Some Rules of Precis-Writing

PRECIS WRITING:

Writing a precis means making an intelligent summary of a long passage. To write a precis one should
have a clear understanding of the passage: only then well one be able to include all the essential points
and tips and tricks of essay examples in the precis.

Some general considerations :

 Learn with shortening in your words, text of written work useful writing tips, essential thoughts,
ideas or fact on how to write a precis writing format with preciswritingexamples.wordpress.com.

It is generally accepted that a precis should be a third of the passage given. If the original passage
has 300 words, the precis should not be more than 110 words in length.

 A precis should be in the language of the precis-writer. The original passage is not to be reduced
in length by just removing unimportant or unnecessary sentences and by reproducing the rest as
the precis. It should be a brief gist or summary of the passage expressed in the writer’s own
words.

 A precis should be full i.e. it should contain all the essential thoughts, ideas or fact in the original
passage. It should not contain repetitions or observations that are not relevant to the main theme
of the original.

 A precis is always written in Reported Speech. The passage given may be a speech made by a
person in Direct Speech, but the precis is to be in Reported Speech and in the Third Person and in
the Past tense.

Techniques of Precis – Writing

There three kinds of work to be done in producing a clear and successful precis. They are (1) Reading, (2)
Writing and (3) Revision.

Reading

Read the passage carefully

If one reading is not enough to give you a general idea of its meaning, then read it a second time. As you
read, find out the subject or the theme of the passage and what is said about the subject.

It will be a good thing if you find out the lead or the topic sentence. The lead sentence will help you to see
the subject clearly. It will also help you to think of a title for the precis example.

Further reading may be necessary at this stage to make sure that the details of the passage are also
understood. Read the passage more slowly this time, even sentence by sentence, and make sure that
everything in the passage is understood. If this is not done, it is likely that you will miss something
important, especially if it is expressed by a short phrase or a single word.

Now comes the process of selection. The writer of the precis writing passages has to decide what facts or
ideas in the passage are essential and what are of secondary or no importance. Taking the main ideas of
the passages as your point of reference, it should not be too difficult to write out the important points in
the original in a corner of your writing work sheet.

Writing

You should first prepare a draft of the precis, keeping in mind, the need to reduce he original to one-third
its length. The main thoughts expressed in the passage, the ideas it contains, the opinions presented and
the conclusion arrived at should figure in the rough draft. Unimportant things like the names of people
and places and dates should not figure in it.

It may so happen that your first draft is too long or that it sounds rather jerky. Shorten it if necessary and
write out a careful second draft during college preparation. Sometimes you may need to work out three or
even four drafts, but with reasonable care and concentration, you should normally succeed in producing a
good precis writing by the second draft.

Remember that a precis or essay is a connected whole and that it should read smoothly and continuously,
Get more advice and tips for more study tips for online education sites.

Revisioin

When you have made your second (or final) draft, carefully revise it before writing out the fair copy.
Look for many mistakes or slips in grammar or spelling and correct them. Don’t forge to give your precis
a title for precis writing examples.

Précis Writing: Writing a précis means making an intelligent summary of a long passage. To write a
précis one should have a clear understanding of the passage: only then one is able to include all the
essential points, tips and tricks of essay examples in the précis.

Some general considerations:

1. Learn to shorten your words, text of written work, useful writing tips, essential thoughts, ideas or fact.
2. It is generally accepted that a précis should be a third of the passage given. If the original passage has
300 words, the précis should not be more than 110 words in length.
3. A précis should be in the language of the précis-writer. The original passage is not to be reduced in
length by just removing unimportant or unnecessary sentences and by reproducing the rest as the précis. It
should be a brief gist or summary of the passage expressed in the writer’s own words.
4. A précis should be full i.e. it should contain all the essential thoughts, ideas or fact in the original
passage. It should not contain repetitions or observations that are not relevant to the main theme of the
original.
5. A précis is always written in Reported Speech. The passage given may be a speech made by a person in
Direct Speech, but the précis is to be in Reported Speech or the Third Person or in the Past tense.
Techniques of Précis – Writing
There three kinds of work to be done in producing a clear and successful precis. They are (1) Reading, (2)
Writing and (3) Revision.
1. Reading
Read the passage carefully
If one reading is not enough to give you a general idea of its meaning, then read it second time. As you
read, find out the subject or the theme of the passage and what is said about the subject.
It will be a good thing if you find out the lead or the topic sentence. The lead sentence will help you to see
the subject clearly. It will also help you to think of a title.
Now comes the process of selection. The writer of the précis writing passages has to decide what facts or
ideas in the passage are essential and what are of secondary or no importance. Taking the main ideas of
the passages as your point of reference, it should not be too difficult to write out the important points in
the original in a corner of your writing work sheet.
2. Writing
You should first prepare a draft of the précis, keeping in mind, the need to reduce the original to one-third
its length. The main thoughts expressed in the passage, the ideas it contains, the opinions presented and
the conclusion arrived at should figure in the rough draft. Unimportant things like the names of people
and places and dates should not figure in it.
It may so happen that your first draft is too long or that it sounds rather jerky. Shorten it if necessary and
write out a careful second draft. Sometimes you may need to work out three or even four drafts, but with
reasonable care and concentration, you should normally succeed in producing good précis writing by the
second draft.
3. Revision
When you have made your second (or final) draft, carefully revise it before writing out the fair copy.
Look for any mistakes or slips in grammar or spelling and correct them. Don’t forget to give your précis a
title.
Precis Writing

What is a Precis ?

A precise is like a miniature portrait of the passage, it retains the absolute essential points
accompanied with the mood and tone of the author of the passage. The one aspect one has to be
careful about 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,
one must ensure that one write clear and effective sentences (no rambling) and one’s diction is
flawless. Ultimately, it the coherence of the views that you presented in the précis that matter, and
this can be achieved by making sure that one is precise and to the point in one’s approach.
Unnecessarily long sentences or rambling thoughts are not required in précis writing, and one should
make sure that one sifts from one point to another in a smooth matter. At the end of the day, the
précis should make sense and be logical in its presentation. Thus a precis is not:
  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.

Features of a Good Precis

 A good Precis:
o s marked by clarity, brevity and precision.
o is not just lifting of the sentences from the original. It should be written in the precis
writer's own words.
o is a miniature version of the original passage.
o must have a logical order and be well-knit and well connected.
o must have coherence; must use linking devices such as so, therefore, and, because further
etc. and must follow the
o order of ideas of the original.
o must have a title.
o is written in reported speech.
o must not contain any details not found in the original.
o

 Do's in a precis :
o Start your précis by highlighting the main idea of the passage and you should create
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.
o Compress and clarify a lengthy passage, article, or book, while retaining important
concepts, key words, and important data.
o Remove what is superfluous and retain the core essence of the work.
o Always remember that mentions about history/writing about history should be advisably
done in the past tense.
o 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:
o Do not express your own opinion, wish, remark or criticism.
o Do not insert any question in your précis. Its significance, if essential, may be expressed
by a statement.
o Do not use abbreviations or contractions.
o Do not be jerky. 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, one 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. Kindly keep the following in mind :

 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 in one’s précis.
 Look-out for the total number of words. If the number is not provided, quickly calculate the
number using approximations.
 In order 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.
 Highlight the most important points in the passage, and make notes. Leave out all non-essential
information from the précis.
 Provide an apt heading to your précis.
 Note making is an essential task for writing précis. You should try to arrange the points in most
logical order, and ensure the order of thought is the same as the original.
 The three grammatical rules you need to follow while writing a précis are: write it in third person,
indirect form and appropriate past tense.
 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.
 Make sure you review your rough draft, remove the chinks and ensure that you have made no
language related errors.
 Before writing your précis, make sure you have a glance over the original to make sure you have
not missed anything.
 Finally, a wise policy would be a count the words of your precis and put them down in a bracket
at the end.