Students often contact us close to their submission date in a panic. One of their greatest concerns is an over long thesis, dissertation or capstone project. Our advice and guidance always revolve around the ‘three knows’. Knowing what, why and how to reduce word count.
Knowing what
What should you know before you reduce word count? Regardless of the level of qualification – bachelors/undergraduate, graduate school/postgraduate or doctoral – you must keep within the permitted word count. If you stray outside of the authorised parameters, marks could be deducted. Depending on your institution’s requirements, your word count may be an absolute limit (such as, 15,000 words) or a limit with relative restrictions (such as, 15,000 words +/- 10%). It could also be a target with minimum and maximum thresholds (such as, ideally 15,000 words but not falling short of 13,500 words and not exceeding 16,000 words). It is worth finding out what is to be included in, and excluded from, your word count. For example, in business, humanities and social science research, references and appendices tend to be omitted.
Despite word count boundaries, rookie researchers are likely to write long and loose, when they need to write terse and tight. This is understandable. You invested significant time and energy into your research. Every article, paper and textbook you read was so interesting. You found your results and findings fascinating. Quite simply, you enjoyed every stage of your research journey. So, now you want to share everything you came across and learned. Unfortunately, this is not a feasible option, as scholarship values tight writing.
Knowing why
Why should you reduce word count? Apart from the necessity of complying with the rules, reducing a lengthy piece of academic work improves conciseness. This is an indispensable skill of scholarly endeavour. Your research will be more compelling and persuasive as a result.
Your examiners will also appreciate your efforts. Demonstrating to them that you have mastered the art of concise composition is a win-win. Dr. Geraldine Freely, a seasoned examiner, sums up the benefits of brevity. “Two styles of writing do not do students justice when they are completing their research. First, doing a brain dump of everything. Second, over explaining every single sentence. As an experienced examiner, I believe transforming your study into a succinct piece of academic work can be the difference between engaging your examiners or losing their attention.”
Knowing how
How should you reduce word count? We propose nine writing habits to help you prune your word count (the ‘9R’s’):
- Remember goal – concentrate on content that addresses your research statement, problem and purpose, and adds further depth and insight to your disciplinary area.
- Remove irrelevance – purge extraneous and superfluous, and verbose and pompous, words (like ‘extraneous and superfluous, and verbose and pompous’!).
- Remain active – compose your sentences with the active, not passive, voice (such as, ‘Geraldine observes …’, rather than ‘the observation from Geraldine was …’).
- Reduce duplication – refrain from repeating the same words and phrases (possibly the expression ‘reduce word count’ in this blog!)
- Replace keywords – vary keywords and phrases by using appropriate synonyms (that is, replacements) and antonyms (that is, opposites).
- Reject adverbs – avoid excessive reliance on words that are qualifiers (such as, really and very) and those ending in ‘ly’ (such as, rigorously and robustly).
- Repeat triads – explain things in lists of three to aid reader understanding (such as, three bullet points, three categories, three sequences, three steps).
- Recite aloud – verbalise what you have written to identify passages that could conceivably be complicated for readers to read (and revise accordingly!).
- Retain rhythm – maintain a taut tempo with short sentences (up to 25 words) and paragraphs (using 3-4 sentences and approximately three lines of text).
In this blog, we discussed knowing what, why and how to reduce word count. We hope this knowledge will help you conform to your college conventions, communicate with conciseness and convey your content with clarity. And so we end with a convenient list of three advantages!