The below are some of the rules/guidelines for precis writing:
1. Read the given passage and understand it thoroughly.
2. Underline all the essential ideas in the passage.
3. Find out the central idea of the passage and use it as title of the passage. Title should not be a sentence in the passage.
4. Write out a rough draft what you have underlined the essential ideas.
5. Observe the following principles while writing précis writing:
· Your précis must comprise only one paragraph. Though there are any numbers of paragraphs.
· Your précis must be one-third of the given passage.
· Your précis must be free from errors of grammars, spelling, usage, etc.
· You must write your précis in your own English. i.e don’t repeat the same sentence from the passage in the summary.
· The summary or précis of a passage has to be expressed in the fewest and clearest words possible. In a summary you should mention only important points and leave out all unnecessary details.
· Do not add any new idea to summary.
· Don’t use your own opinion/views about the passage.
· The most important thing is your précis should be able to convey the ideas expressed in the original passage.
