TIPS FOR WRITING A GOOD PRECIS

What is a prcis?
A prcis is a concise and clear statement of the substance of a longer passage in a connected and
readable
shape.
A
prcis
must
be
accurate,
brief
and
clear.
A prcis is in the prcis writer's own word and it is about one-third of the original.
Summary and abstract are two other words that convey the same idea as prcis.
Why Do We Need A Prcis?
These days, people have a variety of jobs to attend to, and they do not have enough
time to go into all the details. They just want to know the essential facts of a
situation as briefly and clearly as possible. To take some examples, a superior might
like to know the main points of an article published in a trade journal or a trade
union leader may have to report what happened at a trade union meeting. Each of
these situations needs making a prcis.
Ten Golden Rules For Writing A Good Prcis:
1. Determine the theme if the passage very carefully: It is very important to find out the
central idea or the theme of the passage. Soon you will be analyzing the passage to separate the
major points from the minor ones, and the various points become major only in relation to the
central or main theme of the passage.
2. Precis is not the reproduction of important sentences: Don't from your precis by
reproducing a few sentences and deleting others. Precis writing is not the art of selection and
deletion, it is the art of remodelling.
3. Brevity is good but not at the cost of clarity: Brevity is the soul of precis writing. But
brevity is not to be achieved at the cost of clarity. If the addition or retention of a few words adds
to the clarity of your precis, they should be included by all means. Excessive economy, leading
to ambiguity or obscurity, must be avoided.
4. Your precis ought to be intelligible even to a person who has not read the original
passage: This is extremely important. He who is familiar with the original passage, of course,
enjoys an additional advantage. He is in a position to compare the two versions and find out how
far you have faithfully reproduced the facts or preserved the spirit of the original passage. But he
who has not read the original passage has to judge your performance only from what you have
written.
5. Use your own language: Precis has to be written, as far as possible, in your own words.

Precis writing is a test as much of your comprehension as of your expression. Besides,

while summarizing the original ideas you will often find that language of the passage is more a
hindrance than a help. You cannot help retaining a few significant phrases or technical terms but
be sure that sentence structure is entirely your own.
6. Precis is always written in the third person: If the author has used the autobiographical
form of narration or description, you should change the form. You should begin your precis
with 'The author says...' Secondly, you should avoid the use of direct speech in your precis. The
use of indirect speech will make it more compact. Be careful of all the rules of indirect speech if
the original passage is in direct speech.
7. Use your discretion if the passage contains statistical information: If the statistical figures
have been included to corroborate certain generalised facts, you can safely omit them. But if the
figures are basic to the very understanding of the general drift of the passage, they have to be
retained.
8. Observe Proportion: Your precis should be well proportioned. Each part of the original
passage should be dealt with according to its relative importance and not according to the space
assigned to it.
9. No comments please! You are not supposed to give any comments, appreciative or critical, on
the ideas expressed in the passage. Your job is to interpret faithfully and not to evaluate the mind
of the author. You are reproducing - briefly and relevantly - and not creating.
10. Reduce the passage to its one third: Unless otherwise indicated, you are supposed to
reduce the passage to one-third of its original length.