Precis Writing
The French word ‘precis’ means an abstract or a summary. A précis is actually
exact or terse. Writing precis means making an intelligent summary of a long
passage. Its purpose is to present the gist of the document in a clear and concise
form, so that it may be easily understood and quickly assimilated.
Practice in extracting and re-stating the essential points of articles, speeches,
passages from books, etc., not only increases the student’s power of grasping ideas
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quickly and precisely, but also helps him in the acquisition of a clear, pointed style
of expression. This is why précis – writing requires intensive brain- work.
HOW TO WRITE A PRECIS
The various steps of precis-writing are suggested below:-
Step 1:-
Read the passage thoroughly. Ask yourself what the author wants to say in the
passage. That will help you in getting the general idea of the passage.
Step 2:-
Try to write down the general idea of the passage and sum it up in a suitable
heading.
Step 3:-
Re-read thee passage. Detailed study of this kind is necessary because by missing a
single sentence, a phrase, or even a single word can miss the whole.
Step 4:-
Separate the essential parts of the passage from comparatively unimportant parts.
This can be done by underlining the important ideas.
Step 5:-
Take brief notes in your own language. With the help of these notes put down the
sum and substance of the passage in a well - connected readable paragraph. It is not
likely that this will be a complete success. The draft will probably be too long.
Step 6:-
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Count the words in the rough draft. A precis should be about one third of the length
of the original passage. Now make necessary changes in the rough draft to get the
required length.
Step 7:-
After writing the precis, mention the total number of words of the precis.
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