If you don’t know what we are going to talk about, let’s answer the following question first. So, what is a precis? To cut a long story short, it is a short version of speech or a piece of writing that points out the principal ideas or arguments. In other words, a precis is a summary of a written work, like a book or article, that describes original points, support, and structure.
However, it is necessary to say that a precis is not precisely a summary. The main difference is that a summary briefly represents what the original text is about, whereas a rhetorical precis describes both content and method used in the original text. So, a precis shows what a text says and does. It may seem difficult to start coping with this type of work at first, but as soon as you understand its structure and what should be done, you’ll be able to cope with it fast enough.
How to Write a Precis Step by Step: General Tips
In case you want to handle a rhetorical precis without problems, it will be great to read these hints before starting doing it. There are several approaches to writing such writing assignments, but they can hardly be totally complete. You’ll see here a mix of best practices and methods to make your rhetorical precis well-structured and consistent.
Start With Reading the Original Text
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to get by without reading as the whole assignment requires it. This process may be the longest one depending on the text length. This step includes several substeps:
- look the text through to divide it into sections;
- use headings/subheadings or paragraphs to divide the text effortlessly;
- read the text;
- look up unknown words.
You should be ready to read the text a couple of times to make sure that you totally understand what key takeaways an author tries to deliver as you will need them later.
Provide a Text With Notes
It’s crucial to make notes while reading as it will help you solve a puzzle in the end. You’ll get all pieces of the text and unite them into one summary. If you are good at visualization, highlight important phrases. You may also make notes in the margins to be sure that important arguments are clearly explained to yourself.
Rephrase the Main Theses
How to do a precis without rephrasing? The problem is that you should restate all marked points by utilizing your own words if you don’t want to be accused of plagiarism. It’s important to admit that some texts may not have comprehensible theses, and that’s why you should take a closer look at the original text to understand what a writer intended to deliver.
Specify the Author’s Key Purpose
It’s time to finalize the main idea that goes through the whole text. You have to answer several questions in order to do so:
- Does the text try to spur you into action?
- If so, what do you feel about that action?
- Does the author want you to think or consider something?
- What are your feelings related to the subject?
- What message does the author try to deliver?
- Is there anything that the writer wants to prove?
- How is it related to the author’s main goal?
A solid problem may occur when the author’s purpose is unclear. Some texts have an implicit message, and the above-mentioned questions can help find it as well as realize what the main purpose is. If you feel that it’s too complicated to understand, you can turn to reviews related to the text and find some hints there.
Summarize Your Annotations
While preparing to write a precis, it’s vital to absorb the key points of every part of the read text. It doesn’t really matter how you divided the text. Nevertheless, it is better to use chapters, headings, subheadings, or mere paragraphs to separate every part and summarize it. Naturally, a novel and an article will be differently divided into pieces. Take into consideration the following:
- the length of the text;
- its complexity;
- include the main point of every part into your summary;
- fully explain the main point in order not to turn to the text again;
- write 1-2 sentences for every divided part.
Draw Comparisons
It’s important to clearly understand that you shouldn’t express your opinion in a rhetorical manner. That’s why it’s necessary to compare your summary with the theses of the text to make sure you understand and deliver all information properly. So, look through the text again and draw an analogy between it and your summary so that no distortions appear.
The Structure of a Rhetorical Precis
After reading tips on how to write a good precis and start your work duly, let’s have a look at the outline. Please don’t forget that the main aim is to summarize the essence of the text, and the outline really assists in coping with it. Let’s divide the whole outline into four questions.
- Who and what?
- How?
- Why?
- To whom?
All these questions describe the main parts that should be included in a precis. The overall structure claims that every question correlates with one sentence. Thus, a rhetorical precis has four sentences.
Sentence 1: Who and What?
This part explains basic data:
- the author’s name (may contain a short phrase that describes the writer);
- the title and type of the text;
- a rhetorically active verb;
- the word ‘that’ and a clause including the main assertion or thesis of the text.
Additional information about the author can be added in case it’s required for better comprehension of a precis. The date goes after the title and is enclosed in parentheses.
Sentence 2: How?
The main idea of this part is to understand how the author develops and supports their thesis:
- rhetorical methods utilized by the author;
- the presentation of a chronological order used in the original text.
Think over strategies the author uses in the text. How does it happen? Probably, the author tries to:
- provide a context;
- illustrate;
- create a narrative;
- compare and contrast;
- define;
- cite;
- give several arguments, etc.
Sentence 3: Why?
Why does the author do so? What is the main intention? What does the writer want to achieve? All these questions will help you realize the key reason, and if you draft your summary beforehand and use our tips while reading the original text, it is not a problem for you to define. Two main points should be there:
- the assertion of what a purpose is;
- the words ‘in order to’ and the demonstration of that purpose.
Sentence 4: To Whom?
This question has something to do with the audience, and the answer must explain what kind of readers the text is focused on. Thus:
- you need to name the intended audience;
- give the determination of the relationship the author establishes with readers.
Obviously, the writer doesn’t show their intended audience directly. That’s why it’s crucial to read through the original text and reveal:
- jargon;
- background of the writer;
- what references are used.
Such things will help answer properly and finalize your rhetorical precis. Please take a glance at rhetorically active verbs because you will need them to do your assignment duly. The main idea of these verbs lies in making your text more precise and powerful. Furthermore, they help avoid hoary cliches and overused verbs like ‘say, state, write,’ or passive constructions.
The full list of such verbs is available on the Internet, and it won’t take long to find them. You can also easily find words that must be omitted and replaced when dealing with writing to make your precis even better.
How Long Should a Precis Be and What to Do Next?
The common practice of writing a precis shows that the length of this type of work should be from one-sixth to one-fourth of the original text. In case you have to work on an article, the precis should be approximately 100-200 words. As a result, you can expand your precis and add more arguments. All of them will look like Sentence 2, and you just need to enclose every argument in a separate paragraph. Please, make sure that it is required by your professor as this is quite a rare case.
There are also several things you shouldn’t do when writing a rhetorical precis:
- don’t mention irrelevant information;
- don’t copy sentences from the original text;
- don’t use the first person when writing (I or we);
- don’t include your opinion;
- don’t mislead by providing wrong facts and data;
- don’t quote the original text;
- don’t make your precis more confusing.
Please mark that it is not an essay or some sort of rewriting. You are aimed at providing the essence of the text and explaining its significance.
Finalizing Your Rhetorical Precis
After completing the work, you have to be sure that it’s a good one and you will get an excellent grade. For this reason, it’s is necessary to finish it by doing the following:
- read the whole work;
- notice places where improvements are needed;
- make revisions;
- remove irrelevant or redundant words;
- compare your precis and the original text one more time;
- finish with proofreading.
As you see, you should start the work beforehand as a lot of things should be done, ranging from reading the original to looking for grammar mistakes. If you can ask someone to read both your rhetorical precis and the original work, it is better to do this and get to know the verdict. If you feel that something is unclear, it would be better to ask your professor and get detailed explanations. Moreover, make sure you know everything about formatting the paper and the requirements related to it.