What to cut, in order
Editors work top-down, and so should you.
Biggest savings first
Each level down recovers fewer words for more effort. Most people start at the bottom of this table.
| Level | What to look for | Typical saving |
|---|---|---|
| Sections and paragraphs | Background nobody needs, points made twice | Large |
| Sentences | Signposting, restating the previous sentence | Moderate |
| Phrases | Wordy constructions, redundant pairs | Moderate |
| Words | Intensifiers and filler adverbs | Small |
Phrases that can always go
These carry no information. Search for them directly.
| Wordy | Concise |
|---|---|
| due to the fact that | because |
| in order to | to |
| a large number of | many |
| it is important to note that | (delete) |
| has the ability to | can |
| at this point in time | now |
| conduct an investigation into | investigate |
| the results that were obtained | the results |
Turn nouns back into verbs
"We carried out an analysis of the data" is eight words. "We analyzed the data" is four. Academic prose is full of verbs disguised as nouns, usually ending in -tion, -ment or -ance, and each one drags extra words along with it.
The active voice is usually shorter as well: "the survey was completed by 200 students" against "200 students completed the survey".
Move it, don't lose it
Detail that matters but doesn't fit can often go in a table, an appendix or supplementary material, which many limits exclude. A table can replace a paragraph of numbers in a fraction of the words.
Check the rules first: some courses count tables and penalize appendices used to dodge the limit.
How strict is the limit?
For journals, funders and online forms, treat it as absolute. Universities often allow a margin, commonly 10%, but not always, and penalties for exceeding it vary. Read the assignment brief instead of assuming.