precis writing
Precis Writing
Friday, jan16, 2014
"[O]rganization of ideas, logical sequencing of points, clear and meaningful expression, [and the] use of language suitable to the situation are essential for writing précis effectively. The writer of précis must be able to identify the essential ideas in a given passage and separate them from nonessential ideas. But at the same time a précis is not a [type of] creative writing, inasmuch as it is merely a condensed restatement of the original writer's ideas, points, etc."
(Aruna Koneru, Professional Communication. Tata McGraw-Hill, 2008)
Sample Precis: Aristotle on the Character of Those in the Prime of Life
Original Passage (199 words)
"It is evident that those in the prime of life will be between the young and the old in character, subtracting the excess of either, and neither exceedingly confident (rashness is such) nor too fearful but having the right amount of both, neither trusting nor distrusting everybody but rather making realistic judgments and not directing their lives only to what is fine or what is advantageous but to both and neither to frugality nor to extravagance but to what is fitting. Similarly in regard to impulse and desire. And they combine prudence with courage and courage with prudence, while among the young and the old these things are separated; for the young are brave and lack self-restraint, the older prudent and cowardly. To speak in general terms, whatever advantages youth and old age have separately, [those in their prime] combine, and whatever the former have to excess or in deficiency, the latter have in due measure and in a fitting way. The body is in its prime from the age of thirty to thirty-five, the mind about age forty-nine. Let this much be said about the kinds of character of youth and old age and the prime of life."
(Aristotle, Rhetoric, Book Two, Chapter 14. Translated by George A. Kennedy, Aristotle, On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse. Oxford University Press, 1991)
Friday, jan16, 2014
"[O]rganization of ideas, logical sequencing of points, clear and meaningful expression, [and the] use of language suitable to the situation are essential for writing précis effectively. The writer of précis must be able to identify the essential ideas in a given passage and separate them from nonessential ideas. But at the same time a précis is not a [type of] creative writing, inasmuch as it is merely a condensed restatement of the original writer's ideas, points, etc."
(Aruna Koneru, Professional Communication. Tata McGraw-Hill, 2008)
Sample Precis: Aristotle on the Character of Those in the Prime of Life
Original Passage (199 words)
"It is evident that those in the prime of life will be between the young and the old in character, subtracting the excess of either, and neither exceedingly confident (rashness is such) nor too fearful but having the right amount of both, neither trusting nor distrusting everybody but rather making realistic judgments and not directing their lives only to what is fine or what is advantageous but to both and neither to frugality nor to extravagance but to what is fitting. Similarly in regard to impulse and desire. And they combine prudence with courage and courage with prudence, while among the young and the old these things are separated; for the young are brave and lack self-restraint, the older prudent and cowardly. To speak in general terms, whatever advantages youth and old age have separately, [those in their prime] combine, and whatever the former have to excess or in deficiency, the latter have in due measure and in a fitting way. The body is in its prime from the age of thirty to thirty-five, the mind about age forty-nine. Let this much be said about the kinds of character of youth and old age and the prime of life."
(Aristotle, Rhetoric, Book Two, Chapter 14. Translated by George A. Kennedy, Aristotle, On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse. Oxford University Press, 1991)