PRÉCIS Template - Lecture notes 5 PDF

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Notes on how to summarize an article...

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PRÉCIS TEMPLATE Model for Précis One of the most helpful ways to get a handle on difficult readings is to write a précis. A précis (pronounced pray-see) is a short, to-the-point “summing-up” of the salient points an author makes in a text. There is a difference between a text’s facts (or information) and the strategy the author uses to present those facts. A précis is designed to reflect the relationship between these two parts of an essay: it is not just a set of notes “about” the essay, but an attempt to understand the total structure of a text. A précis has three sections: (1) a restatement of the author’s focus and thesis; (2) an outline of the argument the author makes to support his thesis; and (3) an evaluation of the author’s conclusions and their implications (i.e., your reactions: what you find helpful or unhelpful, or problems or issues raised by the writer). A précis should be no more than one, single-spaced, typed page. 1. Focus and Thesis In the first section, briefly state the focus and thesis of the article. (If there is more than one thesis, choose the thesis that you consider most significant.) Write a concise statement (1-2 sentences) explaining what they are. For example: “The essay addresses how the psychology of individuals relates to their social behavior” (this is the focus). “The author claims that psychology and social behavior mutually determine one another” (this is the thesis). Or: “The text presents nineteenth century reactions to Manet’s painting Olympia in the Salon of 1863 in a historical context” (focus). “The author argues that the scandal caused by Olympia stemmed from its challenge to conventional expectations about the artistic treatment of the nude in fine art” (thesis). 2. Argument or Logic – (usually the longest part) In the second section, trace in schematic form how the author attempts to prove this thesis. This analysis of the argument should show the author’s thinking, and it should avoid the author’s digressions or asides. This amounts to a statement about the text’s logic and goal. Start by writing a sentence describing the logic of the argument. For example, “By examining the sources of _______, the author shows the consequences of _______.” Or: “In order to _______, the text compares the ________ and ________ of social behaviors.” Ask yourself, how does the author strategically use the information she presents? Follow this with an enumeration of the important steps made by the author to prove her point. 3. Implications In the third section, state your critical reactions to the essay, including what you perceive to be brilliance, flaws, contributions, or errors on the writer’s part. This should be a statement about the implications of the information presented and the argument within which that information was conveyed to you, the reader. This is not another description of the information or the argument; rather, it is an analysis of the total significance of the text. Good questions to ask yourself at this point are: What is the text good for, especially as seen from the outside? In setting up the text in this way, what is being asserted, or hidden, or brushed aside? What is ordinary or surprising about the correlations the author makes?

Suggestion: A good way to begin is to read over the article completely in one sitting, underlining as you go whatever stands out to you as important. Look specifically for a thesis (which might not appear at the very beginning of the essay) and underline it. Note any important examples the author uses to illustrate her points, and likewise note any suggestive conclusions the author makes. Take a break. Then go over the article again, re-reading what you underlined. Reviewing what you underlined should ideally give you a sense of the total structure of the essay. You should try to grasp the overall point, and not get hung up on extraneous or unimportant details. Try to be concise and succinct in your analysis; your explanation of the author’s argument may even take the form of a bullet-point list. Adapted from a handout by Prof. Michael Schreyach...