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Writing concisely: A short guide

A guide to help you get your point across succinctly.

Last minute panic!

You have two days before you submit the essay and you are 1753 words over limit. What is your strategy?

Last minute cuts

You have two choices. cut small slivers throughout your essay or cut a large chunk. Clearly, your decision depends on time available to you and marking criteria.

You may be able to solve the problem by cutting some of your longer quotations and giving references instead. This will depend to some extent on the conventions of your subject discipline.

If you cut a large chunk,make sure it is largely redundant material you are cutting. There is no point simply throwing away marks. When you've made the big cuts, check the final product against your assignment's marking criteria - have you continued to hit all your criteria, despite your cuts?

If you have to cut thin slivers throughout the essay, make sure that you keep the continuity of the arguments. Ths continuity-checking can be quite time-consuming in itself.

There are more hints and tips in our Short Guide to Working Within Word Limits

Final three tips

1. Expand your vocabulary so that you can choose your words more precisely. Aim to use the appropriate terminology in your discipline.

2. Cut out any words that are imprecise, or not completely necessary.

3. Think about the clearest way to express the points you want to make. Avoid trying to sound impressive or "academic", just aim to be accurate.

Conclusion on writing concisely

You really can improve the flow of sentences and paragraphs by paying attention to the words that you use, the sentence structures, the punctuation, and by being rigorous about editing. It is a process and it does take time. Set aside a few days in which to do it.

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