Precis Writing PDF

Precis Writing The name itself indicates the nature - precise It extracts only the main points and expresses them as clearly and in as few words as possible. Precis is just a straightforward statement of the bare facts without any unnecessary trimmings. A precis has two main aims: (1) to...

Precis Writing The name itself indicates the nature - precise It extracts only the main points and expresses them as clearly and in as few words as possible. Precis is just a straightforward statement of the bare facts without any unnecessary trimmings. A precis has two main aims: (1) to reproduce the overarching ideas in a text, identifying the general concepts that run through the entire piece, and (2) to express these overarching ideas using precise, specific language. What is to be excluded is more important to identify than what is to be included  Methods of Precis writing It is not only of long passages that it is possible to make a precis; For example, the sentence “ He is always recklessly spending more money than he can afford” means, in essence, no more than “ He is extravagant.” A clause, too, may often be condensed into a phrase : thus “ when the first rays of the sun were beginning to dispel the darkness ” is equivalent to “ at dawn.” Even a phrase may be expressed in fewer words—perhaps in one word : “in the near future ” is the same as “ soon.” Similarly, a compound sentence can often be condensed by the conversion of its two clauses into one : “I was robbed of all my money ; and for that reason I was not able to proceed ” becomes- “ Having been robbed of all my money, I could not proceed.”  Methods of Precis writing The fact is that there are always two methods of expressing one’s meaning— a short one, and a longer, more ornamental one. The short one is not necessarily the better, for a writer may have perfectly good reasons for using more words than the bare minimum; but there are occasions when we want to sum up what such a writer has said—that is, to express his meaning in the short form, and to do that is the same thing as to make a pricis of it. Thus, we see that the precis is merely an alternative method of expression. When a man writes, “ He suffers from an inability to tell the truth,” he is simply using a more polished way of stating, “ He is a liar,” and the latter sentence may be called a precis of the former.  Methods of Precis writing The first essential, then, in making a precis is to understand the original passage clearly. When that is done, it is possible to begin the task of stating the meaning in the shorter form, but any attempt to make a precis before the whole of the original has been thoroughly grasped is bound to fail. Indeed, What is wanted is not a tree that has been trimmed, but a miniature of the tree. Sentence by sentence or clause by clause condensation would be at the cost of unity. A precis is an entirely fresh statement. It need not follow the wording of the original at all.  Example Original - The fact that our army was in every respect a better fighting force than the enemy's, possessing larger numbers, more modern equipment, braver soldiers, and more experienced officers, accounted for the swiftness with which we drove the foe from his position, and won the day. This passage mentions the victory, the swiftness of the victory, and the reason for the victory, and only these points are needed in a precis. The detail that the victory consisted in driving the enemy from his position is unnecessary; further, the original enumerates so many ways in which the one army was superior to the other that it seems roughly true that it was superior in all respects, and therefore the details can be dispensed with.  Example Precis.—Our swift victory was due to the all-round superiority of our army. Original - The amphibia, which is the animal class to which our frogs and toads belong, were the first animals to crawl from the sea and inhabit the earth. Precis - The first animals to leave the sea and live on dry land were the amphibia.  Example Original.—Speech is a great blessing, but it can also be a great curse, for, while it helps us to make our intentions and desires known to our fellows, it can also, if we use it carelessly, make our attitude completely misunderstood. A slip of the tongue, the use of an unusual word, or of an ambiguous word, and so on, may create an enemy where we had hoped to win a friend. Again different classes of people use different vocabularies, and the ordinary speech of an educated man may strike an uneducated listener as showing pride; unwittingly we may use a word which bears a different meaning to our listener from what it does to men of our own class. Thus speech is not a gift to use lightly without thought, but one which demands careful handling: only a fool will express himself alike to all kinds and conditions of men.  Example Precis—Speech is a valuable gift, but, if we are to make ourselves understood, we must use it carefully, since we may distort our meaning not only by the careless use of words, but by ignoring the fact that words do not always mean the same thing to different people.  Stages of Precis Writing For longer articles, divide it in sections and then write a sentence or two to cover each Do not exclude the idea that may misrepresent author’s central contention Minor details and specific examples can be removed Avoid writing opinions or personal response  Stages of Precis Writing To write a good precis, it is important to thoroughly understand the material you are working with. Here are some preliminary steps in writing a summary. Skim the text, noting in your mind the subheadings/dividing it into sections Re-read the article. Underline important ideas. Circle key terms. Find the main point of the article Divide the article into sections or stages of thought, and label each section or stage of thought in the margins. Note the main idea of each paragraph if the article is short. Write brief summaries of each stage of thought or if appropriate each paragraph. Use a separate piece of paper for this step. This should be a brief outline of the article.  Stages of Precis Writing Write your rough draft of the precis. Combine the information from the foregoing steps into paragraphs. Make sure that you are faithful to the meaning of the source and that you have accurately represented the main ideas. Edit your version. Be concise. Eliminate needless words and repetitions. Compare your version to the original.  Examples When our childhood has fallen behind us and taken on some of the glamour of distance, we often ransack our memories in order to call up to our mind's eye the picture of the children we were. Then we are surprised to discover how little we remember of our earliest days; they have gone for ever and seemingly have left nothing behind them. All is lost in haze, and no definite image rewards our efforts to recapture the incidents of infancy. Some, however, can recall more than others : one man may remember something that happened when he was only a child of two, while another may find his memory blank—a clean sheet of paper as far as anything is concerned which befell him before he was five. Yet perhaps, as regards things generally, the memory of the latter may be stronger than that of the former : it is only in regard to his early childhood that the first man's memory is stronger. To account for these variations is not easy; there are so many factors to be taken into account. Nature and circumstances have to be  Example considered. One man may be markedly introspective, unconsciously looking into himself from his earliest days ; another may have had an accident which could not fail to impress itself on his memory. Again, one man may remember earlier events because his memory is a visual one, while another looks not so far back because his memory is more of the mind and a child's mind is of slower development than his sight.  Examples The general theme of the above passage can be expressed in the title, “Our memory of our childhood,” and there are three leading ideas, each embodied in a separate paragraph : (1) We remember little of our earliest days ; (2) The memory of some extends farther back than that of others; (3) Variations in our memory of childhood are due to our nature and early circumstances. Precis- When, in later years, we look back to our earliest days, we find that we remember very little. The memories of some, however, go back farther than those of others, although it is not necessarily the strongest memories that do so; it is the nature of a man, and his early circumstances, that determine the extent of his memory.  General Principles of Precis Writing The general principles to be borne in mind in all precis work may be summed up under the headings – Selection Perspective Order Conciseness Clearness Smoothness Unity  Selection The matter has to be thoroughly understood before beginning the selection. On the second reading, underline the chief words or sentences. On the third reading, ask for each sentence that is not underlined – “Is it true that this adds nothing essential? Is it necessary for the argument? Is the whole clear without it? ” Nothing irrelevant or unessential must be retained. Example - “The instinct of expansion is one of the most vital instincts in man. It is an essential factor in his development, and is, indeed, as important to man as light is to the vegetable kingdom.”  Selection Now the simile which compares the importance of the instinct to that of light is an illustrative one : it emphasises the idea and makes it clearer. But the comparison is not absolutely necessary : we have been told that the instinct is vital and essential, and the addition or omission of the comparison makes no difference. Therefore in the precis it will have no place. In fact, it is a general rule in this process of selection that comparisons, particular examples, and illustrative similes are to be omitted.  Perspective Ex - Unemployment arises from a variety of causes. One which is always recurring, and of the effects of which we have had a recent example, is the disorganisation of industry resulting from a long war this is a serious problem admitting of no easy solution at the best of times. Again, there is the unemployment which follows a marked diminution in the quantity of any raw product, such as cotton : fewer hands are required in the mills and factories. We may call this cause “ bad harvests.” Similar, but more serious, is the effect of changes in industry due to the invention of machinery which does more work and requires fewer workers. And yet another serious cause is a strike or lock-out ; and this is the more to be deplored because such a stoppage sometimes is due to a very trivial matter—perhaps the fact that men are working half-an-hour longer than the regulations of their union permit.  Perspective Supposed Precis —Outstanding causes of unemployment are the disorganisation of industry by war, the falling off in the supply of raw materials, and the invention of labour-saving machinery. Another important cause is the dislocation due to industrial disputes, and this sometimes arises from so trivial a point as half-an-hour’s over-time. Analysis- The writer of this precis has grasped the essentials, but, by separating the fourth cause of unemployment from the other three, and by including the unnecessary detail about over-time, he has given it an undue prominence—that is, he has lost his sense of perspective. The original simply expounds four causes, and none of them is stressed more than the others ; moreover, as the precis has rightly omitted the details in the first three causes, it must omit that in the last.  Perspective Ex - Unemployment arises from a variety of causes. One which is always recurring, and of the effects of which we have had a recent example, is the disorganisation of industry resulting from a long war this is a serious problem admitting of no easy solution at the best of times. Again, there is the unemployment which follows a marked diminution in the quantity of any raw product, such as cotton : fewer hands are required in the mills and factories. We may call this cause “ bad harvests.” Similar, but more serious, is the effect of changes in industry due to the invention of machinery which does more work and requires fewer workers. And yet another serious cause is a strike or lock-out ; and this is the more to be deplored because such a stoppage sometimes is due to a very trivial matter—perhaps the fact that men are working half-an-hour longer than the regulations of their union permit.  Perspective Precis.—Four leading causes of unemployment are the disorganisation of industry by war, the falling off in the supply of raw materials, the invention of labour-saving machinery, and the dislocation due to industrial disputes.  Order, Conciseness, Clarity, Smoothness A precis must also possess order: it must present a clear, unbroken sequence of ideas, a kind of logical ladder, rung after rung. To say “ he walked and got up” is obviously absurd, but when one is dealing with several ideas, one may become more liable to make a slip. Conciseness, a quality which hardly needs emphasis, since it is the essential characteristic of a precis. Failure to be clear is often a confession of failure to understand the original Too often, in the desire to save words, the writer of a precis produces a jerky succession of sentences, in the right order, perhaps, and containing the gist of the matter, but jerky and leaving little gaps where connections should be.  Smoothness, and Unity It means that the parts do not fit neatly together, and thus the effect of the whole is spoilt. Finally, a precis must possess unity. The precis must be an organic whole, not a mere sum of its various parts. Its parts must not only be the right parts ; they must not only be well joined ; they must not only be efficient parts (i.e., clear and concise) ; they must be knit together indivisibly. The body is made up of various members—legs, arms, and so on —but, without the spirit of life to animate them, they are useless; it is life which makes them function as a living whole. Similarly, unity is the really vital quality of a precis, and without it the precis remains incomplete, a mass of words not yet fused into a living thought.  Practice While these things were going on in the open air, an elderly gentleman of scientific attainments was seated in his library, two or three houses off, writing a philosophical treatise, and ever and anon moistening his clay and his labours with a glass of claret from a venerable-looking bottle which stood by his side. In the agonies of composition, the elderly gentleman looked sometimes at the carpet, sometimes at the ceiling, and sometimes at the wall; and when neither carpet, ceiling, nor wall, afforded the requisite degree of inspiration, he looked out of the window. In one of these pauses of invention, the scientific gentlemen was gazing abstractedly on the thick darkness outside, when he was very much surprised by observing a most brilliant light glide through the air, at a short distance above the ground, and almost instantaneously vanish. After a short time the phenomenon was repeated, not once or twice, but several times : at last the scientific gentleman, laying down his pen, began to consider to what natural causes these appearances were to be assigned.  Practice They were not meteors; they were too low. They were not glowworms; they were too high. They were not will-o'-the-wisps; they were not fire-flies; they were not fire-works. What could they be? Some extraordinary and wonderful phenomenon of nature, which no philosopher had ever seen before; something which it had been reserved for him alone to discover, and which he should immortalise his name by chronicling for the benefit of posterity. Full of this idea, the scientific gentleman seized his pen again, and committed to paper sundry notes of these unparalleled appearances, with the date, day, hour, minute, and precise second at which they were visible : all of which were to form the data of a voluminous treatise of great research and deep learning, which should astonish all the atmospherical sages that ever drew breath in any part of the civilised globe.  Practice He threw himself back in his easy chair, wrapped in contemplations of his future greatness. The mysterious light appeared more brilliantly than before : dancing, to all appearance, up and down the lane, crossing from side to side, and moving in an orbit as eccentric as comets themselves. The scientific gentleman was a bachelor. He had no wife to call in and astonish, so he rang the bell for his servant. “Pruffle,” said the scientific gentleman, “ there is something very extraordinary in the air to-night. Did you see that ? ” said the scientific gentleman, pointing out of the window, as the light again became visible.  Practice Comments.—A minor point which we may notice first is that the passage shows a trace of being part of a longer narrative—the gentleman’s house is “ two or three houses off ” somewhere. That, however, is immaterial to the precis. To include this reference to the wider tale would only be to detract from the unity of the particular episode, and the reference is, therefore, to be omitted. Now if we proceed to mark the key words we shall underline in the first paragraph elderly gentleman of scientific attainments library, philosophical treatise, clay, claret, agonies of composition, looked sometimes, looked out of the window. These give us the central figure and his occupation. Possibly the pipe and the claret could be omitted, but as they add something to the nature of the man their inclusion is justifiable. We do not want, however, to know exactly where he looked, except that at last he looked out of the window : it is sufficient to say that he was looking about.  Practice In the second paragraph we shall underline thick darkness outside, brilliant light vanish, several times, what natural causes. Here we see that outside refers to window in the preceding paragraph, and we shall therefore link these ideas. Again vanish and brilliant light can clearly be combined : it is a brilliant flash which the scientific gentleman sees. In the third paragraph we shall underline What could they be ? Some extraordinary and wonderful phenomenon of nature, immortalise his name by chronicling, sundry notes, precise second. The opening details we can pass by, because it is sufficient to realise that he was thinking of the cause. Again, What could they be ? is a repetition of what natural causes in the preceding paragraph : the one idea will be enough in the precis. Nor do we need to mark anything after precise second, because the idea of the famous treatise has already been hinted at in immortalise his name by chronicling.  Practice In the next paragraph only more brilliantly, and eccentric call for underlining. Finally, we underline servant and Did you see that ? and we have all we need. It remains to re-express the matter in a smooth narrative, linking it up, and avoiding redundancy and expressions which, for pr6cis, are verbose. For instance, we must not keep the first phrase we underlined because gentleman of scientific attainments is, for the purpose of precis, merely a scientific gentleman: to retain the original phrase would be to offend against the rule of conciseness.  Precis Precis.—An elderly scientific gentleman sat in his library composing a philosophical treatise with the help of his pipe and some claret. Finding his task difficult, he glanced about, and once, when he looked out of the window, he was surprised to see a light moving hither and thither. He began to think that it must be some rare phenomenon of nature, and, believing himself about to make a great scientific discovery, he noted the exact time. Then, the light becoming brighter and its movements more erratic, the gentleman called his servant, and pointed the light out to him.