Concise

Being concise is to write exactly what you have to, avoiding redundancy. Do not waffle, do not be
evasive. In formal writing it is a sign of a good writing style to write as few words as possible to get to
the point. It is one of the reasons why instructors impose word limits on written assignments.

It is recommended to apply the following techniques to reduce overflow of unnecessary words in a

paper:

- Make your points straight away: “Firstly, ...”, “Secondly…”, “Finally…”

- Replace phrases with single words: “Smith(2006) agreed, but considered the fact that some managers
preferred to have longer, all-day meetings.” instead of “Smith (2006) also believed this to be true, but
took into consideration the fact that some managers also preferred to have long meetings that took all
day”

Avoiding words with the same meaning: “Records” instead of “past records”, "Separate” instead of
"separate out”, “In retrospect” instead of “looking back in retrospect”.

Omit unnecessary words: “lowering the rope” instead of “lowering the rope down”, “measuring the job”
instead of “measuring up the job”, “because” instead of “due to the fact that”.

Avoid saying the same thing twice: “The farmer sheared the sheep and removed all their wool” could
simply be replaced with “The farmer sheared the sheep”
Avoid clumsy sentences with extra words that detract from the point: “There are several of the soldiers,
each with their guns and ammunition, who gathered at the gates of the camp before dawn.” A better
way would be to say: “Several of the soldiers, each with their own guns and ammunition, gathered at
the camp gates before dawn.”