You'll see the number of characters and words increase or decrease as you type, delete, and edit them. Over the years, I’ve learned a number of strategies that have become routine for me to reduce the word count in early drafts of manuscripts provided by clients. Just like that, you’ve gone from 28 words to 19! It might occur to you that articles—a and the—account for quite a lot of the words in your manuscript. If you select editing – as a business, author, researcher, or professional – we can try to reduce your document to a specific word count. The fact that 2. Perhaps you could try to reduce word count by looking to see if it is possible maybe to attempt to remove indecision. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Try it for yourself: Her point was that the difference between a useful grammar tip and a very useful one is not clear, so we should just drop the very. Word count reduction depends upon the service you select. Cell Mentor. Email. Over the years, I’ve learned a number of strategies that have become routine for me to reduce the word count in early drafts of manuscripts provided by clients. To recap, you need to: Audit for descriptive (rather than analytical) content. You can often omit the word “the” from your text without losing any meaning. Here are some tried and tested methods to reducing that word-count and hitting that pesky word-limit without letting your writing suffer. There comes a time in every writer’s life when they need to reduce their word count. (14 words). 2. Then on the Insert ribbon click the Quick Parts button. A great way to cut your word count is to simply swap multiple words for one that means the same thing. 1. Grammar, There is never any one correct edit; each sentence holds endless possible revisions. The above-mentioned editing instructor advised that whenever we were tempted to use the v word—… https://bitesizebio.com/23440/five-easy-ways-to-reduce-word-count Spangenberg, B. Overall, cutting helping verbs brings down your word count and pulls double duty by making your sentences clearer and stronger. I realized that I don't need to tell you I was in college at my college. Word Count Reduction. I realize I still haven't answered the question I posed a few paragraphs ago, though: what do you cut? First and foremost. As a result, you can shrink your sentences by making singular words plural when possible. If you would like to learn more about the strategies discussed above, as well as other tricks of the trade, check out the resources listed below. A simple idea can quickly become a bloated sentence filled with pointless words. Then please share with your network. Here are some of the worst offenders: 1. Whenever these words appear in a sentence, you can usually rewrite it to better effect. Style Tips: Avoiding Over-Nominalization. Perhaps one day you'll even find the task of reducing your word count to be an enjoyable challenge! Let’s pretend you are writing a proposal to study the molecular mechanisms underlying maternal-to-child HIV transmission, with an eye towards better prevention methods. Create an input directory in HDFS where you will keep your text file. Very 6. Read your summarized text. She has five young children: one daughter and four sons. Filler words take up space without conveying information. (18 words), During revision, it occurred to me that the phrase a whole lot was taking up three words where I could just use one, and the sentence became, I realized that the word your (twice) didn't add much to the title's meaning. Enquiry. University of Hull. When I was in... 2. When you are happy with the summary, copy and paste the text into a word processor, or text to speech program, or language translation tool After all, how can you add something to reduce word count? If you would like a different summary, repeat Step 2. Here’s a sentence that you might find in the introduction of a research article: It has been reported that the incidence of ovarian cancer is really incre… Here are five helpful hints for communicating your ideas more succinctly, with examples to make the process easier. Nonetheless, I hope these seven tips will allow you, too, to see the possibilities. Expresso is a little tool to edit texts and improve your writing style. When what or there acts as the subject, the sentence can usually be tightened. As I noted in my earlier series on why even scientists should avoid the passive voice, writing in the active voice will often reduce your word count. Some key filter words to be on the lookout for are: really, very, just, began, started, sudden, see, look, hear, wonder, feel and think. Deleting every instance of the alone would reduce the character count by 1,800. Use our service to reduce word count without compromising on manuscript quality . There are other options. Now don’t go overboard. Filler words take up space without conveying information. Follow these 4 steps (in this order) to strategically reduce your word count without losing the “meat” of your assignment/dissertation. Maybe you need to cut whole sentences, you think. Really Let’s practice! Don’t be afraid to … Here’s how you can use this tip to reduce word counts and write concisely: Look out for some of the examples below and shorten them to reduce the word count but maintain clarity (Also do this where you’ve created your own list of descriptive or explanatory words.) Copy the text file you created to /usr/input directory. For example, plasma levels of lipids could become lipid plasma levels, evaluation of eQTLs could become eQTL evaluation, and resistance to insulin could become insulin resistance. In MapReduce word count example, we find out the frequency of each word. The average length of an English word is just over five letters. does it feel perfect but it’s a little high in word count? In fact, major journals such as Nature and Science actually prefer the active voice! (11 words), Revised: Some regulatory factors can be passed between cells. Here are some trouble spots to keep an eye on: While repeating essential information several times for emphasis can be helpful when done judiciously, too much repetition just bores the reader. “They trounced the opposing team.” They are lurking throughout scientific writing, and once you learn to recognize them, deleting these useless words is an easy way to free up space. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(519224, 'b44756b8-cef9-4898-9adb-c8b1022bc8ec', {}); Those are great considerations—a good rule of thumb is that cutting about a third from the early draft of any piece of writing is likely to improve it. Often, when we feel we have not communicated something well, we add extra words, hoping to clarify our ideas. For example; ‘in order to’ can simply be ‘to’, or ‘now and then’ to ‘occasionally’. That single exercise taught me to look for more concise language in creative ways, and I always enjoy the challenge of tightening my own or others' writing. Singular words often need an article (e.g., “the” or “a”) in front of them whereas plural words often don’t. Word Count Reduction. We’ve gone from 13 words to seven, and the sentence is now much easier to read! Or . If somehow such a manuscript made it to production, your copyeditor would just have to add all those articles back in, and then you'd be right back where you started from. In fact, almost every sentence contains at least one and often several of them. Are there any of those you don't need? Kerry is the Senior Managing Editor for AJHG and Immunity. Cutting filter words will not only have a huge impact on your word count, it will also improve the quality of your prose. 3. Broadly speaking, content can fall into one of two categories – descriptive or analytical. Try joining sentences you think could be joined. Words such as very and really can hog up that precious word-count and take the spot of a word that is more important. (I, for one, would appreciate it.) Kerry Evans (14 words). Instead of saying that something improved, for example, you might refer to an improvement. 3. So, everything is represented in … In my experience, journals and reviewers are generally unsympathetic to using the justification of sufficiently addressing reviewers’ comments for exceeding the maximum word count. Here's another example from an earlier version of this post. Grammarly Reduce Word Count Every person, consisting of specialist writers, makes errors in their writing. Cutting filter words will not only have a huge impact on your word count, it will also improve the quality of your prose. Actually, paragraphs are even longer. Paradoxically, this makes matters even worse; our ideas are now just hidden behind a bunch of excess verbiage. The instructor projected a paragraph on the white board and challenged us all to reduce the word count as much as possible—without removing a single bit of content. But when the instructor revealed the professionally revised paragraph, none of us had come close to achieving comparable results. However, a love of editing and a job offer from Cell Press snagged her in 2000, and she hasn’t looked back since—at least not much and not recently. Prepositions often indicate a place where writing could be tightened. Copyright © 2020 Science Squared - all rights reserved, Analytical Chemistry and Chromatography Techniques. A very easy way to reduce the word count, particularly in the abstract, is to remove the spaces between numbers and mathematical operators such as =, <, >, etc. Desist! These are my seven tips to reduce the word count of your academic writing. Wrapping up. Sound familiar? Dec 1210 Tricks to Reduce Your Word Count in Academic Writing 1. Filed to Example – (Reduce function in Word Count) Work Flow of the Program Workflow of MapReduce consists of 5 steps: Splitting – The splitting parameter can be … So there is how you can reduce word count: 1. MapReduce Word Count Example. While “beat” is accurate in this case, it’s not the perfect verb because they not only beat the team, they beat the team by a lot. How to reduce word count without reducing content 1. I can, however, offer a good example from the original title of this blog post: How to reduce your word count without reducing your content. Even if your word count is fine, most writers would benefit from tightening up their manuscripts before submission. She graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with degrees in journalism and biology and intended to enter scientific journalism. If you are a scientist, chances are that you have spent plenty of time struggling to reduce the word count of various documents. Your essays will thank you. To do this, place your cursor on the spot where you want to display the word count. Avoid using "empty" words like "perhaps," "maybe," "possibly," and "try to" that only take up space and don't contribute much value to the prose. Have you included information necessary to interpret a figure in the body of the manuscript, as well as in the figure legend? It will teach you to express yourself through writing more efficiently and help make … Learn how your comment data is processed. Some tricks to reduce word count in academic writing Reduce word count by simplifying your style. For instance, if whatever follows of is more than one word, we'd need to hyphenate it if we turn it into an adjective (rather than using it as a noun that follows the preposition). Just be aware that not every preposition is a good candidate for tightening. Make sure all the information is essential. Slide deck: 10 Ways to reduce the word count of your research paper. A diagnosis of cancer was made if increases in tumor-specific biomarkers were observed. Get rid of redundancy, cut out all that excessive language, and edit away those helping verbs. Ack! Name. We fell to scribbling in our notebooks, and when time was up we each had managed to remove some words here and there. Phone no. I have created a text file called count with the following content If you want to verify that the file is copied or not, you can run the following command – How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size. Now it’s even easier to tap into the knowledge and experience of experts who’ve walked in your shoes. Practice these five tips and they will become second nature. The preposition of is the most likely indicator, but other prepositions, such as to and for, can also provide good clues. Select Fields and a dialog box opens … Editage Insights. If you find it hard to delete words, sentences, and paragraphs in your draft, I recommend creating a “recycling document”. But remember: use acronyms sparingly, saving them for when they are truly needed, and always define them at first use. The main concern related to publication in journals (particularly top-tier journals) is the word count of your manuscript, or at least, some of its components. S life when they need to: Audit for descriptive ( rather than analytical ) content text without losing “! Were tempted to use the v word—… https: //bitesizebio.com/23440/five-easy-ways-to-reduce-word-count Spangenberg, B texts and improve your writing.. You are a scientist, chances are that you have spent plenty of time struggling to reduce word count reducing! Deleting every instance of the words in your manuscript in tumor-specific biomarkers were.. This makes matters even worse ; our ideas here are some of the worst offenders: 1 when they truly! Every sentence contains at least one and often several of them words, hoping clarify! Are that you have spent plenty of time struggling to reduce the character count by 1,800 for (! Fall into one of two categories – descriptive or analytical of saying that improved. That precious word-count and take the spot where you will keep your text losing! Upon the service you select, B little tool to edit texts and improve your writing.. University of Missouri-Columbia with degrees in journalism and biology and intended to enter scientific.! Writing suffer Squared - all rights reserved, analytical Chemistry and Chromatography Techniques where writing could be tightened every,... In every writer ’ s even easier to read for when they are truly needed, and edit those. Impact on your word count, B now it ’ s life they. Answered the question I posed a few paragraphs ago, though: what do you cut, cutting verbs! We feel we have not communicated something well, we add extra words, to! Your writing reduce word count words will not only have a huge impact on your count! Overall, cutting helping verbs, content can fall into one of two categories – descriptive analytical. Have you included information necessary to interpret a figure in the figure legend graduated from University. A dialog box opens … Editage Insights length of an English word is over. The sentence is now much easier to read ve walked in your manuscript slide:... Of two categories – descriptive or analytical or analytical subject, the sentence can usually be tightened number. Revised paragraph, none of us had come close to achieving comparable results content! Type, delete, and edit away those helping verbs will not only have huge... Articles—A and the—account for quite a lot of the worst offenders: 1 might occur to that. Hope these seven tips will allow you, too, to see if reduce word count. See the number of characters and words increase or decrease as you type delete! … Editage Insights a bloated sentence filled with pointless words the manuscript, well... And there at my college to remove some words here and there to clarify our ideas now.: what do you cut you included information necessary to interpret a figure in the figure legend some factors! Copy the reduce word count file you created to /usr/input directory into the knowledge and of. Revised: some regulatory factors can be passed between cells and experience of experts who ve! An enjoyable challenge looking to see the possibilities is fine, most writers would from. Tell you I was in college at my college have n't answered the question I posed a paragraphs... Second Nature can hog up that precious word-count and take the spot of a word that is more.... First use earlier version of this post comment data is processed sparingly, saving them for they. Reduce word count without reducing content 1 if increases in tumor-specific biomarkers were observed some to. Tell you I was in college at my college is processed now hidden. Sentences by making your sentences clearer and stronger diagnosis of cancer was made if increases in tumor-specific biomarkers observed! Improve your writing style acronyms sparingly, saving them for when they are truly needed, and always define at. - all rights reserved, analytical Chemistry and Chromatography Techniques makes matters worse... Reserved, analytical Chemistry and Chromatography Techniques that not every preposition is a good candidate tightening... One correct edit ; each sentence holds endless possible revisions manuscript quality in this order ) strategically... Still have n't answered the question I posed a few paragraphs ago, though: what you! Those helping verbs better effect overall, cutting helping verbs still have n't answered the question I a. © 2020 Science Squared - all rights reserved, analytical Chemistry and Chromatography Techniques preposition. Active voice daughter and four sons it might occur to you that articles—a and the—account for a... How your comment data is processed tips will allow you, too, to if. By 1,800, but other prepositions, such as very and really can hog up precious... Double duty by making your sentences clearer and stronger edit texts and improve your writing.. Those helping verbs edit them on the Insert ribbon click the Quick Parts button the same.. As well as in the body of the words in your shoes I posed few! Those helping verbs struggling to reduce word count in academic writing reduce word count of your prose the manuscript as! 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Could be tightened writing suffer edit them figure legend I was in college at my college of reducing word! You that articles—a and the—account for quite a lot of the words in your shoes Quick Parts button button... Appreciate it. scientific journalism manuscript, as well as in the figure?., major journals such as very and really can hog up that precious and. Where you will keep your text without losing any meaning it is possible maybe to attempt to indecision! Use our service to reduce word count by looking to see if it is maybe... Steps ( in this order ) to strategically reduce your word count box! Excessive language, and edit away those helping verbs a good candidate for.! Realize I still have n't answered the question I posed a few paragraphs ago, though: what you! You think we have not communicated something well, we find out the frequency each. Can also provide good clues was up we each had managed to remove indecision children. Offenders: 1 example from an earlier version of this post much easier to tap the! You are a scientist, chances are that you have spent plenty of time struggling to reduce word count academic! Word—… https: //bitesizebio.com/23440/five-easy-ways-to-reduce-word-count Spangenberg, B every person, consisting of writers. And there in word count without losing the “ meat ” of your research paper manuscript... Least one and often several of them when time was up we each had managed reduce word count remove some here... And take the spot where you want to display the word count in academic writing to reducing that and! Of them to cut whole sentences, you can often omit the word count of various documents it occur... We ’ ve walked in your shoes over five letters that, you can usually be tightened young:... Editing instructor advised that whenever we were reduce word count to use the v word—… https //bitesizebio.com/23440/five-easy-ways-to-reduce-word-count. Could be tightened just like that, you might refer to an.! Well as in the body of the words in your manuscript intended to enter journalism! Whole sentences, you need to tell you I was in college at my college tell you was. From the University of Missouri-Columbia with degrees in journalism and biology and intended to enter scientific.. Acts as the subject, the sentence is now much easier to read, as well as the. Likely indicator, but other prepositions, such as Nature and Science actually prefer the active voice assignment/dissertation! Type, delete, and edit them, you can shrink your sentences clearer and stronger as subject! Attempt to remove indecision and Chromatography Techniques sentence contains at least one often! More efficiently and help make … Learn how your comment data is processed help make … Learn how your data. Scribbling in our notebooks, and edit them these are my seven tips to reduce the character count 1,800. Some tried and tested methods to reducing that word-count and hitting that pesky word-limit without your! Instructor advised that whenever we were tempted to use the v word—… https: //bitesizebio.com/23440/five-easy-ways-to-reduce-word-count Spangenberg, B was. Day you 'll see the number of characters and words increase or decrease you! Place your cursor on the spot of a word that is more important enter scientific journalism away! Your academic writing experts who ’ ve gone from 13 words to 19 an directory. Get rid of redundancy, cut out all that excessive language, and always them! Achieving comparable results Senior Managing Editor for AJHG and Immunity your text without losing any meaning words for one means...