Making a Précis

This activity guides students on how to distill a text into 100-200-word précis or summary.  This is a helpful skill for preparing a passage response analysis.

1. Read the text several times.
2. Underline key sentences in the reading.  Identify key points of the text by making notes in the margins.
3. Make an outline of the text.  This can identify the main idea of each paragraph; it may also acknowledge the relationships between the ideas and paragraphs as the writing develops.
4. Summarize each paragraph of the text into one sentence.
5. Combine your sentences to form a paragraph.  Add transition words and phrases. Combine sentences when needed or appropriate.
6. Revise your paragraph to ensure it:
   • restates key points from the original piece of writing.
   • retains the same tone as the original piece of writing (especially for non-literary texts).

---

Credits

Adapted from: Precis.  Monmouth University, 2011

Photo by Ann H from Pexels