10 Tricks to Reduce Your Word Count in Academic Writing
One of the most agonizing parts of academic writing is cutting down your hard-won draft to meet a page, word, or character limit. This process can be even more stressful when you’re under pressure to meet a deadline just hours away.
Writing simply is the key to clear and concise content. But good writing is a craft that cannot be mastered within a short window before a deadline.
When you have little time to spare, small changes to your text can add up to the space you need. Here are a few simple tricks you can use to quickly tighten your text and meet the limit.
1. Delete "The"
You can often omit the word “the” from your text without losing any meaning.
Example:
Original: The clarity of your writing depends on both the content and the style. (13 words, 70 characters)
Revised: The clarity of your writing depends on both content and style. (11 words, 62 characters)
2. Erase “That”
Similarly, the word “that” is often overused in writing and can be deleted with ease.
Example:
Original: We found that cells that express the mutated protein migrate across the barrier faster than wild-type cells. (17 words, 108 characters)
Revised: We found cells expressing the mutated protein migrated across the barrier faster than wild-type cells. (15 words, 102 characters)
3. Remove Adverbs and Adjectives
Adverbs modify verbs, and adjectives modify nouns. But good words don’t need modifying.
Most adverbs and adjectives weaken strong verbs and nouns, which weaken the power of your writing. Omit unnecessary adverbs and adjectives to make your writing stronger and more concise.
Example:
Original: The entire treatment lasted for four days, and the drug greatly improved the health of patients. (16 words, 96 characters)
Revised: The treatment lasted for four days, and the drug improved the health of patients. (14 words, 81 characters)
4. Use Shorter Words
Resist the temptation to use long words where short ones will do. Instead of investigate, facilitate, or utilize, simply use study, help, or use.
Example:
Original: We investigated whether utilizing the drug would facilitate improvements in health. (11 words, 83 characters)
Revised: We studied whether using the drug would help improve health. (10 words, 60 characters)
5. Trim Wordy Phrases
Clear out the clutter in your writing. Look for needless words you can delete and lengthy phrases you can shorten.
Example:
Original: During the course of the study, the majority of cells died in response to treatment with the drug. (18 words, 98 characters)
Revised: During the study, most cells died after treatment with the drug. (11 words, 64 characters)
6. Choose Active Voice
Active voice uses less words than passive voice. And active voice makes your writing clearer and more compelling, helping you tell a powerful story.
Example:
Passive: The samples were collected by the researcher. (7 words, 45 characters)
Active: The researcher collected the samples. (5 words, 37 characters)
7. Revise Needless Transitions
Transitions can help maintain the flow of your writing—and make your reader’s job easy. But some transitions (e.g., indeed, then, furthermore) can be deleted with ease.
Example:
Original: Indeed, we discovered that the mutated protein affected heart function. (10 words, 71 characters)
Revised: We discovered that the mutated protein affected heart function. (9 words, 63 characters)
8. Eliminate Conjunctions
Conjunctions (e.g., and, or, but, however) connect two independent statements that can often be rewritten as two separate sentences.
Example:
Original: Patients treated with drug X had no symptoms after 3 days, and patients treated with drug Y had no symptoms after 7 days. (23 words, 121 characters)
Revised: Patients treated with drug X had no symptoms after 3 days. Patients treated with drug Y had no symptoms after 7 days. (22 words, 117 characters)
9. Rewrite Expletive Pronouns
Sometimes writers like to get a head start on a sentence by using phrases with expletive pronouns, such as “there are” and “it is.” These phrases can be rewritten to shorten your text and make your writing more direct and concise.
Example:
Original: It has been reported that the cells migrate faster when treated with the drug. (14 words, 78 characters)
Revised: The cells migrate faster when treated with the drug. (9 words, 52 characters)
10. Target Paragraphs with Widows and Orphans
When dealing with page limits, a great trick to gaining an entire line is attacking paragraphs with “dangling words,” also known as widows or orphans.
A widow is a lone word or short group of words that appears at the bottom of a paragraph, column, or page. An orphan is a similar unwanted word or short group of words that appears at the top of a page.
Look for paragraphs with just a few words at the end and focus on how you can shorten them to gain an extra line of space.
Example:
Bottom Line: Cut the Clutter
One of the greatest challenges in writing is cutting words. But there is a simple rule you can follow: make sure the words you use add meaning. If you can remove words without losing the importance of the statement, delete them.
Are you struggling to condense your text? Download our free guide and cheat sheets to help you meet a word, page, or character limit?
