UNITED NATIONS LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAMME
LEARNING SERVICE, OHRM
SUMMARY AND PRÉCIS WRITING
Course Code: E4W5/1
Duration:
This course meets for two hours a week for six weeks. (Please check posted
schedules for dates and time.)
Description:
This six-week course is designed to focus intensively on summary and précis
writing. At the United Nations, a “summary” refers to a condensed version of
a written text; a précis refers to a condensed version of a spoken text.
Generally, summaries and précis are about one-third the length of the original
text. The writer must therefore be able to identify the major ideas in a text
and then rephrase them in his/her own words. These skills are practised
extensively in this six-week course.
Summary/précis writing is a useful skill for everyone, but this course may
particularly interest staff preparing for the G to P examination.
Objectives:
This course will provide participants with the opportunity to:
 Distinguish between the major and minor points in a document
 Identify the thesis, main points and conclusion of a document to be
summarized
 Identify the logic, major points and development of a document to be
reduced to a précis.
Eligibility:
English Programme Level 7+