Original: During the course of the study, the majority of cells died in response to treatment with the drug. Look for needless words you can delete and lengthy phrases you can shorten. Trim Wordy PhrasesĬlear out the clutter in your writing.

Revised: We studied whether using the drug would help improve health. Original: We investigated whether utilizing the drug would facilitate improvements in health. Instead of investigate, facilitate, or utilize, simply use study, help, or use. Resist the temptation to use long words where short ones will do. Revised: The treatment lasted for four days, and the drug improved the health of patients. Original: The entire treatment lasted for four days, and the drug greatly improved the health of patients. Omit unnecessary adverbs and adjectives to make your writing stronger and more concise.

Most adverbs and adjectives weaken strong verbs and nouns, which weaken the power of your writing. Remove Adverbs and AdjectivesĪdverbs modify verbs, and adjectives modify nouns. Revised: We found cells expressing the mutated protein migrated across the barrier faster than wild-type cells. Original: We found that cells that express the mutated protein migrate across the barrier faster than wild-type cells. Similarly, the word “that” is often overused in writing and can be deleted with ease. Revised: The clarity of your writing depends on both content and style. Original: The clarity of your writing depends on both the content and the style. You can often omit the word “the” from your text without losing any meaning. Here are a few simple tricks you can use to quickly tighten your text and meet the limit. When you have little time to spare, small changes to your text can add up to the space you need.

But good writing is a craft that cannot be mastered within a short window before a deadline. Writing simply is the key to clear and concise content. This process can be even more stressful when you’re under pressure to meet a deadline just hours away. One of the most agonizing parts of academic writing is cutting down your hard-won draft to meet a page, word, or character limit.

Words cut off in word comment