Precis Writing, Purpose, Use, Rules, and Tips

Precis Writing: If you were asked to describe Julius Caesar's play in around 20 lines, how would you do that? What topics and characters you will cover? You will explain such a lengthy play in a summary called Precis Writing, considering the main plot of the story, the main characters, and the main twists and endings. Precis Writing is one of the most common and important literature writing skills that are related to various areas and are significant topics for Bank exams. The term Precis is derived from the Latin word PRAECISUS and the old French word precis, which means abridged, shortened, abrupt, or cut off. The term Precis is pronounced with a silent ‘s’ (Pray to see).

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Table of Content

What is Precis Writing?

Use of Precis Writing

How to write a Precis Writing?

Qualities of a good Precis Writing

Important rules for writing a good Precis Writing

Things to avoid in Precis Writing

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What is Precis Writing?

Precis Writing is writing a summary. It is an exercise of cutting down a long story into short, mentioning the main characters, the plot of the tale, and the conclusion. Precis writing is the essence of any story or passage in as few words as possible. A precis writing should talk about all the significant details of the original paragraph so that people who are reading it remain able to get the idea of the original content or the passage. 

In Precis Writing, you must carefully maintain the main theme of the passage or the story and make its objective survive. You must not exclude the significant topics and the main theme of the story. Understand the passage carefully to conclude what is important in a story passage or an article. You may have to read the passage twice to comprehend the major theme of the passage and write it precisely. Precis Writing needs a very well-built understanding of the passage or the story to present the exact message of the long story in a miniature form.

Use of Precis Writing 

People often want to read the highlights of movies, reports, books, etc. This is one of the places where precis Writing is used. It is used to deliver significant points to the audience without making any transformation in the theme proportion, content, and tone. Precis Writing plays a vital role in the following sectors-

• Precis Writing is used in organizations for meeting highlights, job descriptions, and others.
• Precis Writing is used to explain a chapter so that students get the theme of the chapter and topic.
• Precis Writing is also used while writing a movie story and to describe the plot.
• Precis Writing is used to write research papers, scientific reports, and other important papers.

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How to write a Precis Writing?

Precis Writing needs you to comprehend the theme carefully that will offer the important highlights of the passage or the content. It may sound easy; however, understanding the text and keeping the theme original without making any modifications in the summary needs strong skills and a lot of thinking. Below are the steps that can help you write clear and effective Precis Writing. 

Understand the passage
The first and foremost step of Precis Writing is to understand the passage. You may need to read it twice or thrice to get the original theme of the content. It is also possible that you may miss some points. This is why you should make points while reading the passage to write it precisely later.

Highlight the important text and divide it into segments
Highlighting the text can help you not to miss any important part of the passage. Moreover, diving them into segments can assist in framing effective Precis Writing without mixing the content.

Create a mind map
Before structuring the Precis Writing, you must create a mind map. Make a rough outline of the precis, and then jot your thoughts down. Make sure your outliners help write Precis.

Writing your Precis
While writing a precis, make sure you form short and effective sentences. Your summary should be ¼ of the main passage. The important things you need to keep in mind while writing precis are-

• The content should be written in an indirect form.
• The Precis Writing should be in the third person.
• You should use the appropriate past tense.
• Use a suitable title for your precis to make the content more effective.

Reviewing your Precis Writing
While you are done with Precis Writing, make sure you check it for grammatical errors and other mistakes. Compare it with the original content and check if both compositions depict the same themes and convey an accurate message. 

In the end, write the number of words you have used in the Precis Writing in a bracket.
 

Qualities of good Precis Writing

There are some parameters to judge precis writing. The following are these attributes-

• Well connected
• Suitable title
• Accurate and precis
• Depicting the original theme
• Clear and coherent

Important rules for writing a good Precis Writing 

Now that we have learned what is precis writing and its qualities, let us learn the important rules for writing good Precis Writing-

• Use short sentences
• Sustain the original theme of the content
• Make sure you deliver the exact message
• Make sure that your text is easy to understand
• Avoid cliches and jargon

Things to Avoid in Precis Writing 

Precis writing can be tough because you need to cut down the long passage into a miniature form, that too depicting the exact message and maintaining the original theme. We have discussed the things that must be in precis writing. Now, let us have a look at the points we should avoid for precis writing-

• Do not copy the sentence from the original passage
• Do not explain a lot in a single point
• Do not break the fluency of events 
• Keep the text well connected
• Do not use your interpretation, assumptions, or criticism about the content
• Avoid using abbreviations