Precis Writing: the Method
Chapter Seventy-Seven
Syllabus topic 4.1.3, "Precis writing"
Pages 364 to 367 of 406
In one line
A precis is the substance of a passage rewritten in about a third of its length, in your own words, in your own order of nothing, keeping every essential idea and no example, and given a title.
In the wording a student can write in an examination: a precis is a brief, clear and complete summary of a passage, reduced to roughly one third of the original, expressed in the writer's own words and in the third person and past tense, containing all the essential ideas of the original and nothing that is not in it.
The five requirements
Every rule of precis writing comes from one of these five.
1. Brevity. About one third of the original. Not a quarter, not a half.
2. Clarity. A reader who has never seen the original must understand the precis by itself.
3. Completeness. Every essential idea survives. Nothing essential may be dropped for the sake of brevity.
4. Faithfulness. Nothing may be added. No comment, no criticism, no illustration of your own, however apt.
5. Unity. A precis is one continuous paragraph in connected prose, not a list of points.
The rules, stated exactly
Length: about one third. Count the original if the paper does not give the count. A tolerance of ten per cent either way is normally accepted, so for a 150-word passage anything from about 45 to 55 words is safe. Write the word count at the end. Examiners look for it.
Your own words. Key technical terms may be kept where no substitute exists, but the sentences must be recast. A precis made by joining the original's sentences with the middles deleted is not a precis.
Third person. "I have often thought" becomes "The writer had often thought". Convert first and second person throughout.
Past tense, ordinarily, since the passage is being reported. Universal truths and permanent facts stay in the present: water boils at 100 degrees, not water boiled.
Indirect speech. Direct speech in the passage becomes reported speech in the precis.
One paragraph. However long the original, the precis is a single paragraph, unless the passage is very long and clearly falls into parts.
No quotation, no rhetorical questions, no exclamations. A rhetorical question becomes the statement it implies. "Can any nation prosper while half its people are illiterate?" becomes "No nation could prosper while half its people were illiterate."
A title. Short, three to six words, capturing the central idea. Marks are given for it separately, so never omit it.
No examples, illustrations, repetitions, similes or digressions. These are the material you cut first.
What to cut, and in what order
Cut in this order and the length comes down without loss.
Precis Writing: the Method
| Cut | Because |
|---|---|
| Examples and illustrations | They prove a point already stated. Keep the point |
| Repetition and restatement in other words | Writers repeat for emphasis. A precis states once |
| Quotations | The idea is what matters, not who said it |
| Adjectives and adverbs of emphasis | "Extremely important" is "important" |
| Figures of speech | Convert the image into the meaning |
| Details and statistics not essential to the argument | Unless the passage is about the figures |
| Digressions and asides | They are outside the argument |
| Wordy phrases | "In view of the fact that" is "because" |
And what may never be cut. The central idea, the steps of the argument, any qualification that changes the meaning, and any conclusion the writer draws.
Compression at the level of the phrase
Half the reduction comes from replacing phrases with words. Learn a few and they will serve for life.
| Wordy | One word |
|---|---|
| In spite of the fact that | Although |
| Owing to the fact that | Because |
| At this point in time | Now |
| In the event that | If |
| A large number of | Many |
| Come to a conclusion | Conclude |
| Give consideration to | Consider |
| Is of the opinion that | Thinks |
| In the near future | Soon |
| With reference to | About |
| Persons who break the law | Lawbreakers |
| A person who writes books | An author |
| One who is unable to read or write | An illiterate |
And the same by using a general term for a list. "Cows, buffaloes, goats and sheep" becomes "livestock". "Tables, chairs, cupboards and beds" becomes "furniture". This is the single most powerful compression device in the examination, and the one candidates use least.
The method, in eight steps
Step 1. Read the passage twice. Once for the sense, once with a pencil.
Step 2. Find the central idea and write it in one sentence at the top of your rough work. Everything else in the precis will hang from it.
Step 3. Mark the essential points. Underline the sentence that carries each step of the argument. Cross out examples, repetition and illustration as you go.
Step 4. Count the original, and divide by three. Write the target number down: this is your length.
Step 5. Write the rough draft from your marked points, not from the passage. This is the step that makes it your own words. If you write with your eye on the original you will copy it.
Step 6. Count the draft, and adjust. If it is too long, cut examples and compress phrases. If it is too short, you have dropped something essential: go back and find it.
Step 7. Give the title. Take it from the central idea sentence you wrote in step 2.
Step 8. Write the fair copy, and put the word count at the end, in brackets.
Precis Writing: the Method
Precis of a passage of dialogue or a speech
Occasionally the passage is a speech or contains conversation. Two extra rules.
Convert to indirect speech throughout, with the reporting verb changing as sense requires: said, replied, urged, warned, admitted.
Name the speaker once and then use pronouns. "The speaker urged that..." then "He added that...".
Why a lawyer is taught this
Not as an ornament. Three professional reasons, worth a sentence in an essay question.
The head note. Every reported judgment is preceded by a head note, which is a precis of the judgment made by a law reporter.
The brief. A junior's first task in chambers is to reduce a file of two hundred pages to two pages a senior can read before a hearing.
The pleading and the affidavit. Both require facts stated in numbered paragraphs without argument or ornament, which is precis discipline applied to drafting.
And a fourth, from this course. MU's own course objectives name precis beside letters and reports, so the paper treats it as a professional skill and not a school exercise.
What loses marks
Copying sentences from the passage. The commonest fault and the most heavily penalised.
Wrong length. Half the original, or a quarter.
No title. Marks allotted to the title are simply forfeited.
No word count. Some examiners deduct for it; all of them notice.
Adding your own comment. "This is a very true observation" belongs in an essay.
First person left in. "I believe" instead of "The writer believed".
Notes instead of prose. A precis in bullet points is not a precis.
Dropping the conclusion. Candidates run out of length and stop, losing the very thing the passage was written to say.
A worked answer
Question shape. "Make a precis of the following passage and give a suitable title." Six marks.
How the six marks are usually distributed. Title, one. Length within tolerance, one. All essential ideas present, two. Own words and grammatical prose, one. Third person, past tense and unity, one. Which tells you where to spend your effort: the two marks for content are the largest single block, so completeness matters more than elegance.
The timing. Fifteen minutes for a 150-word passage. Four minutes reading and marking, six minutes drafting, three minutes counting and correcting, two minutes on the fair copy.
And the discipline that decides it. Write the draft from your marked points with the passage turned face down. Everything else follows.
Quick revision
Definition: a brief, clear and complete summary in your own words, about one third of the original, keeping every essential idea and adding nothing.
Five requirements: brevity, clarity, completeness, faithfulness, unity.
Rules: one third with ten per cent tolerance; own words; third person; past tense, except universal truths; indirect speech; one paragraph; no quotations or rhetorical questions; a title; a word count.
Precis Writing: the Method
Cut in order: examples, repetition, quotations, emphatic adjectives, figures of speech, inessential detail, digressions, wordy phrases.
Compress by phrase-to-word substitution and by using a general term for a list.
Eight steps: read twice, find the central idea, mark the essentials, count and divide by three, draft from the marks, adjust, title, fair copy with the count.
Test yourself
1. What is a precis, in one sentence? A brief, clear and complete summary of a passage, about one third of its length, written in the summariser's own words and ordinarily in the third person and the past tense, containing all the essential ideas of the original and nothing that is not in it.
2. Give the five requirements of a good precis. Brevity, about a third of the original; clarity, so that it stands alone; completeness, so that no essential idea is lost; faithfulness, so that nothing is added; and unity, since it is one connected paragraph and not a list.
3. In what order should material be cut? Examples and illustrations first, then repetition and restatement, then quotations, then emphatic adjectives and adverbs, then figures of speech, then inessential detail and statistics, then digressions, and finally wordy phrases compressed into single words.
4. How are tense and person handled? The precis is written in the third person, so first and second person are converted, and ordinarily in the past tense because the passage is being reported, except that universal truths and permanent facts remain in the present. Direct speech becomes indirect.
5. Why is precis writing taught to law students in particular? Because the skill is used professionally: the head note of a reported judgment is a precis of it, a junior's first work in chambers is reducing a large file to a short brief, and pleadings and affidavits require facts stated compactly without argument or ornament.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.