How to make a Precis

3. Find sub-headings. Read the passage again and jot down the salient points. If the original consists of paragraphs, find a title for each paragraph; and these titles may serve as sub-headings to your main title. If the original is an un-paragraphed passage you should subdivide it, and set down headings. Thus you will get a skeleton of the ideas contained by the given passage. This is all that is necessary to put on paper before the actual writing of the précis. 4. Read the original again. This reading will give you a correct impression of the relative importance of the ideas in the original. If it does, the skeleton plan must be corrected. If the writer of a passage emphasizes a certain point, you are also required to emphasize that point; and if he has not developed a certain point, you are not required to develop it. You should not give undue importance to any point but you should stick to the sense expressed in the passage. You must make sure that nothing essential has been omitted. In short, your précis must be well-proportioned.