Cut the Fluff: Reducing Wordiness

In my experience as a writing consultant and editor, I've read many documents with wordiness as their number one issue. This is something that most people struggle with—even the most experienced writers and editors. Writing clearly and concisely requires self-awareness and a lot of revising, which proves difficult if you've been working on the same document for a long time. It’s one of the many reasons why even editors need editors. So how can you reduce wordiness in your writing? Here’s three tips to get you started: 

1. Make sure that your topic and thesis/guiding statement are not too broad. Many students make this mistake right at the beginning of their essay preparation, which then becomes the root problem of their wordiness. A general topic is often difficult to narrow down in the research stage (not to mention later on in the essay planning stage). In most forms of writing, a good rule of thumb for choosing a topic is the more detailed, the better.  For example, if you’re writing a paper for a history class on World War 2, don’t choose a broad topic like Nazi Germany; this will lead you down too many research rabbit holes. Instead, choose something like Nazi Germany’s occupation of the Netherlands. This will lead you to sources with a narrower scope, which will help you to create a concise and argumentative thesis without spending too much time on the research phase of your assignment.

2. Avoid the use of unnecessary or redundant words and phrases. Most students are familiar with this scenario: the deadline for your paper is drawing near, but you just can’t find enough to say on your chosen topic. You may have done the research and planned out your arguments, but the essay is just not coming together as you intended. To reach the word count, you’re tempted to add fluff: when one word will do, you choose a long-winded phrase instead; you start repeating the same words or use synonyms to make the repetition less obvious; and the list goes on.  Including unnecessary or redundant words may lengthen your paper, but they add no value or meaning to your writing. This can be done consciously or unconsciously, but either way, these invasive words must go. For example, phrases like “as a matter of fact,” “that is to say,” or “there is no doubt that” are unnecessary. As for redundancy, writers can accidentally “double up terms,” meaning that two synonyms are used in close proximity to each other. For example, “The produce must be washed and cleaned thoroughly.” Since washed and cleaned are synonyms, only one of these verbs belong in this sentence. 

3. Make precise word choices.  One of the keys to making precise word choices is to avoid using unfamiliar words—that is, unfamiliar to you and to your audience. Of course, it’s good to expand your vocabulary and integrate new words into your writing, but it’s best to do this sparingly and to use a dictionary to confirm their exact usage. Depending on the context, you may also need to define any new words.  On the other hand, some writers are too easily satisfied with vague word choices, especially when it comes to verbs. For example, get, do, and say can often be replaced with more precise verbs. Instead of said, try murmured, grumbled, or inquired. Avoid the temptation to dumb down your writing for a younger or inexperienced audience. Instead, aim to express your ideas clearly by using vivid words that appeal to the five senses. Ultimately, the goal of good writing is not to sound impressive but to be a thoughtful caretaker of words—to make each word count towards forming a sentence that is easy to comprehend and enjoyable to read.   

---

Resources for further study: 

1. Recommended for aspiring writers, The Elements of Style is a classic guidebook that was originally written by Professor William Strunk Jr. in 1918 as a handout on the basics of grammar for his students. Published in 1920, it was then expanded in 1959 by the American children’s author E. B. White (best known for Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little). Easy to read and comprehend, it’s been a staple for many educators over the past 100 years for teaching students to write clearly and effectively. Most recently, it was updated in 2018 by Richard De A’Morelli. 

2. The plain language movement, dedicated to making legal documents comprehensible to the average person, has produced some very helpful guidelines to writing in a clear and concise manner. The U.S. government even passed a law regarding plain language in 2010; there is now an official government website on this topic. The following page has some particularly helpful writing tips that can be applied to reducing wordiness: https://www.plainlanguage.gov/guidelines/. 

3. Here’s 12 excellent tips and examples from Queen’s University on eliminating wordiness: https://sass.queensu.ca/onlineresource/topics/eliminating-wordiness/.