of idioms is also very useful.
Punctuation:
The use of punctuation makes the precis easy to understand. Therefore the writer should use these
wherever necessary.
Rules of Precis Writing
Some rules of precis writing are given below:
Careful Reading:
The first step toward making a precis is to read the original
passage very carefully. Of course, reading the passage once is not enough. A
second reading will give you a clear idea o what is required to be summarized.
Understanding Main Points:
The reader should underline all-important idea or key
sentences in the passage and omit all the rest.
Make A Rough Draft:
write all these important ideas in a sequence it will become
the first rough draft of your precis.
Order Can Be Change:
The Order of the main idea can be changed it is permissible
to re-arrange the ideas in the order that writers think better.
One Paragraph:
A precis is written in the shape of a paragraph, not in
loose sentences.
Final Draft:
In the end, you should
re-read and check if there is anything missing. If the precis exceeds its
limits, you should revise it and exclude the unimportant points.
Some More Rules of Precis Writing:
·
Not to be confused with
paraphrasing
·
The language should be
clear, brief and precis
·
It should be written in
short sentences
·
Logically connected
·
No extra information
·
The inclusion of essential
ideas, and omission of non-essentials.
Rhetorical Précis Worksheet
A rhetorical précis differs from a summary in that it is a less
neutral, more analytical condensation of both the content and method of the
original text. If you think of a summary as primarily a brief representation of
what a text says, then you might think of the rhetorical précis as a brief
representation of what a text both says and does. Although less common than a
summary, a rhetorical précis is a particularly useful way to sum up your
understanding of how a text works rhetorically.
The Structure of a Rhetorical Précis
Sentence One: Name of the author, genre, and title of work,
date in parentheses; a rhetorically active verb; and a THAT clause containing
the major assertion or thesis in the text.
Sentence Two: An explanation of how the author develops and supports the thesis.
Sentence Three: A statement of the author’s apparent purpose,
followed by an “in order to” phrase.
Sentence Four: A description of the intended audience and/or
the relationship the author establishes with the audience.
Précis
Writing Worksheet
Sentence 1 – What is the author doing?
_________________________________,
__________________________________________________,
author phrase
describing author
in _________________________________________________________________________(________)
title
date
____________________ that
____________________________________________________________
power verb thesis
(quote, if possible, with page #, if necessary)
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________.
Sentence 2 – How is the author doing
this?
____________________________
_____________________________________________________
Author’s last name another power verb (phrase)
__________________________________________________________________________________
by
what
he/she is doing
___________________________________________________________________________________,
first argument he/she makes with example(s)
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________,
second argument he/she makes with example(s)
___________________________________________________________________________________
and
_______________________________________________________________________________.
third argument he/she makes with example(s)
___________________________________________________________________________________
Third Sentence – Why does the author do
this?
He / She
_____________________________________________________________________________
Summary of your argument – what he/she is doing and how
___________________________________________________________________________________
in order to
___________________________________________________________________________
Why you
think he or she is doing this – what is his or her purpose? Provide evidence.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________.
Fourth Sentence – For whom is the author
doing this?
______________________ is ________________________ ____________________________
Author’s last name adverb
describing tone verb describing tone
________________________________________________________________
because he / she
audience
__________________________________________________________________________________
How do you know that this is the audience? Provide evidence.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________.
Labels: Academic Reading and Writing, English For Academic Purposes (EAP), Functional English, Technical and Business Writing
posted by Study with Faseeh @ September 27, 2021
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