The Definition and Main Points of Precis

You’re present in the lesson and daydream, and all of a sudden you hear the educator giving home tasks. It is writing of your precis. Then you have challenges with writing your precis, and the deadline is nearing. Relax and heave a sigh of relief as below you can find valuable hints on how to deliver your assignment powerfully. Let’s start with the definition of precis.

The word “precis” originates from the French term “précis”, and means “as precise, definite, up to the point, clear”. Its definition concerns a summary of any writing paper (a book, an essay, or an article). What is common for this unique kind of task is the representation of the central features and thoughts given in the provided document. There is no need to provide a wide and analytical review in precis. Nevertheless, it should accurately define the situation described in any writing text.

Acknowledging that precis is a variety of summary, it should usually avoid re-writing of the primary source. Accordingly, precis writing constantly includes critical study and analysis. A strong precis possesses the next points:

  • Precis is formulated by an author’s personal expressions, words, and attitude.
  • An author shouldn’t just repeat sentences of primary source – he or she requires to summarize and paraphrase them in a precis. Every sentence of your precis needs to be exceptional as it is your writing assignment.
  • Precis needs to be reasonably ordered, with all sections of it being united together.
  • An author can’t utilize the first-person pronouns (I, we) because precis always needs to be written in the third person.
  • Precis under no circumstances should include any extra data or items not specified in the primary source even if it maintains the principal opinion of the writer.

Differences Between Summary & Precis

As it was previously stated, precis primarily means a text summary. Still, in fact, there’s a distinct difference between the two notions. A summary is a short narrative that briefly includes the principal features of a certain document. At the same time precis should possess a title and contain 1/3 of the entire words in the primary source.

Additionally, the summary widely considers the principal cases in general; at the same time, the precis concentrates on all details and widely examines a specific case. For instance, you’ve lately received an assignment to analyze the 3rd scene of the 2nd act of Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”. Which type would you refer this task to – precis or summary? You answer correctly if you picked the second alternative. Thus, a precis can be characterized as a short type of essay or a section in a book, or an act in a play.

Writing Precis Outline

The outline is a basic element of precis writing. It enables you to correctly structure and arrange the stream of thoughts and assists to consistently define the central points of your precis. Here you begin composing the outline, it’s necessary to bring together the listing of potential themes to the principal one. Next, you’ll be required to determine the goal of your outline, which depends on the theme you selected to compose about. For instance, the outline can be composed to inspire, reflect, or familiarize the audience with this or that topic.

A different important action in the process of composing an excellent outline concerns research. Study the material completely, collect required data, for example, citations or facts. Later make notes, and collect all the parts unitedly to begin making an outline, using some data here and there.

When you’re finished with this assignment, start brainstorming. This great method of creating thoughts can assist you in determining that powerful idea that just appears in your brain. You can write down your brainstorm outcomes in the way of casual scribbles or make a mind map to create connections with the thoughts. And if any items don’t suit your precis outline, you can simply delete or skip them. The following section of an outline is devoted to thought organization. If you are concerned about how to structure an article, keep in mind to always represent the info that’ll be covered in the introductory part, as well as in body sections and summing-up.

At the step of concluding, don’t ignore to examine your precise outline repeatedly and include the lacking details if needed. Additionally, proofreading the outline was composing thoughts on the task itself. It means you should review it for misprints, mistakes of any kind, and formatting mistakes.

Start your Precis

For some learners, the period of preparing for a precis is even more difficult than its writing. Various issues are appearing in mind at this period, for example, “Where do I begin from?”, “What shall I prepare firstly?”, “How much time do I require to make my precis?”. The secret of a powerful set-up is a correct consideration of the provided text.

In the beginning, you’ll be required to comprehend the material. And not just to read it fast, still additionally be confident that you completely understand the thought which the writer involved in the text. For this, you’ll likely need to analyze the writing several times. If this is a book, you can view it twice; if it’s a small story– 3-5 times will be sufficient. Additionally, you can record for yourself the definition of unknown expressions if you find any.

While you’re viewing the text, don’t forget to comment on it. This method means stressing and highlighting central info while writing records for yourself. Annotation is useful during the making of precis because it assists in fixating the significant text details and being aware of the material much quicker.

Formatting your Precis

To sum-up the info specified before, let’s determine the common format of a successful precis.

In the introduction sentence:

  • Specify the writer’s name, essay/publication title, year of publishing in brackets, and theme you desire to consider.
  • A rhetorical verb describing the writer’s principal goal (e.g., “affirm,” “dispute,” “reject,” “disprove,” “prove,” deny,” “expound”).

Main body:

  • Compose a sentence that presents an explanation of how the writer expresses and further describes the principal essence of the reading
  • Compose a sentence that includes an affirmation that displays the writer’s goal. Utilize the “step by step” expression to promote this sentence.
  • Compose a sentence with a specification of the supposed readers and the description of the relationship which the writer sets with the audience.


  • Present a finishing remark of 2-3 sentences to shed light on the author’s intended idea for the book or article.
  • Give a 1-sentence restatement of the major claim which the author used to develop their evidence in the reading.

Main Steps of a Precis

Composing precis is hard work in itself, which, as we can comprehend, needs a good amount of time and energy. Aside from this, there are some steps and demands you need to follow to compose a perfect precis and receive the highest grade. Therefore, to make it simpler for you not to get confused in plenty of long processes, let’s understand them for comfortable and easy navigation.

The primary stage of precis is in considering the text. The next one – in structuring your precis. The third stage is devoted to editing and proofreading. Firstly, constantly attempt to discuss with your educator the formatting elements. These can be concrete for a definite precis. Accordingly, the format might depend considerably on the length of the text. For instance, a precis for a brief essay will approximately be 100-200 words long. At the same time, long novels expect a precis that can widen to several sheets.

The additional vindicated practice of good precis composing needs to be connected with the style of writing it. The most common error the learners do is wrong tense utilization. Particularly, the past tense is not a sparse occurrence when it is time to write a precis. Nevertheless, it’s necessary to pick the present tense so that the educator could comprehend your writing easily. Additionally, keep in mind to attribute your proof to the writer, not to the publication or article. For example, you should write “Shakespeare disputes,” rather than “the publication disputes.”

Making a Perfect Precis

A precis is an excellent method to present your writing abilities to educators and confirm your capacity to reflect logically and critically. Also, accomplishing this assignment will enable you to evolve a unique ability to write brief summaries with specific information and text niceties. Therefore, the secret of any strong precis is adhering to the points required to create your precis memorably. Do you want to know what they are? Such points involve accuracy, correctness, objectiveness, coherence, and brevity. Despite all these qualities of an excellent precis that exist in separation, they are interconnected and intended to assist you in resolving potential challenges connected with your precis writing.

If a precis is accurate, it suggests that your audience can completely understand the thought, intent, and goal of the writer’s effort. If your precis is correct, it indicates that it is without grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors and is simple to comprehend. Additionally, it indicates that you’ve utilized all the details, terms, and dates in a way proper to precis assignment.

Objectivity here refers to the neutral view of a publication or essay summary, in which any viewpoint from the first person is eliminated. Coherent precis concerns the logical interconnection of the principal text’s thoughts. This item is necessary as your audience will need to recognize the logical stream of ideas and concepts without dropping their attention while studying your precis. Lastly, brevity signifies the capacity to expound the thoughts precisely while dropping worthless points in your precis. Certainly, you should at no time refrain from facts, still hold yourself apart from long and uncertain phrases, reiterations, and well-known phrases.


The last but not the least action you need to do before delivering your finished assignment is don’t skip to proofread your precis. It is necessary to view and, if needed to improve your writing task. View and be confident that it certainly reveals the principal thought of the writer, the value of the writing or publication, and the purpose of the text. Nature, the voice of the primary source, needs to be stored too. Additionally, examine the structure of your assignment, grammatical details, punctuation.

Shortly speaking, composing a precis is a complicated enough assignment that includes various steps and elements. It may look simple in theory, however as you compose, you’ll see how difficult and taking considerable time this assignment really is. Nevertheless, with the correct degree of preparation and sufficient awareness of how to correctly prepare the task, your precis will be a writing article that your educator will surely keep in mind. So the following time you’ll feel difficulties composing your personal precis, regard this guide and discover how to create a perfect task which both your educator and parents will praise you for.

We attempted to collect and sum just valuable knowledge, and we believe this guide has assisted you to comprehend the notion of precis, the steps of composing a powerful precis. Presently you understand what is precis and can accomplish it.

Still Have Problems with your Precis?

The contemporary academic association has formed demanding rules and regulations, which sometimes can be difficult to deal with. Getting higher education is difficult in the 21st century; there is no learner who would reject this fact. Combining classes, examinations, part-time jobs, social projects, and family life is a trial for any person. That is the reason an option of online assistance is something we advise you to view. There is nothing wrong with asking for assistance instead of confusing yourself with optional assignments that possess no influence on one’s future and do not connect with important programs at educational institutions no matter if it is university or college.

There are many excellent publications and articles that you can be required to write a precis of. Don’t panic if accomplishing on a precis looks complicated; keep in mind: you always possess a good helper near you. You can always ask for help in online writing services. Whatever the complexity of your assignment, transfer your directions to the expert organization of authors. With their assistance, you possess the possibility to get a great finished assignment and get the highest grade.

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