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ThePrcis(orSummary)
UseofthePrcis Thistechniqueofwritingcanbeusedinseveral areas viz. EssayPreparation Essay Preparation NoteTaking DocumentBasedQuestions ResearchPapers SaidM.HITECU 1

Itwilltakeyousometimetomastertheartofwriting theprcis.Howeverdon'tgiveup;thistechniqueis invaluableasyoupreparetowriteaHistoricalEssay andDocumentBasedQuestions. Definition:Aprecisisaclear,compactlogicalsummary ofapassage.Itpreservesonlytheessentialor importantideasoftheoriginal.Itisakindofshorthand inyourstudyofhistory. Usage:Useoftheprecisincreasesskillsinreadingand inprecisionandeconomyofexpression.The techniquesoftheprecisareapparentinthefollowing: A.Newspaperheadline B.Openingparagraphofnewspaperstory,lecture, notesandlotsmore. SaidM.HITECU

Requirements: 1.Concentrationandalertness 2.Sensitivitytowordmeaningsandtheauthor'sviewpoint. 3.Abilitytodistinguishbetweenmajorandminorpoints. 4.Asenseofproportionandemphasis. STEPSINREADINGAPASSAGEFORTHEPRECIS. (Alsousefulfornotetaking) 1.Readthewholepassageattentively. 2.Begintorecognizetheauthor'stoneandviewpoint. 3.Rereadthepassageseveraltimesifnecessaryforclear comprehension(understanding)ofideas.

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4.Noteanddisregardpartsoftheauthor'sworkthat areintroductory. 5.Underlinekeyphrases,makenotesinthemargin. 6.Observetheemphasisorapproachusedbythe author. 7.Assumetheimportanceofideasthattheauthor developswiththeuseofsupporting factsand examples. examples 8.Donotusethespecificexamples,figuresofspeech orquotationscitedbytheauthor indevelopingyour prcis. 9.Whenyouareselectingideasfromapassage,ask yourselfthe followingquestion: Ifthisideawereomitted,wouldthefundamental SaidM.HITECU 4 meaningofthepassagebechanged?

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WritingthePrecis 1.Trytolimityourprecistonomorethan1/3the lengthoftheoriginalpassage. 2.Useclear,factualexpressions,donotattemptto copythestyleoftheoriginalsource. 3.Donotintroduceideasofyourown.Donotcriticize orchangetheauthor's ideas.THISISNOTTHEFORUM FORTHAT! FOR THAT! 4.Hereisacentralrule: Donotcopyasinglesentencefromthearticle! You mayusekeywordsandphrasesonlywhenyouare expressingideaswhichare technicallypreciseor whenyoufeelcomfortableusingthewriter'sown words,i.e.,youunderstandexactlyheorshemeans, andthereisreallynobetterwaytoexpressthe SaidM.HITECU concept. 5

Guidelinesforwritinganeffectiveprcis Identifythereaderandpurposeoftheprcis Readtheoriginaldocument Underlinethekeyideasandconcepts Writeanoteformsummaryofeachparagraph Writeaprcis p Reviewandedit Exampleofprciswriting

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FORMATOFAPRCIS (TOBEFOLLOWEDINTHEFINALEXAM) SuggestedTitles:(Thinkofthreetitlesandwritethem) 1. 2. 3. RoughDraft:(Writetheimportantpointsfromthegivenpassage) 1. 2. 3. andsoonasmanyasyouthinkareimportant.Whenyouareselectingideas fromapassage,askyourselfthefollowingquestion:Ifthisideawere from a passage ask yourself the following question: If this idea were omitted,wouldthefundamentalmeaningofthepassagebechanged? Title:(Writeonetitleyounowthinkbestsuitsthepassageandunderline it. Lookattheexample givenbelow. Don'twritethesideheading'Title'.Just writethetitle) HowtoWriteaPrcis FairDraft Putthepointswrittenintheroughdraftintoaparagraph.

SaidM.HITECU

AQUICKRECAPOFTHEWRITINGOFAPRCIS. STEP#1 Readthegivenpassageandmakesurethatyou understandit. STEP#2 Thinkofthreepossibletitles STEP#3 Selectthemostimportantpointscontainedinthe article. Underlineorhighlightthosepoints.
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STEP#4 Collectyourkeypointsina roughdraft.Thencheck tosee thatitcontainsthemainideasofthe passage. STEP #5 STEP#5 Checkthedraftforexpression errors,repetitionor vaguephrasing; thenwriteasmootherfinaldraft.

SaidM.HITECU

Exampleofprciswriting Originaldocument Becausetheabilitytocommunicateeffectivelyplays animportantpartinanaccountant'ssuccessonthe job,manyemployersscreenprospective accountantsforadequateskillsinoralandwritten communication.Infact,onestudyshows communication In fact one study shows communicationskillstobethemostimportant factorindecisionstohire.Employersviewtheability towriteandspeakeffectivelyasevenmore importantthanaprospectiveemployee'sacademic results. (66words) 10
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Employersrecognizetheimportanceoforaland writtencommunicationinaccounting,andtherefore prefertohiregraduateswitheffective communicationskills. (21words) Somegeneralrules UseAlwaysindirect&pasttense Presentsimplecanonlybeusedifthepassageis dealingwithuniversalhumanphenomenon Alwaysusethirdpersonpronoun 1st personpronoun(onlywe)canbeusedifthe passageisdealingwithuniversalhuman phenomenon 11
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