PRECIS WRITING
Précis : Introduction
In professional
situations one must be in a position to express oneself not just elaborately but also briefly. In professional
world you would be required to be
brief and precise. In fact in most of the professional
writing and presentation that you prepare and deliver, you would be expected to be brief and to the point hence learning
the art of condensation becomes
very important.
The major forms of condensation that are frequently used in academic and professional life are as follows--
1 -
Preci
2 - Abstract
3 - Summary
4 -
Synopsis
5 - Paraphrasing
PRECI-- is a short and concise account of some text which gives all the important points. It is a gist of any passage in as few words as possible. A precis should mention all important details of the original paragraph so that anyone who is reading it is able to understand the idea of the original passage.
SUMMARY-- A summary is written and included in the report prepared by a professional. Summaries are written to briefly present the main finding of the study. A summary is quite useful in enquiry matters.
ABSTRACT—An abstract is shorter than the summary, written
to highlight the purpose; scope and
significance of the work .You often come across abstract published
in research articles.
Summary is pre technical and specified for a common purpose.
SYNOPSIS--
A synopsis is condensed or short inversion of an article, research paper and chapter of a book.
Synopsis highlights in brief all the essential features of an original document. In synopsis we used to highlight the purpose, scope
and significance of the research.
PARAPHRASING-- The purpose of paraphrasing is to
reproduce the author's idea in your own words. It is meant to bring the text written
in different times and different languages to readers
who can only follow a simpler and familiar version.
Art of condensation or Principles of condensation:
2- Be complete--While reproducing an idea we cannot
leave out any important
aspect. It should be complete and comprehensive as the original one but should be expressed in fewer words.
3- Be choosy-- we need to discard all the superfluous material
4- Be original a good AC is both creative and original
5- Be clear-- clarity is important quality of well written preci
Seven step ladder to writing and effective preci:
1- Read and Comprehend- Read the original
piece of writing
as many
times as possible
2- Prepare and collate of all main ideas--------- You need to identify the
main ideas and write them down .
3- Assimilate the essential--Need to recapture the soul of what the author has said in one word
4-
Give a Titled--Think of a suitable
title
5- Prepared the first draft------ After assimilating the main arrangement you can prepare the first draft of the preci
7- Edit and revise--This is the final step of precis writing in which we incorporate alterations, modifications and changes that you thought of while reviewing your first draft.
Precis Writing
A précis is a summary. Précis writing is an exercise in compression. A précis is the gist of a passage expressed in as few words as possible. A précis should give all essential points so that anyone reading it will be able to understand the idea expressed in the original passage.
How long should a précis be?
There are no rigid rules regarding the length of a précis. But as a general rule, it should not contain more than a third of the total number of words in the original passage.
Uses of précis writing
Most people read carelessly and fail to fully comprehend the meaning of the passage. Précis 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.
Précis 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 in a logical and concise manner.
Steps in precis writing
In order to accomplish this goal, it helps to follow a six step process:
Step
4: Read your précis. Ask yourself the following questions— Does it say what the
original says?
Have
you kept the connections of thought original? Is the précis perfectly clear?
Can
you improve or condense any words or phrases?
Step 5: Count the words. If there are too many, write more concisely to shorten the précis. If there are too few, check to see whether you omitted some important ideas.
Step 6: Read the précis again. If nothing important has been omitted and nothing at all added, write your final, correct copy. Proofread it.
Step 7: Give the suitable title to your précis
Step 8: Write number of words in bracket below your precis
Examples
of précis writing Example 1
It
is physically impossible for a well-educated, intellectual, or brave man to
make money the chief object of his thoughts just as it is for him to make his
dinner the principal object of them. All healthy people like their dinners, but
their dinner is not the main object of their lives. So all healthy minded
people like making money ought to like it and enjoy the sensation of winning
it; it is something better than money
A
good soldier, for instance, mainly wishes to do his fighting well. He is glad
of his pay—very properly so and justly grumbles when you keep him ten years
without it—till, his main mission of life is to win battles, not to be paid for
winning them. “o of clergymen. The clergyman’s object is essentially baptize
and preach not to be paid for preaching. So of doctors. They like fees no
doubt—ought to like them; yet if they are brave and well-educated the entire
object to their lives is not fees. They on the whole, desire to cure the sick;
and if they are good doctors and the choice were fairly to them, would rather
cure their patient and lose their fee than kill him and get it. And so with all
the other brave and rightly trained men: their work is first, their fee
second—very important always; but still second.
The Main Points of the given material are---
Money-making is a common attraction in life. But it cannot be the principal aim of well educated, cultured and brave man. A brave soldier prizes honour and victory more than his pay. A good clergyman is more interested in the moral welfare of his people than his returns. A doctor (good) values the care of his patient far more than his fees. Thus with all the well- educated, intellectual persons, their work is first, money next.
Notwithstanding
its various defects English education has done great good to India. The ideas
of democracy and self-government are its gifts. Nursed on English education the
Indian leaders were inspired by the Western thought, culture and freedom
struggles. They fought for and won their motherland’s freedom. Being spoken
thought-out the world English is necessary for international contact, trade,
commerce and science. English is rich in literature; its master mind cannot be
neglected.
A
good précis shows the writing skills of a person. It must have the following
qualities;
1. Clarity
Clarity
means getting your message across so that the receiver can understand what the
writer is trying to convey. The writer can achieve clarity by using simple
language and simple structure.
2. Correctness
Mistakes
in your writings always irritate the reader. We may consider the mistakes under
the following headings:
• Misspelled words
• Mistakes in figures and dates
• Mistakes in punctuation
• Mistakes of grammar and structure
3. Objectivity
Objectivity
means the ability to present or view facts uncolored by feelings, opinions and
personal bias. A précis should be purely a summary of the original text without
any addition (No personal opinion and no personal ideas)
4. Coherence
Coherence means the logical and clear interconnection of ideas in a written piece of work. The ideas should be well knitted so that the writer may not be confused and lose his interest.
5. Completeness
Another
striking feature of a good précis is completeness. Completeness means that the
writer should include all the important facts in a précis. To make it short he should
not omit the important ideas
Conciseness
means to say all that needs to be said and no more. The writer should write
what is necessary and avoid writing unnecessary details. To achieve
conciseness, notice the following suggestions:
• Omitting unnecessary details * include only relevant material
• Eliminate wordy expressions * Avoid unnecessary repetition
Precis Writing Tips
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.
Some general considerations
- Learn
to shorten your words, text of written work, useful writing tips,
essential thoughts, ideas or fact.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- A
précisis always written in Reported Speech. The passage given may be a
speech made by a person in Direct Speech, but the précisis 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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