PRÉCIS WRITING

By: Shumilah Azmat

OBJECTIVES

At the end of the session participants shall be

able to know the ,
 Importance of précis writing ,
 To bring out faithfully the main idea.
 Occupy the minimum space,
Meaning of word “précis”
PRECIS:
 It is a Latin word PRAECIDRE (PRAE_before
SIDER _To cut off) means cut off in front.
 After absorption in the English language ,

the word Précis now means” Precise: , Definite

,exact , concise .Now it is defined as a precise
or abridged statement.
 Today its donates a clear ,brief accurate ,well

connected gist of a written or spoken matter.

 Précis writing is MORE an Art than a science.
PRECIS :

A précis is a clear, compact logical summary of

a passage. It gives only the essential or important
ideas of the original text.
It is basically 1/3rd Summary of the given
paragraph
 Minimum in words
but Maximum in
meanings.

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Essentials of a Précis
1. Completeness: No important fact should be omitted.
2. Compactness: The words and sentences should convey
a sense of unity with each other.
3.Brevity:There should be economy of words but not of
ideas.(Process of shifting essential from unessential)
 Essentials of a Précis
4.Clarity; The main purpose of the text or main idea of the
author.
5.Coherence: Attachment of one sentence to the other to
form a connectivity and continuity.( should not be a
connection of disjointed and jumbled collection of sentences
6.Logical and natural sequence: The main theme
should run through the sentences like a thread through the
beads of necklace.
Requirements of a good Précis
Title: Must (even when not asked) It is précis of the précis.
It could be one word phrase or short pretty sentence, may be
normally in beginning or ending paragraph ,sometimes in the
middle.
Person: Always 3rd Person.(Even the dialogues and speeches)
Tense: Generally in Past tense except some universal truth
or particular words of utmost importance.
Form of speech: Indirect form of speech except
when full justice can not be done with author thought.
Length: It should be one third of the original text.
 RULES OF MAKING A PRÉCIS :

Read Carefully:
 Read the passage twice

or thrice carefully to
summarize it.
This will enable
you to understand
the main theme of the
passage.
Example
 Iqbal is not only the greatest poet of our age, but
also one of the greatest poets of all times. There
are not many poets who wrote so many great
poems as he did. He did not write poetry for
poetry’s sake. He did not write poetry to please his
readers or to earn money. Nor did he write poetry
because it was fashionable to write poetry in his
time. Iqbal did not believe in art for art’s sake. He
was, in fact , much more than a mere poet. He was
a learned man. He was a great scholar who had
acquired knowledge from both the east and the
west.
 cont.
He was a great philosopher. He was a political
leader of great importance. But more than
anything else he was a Muslim who had great
love for God and His Prophet. He wrote poetry
to express the great and ever-lasting truths
of philosophy, history and Islam. He wrote
poetry to awake the Muslims of the whole of
the world form sleep. In his poetry he called
upon them to rise and throw off the chains of
slavery, and become free. He asked the
Muslims of the whole world to unite. He is
our National Poet.
Analysis
 Finding the Title.
◦ The first reading of the passage makes it clear that it is about
Allama Iqbal.
◦ It tells us why he wrote poetry.
◦ Is also tells us that he was a learned man and a political leader.
◦ It tells us that Iqbal was, above all things, a Muslim.
◦ Now let is think of a title that sums up the whole passage. Which
one the following will be suitable?
◦ Iqbal, the Philosopher
◦ The Purpose of Poetry
◦ Iqbal as a Muslim
◦ Iqbal
◦ The Purpose of Iqbal’s Poetry.
◦ cont…
 Analysis
The first title indicates that the passage is about Iqbal’s
philosophy and knowledge. No doubt, it mentions these
but most of the sentences in the passage do not sat
anything about Iqbal’s philosophy. It is not a good title.
The second title ‘The Purpose of Poetry’ is irrelevant. The
passage dose not tells us anything about poetry in
general.
The title, ‘Iqbal as a Muslim’ dose not give us much
information about the contents of the passage, especially
a bout Iqbal’s poetry.
cont…
.
 Analysis
The fourth title, ‘Iqbal’ makes it clear that the
passage tell us something about Iqbal but not
what that ‘something’ is. It is too general a title
to be suitable for this passage.
The last title is ‘The purpose of Iqbal’s Poetry’ it
suggest that the passage is about Iqbal and his
poetry which is correct. It tells us also why Iqbal
wrote poetry, and this we know is the central idea
of the passage. Nine sentences tell us what kind
of a poet Iqbal was and why he wrote poetry. It is
an appropriate title, for it sums up the passage.

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 Making the Important Points
Now let us read through the passage once again and
mark the important ideas.
1. The first two sentences tell us that
a) Iqbal is one of the greatest poet of all times.
b) Few poets wrote as many great poems as he did.
If he think a little we will realize that the second
sentence only explain what has been said in the first
one. So we will not use it in our precis.
2. The next three sentences state that

iqbal did not write poetry to please himself or others

or to become popular or earn money.

cont..
3. The next section containing seven sentences
says that
Iqbal was a poet, a philosopher, a learned
man and a political leader but more than
anything else, he was a true Muslim.
4. The remaining part of the passage makes it
clear that
Iqbal wrote poetry to (a) call upon the
Muslims to wake up and win freedom, (b)
state the great truths of philosophy, history
and religion

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Making the First Draft
 Letus read the passage once more to
make sure that nothing important has
been ignored. We have summed up all
the essential ideas. Let us then write
our first draft using the hints we have
jotted above.
cont.
 Iqbal was one of the greatest poet of all
times. He did not write poetry to please
himself or others or to become popular or
wealthy. He was not only a poet but also a
philosopher and political leader. He loved
God and His Prophet. He wrote poetry to
awaken the Muslims from sleep and inspire
them to win freedom. He wrote poetry to
state great truths of history, philosophy and
religion.

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Making the Final Draft

 Let us read trough the first draft and see that

we have not repeated any idea. Let us also
the words we have used in our draft.
It contains some ninety words. The origional
passages has approximately 180 words. It
means that we have to condense our first
draft
Cont…
 The précis should contain not more than 60
words. We also have to make sure that our
précis is not just a collection of sentences but
a readable complete paragraph. Keeping
these things in view, let us write the final
draft.

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The purpose of Iqbal’s Poetry
 Iqbal one of the greatest poets of all
times, was also a philosopher and
politician but above all things he was a
true Muslim. He did not wrote for
pleasure, fame or wealth. He wrote
poetry to state the permanent truths
of history, philosophy and religion,
and to inspire the Muslims to win their
freedom.
 Underline:

Underline and mark the important ideas

and essential points from the original
text.
 Activity
Are we masters of our destinies? Who shapes our destiny? It is said that your destiny is in
your right hand. We shape our destiny; we can create our own luck. Researchers suggest tha
luck is a triumph of nurture over nature. People’s personalities influence how they are
treated by fate. It is often seen that some people cope with all sorts of adversities and sail
through problems and unhappy situations while others are shattered emotionally and
physically in similar circumstances.
Psychologists believe that when confronted by a major problem, people fall into two types;
internalists and externalists. The first type people analyze, act and learn from the outcome ,
they see a connection between them and whatever happen to them. On the other hand
externalists believe that they have no control over their fate. By doing so they let life wash
over them. If they fall over they just blame bad luck instead of trying to work out why they
fell over and how to prevent if from happening again.
This becomes a vicious circle. The willingness of externalists to see the unseen hand of fate
in everything make them liable to mere bad fortune. They see themselves as unlucky, remain
as introvert and are convinced from the start that they will fail. They are more likely to drift
into either a passive existence or less desirable kind of life. The internalists on the other
hand, take matter into their hands and tend to become high achievers . They make their own
luck by taking more chances and meeting more people who might help them. They tend to
be optimists , extroverts and risk takers. No wonder, lady luck pursues such people. (278
words)

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 FINAL DRAFT
 OUR DESTINY
We make our destiny. Our personalities determine
how we del with problems in life. Some people can
cope with hardships better than others. Psychologists
categorize people into internalists and externalists.
The internalists learn something by analyzing the
problem at hand. They know the relation between it
and the outcome. Externalists don’t think so as they
blame their bad luck for everything . They slip into a
vicious circle of pessimism . Taking control of difficult
situations, high achiever make themselves lucky. (80
words)

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Own Words
A précis should be written in your own words.
Objective Approach
A précis writer should adopt an objective approach. We 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 write all the ideas in one paragraph.
CONCLUSION
1 Understand the given passage well

2 Mark or underline the points or ideas

.

3 Prepare a rough draft in own words

avoiding every superfluity

4 Give only the views of the author

5 Use only different form of speech,

third person and past tense

6 Be careful of the opening sentence

of your precis it is important
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7 Mark the central idea in each paragraph

8 Your precise should be simple ,concise ,clear and

a coherent narrative.

9 Revise your draft keeping in view the above

points do not for get to give a suitable title to the
precise

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IMPORTANT POINTS
 1.Some kinds of ants have been living in
societies for millions of years.
 2.They live disciplined life.
 3.Society of “social” ants consists of various

groups.
 4.one group protects the community , the other

gathers the food , still another cares for the

young.
 5. Each group is capable of doing one kind of

work which it has to do in all kind of

circumstances.

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A NY
Q U ES T I O N