Assignment: Precis 1

The assignment: write a précis, in approximately five double-spaced pages (1250-1500 words), of the first two-thirds of "Reading: An Intertextual Activity," by Robert Scholes. Your precis should cover Scholes's essay through the top of page 28. (This is the segment included on the pdf file, which may be accessed through the syllabus page.)

This is an individual assignment, so you should not collaborate.

How to write a precis

A précis is an abstract or critical summary of a piece of writing. Its purpose is to provide a concise review for later consultation, or to indicate the sense and importance of the original for those who haven't read it. A précis differs from notes in that a précis is a coherent small essay in its own right. Although it is much shorter than the original, it is not a redaction or condensation using the words and order of the original. On the other hand, it is not an interpretation that uses the original primarily as a starting point for creative or adventurous discussion that goes beyond the content and sense of the original.

A précis should summarize the content of the original writing, but selectively and not in the same order as the original. The writer of the précis has taken an overall view of the original to understand its method, main points, and use of evidence. These are then re-presented in a concise but coherent essay. The critical skills of the writer of the précis are applied to analyze the original author's intent and to determine the best way to re-present it: what to emphasize, what to leave out, and how to order the presentation. Very brief quotations may be used when the original's exact words are distinctively important, but for the most part the précis writer represents the original in his or her own words.

Sample Precis:

Lev Manovich, "New Media Field: A Short Institutional History" (first part of "New Media from Borges to HTML")

Lev Manovich defines new media as "computer-based artistic activities." This first part of his essay discusses how, over about ten years in the 1990s, new-media art went from a limited endeavor by a few advanced artists to the mainstream of expression.

Manovich says that new-media art developed faster in Europe and Asia than in the U.S. There were two reasons for this. First, in the U.S. new technology is assimilated so quickly that it becomes a familiar part of our environment and therefore "invisible" as a potential artistic medium. Second, there is very little public support for the arts in the U.S., and the institutions of art (museums and foundations) are conservative: they have continued to emphasize the conception of art as unique works created by individuals, whereas new media art is often collaborative, reproducible in multiple copies, and distributed by networks rather than established institutions.

However, says Manovich, eventually new-media became established in the U.S. (about midway through the 1990s) through educational institutions and a few innovative art centers.