Too Long? Over the Word Limit? How to Tighten Your Writing

Ravi didn’t think much about word limits when he started answering a graduate school admissions questionnaire. His response to each of the three questions was supposed to be a mini-essay of 250 words or less. But after he finished, Ravi was surprised to find that each response was at least one hundred words over the word limit.

“For the last question, I’d gone almost 300 words over the limit,” said Ravi. “So it was more than twice as long as it was supposed to be!”

Now Ravi is faced with a new problem. How does he trim it down?

At TextRanch, trimming down essays, personal statements, cover letters, and other types of writing is a regular part of our work. So if you were assigned a 400-word essay and you’ve written 550 words, or if your one-page business plan is two and a half pages long, keep reading. We’ll show you some tips and tricks for cutting words, phrases, and even whole sentences without cutting substance.

1. Eliminate unnecessary words and phrases

Look over your text. Have you used any phrases like “each and every”, “past history”, “in order to”, “make use of”, and “future plans”? These can usually be reduced to one word. Next, check for filler words such as “really”, “very”, “actually”, and “basically”. You can probably take those out, too.

The best place to find unnecessary words and phrases is in long, winding sentences. There’s almost always something you can remove!

Instead of this: Due to the fact that I wanted to gain more hands-on experience with children, I started volunteering at a daycare center.

Try this: To gain more experience with children, I volunteered at a daycare center.

2. Delete repeated ideas

One of the easiest ways to reduce your word count is to look for places where you’re making the same point or giving the same information more than once. This often happens in personal statements and cover letters, where applicants want to emphasize their strengths. Instead of repeating the same idea in different words, choose the strongest version and cut the rest.

When Ravi looked over his questionnaire responses, he found that he had mentioned his experience as a math tutor three times. “Once was enough,” he said. “So I took out the other two.”

3. Use bullet points

Let’s say you’re writing a pamphlet and you need to fit a lot of information into a small space. You also want your pamphlet to be visually pleasing. Here’s how bullet points can help:

• You can state information plainly.
• There aren’t any transitions, filler words, etc.
• You don’t need complete sentences.
• They’re easy to see/read.

Note: Bullet points aren’t appropriate for all contexts. For job applications or school admissions, if you’re also sending a resume, CV, transcripts, or similar documents, your cover letter or personal statement should consist mostly of full, complete sentences.

 

4. Focus on your main message

If you have a lot to say about your topic, it’s easy to go off on a tangent and include side stories or irrelevant details. Ask yourself: “Does this sentence support my main point?” If not, delete it.

In Ravi’s case, in one of his essays he described every leadership role he’d had from middle school through college. He now realizes it’s better to focus on his more recent leadership roles that are connected to his career goals. “I don’t think anyone at graduate school is going to care that I was the class treasurer in grade eight,” said Ravi. “But they will want to hear about the coding bootcamp I led the summer before I graduated from college.”

5. Don’t over-explain technical terms

If you’re using jargon or technical concepts, you might feel as if you need to explain them to your readers. This is usually a good idea. However, if your whole audience works in your field (e.g., you are all software engineers), you might be able to skip the explanations altogether.

Instead of this: I taught myself the computer programming languages JavaScript and Python.

Try this: I taught myself JavaScript and Python.

6. Rethink the assignment or task

If your professor has assigned you a 5-page essay and you have written 11 pages, you’re obviously doing too much. You have either misunderstood the assignment or you are overestimating what your professor expects from you. It’s time to step back and think about what exactly you’re supposed to do—and not do.

Similarly, if the graduate school admissions department had wanted Ravi and his fellow applicants to write lengthy responses to their questions, then they would have given them a higher word count. But since they only asked for 250 words per question, then that means they don’t want long, detailed answers.

Are you still struggling to trim down a text that’s too long? Sometimes a fresh set of eyes can help. An outside reader can quickly spot places where you’re repeating yourself, using filler, providing irrelevant details, or over-explaining.

At TextRanch, our expert editors can help you tighten your writing while keeping your message clear and powerful. Just click the blue button below to go to our home page and click “Document Editing”.