This article was originally published at Ideas on Fire on April 26, 2016.
Meeting word or page count requirements in scholarly writing can be difficult. We usually want to say everything! But part of being a professional academic and a good writer is knowing how to edit. Below are several ways we help our editing clients trim down a piece of their writing to make a stronger argument and a clearer text.
Get Rid of the Passive Voice
I know, you’ve heard this a million times. You teach your students about this. But how often do you actually set aside time to clear the passive voice from your own writing? In addition to making your argument clearer, getting rid of passive voice makes your prose shorter and more direct.
Cut an Example or Case Study
Concrete examples/case studies are excellent ways to illustrate your argument. They should definitely be part of your writing. But see if there are some you can cut entirely or at least trim down. Only include the minimum information a reader needs to follow your argument. The rest is just fluff and detracts from your point.
Move Dates to Before Events or Texts
Change “the fire of 1834” to “the 1834 fire,” and “Gloria Anzaldúa’s book Borderlands/La Frontera, published in 1987” to “Gloria Anzaldúa’s 1987 book Borderlands/La Frontera.”
Change Modifying Clauses to Adjectives or Possessives
“The performance by Kerry Washington” becomes “Kerry Washington’s performance” and “the theory that Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan developed, which has become quite influential” becomes “Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan’s influential theory.”
Replace Adjectives and Adverbs with Stronger Nouns and Verbs
Adjectives and adverbs are generally weaker words. A vivid verb captures the feeling of many adjectives and adverbs and uses a fraction of the space (“very slowly and casually walked” versus “sauntered”). Additionally, get rid of “very”—it doesn’t add anything.
Change Your Citation Style
This one is for when you’re really down to the wire and have done all the other things. Some citation styles take up more space than others. Chicago Author-Date, APA, and MLA are shorter than Chicago Notes + Bibliography. Obviously if you are writing an article for a journal or a dissertation for a school with particular style requirements, you have to follow those. But if not, converting your style can save you space.
Use these tips to trim down your writing and make it stronger.
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