Writing Skills

1. PRECIS
NAVLEEN MULTANI

2. PRECIS
 French word
 Precise
 Abstract
 Brief
 Gist of a passage
 Essential information
 Sum up

3. Precis
 Condensation
 Compression
 Concision
 Precision
 Synopsis
 Accurate Summation
 One-third of original passage

4. USES OF PRECIS
 An exercise in reading
 Comprehension
 Expression
 Effective writing
 Analytical ability
 Academic skills
 Great value in practical/professional life

5. CHARACTERISTICS
 Unity
 Clarity
 Concise
 Coherence
 Correctness
 Objectivity
 Precision

6. PROCEDURE
 Read the given passage carefully
 Read sentence by sentence, word by word
 Re-read
 Select important details
 Organise essential information in logical and
coherent manner
 Supply title – word or phrase that sums up main
subject of the passage
 Key sentence contains main idea – it could be at
the beginning or the end of the given passage

7. WRITING
 Jot down important points
 Rough draft
 Initial draft must be improved – Re-read for clarity
and comprehension
 Prune the inessential – illustrations, examples,
embellishments, unnecessary details
 Extract maximum information in minimum number
of words; reduce to one-third
 Use your own words, avoid using words from
original passage

8. IMPORTANT POINTS
 Avoid redundancy
 Avoid using phrases, quotes and sentences from
original passage
 No room for circumlocutions, personal opinion,
colloquial expressions
 Change figures of speech to literal expressions
 Select appropriate words
 Create context, remodel ideas, order of ideas can be
changed
 Coherence ; precis should not be a patchwork of
phrases
 Correctness – Grammar, Punctuation, Spellings

9. REMEMBER
 Original meaning of passage should not be
distorted
 Indirect Narration, third person, tense
consistency
 Precis should be lucid; give clarity to reader
 Connected whole
 Revise, edit and proofread the rough draft
 3 Ps for good Precis : Plan, Patience, Practice

10. THANK YOU