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How To Write A Précis
How To Write A Précis
How To Write A Précis
DDW Corp (2021). How to Write a Précis, which will Impress Everyone? Accessed on July 8, 2021
from https://assignmentpay.com/how-to-write-precis/
Every future student hopes that college life is pure fun and entertainment with a few assignments
from time to time. However, that delusion ends, when scholars face reality and have to complete tens
of various tasks with a tight schedule.
While some students are dedicated to their studies, others simply want to enjoy youth and all the
benefits of free life. Unfortunately, students can’t miss deadlines, as it may result in low grades and
even influence degree.
When you need to write a submission paper, précis is surely one of the most difficult assignments.
Not every student knows what this task is about, so we have collected all the necessary information to
explain how to write a precis, how it should be completed and what basic features you should know.
Continue reading and get all the useful tips, thoroughly collected by the best writers and experts
in the field!
What is a précis?
So what is a précis? It is a concise summary of a speech, book, article or any other text. As you
already see, this term is of a French origin and means ‘precise’ or ‘brief’. It is a short synopsis of a
publication, whether it is an article, a dissertation or any other text. Any time you sum up ideas of a
literary work, you can call it a précis.
However, it is not paraphrasing, as you don’t have to mention all the discussed issues of the text.
Your précis should explain the main idea of the text and to follow a certain structure. This is what makes
precis writing difficult to students, who lack experience and are not familiar with the most important
writing instruments.
Knowing it you will be able to format your précis properly and avoid the most common mistakes.
Remember, this task is not a critical analysis, so you don’t need to examine all the ideas and content
of the text. You also don’t need to write what you think about the matter.
Cover only key features and points of the source text. Make it brief, precise and always stick to
the main point. That is the best way to define precis and keeping it in mind you will surely have no
worries with the assignment!
Precis is not a:
• Simple plan of the original text, which lacks its understanding;
• Short abstract without any background details;
• List of the most interesting phrases and quotes without any analysis;
• Enumeration of irrelevant facts.
Précis Qualities
Through precis writing you can show the teacher how good your writing skills are and how easy you
can present your thoughts to the reader. To achieve such a goal make sure your work matches the
following criteria:
• Accuracy. Your text should be correct and contain no grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes. In
addition, all the provided dates, facts and figures should be correct and reliable;
• Clearness. You need to make sure that the reader understands what you are trying to say. It can be
achieved by simple words and phrases, accepted structure and general requirements;
• Remain objective. You shouldn’t provide your personal opinion on the source text and stick to facts and
initial data;
• Remain logical. When writing your précis, don’t forget to build logical connections with the initial text
and its ideas. Otherwise the reader may lose interest to your work;
• Conciseness. Don’t add unnecessary information to your assignment. Include main facts, remaining
brief. Wordiness, repetitions and wordy language should be avoided.
Précis Structure
Any written assignment has structure requirements, which you need to follow in order to explain the
text clearly. This also concerns your précis, so even if it is short and consists of a single page, you need
to meet all the guidelines.
A regular précis consists of the following elements:
• Introduction to give basic information about the source text;
• Body paragraphs, which render your main ideas and goals;
• Conclusion to sum up everything you wanted to discuss.
As you see, précis structure is very common and is similar to all of the papers and essays you have to face.
However, it has its own peculiarities, which you should keep in mind.
Precis Introduction
Your introduction should be only one sentence long and contain such information, as:
• Author’s name;
• Title of the source;
• Date of publication;
• Power verbs to explain thesis of the author, including ‘proves’, ‘argues’, etc.;
• The thesis.
Many professional writers suggest placing a hook at the beginning of your précis and only then a thesis
restatement. However, others think that this type of writing doesn’t require a hook. That is why it is
better to ask your professor for specific requirements on the format.
Body
Every paragraph of your précis should explain a certain section of the source text, giving information
on author’s ideas, purpose and evidence. You need to remain objective, analyzing author’s opinion on
the matter without providing your own thoughts.
Here you can use quotes from the text but always remain brief and appropriate.
Body sample
In his article ‘Reading is no longer popular’ (2002), Henry Smith proves that Americans read
more than ever, although common opinion is completely different. Especially this statement
concerns all sorts of ‘high culture’ literature. Smith supports his ideas on modern reading with
statistics and facts, which make a comparison of reading practices now and in the past. He also
challenges modern assumptions by questioning value of reading. His goal is to prove that
reading remains popular and to remind how important it is for our culture.
He has a very modern and lively approach, as he tries to reach teenagers and encourage them
to devote more time to reading.
Conclusion
Your précis’ conclusion should be a restatement of the main goals and ideas of the source text. You
need to summarize all the arguments you have provided and never forget to avoid subjective opinions
and judgments. ---#---
2nd sentence:
This supports the author’s thesis in chronological order. Ideally, you are supposed to highlight how the
author develops his argument by pointing out to the fundamental concepts involved.
3rd sentence:
At this point, you are free to explain the author’s motive. However, this statement should be informed
by a thorough review of the work in context and not by personal opinions and reactions.
4th sentence:
This covers a description of the intended audience while taking into consideration the relationship the
author has or seeks to build with this target audience. For instance, does he try to inform, reprimand,
critique or entertain the audience?
Precis Example
In his article “The Fixation of Belief” (1877), Charles Peirce argues that human beings have inborn
mechanisms, both social and psychological primarily designed to fix and protect their beliefs. He then
backs up these claims by describing four methods of fixing belief while pointing out to the strengths
and weaknesses of either. Through this article, Peirce purposes to enlighten his readers on the different
methods most people use when establishing a belief in order to provoke their thoughts into considering
how their belief system stems from either of three methods as well as the progressiveness of “the
method of science” in comparison to the other three. Considering the technicality of the language
Peirce uses on the article, this piece targets the well-educated class of audience, especially individuals
with a background in history or philosophy and willing to learn and possibly adopt other methods of
thinking.
II. Body and Outline. Studying Gender as A Social Fact. (This should contain all the summarized content
of your presentations from the beginning up to the end)
➢ Main Idea According to textbooks, excerpts and articles
➢ Supporting Details According to textbooks, excerpts and articles.
➢ Actually this part is your outline format (bones) that you presented in the PowerPoint for others
who did their part in their presentations (but for some who did not, enrich first your
presentations with the substance of your references) but you have to give concise and
definite explanations (flesh) to your outline format (see sample passages and precis). In other
words, just give concise explanations, and not just copy-paste.
Textbooks
Excerpts
Articles
NOTE: FOR THIS ACTIVITY use, font Century Gothic, font size 11 in a long sized (8.5 x 13) in a 1”x1” margin
and saved as into pdf format