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How to Use Transition Words for Essays + Examples

Transition words play a key role in essay writing. They connect ideas, sentences, and paragraphs, helping readers follow your text easily. These words do many jobs, from comparing things to showing cause and effect. They turn scattered thoughts into a clear story.

Learning to use transition words for essays isn't just about making your writing sound better. It's about making your ideas clearer and easier for readers to understand. Let's look at transition words and how to use them well in your essays.

Understanding Transition Words for Essays

Transition words for essays are like road signs. They guide readers through your ideas. They help show how your thoughts connect, making your writing easier to follow.

The Purpose and Placement of Transition Sentences

Transition sentences do several important things:

• They make your ideas flow better
• They help readers grasp your main point
• They link sentences and paragraphs
• They show how ideas relate to each other
• They make your writing easier to read

Where you put transitions matters. They're often used:

• Between parts of an essay to sum up or introduce new ideas
• Between paragraphs to show connections or changes in focus
• Within paragraphs to link related thoughts

Here's an example: 

"The Industrial Revolution brought many new technologies. On the other hand, it also caused social problems."

In this case, "On the other hand" shows a contrast between the good and bad effects of the Industrial Revolution.

Putting transitions in the right places helps your ideas flow smoothly. For instance, transition words to start a paragraph in an essay can signal a new point or a shift in focus, preparing the reader for what's next.

Types of Transitions Words

There are different types of transition words for essays, each with its own job. Knowing these types can help you pick the right words for different parts of your writing.

• Adding information: "Also," "In addition," "Furthermore"
• Showing contrast: "But," "However," "On the other hand"
• Showing cause and effect: "So," "As a result," "Therefore"
• Showing order: "First," "Second," "Finally"
• Giving examples: "For example," "Such as," "To illustrate"

Using different transition words can make your essay flow better and be more coherent. Aithor can suggest good transition words based on what your essay is about, helping you improve your writing.

Creating Smooth Transitions in Your Writing

To make your transitions smooth:

• Use your essay's structure to find logical connections between sections.
• Put transitions where they best show how ideas relate.
• Don't use too many transition words, or your writing might sound forced.
• Try not to use the same few transitions over and over.

Remember, sometimes less is better. Using too many transition words can make your writing sound unnatural. Writing tools like Aithor can help you find places where transitions might make your essay flow better, suggesting good transition words based on your essay's content.

List of Transitions

Let's look at different types of transition words and phrases you can use in your essays:

1. Addition

Transition words to start a paragraph in an essay that add information include:

• Furthermore
• Additionally
• In addition

Example: "The new policy aims to cut down on carbon emissions. Also, it encourages the use of energy from renewable sources."

2. Contradiction

To show contrast, you can use:

• Nevertheless
• On the other hand
• In contrast
• Despite this

Example: "Many people thought the project would fail. On the other hand, it did better than anyone expected."

3. Condition

Conditional transitions include:

• Provided that
• In the event that

Example: "The company will grow bigger if the market stays good."

4. Emphasis

To highlight important points, use:

• Undoubtedly

Example: "The experiment gave surprising results. In fact, it made people question many old theories in the field."

5. Similarity

Transition words for the second body paragraph showing similarity include:

• In the same way

Example: "The novel explores themes of love and loss. In the same way, the author's previous work dealt with complex human emotions."

To show outcomes or consequences, use:

• As a result
• Consequently

Example: "The team worked very hard on the project. As a result, they finished it early."

7. Conclusion Transitions

Transition words for the conclusion paragraph include:

• In conclusion
• To summarize

Example: "In conclusion, the study shows that social media greatly affects how consumers behave."

8. Sequence

To show order or progression, use:

• First, Second, and Third
• Subsequently

Example: "First, we'll look at the data. Then, we'll explain what it means. Finally, we'll make conclusions based on what we found."

9. Location

Spatial transitions include:

• Adjacent to
• In the vicinity of

Example: "The rare plant was found growing nearby the river bank."

As you start writing, remember this important tip: use transition words carefully. While these words help make your writing easy to read, using too many can confuse your reader. Think of transition words like spices in food — they make it taste better, but too much can ruin the dish.

Your goal is to help your reader easily follow your ideas, not to create a maze of connecting words. So, when you write your next essay, remember: when it comes to transitions, often using fewer is better. Use them thoughtfully to make your argument clear, and your writing will be easy to understand and follow.

If you want to get even better at writing essays, Aithor has special features that can help you choose the best transitions for what you're writing about, making sure your essays flow smoothly from start to finish.

Happy writing!

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Lengthy documents in microsoft word follow these 5 tips.

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Quick Links

• Use Word's Styles
• Make Your Work Easy to Navigate
• Compress Your Images
• Control Tables Across Pages
• Get Word to Read Your Work Aloud

Creating a multipage project can be a daunting prospect, due to the time commitment and effort it involves. Luckily, your good friend, Microsoft Word, is ready to help! Whether you've yet to start or nearly finished, these tips will enable you to optimize your document and speed up your workflow.

1 Use Word's Styles

I can't overstate the benefits of using Styles —accessible via the Home tab on the ribbon—in a long Word document.

There are two ways to format text in a Word document. You can either apply formatting directly (for example, by selecting some text and pressing Ctrl+B to make it bold) or by linking text to a Style. There are several reasons why I would strongly advise you to use the latter method:

• You'll save time : Let's say your headings are bold, size 14, underlined, and centralized. Applying these manually to every heading would take at least four clicks or keyboard shortcuts. Instead, you can apply all this formatting with just one click.
• Your work will be consistent : Using Word's Styles means you don't have to remember the different formatting settings that you applied to different parts of your work.
• Make wholesale changes : If you decide that you want to change your typeface or font size after you've finished, you merely need to change the relevant Style settings. This means that you don't have to go back through every page of your lengthy document to make the changes manually.
• Styles do more than format your text : For example, the Headings Styles can help you create a table of contents (more on this later).

First, amend your Styles so that they contain the formatting you want in your document . To do this, either right-click a Style in the Style Gallery in the Home tab, or place your cursor anywhere within the heading or paragraph you want to format, and press Ctrl+Shift+S. Then, click "Modify."

Now, in the Modify Style dialog box, click "Format" to see the different formatting changes you can make to that Style.

After you've changed a Style, any time you apply it to some text in your document, you can rest assured that the formatting is consistent. Likewise, any text already assigned to that Style will reformat automatically.

It's also worth reviewing the Styles after you've finished your work to make sure that the correct ones are applied to the correct parts of your document. The easiest way to do this is to display the "Draft" view in the View tab on the ribbon, so that you can see the Style Pane Area containing the Style names on the left-hand side of your screen.

If you can't see the Style Pane Area in the Draft view, click File > Options > Advanced, and scroll down to the Display options. There, set the Style Pane Area Width to 5 cm or 2 in , and click "OK."

2 Make Your Work Easy to Navigate

Whether you intend to share your long Word document with others or keep it to yourself, it's worth taking steps to make it more easily navigable.

Insert Breaks

Starting a new page for each section of your lengthy document helps to break it up and prevent it from being one continuous stream of text. With your cursor at the end or start of a chapter, click "Breaks" in the Layout tab on the ribbon, and select the type of break you wish to add.

The two most useful breaks for organizing your lengthy document are the Page Break (the first option in the menu), or the Next Page Section Break (the fourth option in the menu):

• Page Breaks : As the name suggests, Page Breaks apply a soft break to your document without affecting the page formatting.
• Section Breaks : On the other hand, Section Breaks are harder divides in your work, meaning you can change page orientation, add borders, or use different page numbering systems.

Add Page Numbers

Add page numbers so that it's easier to refer to certain parts of your work. Although you can add page numbers to Word's headers, the more traditional approach is to have them in the footer.

Double-click the footer area at the bottom of any page, and you'll see the Header And Footer tab appear on the ribbon. Click Page Number > Bottom Of Page and choose the page number style that works well for your document.

Create a Table of Contents

Word's contents table tool can help your reader to avoid having to scroll or flick through the many pages to find what they're looking for.

First, make sure you have assigned all the titles in your document to a Heading Style because Word refers to these when creating the automatic table of contents.

Second, add page numbers to your Word document, so that your table of contents is easy to use.

Then, place your cursor where you want the table of contents to go, and click "Table Of Contents" in the Referencing Tab.

You can either choose from the preset options, or click "Custom Table Of Contents" to customize how it will appear.

If you make further changes to your work after adding the table of contents, right-click anywhere on the table, click "Update Field," and choose either "Update Entire Table" or "Update Page Numbers" to make sure it reflects your updated headings and page numbers.

3 Compress Your Images

Having lots of images at the default 220 PPI (pixels per inch) or higher in your lengthy Word document could cause it to become sluggish. One way to get around this and speed up your Word document is to compress the images . Just bear in mind that doing this will reduce their quality, so you might be selective over which ones you choose to compress.

To compress a single image, select the image, and click "Compress Pictures" in the Picture Format tab on the ribbon.

In the Compress Pictures dialog box, check "Apply Only To This Picture," and choose "150 PPI." Using this resolution will significantly reduce the image's impact on your document performance without overly compromising its quality . Then, click "OK."

To compress all images simultaneously, click File > Options, and select the "Advanced" tab in the left-hand menu. Then, locate the Image Size And Quality section, and make sure the document you're working on is selected in the first drop-down field. Change the "Default Resolution" drop-down to "150 PPI," and click "OK."

Now, if you add any more images to your work, they will automatically adopt this new default resolution you selected.

4 Control Tables Across Pages

Tables are a great way to present data, but they can instantly become difficult to interpret if they span two pages in a lengthy document .

To keep a smaller table on one page, first select every row except for the bottom row.

Then, click the "Paragraph Settings" icon in the corner of the Paragraph group of Home tab on the ribbon.

In the Paragraph dialog box, open the "Line And Page Breaks" tab, check "Keep With Next," and click "OK."

Word will then force the whole table to move to the next page.

The other option is to keep the table spanning two pages, but repeat the header row. This means you won't end up with lots of white space in your document, while making your table easier to read.

Start by selecting the header row.

Then, in the blue Layout tab on the ribbon, click "Properties."

Finally, check "Repeat As Header Row At The Top Of Each Page" in the Row tab of the dialog box that opens, and click "OK."

Word will now force your header row to repeat when your table extends to a new page.

5 Get Word to Read Your Work Aloud

Proofreading your work is a crucial step in ensuring it's of the highest quality, but this can be an arduous task if your document is lengthy. Luckily, Word can read it aloud for you .

Place your cursor at the start of your work, and click "Read Aloud" in the Review tab. Press Ctrl+Space at any time to pause and resume the playback.

If you intend to print your lengthy document, make sure your Word document is printer-ready so that what you see on screen is replicated on paper.

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Turning to essays, Edwidge Danticat makes shrewd use of the form

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Book Review

We're Alone: Essays

By Edwidge Danticat Graywolf: 192 pages, $26 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org , whose fees support independent bookstores.

Essay collections appear infrequently on the lists of most popular nonfiction — memoirs and historical narratives dominate conversations about the genre. Those forms of nonfiction are wonderful in their own ways. They are also the versions that are closest to fiction. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it can exclude the unique offerings of the essay.

An essay collection presents a compressed reading experience, sometimes poetic, and often requiring the author to demonstrate the act of forming an opinion. In its most exalted form, the essay collection is about many things at once. Its goal is not to share information about a topic but to dramatize the formation of a perspective, the development of an informed point of view — a focus that makes the form much more dependent on the writer than the subject matter. “We’re Alone,” a collection of eight short essays by the celebrated Haitian American novelist and short story writer Edwidge Danticat, exemplifies that achievement.

Readers who have appreciated other voice-driven essay collections, such as Zadie Smith’s pandemic-inspired “Intimations,” Erica Caldwell’s “Wrong Is Not My Name,” Jordan Kisner’s “Thin Places,” Cathy Park Hong’s “Minor Feelings” or Elissa Gabbert’s “ The Unreality of Memory ,” will find something familiar with Danticat in “We’re Alone.” The thematic thread of this collection binds loosely around experiences of disconnection or isolation that are exacerbated by a sense of risk predicated on racial, political or social vulnerability. In the essay “A Rainbow in the Sky,” Danticat writes: “The less stable your house, the more terror you feel.” She has elegantly captured that those who face a storm with all foundations intact have a different relationship to the experience than those who were already struggling before it.

In the preface to the book, Danticat discloses that writing essays allows her to feel alone with herself and present with a reader. These pieces represent her outstretched hand, an invitation to spend shared time in reflection. Danticat took the book’s title from the French poem “Plage” by the Haitian writer Roland Chassagne, whose tragic history of imprisonment is also explored in the book. His poem envisions a night spent under palm trees, and the longing for the end of a deep disappointment. Here Danticat finds an early foothold into one of the book’s chief concerns: thresholds where someone’s feelings have been constricted for the sake of other people’s comfort. The title also invokes a plural self, a collective that shares in the writer’s experience of solitude and disaffection.

In the literary essay, a tradition that unites personal insight with anecdotes, evidence and reasoning, one of the most satisfying moments is finding where the writer’s logic breaks and she struggles to fully accommodate the proportions of her subject. Such moments make the inquiries appear vulnerable and honest, even when in reality they are simulations of sense-making. Not all essayists are invested in showing their struggle in understanding or are given the space to do so. But Danticat invites readers into the challenge of putting facts and feelings together. She excels at showing how hard it is to know what the right questions are to ask or how to answer them, and like many of us, she struggles to talk about difficult subjects, especially with her children.

For example, in “By the Time You Read This…,” Danticat debates how much and when to tell her children about how police violence affects the way Black people and immigrants think about safety. She writes, “Each time a young Black person is killed by a police officer or by a vigilante civilian, I ask myself if the time had come for me to write to my daughters a letter about Abner Louima and the long list of nonsurvivors who have come after him.” There is dignity in her doubt, which makes way for the kind of compassion that characterizes these essays.

Danticat’s insights are informed by accounts of the trials of friends and family: Her beloved mother wanders off in an airport; an uncle suffers from an irresolvable, progressive disorientation; Louima, a family friend, is attacked and raped by police; and two mentors, Toni Morrison and Paule Marshall, live through their final months. These experiences emphasize the possibility of loss and disconnection, reflecting a kind of hypervigilance that can be an inheritance of trauma. She approaches these accounts with the courage of an intentional witness, maintaining that perspective even when she looks beyond her own circle. In “Chronicles of a Death Foretold,” Danticat tells the story of a self-proclaimed prophetess who predicted the 2021 assassination of the Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, and the collection’s penultimate essay, “Wozo, Not Mawozo,” examines the weeks following the kidnapping of Christian missionaries in Haiti in 2021.

These are clearly the essays of an accomplished novelist. They move swiftly through detailed anecdotes and varied landscapes, even when the principal action the speaker engages in is “thinking.” There is room in an essay for dramatic action, for the expression of the body as it relates to thought, which was somewhat lacking here. At times, I struggled to see the author as a figure in the dramatic action she cited. Even so, it’s a testament to Danticat’s skill that these brief, intense works about serious matters do not feel heavy. She brings us close enough to the trouble at hand that we cannot mistake what we have seen.

But we are not alone in trying to make sense of feelings that come from becoming a witness to this world. No one is.

Wendy S. Walters is the author of the prose collection “Multiply/Divide” and an associate professor of nonfiction at Columbia University.

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Fact-checking warnings from Democrats about Project 2025 and Donald Trump

This fact check originally appeared on PolitiFact .

Project 2025 has a starring role in this week’s Democratic National Convention.

And it was front and center on Night 1.

WATCH: Hauling large copy of Project 2025, Michigan state Sen. McMorrow speaks at 2024 DNC

“This is Project 2025,” Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, said as she laid a hardbound copy of the 900-page document on the lectern. “Over the next four nights, you are going to hear a lot about what is in this 900-page document. Why? Because this is the Republican blueprint for a second Trump term.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has warned Americans about “Trump’s Project 2025” agenda — even though former President Donald Trump doesn’t claim the conservative presidential transition document.

“Donald Trump wants to take our country backward,” Harris said July 23 in Milwaukee. “He and his extreme Project 2025 agenda will weaken the middle class. Like, we know we got to take this seriously, and can you believe they put that thing in writing?”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, has joined in on the talking point.

“Don’t believe (Trump) when he’s playing dumb about this Project 2025. He knows exactly what it’ll do,” Walz said Aug. 9 in Glendale, Arizona.

Trump’s campaign has worked to build distance from the project, which the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, led with contributions from dozens of conservative groups.

Much of the plan calls for extensive executive-branch overhauls and draws on both long-standing conservative principles, such as tax cuts, and more recent culture war issues. It lays out recommendations for disbanding the Commerce and Education departments, eliminating certain climate protections and consolidating more power to the president.

Project 2025 offers a sweeping vision for a Republican-led executive branch, and some of its policies mirror Trump’s 2024 agenda, But Harris and her presidential campaign have at times gone too far in describing what the project calls for and how closely the plans overlap with Trump’s campaign.

PolitiFact researched Harris’ warnings about how the plan would affect reproductive rights, federal entitlement programs and education, just as we did for President Joe Biden’s Project 2025 rhetoric. Here’s what the project does and doesn’t call for, and how it squares with Trump’s positions.

Are Trump and Project 2025 connected?

To distance himself from Project 2025 amid the Democratic attacks, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he “knows nothing” about it and has “no idea” who is in charge of it. (CNN identified at least 140 former advisers from the Trump administration who have been involved.)

The Heritage Foundation sought contributions from more than 100 conservative organizations for its policy vision for the next Republican presidency, which was published in 2023.

Project 2025 is now winding down some of its policy operations, and director Paul Dans, a former Trump administration official, is stepping down, The Washington Post reported July 30. Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita denounced the document.

WATCH: A look at the Project 2025 plan to reshape government and Trump’s links to its authors

However, Project 2025 contributors include a number of high-ranking officials from Trump’s first administration, including former White House adviser Peter Navarro and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

A recently released recording of Russell Vought, a Project 2025 author and the former director of Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, showed Vought saying Trump’s “very supportive of what we do.” He said Trump was only distancing himself because Democrats were making a bogeyman out of the document.

Project 2025 wouldn’t ban abortion outright, but would curtail access

The Harris campaign shared a graphic on X that claimed “Trump’s Project 2025 plan for workers” would “go after birth control and ban abortion nationwide.”

The plan doesn’t call to ban abortion nationwide, though its recommendations could curtail some contraceptives and limit abortion access.

What’s known about Trump’s abortion agenda neither lines up with Harris’ description nor Project 2025’s wish list.

Project 2025 says the Department of Health and Human Services Department should “return to being known as the Department of Life by explicitly rejecting the notion that abortion is health care.”

It recommends that the Food and Drug Administration reverse its 2000 approval of mifepristone, the first pill taken in a two-drug regimen for a medication abortion. Medication is the most common form of abortion in the U.S. — accounting for around 63 percent in 2023.

If mifepristone were to remain approved, Project 2025 recommends new rules, such as cutting its use from 10 weeks into pregnancy to seven. It would have to be provided to patients in person — part of the group’s efforts to limit access to the drug by mail. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge to mifepristone’s FDA approval over procedural grounds.

WATCH: Trump’s plans for health care and reproductive rights if he returns to White House The manual also calls for the Justice Department to enforce the 1873 Comstock Act on mifepristone, which bans the mailing of “obscene” materials. Abortion access supporters fear that a strict interpretation of the law could go further to ban mailing the materials used in procedural abortions, such as surgical instruments and equipment.

The plan proposes withholding federal money from states that don’t report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention how many abortions take place within their borders. The plan also would prohibit abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood, from receiving Medicaid funds. It also calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that the training of medical professionals, including doctors and nurses, omits abortion training.

The document says some forms of emergency contraception — particularly Ella, a pill that can be taken within five days of unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy — should be excluded from no-cost coverage. The Affordable Care Act requires most private health insurers to cover recommended preventive services, which involves a range of birth control methods, including emergency contraception.

Trump has recently said states should decide abortion regulations and that he wouldn’t block access to contraceptives. Trump said during his June 27 debate with Biden that he wouldn’t ban mifepristone after the Supreme Court “approved” it. But the court rejected the lawsuit based on standing, not the case’s merits. He has not weighed in on the Comstock Act or said whether he supports it being used to block abortion medication, or other kinds of abortions.

Project 2025 doesn’t call for cutting Social Security, but proposes some changes to Medicare

“When you read (Project 2025),” Harris told a crowd July 23 in Wisconsin, “you will see, Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.”

The Project 2025 document does not call for Social Security cuts. None of its 10 references to Social Security addresses plans for cutting the program.

Harris also misleads about Trump’s Social Security views.

In his earlier campaigns and before he was a politician, Trump said about a half-dozen times that he’s open to major overhauls of Social Security, including cuts and privatization. More recently, in a March 2024 CNBC interview, Trump said of entitlement programs such as Social Security, “There’s a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.” However, he quickly walked that statement back, and his CNBC comment stands at odds with essentially everything else Trump has said during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump’s campaign website says that not “a single penny” should be cut from Social Security. We rated Harris’ claim that Trump intends to cut Social Security Mostly False.

Project 2025 does propose changes to Medicare, including making Medicare Advantage, the private insurance offering in Medicare, the “default” enrollment option. Unlike Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans have provider networks and can also require prior authorization, meaning that the plan can approve or deny certain services. Original Medicare plans don’t have prior authorization requirements.

The manual also calls for repealing health policies enacted under Biden, such as the Inflation Reduction Act. The law enabled Medicare to negotiate with drugmakers for the first time in history, and recently resulted in an agreement with drug companies to lower the prices of 10 expensive prescriptions for Medicare enrollees.

Trump, however, has said repeatedly during the 2024 presidential campaign that he will not cut Medicare.

Project 2025 would eliminate the Education Department, which Trump supports

The Harris campaign said Project 2025 would “eliminate the U.S. Department of Education” — and that’s accurate. Project 2025 says federal education policy “should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated.” The plan scales back the federal government’s role in education policy and devolves the functions that remain to other agencies.

Aside from eliminating the department, the project also proposes scrapping the Biden administration’s Title IX revision, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also would let states opt out of federal education programs and calls for passing a federal parents’ bill of rights similar to ones passed in some Republican-led state legislatures.

Republicans, including Trump, have pledged to close the department, which gained its status in 1979 within Democratic President Jimmy Carter’s presidential Cabinet.

In one of his Agenda 47 policy videos, Trump promised to close the department and “to send all education work and needs back to the states.” Eliminating the department would have to go through Congress.

What Project 2025, Trump would do on overtime pay

In the graphic, the Harris campaign says Project 2025 allows “employers to stop paying workers for overtime work.”

The plan doesn’t call for banning overtime wages. It recommends changes to some Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, regulations and to overtime rules. Some changes, if enacted, could result in some people losing overtime protections, experts told us.

The document proposes that the Labor Department maintain an overtime threshold “that does not punish businesses in lower-cost regions (e.g., the southeast United States).” This threshold is the amount of money executive, administrative or professional employees need to make for an employer to exempt them from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In 2019, the Trump’s administration finalized a rule that expanded overtime pay eligibility to most salaried workers earning less than about $35,568, which it said made about 1.3 million more workers eligible for overtime pay. The Trump-era threshold is high enough to cover most line workers in lower-cost regions, Project 2025 said.

The Biden administration raised that threshold to $43,888 beginning July 1, and that will rise to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025. That would grant overtime eligibility to about 4 million workers, the Labor Department said.

It’s unclear how many workers Project 2025’s proposal to return to the Trump-era overtime threshold in some parts of the country would affect, but experts said some would presumably lose the right to overtime wages.

Other overtime proposals in Project 2025’s plan include allowing some workers to choose to accumulate paid time off instead of overtime pay, or to work more hours in one week and fewer in the next, rather than receive overtime.

Trump’s past with overtime pay is complicated. In 2016, the Obama administration said it would raise the overtime to salaried workers earning less than $47,476 a year, about double the exemption level set in 2004 of $23,660 a year.

But when a judge blocked the Obama rule, the Trump administration didn’t challenge the court ruling. Instead it set its own overtime threshold, which raised the amount, but by less than Obama.

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Guest Essay

You Want Policies? Trump’s Got Policies.

By Thomas B. Edsall

Mr. Edsall contributes a weekly column from Washington, D.C., on politics, demographics and inequality.

Donald Trump’s policy initiatives for a potential second term are rife with unintended adverse consequences — which, in less charitable terms, could be described as deliberate attempts to delude the electorate.

The first of these initiatives is his proposal to deport roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants living and working in the United States.

Illegal immigration “is poisoning the blood of our country,” Trump declared in October 2023. “We will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.”

The second initiative is to impose a 10 percent across-the-board tariff on all products imported into the United States, a tariff that would rise to 60 percent for imports from China.

In response to my query, Henry J. Aaron , an economist at the Brookings Institution, sent his criticism of the Trump agenda by email:

Take the across-the-board tariff. It would injure American consumers by jacking up prices not only directly but also indirectly by lessening foreign competition and would injure export industries through exchange rate effects that increase the price of American goods to foreign buyers.

In addition, Aaron wrote, Trump proposes

to give the White House greater influence over monetary policy. This idea is genuinely frightening, as the political interests of incumbent politicians often diverge from the imperatives of sound monetary policy, especially in election years. Trump is reminiscent of Juan Perón, who converted Argentina from a country richer than France, Germany or England into a poverty-ridden, inflation-crippled middle-income nation, in no small part by forcing his Treasury to print money to pay for his whims.

With that for a starter, let’s take a deeper look at Trump’s plan to raise import duties — i.e., tariffs — and his plan to make his 2017 tax cuts permanent.

Jason Furman , an economist at Harvard and a chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama administration, warned in an email, “If Trump follows through on his campaign commitment to across-the-board tariffs, something he could do unilaterally without congressional approval, the result would be the worst global trade war since the Great Depression.”

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Essay Word Cutter - Reduce a Text in an Instant

Input your essay to reduce word count

Reduced version length:

Here is your summary:

Our free word cutter for essays uses AI technology to shorten texts in these easy steps:

• Paste the text you want to shorten. It should be a maximum of 18,000 characters in one go.
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• 🖋 The Tool’s Benefits

✂️ How to Cut Words in an Essay?

• 🖇 References

🖋 Essay Word Cutter Benefits

Text summarizing is a crucial process in academic writing. It demonstrates your capacity to organize and deliver the key facts, story points, ideas, etc. A person can easily understand a decent summary without reading the original material. Thus, students love our essay shortener for the following reasons:

If you need to summarize your hard-won draft essay to fit the word count requirement and are pressured to fulfill a fast-approaching deadline, you can make a few adjustments to your content. Follow these guidelines to reduce your word count in a shorter time:

• Remove conjunctions
• Eliminate adverbs and adjectives
• Omit unnecessary articles
• Decrease wordy phrases
• Use an active voice
• Choose shorter words

Remove Conjunctions

Conjunctions are words or phrases that connect two independent sentences, words, or phrases that can often be rewritten into separate statements.

The most common conjunctions are and , but , or , because , and however , among others.

These conjunctions increase the word and character counts in an essay.

Eliminate Adverbs and Adjectives

Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, prepositions, or other adverbs in sentences. Adjectives describe and qualify nouns and pronouns. Using adjectives and adverbs in an essay reduces the quality of your writing, while omitting superfluous adjectives and adverbs makes the text more concise .

Omit Unnecessary Articles – The/That

Avoid overusing the words “ the ” and “ that ” in your essay since they increase the wordiness of your content.

Decrease Wordy Phrases

Identify the needless words and lengthy phrases that clutter your essay and eliminate them or replace them with more functional words and phrases. Avoiding complex terms and long sentences makes it easy for anyone to understand the topic easily .

Use an Active Voice

Articles written in an active voice use fewer words than those in a passive voice. An active voice makes the essay clearer and more compelling , thus delivering a convincing argument.

Choose Shorter Words and Avoid Unnecessary Transitions

To reduce the character count of your essay, replace long words with their shorter synonyms.

For instance:

The word “utilize” can be replaced by use.

Additionally, the use of transition words is essential to maintaining a proper flow in your writing, thus making the article engaging to the reader. However, transitions make a text wordier . That’s why it’s vital to strike the right balance between coherence and reasonable word count.

Thank you for reading this guide!

Check the other study tools we’ve prepared: paper rewriter , poem meaning generator , and project topic maker .

📍 Essay Word Cutter – FAQ

📍 how to cut words from an essay.

The most efficient and effective way is to use our free online essay cutter to do the heavy lifting. However, if you have time and prefer to summarize your own, you can apply the tips shared in this article to reduce the word count in your essay.

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You can use the tips highlighted above to trim your essay’s word count. If you’re strained with time, you can utilize our free summary generator to shorten your essay and achieve impeccable results quickly, within the click of a button.

📍 How to check word count on Word?

Check the status bar when you need to know how many words, pages, characters, paragraphs, or lines are in a Word document. For a partial word count, select the words you want to count. The status bar shows the word count for that selection and the entire document.

Updated: Apr 9th, 2024

🔗 References

• How to effectively summarize the work of others - SFU Library
• Summarizing - Academic Integrity at MIT
• How to reduce word count without reducing content
• How to Increase or Decrease Your Paper's Word Count
• 10 Tips for Cutting Your Word Count

How to Reduce Your Essay Word Count

When it comes to writing essays, there are two frequent issues that arise; the word count is either too low or too high for the stated range of the essay. For those who perpetually end up with too few words, you need to figure out ways to increase your essay word count . For those who frequently find themselves with too many words on the page, there are some simple steps to take when editing to help reduce the number of words while at the same time making it a stronger piece of writing. Below are some suggestions to do this.

Rank Your Arguments

If you find you’re well above your word count maximum, the first step is to rank the points you use to substantiate your argument. By ranking the importance of the arguments you make in the essay, you can eliminate ones which aren’t as important as others, keeping the essay strong while removing large portions of writing. If you don’t want to eliminate any of the points, you can still reduce word count by mentioning all the arguments, but not writing as much detail about those not as strong as the more important points.

Focus on the Main Point

Once you determine what the important arguments are for your essay, read through it looking for any paragraphs or sentences which fail to address your main argument(s) or topic. It’s easy to accidentally go off on tangents when writing, and eliminating these tangents can help reduce word count. The more focused you can remain on your topic and arguments, the more concise your writing will be.

Use the Best Verb

This may sound obvious, but a lot of writers don’t do this well. When writing, always use the perfect verb rather than one that’s close, but not perfect. When you use the best verb possible, it will reduce the amount of writing you do in most cases. This is due to the fact that when you use a verb that’s not quite correct, you usually need to add more words to clarify your meaning. Here’s an example:

“They beat the opposing team by a lot of points.”

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. Using the better verb “trounce” in this instant will reduce the word count while still giving the same meaning as the longer sentence.

“They trounced the opposing team.”

Remove Adverbs

Look through your essay and see if you find any adverbs, especially adverbs which have “ly” endings. In many instances, these adverbs end up being filler words which end up being placed in the writing because it’s the way we talk, but the words don’t add anything beneficial to the actual essay. Go through the essay and ask if each one is needed and remove those that aren’t. Some words you may want to look out for are (click on image to expand to see better)

Remove Adjectives

Much in the same way as adverbs make their way into writing, multiple adjectives are used when one (or none at all) would suffice. Read the essay to see if all of the adjectives used are needed, and remove those which don’t add to the meaning of the sentence being written. Some common adjectives to look for are:

able, bad, big, different, early, first, few, good, great, high, important, large, last, little, long, new, next, old, other, own, public, right, same, small, young

(Photo courtesy of Matt Hampel )

I hate maximum word counts because I can never stay under them. Why do teachers do this to me? Why can’t I just write as much as I want?

If you saw what the majority of students turn in for homework, you would understand perfectly why there is either a maximum or minimum (sometimes both)for writing assignments.

This is such a challenge sometimes. I hate editing because I love all my words. It helps to know how to reduce the word count even though I don’t want to do it. I think teachers should let us write as much as we want. Isn’t that helping us to be better students than limiting the amount we can write?

Limiting the amount you can write is actually something that can help you write better. It forces you to clean up your writing and only make the most necessary points which will make it more concise and accurate. Editing is more important than the actual writing to write well for most people. Your teacher is doing you a great service by limiting the amount you can write.

This isn’t a problem. The problem is reaching a minimum word count. Anyone who complains about writing too much doesn’t know what a real writing problem is.

You’re correct! Because obviously there is only one type of writing style!

A classic case of someone thinking that the world revolves around them and not understanding that just because it’s not a problem they have, others can’t have it. A very narrow world view. You might want to actually try and see things from the perspective of others every once in awhile.

I write too much. I’ wordy. I always have to reduce word count. It’s as much of n issue for me is not having enough words is for you. I hate it when people dismiss problems of others jus because it happens not to be a problem for them.

This may not be an issue for you, but it is for many people like me. It’s pretty self-centered of you to think that only your specific problems matter.

Clearly your still in primary school. Just to inform you while I was in grades 6-12 I was always over the minimum/maximum word limits. Today in college I’m easily 1500+ over my maximum limit without headers, intros, and sources. I’m not saying your issue isn’t real I’m just explaining there’s always a flip side to a problem/issue.

I’m wordy. Far too wordy. I do my best writing when I have to edit myself and these ideas are good places for me to begin. I wish I could stay under my professor’s word count limits, but it never happens I guess it’s better than writer’s block, but it’s still an issue.

Learning to write concisely will improve your writing so much. It’s not easy, but it can make a huge impact on the points you’re trying to convey. it’s worth practicing it.

Yes, I agree!

I’m wordy. My best writing is edited, and these will help. I wish I could adhere to word limits. Better than writer’s block!

Editing is such an under appreciated part of writing. I love the quote that says that great writing is composed on the editing block. Reducing your word count shouldn’t be viewed as a chore but as an opportunity to improve your writing. Being able to get your point across concisely is a great skill to have.

I agree. Most students don’t realize the importance of good editing and how it can greatly improve their writing. I believe students should spend at least as much time editing their essays as they do writing them.

I always do this! I tend to write double the word count and spend the same amount of time editing it, it not more time! It’s so difficult and I have it but I enjoy the idea of it making me write better and improve my academic writing. The most difficult bit is that I feel it’s all relevant and then having to condense it as a academic writer whilst still making the assignment flow. Argh! Uni problems!

Me Too!! I’m a bit crazy with writing! ;p

This is soooooo true and they don’t really teach you this in school. They tell you to write, but not to edit. I would have loved it if I was given a document that I had to keep the same meaning and important points, but shorten it by 200 words. It’s a skill I didn’t learn well in school but you need in the real world.

This is a new problem for me. I used to always be under word count, but recently I’ve started to always go over word count. I thought that being under was bad, but being over seems to be even more difficult. I’m not good at editing so it takes me so long to get under word count.

Editing is a lot like writing. The more you practice, the better you will get at it. Don’t get frustrated and continue to work on your editing skills. You’ll be surprised at how much better your writing gets the more you practice them. Good luck!

Seriously, who ever needs to reduce their essay word count? Everyone I know is always trying to make their word count. Do these people just write random things to get that high of a word count? That makes no sense…

ha ha. I assume you’re still in middle or high school with a comment like this. One day you’ll learn that writing can be fun and interesting, and when that happens, you won’t have enough space to write everything you want.

The thing is I am in middle school and always go 1000 words over the limit in my assignments. A good strategy that I use is to create a new document and copy and paste each paragraph. each time I copy a paragraph I try to delete some unnecessary words. This strategy works really well and it helps me a lot when doing assignments

For me i always go over because as I’m writing and sourcing things, I find other useful sections that provide good arguments and compassion’s. Currently I’m on a 3000 word essays and Iv done 4700 without an intro. My references are 700 so I’m technically 1000 over. I’m really struggling to condense it.

There’s an easy way to reduce your word count that works great for me every time. JUST DON”T WRITE SO MUCH!

I don’t know if you were being serious or not, but for some people that’s easier said than done. I tend to be wordy in my first drafts, and so when I go back through I cut a lot of words while editing. If I only wrote the exact number of words required the first time through, my grades would be a lot worse than they are. When I edit, I make my essays a lot better. I think most people do. If you’re only writing first drafts of any assignment, you’re not putting your best work forward. While your advice seems like it’s simple, it actually is bad advice for those who want to get good grades.

I think it’s difficult for people who have a hard time reaching a word count minimum to understand how difficult it is for those of us who have a hard time staying under word count. Although they are completely opposite problems, they are just as difficult for both sides. It’s kind of like two sides of the same coin.

It is, but those needing more words can source and add information, arguments and comparisons. But for those that have already done this it is difficult to cut and priorities your work based on what’s relevant or proves a better argument.

What if you have a lot to say on the topic? Should I just dumb down my writing because the teacher says that I have a maximum word count that I’m not supposed to exceed? Sometimes it’s important to write a lot when there’s a lot to be said.

Some of us like to write with detail and that can also make your word count extremely high. By toning down your piece and being a bit more general, it might also help decrease your word count.

I worry when I do this that I’m losing marks as I’m not explaining myself from cutting the work I did

I recently have found that I no longer have trouble reaching assigned word counts, but now I am constantly going over them. I’m not sure how this happened. Even worse, I think being over word count is even harder than being under it. Who would have thought?

I think this is a common problem as people become better writers. As you become more confident in your writing, you tend to write more. The previous writing problems turn into editing problems. the good news is that as you get better at writing, your wordiness will tend to go down again. Just like it to practice to increase your word count, it will take practice to reduce your word count as well.

I happened to be a wordy writer. I never seem to be able to stay under the assigned word count on my essays. I found that one of the best ways to reduce the amount that I write is to take the time to outline before I even start writing. If I outline and I see that the outline is too long, I know my writing is going to be long. That gives me the opportunity to focus on the most important points of the essay which helps to keep the word count down. I don’t know if this will work for everybody, but it works well for me and I thought I would share it in case it helps somebody else.

Use contractions when possible, use active voice and leave out the unnecessary adjectives. Be careful of going on tangents and stay on topic. Idioms and cliches are you enemy.

I’m 478 words over my essay maximum and I have no idea how I’m going to get it under the limit. All the words are important and if I cut anything, it ruins it. Why do I always have so much to say?

Were you able to get your essay under the limit? Learning to be concise in your writing is difficult, but it will make your writing a lot better in the long run.

Well Stephanie, you don’t have to take out anything! If you just write, maybe your teacher will give you easier stuff!

No, not quite.

Hey Stephanie, i totally feel you 🙁 I’m really wordy and i feel that adds to the uniqueness of my essays but sometimes it does get out of hand. Removing those words kind of ruins the flow of my essays and i don’t really know how to go about it :/

The best thing you can do for your writing is to learn to edit well.

That’s easy to say, but how do you learn to edit well? I want to reduce the number of words in my essays, but they all seem important. I don’t want to edit out words that are important to the essay. If all seem important, then how do you choose which ones to eliminate?

Practice. Editing is like writing…the more you do it, the better you become. You don’t even have to write to practice editing. take something someone else has written and see if you can make it read more cleanly. It can be fun and addicting.

You don’t even have to write to practice editing

Take the ‘even’ out for example.

Hi everyone! I need some help. I want to write a Book, but I can’t think of anything to write about! So can anyone Please Hep Me!!!

Write about the journey that lead you to writing a book. All the notable series of events

That is a really boring story. (At least mine is)

One day My friends Zoey, wrote a book, and it was really good, so I started to write one as well…

See, boring.

But thanks!

My time has come! I’ve got a lot of ideas, but I want to read the book, not write it. How about a person who has a normal, twenty-first century life falls into a different time, and everyone keeps insisting they belong there as a person the protagonist has never heard of. The protagonist knows that they don’t, but as time goes on, you, as the author, slowly reveal that everyone from that time is right and the protagonist was imagining their other life. Just an idea!

Write about something that you like or love tho do. I wrote a book about animals.

Of, and, but, by are evil words for me. Always get me.

im 1000 words (and counting) over the word limit, its due tomorrow and i wanna die

A few other tips:

1) Use the search bar to find the times you have said ‘that’ because most of the time you don’t actually need it for the sentence to make sense.

2) Also, you can try and reduce a phrase into one word. A a cause of this… = consequently…

3) If you are writing someone’s name (eg. an author or a president), then you can just use their surname.

4) This tip works particularly if you are writing a history essay, I always just say ‘America’ instead of ‘the USA’/’the US’. Also ‘The USSR’ instead of ‘The Soviet Union’ (also just say Britain, not the UK or Great Britain).

5) Sometimes you just have to look through and consider re-wording sentences: John Gaddis’s argument states that “Kennan was the architect of the Cold War” Gaddis disputes “Kennan was the architect of the Cold War”

“consequently” obviosuly does not mean “as a cause of this”

Great Britain is not the same as the UK.

I mustn’t write more than 150 words in my essay and it’s making me crazy :C

That’s not an essay, that’s a paragraph! I’m having trouble getting below 750.

Jesus Christ, what?

I did not say anything.

I’m submitting my English essay into the departments contest and the limit is 800 I originally had 1,332. These tips from both articles and comments are helping bunches let’s hope I can get it under the limit!

I’m 1500 words over on my dissertation.. i’ve used all these methods and i’m still way over the word limit.. H E L P

Have you tried to to move around sentences and maybe try to then get rid of some that don’t matter anymore?

I have this problem – I am currently over by 1046 words. But, through this process I have finally found a solution. Plan my paragraphs in advance making sure I estimate how much I should write for each paragraph; by using this as a mental guide as I write, I will know when to stop before I get the end and it’s all a bit too late.

I am 150 words over my 1000 word essay. I got into a essay writing mood and was going for 2 hr before i looked at my word count. All of my words are important but I have to get rid of some.

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Word Count Reducer

Have you exceeded your assignment word limit and now wonder how to cut your essay length? Try our word count decreaser! It will shorten your paper while preserving its meaning.

Create a summary of any academic text with this summarizing software! It will generate a synopsis for you in 3 simple steps:

How often do you exceed the word count by more than 10%? How often do you lack the required amount of words? In many cases, writing a text of the exact size is difficult. However, teachers assess your ability to squeeze all required content into a particular volume, especially in admission essays.

Use our handy free online tool – a word decreaser – if you’re clueless about what to cut out from your writing.

• ✂️ How to Use the Word Decreaser?

✅ Word Cutter: the Benefits

• 🕰️ When to Use the Tool?
• ✍️ How to Cut Words?
• 🤩 Why Choose This Tool?
• 🔗 References

✂️ Word Count Decreaser Guidelines

When you realize that your text requires reduction, you may follow two paths – edit it on your own or take advantage of modern technology. Our smart word count decreaser will do the job for you! The entire process is automated and lets you submit an essay with an exact word count without losing the important content.

Here’s how you can use the decrease word count tool:

• Paste your text into the first window;
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• Choose to see the keywords of the text;
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The best about our tool is that you won’t spend hours editing your writing masterpiece. You can quickly decrease word count online and experiment with several word combinations to find the best match.

🕰️ Word Cutter – When to Use It?

Let’s discuss the propriety of using the decrease word count generator and explain the cases when you’ll find it useful.

Exceeding the Word Count (Essay, Research Paper, Thesis)

Each academic assignment has a specific word count based on the contents and depth of the research.

• A standard essay usually ranges from 500 to 2000 words;
• A research paper is rarely smaller than 2,500-3,000 words;
• Theses and dissertations have more extended word counts, from 10,000 to 25,000.

So, if you’ve hopelessly run out of the required word count and still need to cover some vital sections, turn to our word count reducer. The tool will cut words from the essay or dissertation to let you meet the word limit. You can stipulate the number of sentences it should contain and highlight the keywords to preserve the core content.

Making a Book Review

A book review is a detailed yet concise analysis of the book’s contents, main plot twists, and characters. Students of humanities departments, especially Literature, often need to make book reviews and reports based on the studied material. But do you have time to read all the books and then write reviews? If not, our word count reducer can help you receive a short, manageable summary in a few seconds. Read it, get the book’s content, and write a review in one go without spending several days on full-size book reading.

Writing an Abstract

You may often need to complete an abstract for an essay, dissertation, or other academic manuscripts , which should not exceed 200-250 words. Producing such a concise summary is often challenging, as your work is large and contains many valuable facts you might want to cover. Our word reducer will do the job for you. Just instruct it on what to focus on, and the tool will generate a brief, informative abstract, keeping the data you need.

Paraphrasing

Students often have to read, process, and synthesize dozens of scholarly works when writing academic papers, like essays or coursework. The challenge here is to refer to sources in a non-plagiarized way , so you should dedicate enough time and effort to paraphrasing. Though our keyword reducer will not make the summarized content unique (paraphraser will), it will identify the key facts and points for further paraphrasing .

In this section, you’ll find the key advantages of this word reducer.

✍️ How to Reduce Word Count?

Many students ask, “how can I reduce my word count?” This task requires careful editing and content review so the process may take hours. We’ve compiled some handy tips to guide you in this process and hone your word-count-reduction skills.

🤩 Why Choose This Reduce-Word-Count Generator?

As you can see, reducing the word count can be a tedious task. Our free online tool can do the job for you by speeding up the process of word cutting.

• You can shorten the text without losing its quality and key information.
• You stay in complete control of the word reduction process.
• You can compare the original text’s word/character/sentence count with in the output section.
• You can see keywords for a quick review of the core content.
• You are able to copy the result with one click.

What’s more, the tool comes with a detailed, user-friendly interface that will make your experience a breeze. It’s free to use, and you can enjoy it without limitations for any academic challenge.

Updated: May 17th, 2024

📎 References

• How to Reduce Your Essay Word Count – Word Counter Blog
• 10 Tips for Cutting Your Word Count – the University of Adelaide
• Paraphrasing – Purdue OWL® – Purdue University
• Writing an Abstract for Your Research Paper; The Writing Center; UW–Madison
• Research Paper Structure

Reduce Word Count Generator

Cut your word count without reducing the content. This tool is very easy to use:

• Paste the text.
• Mind that there is a 15,000-character limit.
• Choose text reduction options.
• Click the button.
• Copy the text to the clipboard.

⭐️ Word Count Reducer: the Benefits

• ✒️ What Is Cut-Down-Word-Count Generator?
• ✂️ How to Cut Down Words?
• 👍 Word Cutter Do's & Don'ts

🖇️ References

✒️ Reduce Word Count Generator: What Is It?

Cut-Down-Word-Count Generator is a free online tool that summarizes texts and reduces sentence and word count. It cuts out unnecessary words , phrases, and sentences but doesn't change the sense of a text. This is a helpful instrument for students, journalists, and other people who work with loads of written information.

Besides reducing your writing, you can also use the tool to summarize books, short novels, and articles on any topic. Artificial intelligence finds keywords and decides which sentences and words are the most essential.

The tool is also fully compatible with Grammarly – you can edit the text on our page if you have an extension.

✂️ How to Cut Down Words in My Essay?

Automatic tools are great when you need to work with extensive text . However, consider manual summarizing for more flexibility.

Here's how to reduce your word count manually:

• Find and highlight the key messages . If you do it thoroughly, you will preserve the initial sense of a text.
• Cut out adjectives and adverbs . Many of them are just filler words that serve only the aesthetic features of a text. That is why you won't lose the main points if you delete them.
• Look for synonyms and synonymic collocations . To avoid plagiarism in academic papers, use synonyms when referring to another author's thoughts. And you will still need to give them a reference.
• Change structures . Simplifying sentences is another way to reduce the word count. Just rewrite lengthy and overcomplicated grammar.
• One paragraph – one idea . Each section should focus only on one idea or answer one question. Keep your paragraphs at 200-300 and sentences at 15-25 words.

Words and Phrases to Avoid

You will also need to work on vocabulary . In this part, we will explain how to avoid excessive wording and bring your essay to academic standards.

👍 Word Cutter for Essays: Do's and Don'ts

This list of practical recommendations will help you use the word remover to its max.

• Don't paste long texts . The word limit allows us to summarize extensive passages, but we don't recommend it. Instead of cutting the whole text, work with each part separately.
• Don't simply copy and paste the results into your essay . You will likely need to modify the reduced text to create a smooth final version.
• Divide texts into logical parts . The AI will identify the main points quicker and have fewer error risks. It will also make it easier for you to navigate and spot mistakes.
• Check the results . It will be easier for you to manually correct inaccuracies at the very first stage. The tool is fast, but the human brain is more capable of understanding writing subtleties.
• Remove plagiarism . This is not a paraphrasing tool , so you must work on plagiarism. If it is just for personal use, you can leave the text as it is. Otherwise, you will need to quote or paraphrase the text to avoid plagiarized content.
• Work on word choice . Some texts you use might not be suitable for academic writing or your instructor's requirements. Devote some time to put the vocabulary in order.

📝 Word Reducing Example

Check out this example of a text summarized by our word reducer.

Original text

In the current study, several limitations of the research are necessary to mention. While random sampling will ensure representativeness and a low level of bias, there is a risk of limited outcomes in quantitative analysis. Since the questionnaires use structured and close-ended questions, there is a possibility of limited outcomes, which means that the results cannot always represent the actual occurrence in generalized forms.

Since respondents have limited response options that the researcher designed, the outcomes thus ultimately depend on the perspective taken by a scholar when creating the questions. Another significant limitation of the study is the limited availability of secondary data that can be applied to the research context. While the subject matter is widespread, there has been little research on implementing a sports education instructional program at educational facilities. Finally, data may not be robust enough to make conclusions regarding study findings.

Full text: Jeddah University: Sports Health Education Instructional Program - 4403 Words | Free Paper Example

Reduced version:

Since the questionnaires use structured and close-ended questions, there is a possibility of limited outcomes, which means that the results cannot always represent the actual occurrence in generalized forms. Another significant limitation of the study is the limited availability of secondary data that can be applied to the research context. While the subject matter is widespread, there has been little research on implementing a sports education instructional program at educational facilities.

Updated: Aug 24th, 2023

• 10 Tips for Cutting Your Word Count | The University of Adelaide
• Top Words to Avoid in Academic Writing | Useful Advices & Tricks
• Summarizing: How to effectively summarize the work of others | SFU Library
• The Writing Center | When to Summarize, Paraphrase, and...

• Call to +1 (844) 889-9952

Essay Trimmer: Reduce the Word Count for Free

Reducing the number of words is not easy, especially in the content that you have created yourself. Use the free essay trimmer to cut down any text.

Looking for an essay trimmer?

Take the 3 steps to remove clutter from your paper:

The word limit for each academic paper is set for a reason. It helps us focus research on a particular number of issues, plan writing, and communicate ideas clearly and concisely.

But what to do if you have reached the limit and still have ideas to write down? Use our Word Count Trimmer! Read the article below to discover its main advantages and ways of using it in your favor!

🤔 What Is a Word Count Trimmer?

• ️⚙️ How to Use the Trimmer?

✂️ Words to Cut out of Essays

🔻 how to reduce word count.

• 😀 Essay Trimmer: Benefits

❓ Sentence Trimmer: FAQ

🔗 references.

Essay Trimmer is an online tool that can help you reduce the length of any text to a specified number of sentences. It picks the most important sentences, thus decreasing the word count without changing the core message of the piece.

This online word cutter can be especially beneficial for those working with a lot of written content. As a bonus, you can also use the app to summarize books, novels, and articles on any topic.

⚙️ How to Use the Paragraph Trimmer?

Using Word Count Trimmer does not require much effort! Just follow 4 steps below and get the result within a second:

• Paste the text. The first step is to paste the text you have chosen into the appropriate field of the Essay Word Cutter. Ensure that your piece of writing does not exceed 20k characters.
• Adjust the settings. You can choose the length of shortened version and whether you want to receive keywords from the text.
• Click the button. Then, give our summarizing bot a second to produce the outcome.
• Get the shortened version. You can copy the final result in just one click!

When reducing the word count, you should primarily target phrases that do not add any value to your text. Below are some types of words you can easily cut out from your essay.

Apart from removing the unnecessary words listed above, you can use several more effective ways to cut down the number of words in your essay. Read on to gain some new insights!

Use the Shortest Forms of Words & Phrases

If there is a choice between a long phrase or word and a short one — choose the latter! This recommendation is especially critical if you must keep your writing within a specific character count instead of a word count. For example, instead of “give consideration to,” you can use “consider” or “think about.”

Don’t Repeat Yourself

Unfortunately, repetition is a widespread mistake among college students or even experienced writers. You can convey the same thought a couple of times using different words, which can irritate your readers or make them bored. Therefore, express each idea in your essay clearly and briefly.

Choose Active Voice

The active voice comprises fewer words than the passive one. As a result, using active voice makes your writing more straightforward and more appealing to readers, allowing you to tell a more impactful story. Check out the example below.

Begin Sentences with the Subject

If you begin sentences with the subject , your writing will be easier to comprehend because it will be evident who or what the statement is about. Moreover, you’ll have to remove all unnecessary introductory phrases before the subject, thus reducing your word count. Just consider the most crucial element in the statement and build a sentence around it.

Here’s an example:

• ❌ It was found that after an earthquake, the largest building in the town survived.
• ✅ The largest building in the town survived an earthquake.

Focus on the Message

When your writing lacks focus and you don’t clearly understand what you want to say, it is easy to write too much. You will jump from one idea to another, and your paper will become messy. To avoid it, focus on your thesis statement and logically arrange your main arguments to support it. A carefully structured outline can help you with that.

😃 Essay Trimmer: Benefits

Don’t miss a chance to try our Essay Trimmer! It has so much to offer to its users:

❓ Why Is Word Count Important?

Having a specific word count puts you in control. It makes writing more manageable because it lets you plan how much research you should do and how to structure your paper. Word limit also allows you to allocate the appropriate amount of time to writing and focus on the core message you want to highlight in your text.

❓ How Many Words Should an Essay Be?

The essay’s length depends on your assignment type, professor’s instructions, and education level. Here are sample word counts for common assignments:

• High school essay – 300-1000 words;
• College applications – 200-700 words;
• Graduate school applications – 500-1000 words;
• Graduate-level papers – 2000-6000 words.

❓ How to Cut Down Words in an Essay?

Use the tips below to cut down words in your essay or paper and strengthen your writing:

• Use active voice instead of passive.
• Utilize the plural when possible.
• Remove redundant transition words.
• Turn some nouns into verbs.
• Use possessive nouns.

❓ How to Check Word Count on Google Docs?

Take these 4 steps to check the word count in Google Docs:

• Open the Google Doc and paste your text.
• Click “Tools” in the header menu.
• Choose “Word Count” from the drop-down menu.
• Check the word count in a pop-up window.

Updated: May 17th, 2024

• 10 Tips for Cutting Your Word Count | The University of Adelaide
• Eliminating Words | Purdue Online Writing Lab
• Writing Concisely | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Strategies for Reducing Word Count | University of Georgia
• Cutting Out Lard | University of Massachusetts Amherst

Success at MLS

Melbourne Law School's hub for academic skills, legal writing, exams and more!

How to Write More Concisely (and Reduce that Pesky Word Count)

So you’ve finished the first draft of your legal essay. That’s the good news. The bad news? It’s 400 words over the word limit 😱

And sure, you could just delete a bunch of paragraphs to get yourself under the limit again…

But unless those paragraphs were full of irrelevant nonsense, deleting them also means deleting potential marks!

This post covers 8 editing techniques you can use to write concisely and reduce your word count without sacrificing your work’s content.

Paraphrase rather than quote

Direct quotes should be used sparingly; in fact, they should constitute no more than 10% of your essay’s total word count. If you quote more than that, you run the risk of plagiarism–not to mention giving your reader the impression that you have nothing original to say.

Paraphrasing , however, allows you to use the important parts of a source without needing to stick to its original wording. This flexibility means that paraphrasing can save you a lot of words. Consider the following passage from a Copyright Law exam response that uses a long, direct quote to make its point:

Now consider a version of the passage that uses paraphrasing instead. Although it also quotes directly from the same source, the quotes are short and strategic:

The paraphrased paragraph is 58 words shorter than the paragraph that uses the long direct quote.

Go through your essay and look for any direct quotes of a sentence or more. Is keeping the author’s original phrasing essential? Or could you convey the same meaning yourself with fewer words?

Please don’t explain

Remember that the imagined reader of your essay has legal training, but is not a specialist. You therefore need to tailor the degree of explanation in your essay to this audience. For example, you wouldn’t need to explain what a tort is (any first year JD student could tell you that…we hope), but you would need to explain what specific torts are (detinue, conversion, etc) so that your reader can understand your analysis.

Even if the explanation is audience-appropriate, however, that doesn’t mean it’s necessary . Often, students will devote several sentences–or even a paragraph–to an explanation that’s only helps the reader understand a minor point.

So ask yourself:

• Is the explanation necessary?
• Is it worth the number of words it’s taking up in my essay?
• Can I make it briefer?

Delete introductory ‘throat-clearing’ phrases

When we’re speaking, we often use superfluous words and phrases such as ‘well’, ‘all things considered’ and ‘needless to say’ (if it’s needless to say, why are you saying it!?). These expressions are fine when we’re speaking casually and no one’s expecting our speech to adhere to a strict word count. But what about when we’re writing? Without realising it, one of the following phrases in red has probably crept into your prose:

These introductory, ‘throat-clearing’ expressions use up your precious word count without adding anything to your writing: notice that the right half of each sentence has the same meaning with or without the inclusion of the red introductory phrase.

So read through your draft again and, wherever these meaningless throat-clearing phrases appear, delete them!

Delete Redundant Words

Just like throat-clearing expressions, your essay is probably littered with single words that aren’t adding anything to your essay. While deleting a word here and there might not seem like it’ll do much to reduce your total word count, you’ll be surprised by how many words you can save by deleting redundancies throughout your essay.

‘That’, ‘Which’ and ‘Whether or Not’

I never realised I was addicted to using ‘ that’ in my academic writing until I searched my essays for every use of the word, and was faced with pages and pages that looked like this:

Note that (argh!) most of these sentences are still grammatical when you delete ‘that’ from them.

Removing ‘ which’ from your writing may require some rewording, but this can force you to simplify your syntax and save even more words!

You can also search your document for every instance of the phrase ‘ whether or not’ and save two words instantly by deleting the ‘or not’.

Tautologies

A sentence or phrase is tautological when it expresses the same idea more than once. Classic examples include ‘PIN number’ (the ‘N’ in PIN already stands for ‘number’) and ‘the two twins’ (twins are by definition a set of two). When editing your work, look for any sentences doing double time and remove the redundant words.

Let’s practice! Read the following paragraphs and see if you can spot three tautologies. Then click on the ‘check solution’ button below to see how you went!

[1] The case note dissects at length the decision in Choi , beginning with the facts: Page Choi (the Applicant) was a chartered accountant employed by Deloitte Touche Tomatsu (the Respondent). She was considered an excellent employee whose work was nominated for an award.

[2] In July 2012, the Applicant contracted the illness tuberculosis and was away from work ‘sporadically’ until November. Despite the Applicant’s treating doctor declaring her non-contagious and fit to return to work with reduced duties, the Respondent ‘coerced’ her into taking unpaid leave. When she refused, the Respondent repeatedly presented her with a series of separation packages.

Adjectives and Adverbs

I love descriptive words, and in my ideal (desired, coveted, most wished-for) world every noun would be encumbered by at least three adjectives. So it pains me to say that adjectives and adverbs are, most of the time, excellent candidates for deletion.

The resulting sentences are less colourful, but their core meaning remains intact. And if you’re prone to purple prose like me, pruning your adjectives and adverbs can be a simple way to enhance your writing’s readability.

Remove repetition

Repetition isn’t always a bad thing! It can be an effective tool to emphasise points and persuade readers. But if you’re over your word limit, deleting any repeated information can be an easy way to reduce your word count without reducing your essay’s informative content.

Consider the following sentence:

Even though the sentence has a footnote with details about the source, the student has wasted words by repeating those details in the body of their essay.

We may also repeat information because of our writing’s structure . Imagine you’re writing an essay that explores legal theory and tradition in the context of the Uluru Statement from the Heart , with the following structure:

Part I: Introduction –   Provides brief background to the Statement and legal theorists H.L.A. Hart and Ronald Dworkin

Part II: The Uluru Statement from the Heart –   Outlines the Statement’s contents

Part III: The Rule of Recognition –   Explains legal theorist Hart’s rule of recognition

Part IV: The Chain Novel –    Explains legal theorist Dworkin’s chain novel metaphor

Part V: Theoretical Analysis of the Statement –   Restates key parts of the Statement, analysing them in light of the two theories above

Part VI: Conclusion

There is nothing ‘wrong’ with this essay structure. However, Part V is in danger of repeating information already presented in Part II. The repeated information in Part V should not be deleted, though, because it is important that the Statement is fresh in the reader’s mind as they read the essay’s analysis of it in light of the two theories presented in Parts III and IV.

Instead, the student could delete Part II, and distribute any essential information from it between the Introduction and Part V. Deleting Part II would also remove the need to repeat any general information from the Introduction about Hart and Dworkin’s theories in Parts III and IV, because those two sections would now come directly after the introduction.

The revised essay structure would look like this:

Part II: The Rule of Recognition –   Explains legal theorist Hart’s rule of recognition

Part III: The Chain Novel –    Explains legal theorist Dworkin’s chain novel metaphor

Part IV: Theoretical Analysis of the Statement –   Discusses key parts of the Statement, analysing them in light of the two theories above

Part V: Conclusion

So have a look at your essay’s structure and, even if it’s not required, generate a table of contents! That way you’ll have an overview of your structure and can see whether you can reorder the sections to minimise repetition.

Convert phrases to single words

Academic texts are full of indirect, formal-sounding language and students often emulate this in their own writing. Unfortunately, many of these formal expressions don’t use words efficiently.

Consider the following examples in the left column and their one-word equivalents on the right:

These examples appear in Noah A. Messing’s book, The Art of Advocacy (p. 261) .

Reread your essay and look for phrases that use a lot of multiple prepositions. Is there a single word that gets your reader across expresses the same idea?

Convert passive voice to active voice

Writing in the passive voice is grammatical, but this construction tends to use more words than writing in the active voice. For many, active voice is also more readable.

Passive: A policy of secrecy has been pursued by ASIO’s Director-General in line with her professional obligations. (17 words)

Active: ASIO’s Director-General pursued a policy of secrecy in line with her professional obligations. (14 words)

But why stop there? Once you’ve converted the passive voice to active, see if you can rewrite the sentence even more succinctly:

Passive: Concerns were brought to the barrister’s attention by his client only 20 minutes before court was due to begin. (20 words)

Active: The client brought their concerns to the barrister’s attention only 20 minutes before court was due to begin. (19 words)

Active (succinct): The client expressed concerns to their barrister only 20 minutes before court began. (12 words)

Total saving: 8 words

Passive: In Traian v Ware , it was decided by the court that persons seeking to abate a nuisance originating on another party’s land must generally give notice of their intention to abate the nuisance. (34 words)

Active: The court in Traian v Ware decided that persons seeking to abate a nuisance originating on another party’s land must generally give notice of their intention to abate the nuisance. (31 words)

Active (succinct): Persons intending to abate a nuisance originating on another party’s land must generally give notice of this intention ( Traian v Ware ). (22 words)

Total saving: 12 words

Convert negative phrasing to positive phrasing

Messing argues in The Art of Advocacy that negative phrasing is harder for readers to absorb than positive phrasing. He gives the following example on p. 260 (modified slightly for our purposes):

Although this won’t always be the case, converting negative phrasing to positive phrasing can also save you words. Consider this negatively phrased passage from a student essay:

The podcast suggests that prosecutors have misunderstood fundamental parts of the police brief of evidence. This would not be unheard of , the narrator contends, because he personally witnessed an ‘astonishing lapse by top prosecutors’ in an earlier investigation conducted by the same office.

When the sentence is converted to positive phrasing, it is 3 words shorter:

The podcast suggests that prosecutors have misunderstood fundamental parts of the police brief of evidence. This is possible , the narrator contends, because he personally witnessed an ‘astonishing lapse by top prosecutors’ in an earlier investigation conducted by the same office.

As usual, 3 words won’t seem like a lot when you’re hundreds of words over your limit. In fact, no single technique we’ve just covered is likely to substantially reduce your word count. However, if these editing techniques are used in tandem throughout your essay, you can succeed in achieving your word limit and keeping those awesome paragraphs you thought you’d have to delete.

Better still, your reader will thank you for expressing yourself so clearly and succinctly!

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5 Best ways to Make an Essay Shorter

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

Learn about our Editorial Process

If you are like me, you will find that you often struggle to stay within the word count in your essays.

In this article, I will show you exactly how to reduce your word count in your essay.

If you go over the word count in an essay, there are some strategies to make your essay shorter that make sure you keep your marks high and, sometimes, make them even higher.

The trick to going over the word count is seeing this as a positive: you now have the chance to only present your absolute best arguments.

This is a luxury other students in your class just don’t have. Reducing your word count is actually your chance to get even further ahead!

The best essays have no dull, irrelevant or sub-par content. Every paragraph is on-point and designed to win you more and more marks. When editing your work, keep this in mind.

Below, I introduce five important strategies that will help you to reduce your word count in a way that will actually increase your mark!

• Delete your three Worst Paragraphs. …
• Listen for Weaknesses using Google Translate or Microsoft Excel Read-out-Loud.
• Re-Read the Marking Criteria.
• Shorten Paragraphs over 7 Sentences Long.
• Delete Irrelevant Words.

1. Delete your three Worst Paragraphs

I usually aim to go over my word count intentionally so I can creatively make the essay shorter in a way that increases my marks.

If I go over the word count, I can look back over my piece and find my worst performing paragraphs and remove them.

This not only helps me to ensure I present my best work to the teacher, it also forces me to admit that some of my writing is better than others. It keeps me critical of myself and always aiming for improvement.

Removing the worst paragraphs of an essay also ensures there are less boring, pointless or unanalytical sections of an essay. It means that the paragraphs I submit are the best sections – and that the teacher will be impressed throughout the piece.

To assess which paragraphs are best and worst, I do the following things:

• Find the paragraphs with the least or worst references in them. Teachers will scan over a paragraph to assess the quality of the references in them. Paragraphs with minimal referencing, too much referencing of just one source, or only references to non-academic sources, instantly get marked down by the teacher before they’re even read. These are also often the paragraphs that provide the least depth of information. That is because finding sources to reference in a paragraph often leads to adding detail that the source has provided.
• Find the paragraphs that are least convincing. When I re-read my paragraphs, sometimes I just think ‘the argument here is my weakest’. These are the ones I want to cut: they’re ones that won’t get me top marks. Teachers will lower your marks for any paragraph that doesn’t shine – so you’re best removing it.
• Rate your paragraphs out of 10. I often tell my students to delete their three worst paragraphs and they say ‘I like all of them!’ In this case, you will have to get brutal with yourself: rate every paragraph out of 10. This will help you make the hard decisions about which to lose.
• Combine two paragraphs into one. Sometimes I really like one sentence from a paragraph but don’t like the rest. If this is the case for you, have a go at extracting those good sentences from one paragraph and placing them in another one. Then, you can delete the not-so-good sentences from the original paragraph. If you do this, make sure all paragraphs still cohere around one key point.

2. Listen for Weaknesses using Google Translate or Microsoft Excel Read-out-Loud

Google Translate and Microsoft Excel both have read-out-loud options. Google Translate’s option is the easiest.

For Google Translate, simply search for ‘Google Translate’ on your internet search engine (or just click here ) to access it. Then, copy and paste the text into the translate box and press the ‘listen’ button:

For Microsoft Excel, you will need paste the whole essay into any cell and then activate the read out loud option.

This procedure is somewhat more complicated than Google Translate, but if you want to give it a go, you can get instructions from the Microsoft help website and go from there

Hearing your paper read out loud back to you can help you to identify which paragraphs or sentences are worth removing.

Here are some things to keep in mind while listening to the computer read your paper out loud to you:

• If a sentence feels like it’s too long and exhausting to listen to, you can bet your teacher will be exhausted, too;
• If a phrase seems awkward to hear, it will be awkward to read;
• If the paper seems to have lost its focus on the topic area, you’ll need to remove that section or edit it to ensure it links to the essay question.

Pause the read-out-loud each time you find a sentence long or awkward and work on shortening it.

Too often, students think long, complicated sentences with fancy-sounding words will get them marks. In reality, it’s the opposite.

Being able to describe complex concepts in a very easy, understandable way is a skill all top students learn to master.

The read-out-loud option can help you to see your paper from your marker’s perspective. Use it to your advantage and listen out for anything that sounds complicated, confusing, awkward or exhausting. Delete it or shorten it immediately.

Remember, the goal is to have your paper sounding short and clear.

3. Re-Read the Marking Criteria

When editing your work, it is best to have the marking criteria by your side at all times.

The marking criteria is the list of things the teacher is looking for when marking your essay. Sometimes it’s also called:

• Marking Criteria;
• Indicative Content;
• Marking Rubric;
• Learning Outcomes

These should be easy to find. Go to your course webpage (usually on Blackboard, Canvas, or Moodle depending on your university) and find where your teacher has provided details about your assessment. If there are marking criteria, this is where it would be.

Sometimes, teachers don’t provide marking criteria.

If the teacher has simply provided an essay topic or question, that means the chances are they don’t have a list of outcomes they are marking your piece against. In these instances, you will have to simply rely on the essay question.

When you have your marking criteria or essay question by your side, read each paragraph then look back to your marking criteria.

You need to ask yourself:

• Does this paragraph directly answer the essay question or marking criteria?
• Does this paragraph add new information that helps me answer the essay question?

If your paragraph is not linked directly to the essay question or marking criteria, you’ve just identified the paragraph you need to remove to reduce your word count.

4. Shorten Paragraphs over 7 Sentences Long

Teachers hate long paragraphs. Teachers are just like you and me. They get bored very fast.

Chances are, any paragraph over 7 sentences isn’t being fully read. The teacher might have only read the first three sentences and made their judgement about your work based on those three sentences!

That’s why the ideal paragraph should be between 4 and 7 sentences long. This length helps to ensure:

• You haven’t gone off on a tangent;
• You have provided some explanatory or example sentences, but not too many;
• You have focused only on one key idea in the paragraph.

Your paragraphs that are more than 7 sentences long will be your low-hanging fruit for reducing your word count. Read through each of these paragraphs and try to find a way to reduce it to only 6 sentences. Find those sentences that seem to drag on or add nothing useful to your discussion and delete them.

By reducing all paragraphs over 7 sentences long, you won’t only bring your word count down. You will also make your essay much clearer and easy to read.

In this way, you’re both reducing your word count and increasing your mark.

5. Delete Irrelevant Words

Going through your paper and deleting irrelevant words can often save you several hundred words and could shorten your essay enough to get you back within the required word count.

Irrelevant words are words that are overly descriptive, redundant, too emotive, or in first-person. These words tend to get the same point across in far more words than necessary.

Furthermore, you will find that in removing overly descriptive, redundant, emotive and first-person words, your work will be much improved.

This is because academic writing is supposed to be formal and direct. Writing too many words can make your marker think you have poor communication skills and do not understand academic writing requirements.

Check below for examples of how to reduce your word count by removing overly descriptive, redundant, overly emotive and first-person language.

• Overly Descriptive: The amazing thing about the industrial revolution was that it brought about enormous changes to the ways people transported themselves and communicated across the globe in such a short amount of time.
• Alternative: The industrial revolution brought about rapid changes in transportation and communication globally.
• Redundant: The sum of five hundred dollars.
• Alternative: $500
• Redundant: It was quite unique.
• Alternative: It was unique.
• Redundant: It was triangular in shape.
• Alternative: It was triangular.
• Too Emotive: The disgusting thing about communism is that it refuses to allow poor everyday people to improve their lives by creating their own businesses that might flourish and really help our their communities, too!
• Alternative: Communism prevents citizens from starting businesses that can help bring people and their communities out of poverty.
• In first Person: In summary, I believe that the Industrial Revolution was good for the whole world.
• Alternative: In summary, the Industrial Revolution was good for the world.
• In first Person: This author argues that Thomas Edison was the greatest mind of his time.
• Alternative: Thomas Edison was the greatest mind of his time.

Making your essay shorter can sometimes be an absolute nightmare.

By following the above five steps, you can find easy ways to reduce your word count while also improving your work.

If you are an advanced or ambitious student, you might find that you always go over the word count. This isn’t necessarily a problem.

Try to look at going over the word count as a positive thing. Going over the word count means you have the freedom to only present your best work. You have the chance to delete anything that isn’t absolutely focused on gaining you marks.

In the end, your final submission will be cleaner, easier to read and easier to mark. Hopefully, this will see your marks growing even more!

Let’s review one more time the five top ways the best students reduce their word count in an essay:

Five Top Ways to Make an Essay Shorter

• Delete your three Worst Paragraphs
• Use Google Translate or Microsoft Excel to Read your Paper out Loud
• Re-Read the Marking Criteria
• Shorten Paragraphs over 6 Sentences Long
• Delete Irrelevant Words

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 10 Reasons you’re Perpetually Single
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 20 Montessori Toddler Bedrooms (Design Inspiration)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 21 Montessori Homeschool Setups
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 101 Hidden Talents Examples

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How to decrease your word count, without ruining your point.

Here's our comprehensive guide to writing shorter sentences, without affecting the strength of your argument

Hugo Whitehead

Whether you're at school, university or writing your thirteenth book, you’ve probably got an incurable habit of writing more than you're supposed to. One minute you're struggling to get words on the page, the next you're way over your required word count.

To ease your worries, we've put together a comprehensive guide to writing shorter sentences, without changing the meaning of your content.

Check what is being counted:

First of all, check what is actually being counted. Often, your bibliography, footnotes, appendixes, and image captions aren’t counted in the word limit, so make sure you aren’t including them accidentally.

Watch out for repetition:

Without even realizing it, people will over explain and repeat themselves. Sometimes even good writers will include information twice. For example, “I went to university at the University of Technology Sydney”. Did you notice it? I didn't need to say “to university” because it is already stated in “University of Technology Sydney”. Instead, I should have said “I went to the University of Technology Sydney”. It might sound simple, but you’ll probably want to get someone else to read over your work to find these, as they’re rather hard to catch.

Remove adverbs:

Adverbs are usually unnecessary, and can weaken your writing. A quick thesaurus search will help you find a stronger synonym. For example, changing "very neat" to "immaculate" sounds better, and is one word shorter. You can find out more about the impact of adverbs on your writing in this article .

Remove adjectives:

In some cases, there is no need to over describe something. Especially, if you are trying to cut down you word count, you don’t need to say the day was cloudless, there was little wind, humidity was perfect and it was a lovely 27 degrees. Shorten it by using ideas that are familiar to people e.g. ‘it was a perfect summer day’. Your readers will know what a perfect summer day is like so you don’t need to waste words explaining it.

Use contractions:

This is a rather sneaky trick, but by contracting two words into one, you're easily reducing your word count without changing the meaning at all. For example, change “I have” to “I’ve” or “Would not” to “Wouldn’t”. Be careful though, if you are writing in formal context for an essay, CV or assignment, it’s best to avoid using contractions as they give a rather colloquial tone to your writing.

Use commas:

Sentences are typically used to convey one idea. However, if you can link two of your sentences together to discuss the same idea, do it. By using a comma or conjunction to link two sentences, you're bound to remove some words in the middle. For example, “Emily was so mean to me. She used to bully me” can be changed to “Emily was so mean because she used to bully me”. Make sure you don’t try and link every sentence as it will ruin the flow of your writing.

Eliminate wordy transitions:

Most good writers will try and link their paragraphs together with some form of transition. Whilst this gives flow from paragraph to paragraph, they can be wordy. Try and use a single word to link sentences. For example, use ‘Additionally’ instead of ‘In addition’, or ‘Opposingly’ instead of ‘In contrast’.

Swap out phrases for words:

From time to time, writers will use common phrases or idioms to help explain a situation. They are an easy way to cut out words. For examples, change “Volkswagen Golfs are a dime a dozen in Sydney” for “Volkswagen Golfs are common in Sydney”. Another example is “Jimmy was feeling under the weather on Monday after a big weekend”, which could be changed to “Jimmy was sick after a big weekend”.

Pick your best work:

If you have gone through you work and can’t find any easy spots to reduce your word count, the best thing to do is to re-read your writing and determine what your strongest points are. Focus on a few main points and keep the parts that you feel have the strongest impact on your reader.

It’s not an easy process. Cutting down your word count is a good skill to have, and no doubt you’ll have to do it at some point in the future.

Let Outwrite do it:

Can’t be bothered to do this all yourself? Check out Outwrite’s paraphrasing tool . It can help you rewrite sentences to make them shorter, clearer, and more compelling. Just sign up to our Pro plan, set your Rewrite goal, then get to work!

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How to Avoid Going Over an Essay Word Limit

Last Updated: July 11, 2022 Approved

This article was co-authored by Diane Stubbs . Diane Stubbs is a Secondary English Teacher with over 22 years of experience teaching all high school grade levels and AP courses. She specializes in secondary education, classroom management, and educational technology. Diane earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Delaware and a Master of Education from Wesley College. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 100% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 260,116 times.

Many people have trouble writing an essay to a specified length. It can be hard to keep the length of an essay in mind when you are writing quickly and focusing on putting your ideas into words. However, with some organization and attention to editing, you should be able to keep any essay under its assigned word limit. This guide will help you keep the quality of your essay strong while still respecting the word limit you were given.

Writing to a Specific Length

• For example, if your teacher gives you the prompt of "What is the most important invention of the 19th century?" your thesis statement could be "The most important invention of the 19th century was the steam engine."
• Having a clear thesis statement helps you to focus your writing. This allows you to minimize rambling and off-topic sections that could lengthen your essay unnecessarily.

• The number of points you will need to support will depend on how long your essay is supposed to be. Plan on only having two or three paragraphs per page. If you are writing a 2 to 3 page paper, you will likely only need a handful of points. If you are writing a 10 to 12 page paper, you will need a lot more points in your outline. [3] X Research source
• Consider adding bullet-pointed thoughts under each of your main supporting points. This can help you start to build the structure of each of your paragraphs as you outline.

• For example, remove anecdotes that increase word count. Don't follow up side points from an anecdote just because they're interesting. All of the content of the essay should be there because it directly supports your thesis statement.
• If you do accidentally go off on a tangent or an aside, cut them later. If you begin cutting content while you are writing the rough draft, you'll have less to work with in the end.

• In Microsoft Word, select the "Tools" submenu from the Toolbar and then select "Word Count." [4] X Research source
• In other programs, you may need to look in different places. You can typically use your "Help" menu to find the word count feature.
• Alternatively, an online word counting tool will automatically display the number of words and characters.
• Handwritten pages typically average about 100 to 200 words per page. The number of words on your pages depends on how big your writing is. [5] X Research source

• Try reading the essay out loud to make sure that its words flow.
• Have a peer or friend check your work and help remove the unnecessary additions. A neutral set of eyes can often prove helpful in spotting repetition.

• However, most teachers and professors frown on attempts to hide additional information in footnotes. Footnotes are meant to reference and occasionally bolster points, not to provide additional information that you couldn't cram in anywhere else.

Reducing Your Word Count

• If you trim the excess after you have written your essay, you're more likely to have a clear and concise essay in the end.
• Write first and edit later. If you constantly worry about word limits, you will often end up discarding ideas that add to your paper.

• Verbs such as "ask for" or "put up with" can often be replaced with single verbs like "request" or "tolerate."
• Replace "at the same time" with "simultaneously" and "by the same token" with "similarly."
• The adverb "immediately" can be used in lieu of phrases such as "right now" and "as soon as."
• Replace full clauses such as "It is clear that" and "It should be obvious that" with single adverbs such as "clearly," "obviously," or "evidently."
• A sentence with "the reason why... is that..." can be rewritten with just the conjunction "because." For example: "The reason why ice floats is that..." becomes simply: "Ice floats because..."

• In fact, taking extraneous words out makes your sentences stronger. For example, the statement "I am actually a great writer" sounds stronger when it is phrased simply as "I am a great writer."

• Sentences such as "Where is she going to ?" and "Where is the house at ?" have unnecessary prepositions. They do not have to be overt if they aren't followed by the object in these constructions.

• Decide when you will make each of your points and only mention them there. If you find yourself mentioning a point repeatedly and it doesn't do anything to support that specific paragraph, then delete it.

• An example of too much hedging is: "There is a chance that the man might possibly come today." This sentence sounds better as: "There is a chance that the man will come today."
• "I think that" is often an unnecessary form of hedging. Instead of writing, "I think that," give the reason why you think so. For example, just state that "Variable A will likely increase variable B because...."

• You can also work on combining the first and second sentences of your paragraphs. Sometimes you can combine them and reduce your word count, while still retaining the underlying meaning of both of them.

• Cut excess ideas but don't delete them completely if you think they have merit. Place them in a new document for another essay or for free writing inspiration.

Expert Q&A

• Many teachers place a word limit as a general guideline, not as an exact rule. If this is the case, then going over a little bit won't be a major problem. What teachers don't want are gigantic papers that have not been edited or well thought out. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• While passive voice has a place, particularly in the methods sections of scientific papers, you should generally avoid it. Even if it allows you to save a word here or there on the length of your paper, the passive voice tends to make your writing less clear and direct, and your tone more stilted and formal. Use sparingly if your aim is to write with clarity and concision. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/thesis-statements/
• ↑ https://essaysnark.com/2011/10/tips-on-cutting-it-down-to-size-overlimit-essays/
• ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/606/02/
• ↑ https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Show-the-word-count-and-more-3c9e6a11-a04d-43b4-977c-563a0e0d5da3
• ↑ https://www.reference.com/education/many-handwritten-pages-equal-one-typed
• ↑ http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ld/resources/writing/diagnostic/writingtoolong/writingtoolong-23b
• ↑ https://targetstudy.com/one-word-substitution/
• ↑ http://grammarist.com/redundancies/
• ↑ https://www.oxford-royale.co.uk/articles/essay-editing-tips.html

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Automatic Word Count Reducer

Summarize any writing piece with this word count reducer in 3 steps:

• Add the passage you want to cut.
• Choose the desired number of sentences to keep in the passage.
• Click "Reduce" and enjoy the result.

Number of sentences in results:

Original ratio

100 % in your summary

Charachters

Why may you need to use an automatic online word count shortener?

The need to preserve a specific word count is called the essay's " scope " – an extent of analysis a student should not exceed in a particular assignment. In these cases, a paraphrasing generator that can remove redundant words and help you keep within the assigned word count.

• 🔢 What Is Essay Word Count?

✍️ Word Count for Various Essays

• ✂️ Tips to Shorten an Essay

🔗 References

🔢 what is essay word count & why does it matter.

As you will quickly notice at school, college, or university, every assignment contains specific instructions that cover the word count your home task should include.

Why are they important?

This is done primarily to minimize your effort and help you plan the working schedule. For instance, you will understand that you need to reserve 2 days for a 3,000 -word essay and can manage a 500 -word essay in 2 or 3 hours.

Besides, the word count sets the scope for your research; you will surely need to check fewer literary sources for a 500-word essay and visit a library a couple of times to write a large-scale 5,000-word study.

In other words, the word count of your essay task sets the limits for your study effort and gives you hints about the depth of research you need to conduct to meet the professor's requirements.

A practical guide may also help you determine the time and scope of various academic assignments . Here is a comparative table with word counts for assignments at different study levels.

✂️ Tips to Reduce Word Count in an Essay

If you're not ready to use a word count reducer and want to do everything manually, here are a couple of workable techniques for word count optimization.

• Avoid redundant beginnings . It's good practice to start a sentence with a subject. This way, you will avoid extensive "running starts," such as "as a matter of fact," "summing the presented evidence," etc. Your sentences will be simpler to read and free from redundant phrasing.
• Use active voice . Passive-voice phrases always add a couple of redundant words to a sentence. If you don't really need to disguise the doer of the action, you should use active voice only. You'll see how neat and clean your text will sound.
• Remove adjectives and adverbs . Adjectives and adverbs are frequently used in literary language, as they add vivid details and shades of meaning to notional words. However, they often create clutter in academic writing and are fully avoidable in most cases. So, you should consider removing most of them to make the text more readable and shorter.
• Don't exceed 25 words in a sentence . Academic writers are often tempted to sound more scholarly with long, overloaded sentences, including many compounds. In reality, such writing efforts rarely pay off, as they confuse the readers and disguise the core message the writer wanted to deliver. Thus, it's better to divide long sentences into several parts. Using this trick, you can avoid redundant transitions and simplify the content flow.
• One idea at a time . A logical progression of an academic text is a vital criterion of readability. Thus, you should explain relationships between variables or focus on one supporting argument at a time, avoiding a discussion of several factors in one go. This technique will improve your text's comprehension score and free readers from overly complex argumentation, causing a cognitive overload.

In all other cases – a lack of time, no desire to go through the entire text again – welcome to our word reduction tool that will make your editing job a breeze. Try our title maker and paraphraser to write and polish your essay quickly.

❓ Word Count Reducer FAQ

❓ how to count words in an essay.

It's pretty easy to control your word count in an essay. You should activate this function in your Word file, and a small tab at the bottom of your page will update you about the document's current word count as you type the essay's content. You can also click on "Statistics" in the Word menu to learn additional statistics about your text, such as the number of characters with and without spaces and the number of lines, sentences, and paragraphs you currently have.

❓ What is the word count for a college essay?

Word count is a specific number of words (or a range of words) that your professor assigns for writing. For instance, your university tutor may require students to write from 1,000 to 1,500 words in one essay. Thus, you can't compose fewer than 1,000 words (the paper should be at least 1,001 words), and you shouldn't write more than 1,500 words. A standard threshold for exceeding the assigned word count is 10% (so it's okay to submit a 1,650-word essay).

❓ How to reduce word count in an essay?

There are many techniques for word count reduction, such as cutting the articles, conjunctions, transition phrases, and running starts from the text. You may also consider changing passive-voice phrases to active voice or replacing some complex, sophisticated phrases with simpler words.

❓ What does a summarizer do?

A free text compressor available on our website can reduce the word count of your essay by removing redundant words that don't hold any vital meaning and can be removed without losing the text's quality. You can reduce the word count and combine several sentences into one automatically to achieve high-quality text reduction.

• How to reduce word count without reducing content
• How to Increase or Decrease Your Paper’s Word Count
• Summarizing - Academic Integrity at MIT
• Summarizing - University of Toronto Writing Advice
• Writer's Manual: Academic Summary - LibGuides UU

Exciting News!

I’ve joined the team at magellan college counseling and now provide an even greater depth and breadth of college guidance. .

• Aug 20, 2021

10 Tips to Trim Your College Essay

Updated: Sep 25, 2021

Is your college essay over the word count? Do you need space to add just a couple more key sentences? Use these tips to reduce words and strengthen your writing.

1. Eliminate adverbs

Look at your use of the word “very” and “ly” words, such as really , extremely , truly , completely , and absolutely .

Do they enhance your story?

Or are they redundant?

Example...(redundant)

He screamed loudly becomes He screamed.

Is there a better way to write it? Can you replace the “-ly” with a stronger adjective or verb?

He ran quickly becomes He raced.

She ran quickly becomes She sprinted.

When appropriate, revise or delete adverbs.

You do not need to remove every adverb, but limiting them (approximately one to every 300 words) will strengthen your writing.

2. Use adjectives sparingly

Writers often use adjectives to beef up their nouns. Instead, use stronger nouns.

A difficult problem becomes a quandary.

A huge hill becomes a mountain.

3. Omit unnecessary transition words

Look for a single word or short phrase followed by a comma.

These include because of this, in fact, first, last, hopefully, to be frank, quite frankly and in conclusion .

Highlight the words or phrases, then read the sentences without them. Does the sentence still make sense?

Ultimately, I realized failure teaches lessons for future success.

I realized failure teaches lessons for future success.

Delete the adverbs that do not add to the meaning.

4. Replace helping (auxiliary) verbs and use a stronger verb

He is going to be attending becomes He will attend.

I was thinking becomes I thought.

I am an avid reader becomes I read avidly.

5. Turn some nouns into verbs

I concluded is better than I came to the conclusion.

This painting portrays life and beauty is better than This painting is a portrayal of life and beauty.

6. Turn a passive sentence into an active sentence

Revise It was impressed upon me from an early age... to

I learned at an early age...

The sentence becomes shorter and more “action-oriented” and puts the focus on "you" the writer.

Pro tip: Here's a quick video where my colleague, Eveyln, teaches students how to turn a passive sentence into "I" focused action sentence.

7. Use contractions

I could not believe... becomes I couldn't believe...

Contractions sound friendlier, more personal, and more genuine. And they save word space.

8. Eliminate most of your thats.

Read the sentence without them. Remove them if they do not add to the sentence.

I want to read that book. [keep - it adds]

The book that I read was long. [delete - does not add]

The book I read was long.

9. Use possessive nouns

Read through your essay and look for "of the" phrasing when describing a noun.

Use the noun's possessive form to eliminate words.

The intricacy of the design amazed me.

The design's intricacy amazed me.

10. Use the plural when possible

Articles like "the" and "a" can be cut by converting the noun from the singular to plural.

Whenever I eat a tamale, I'm transported back in time.

Whenever I eat tamales I'm transported back in time.

It may seem like these revision strategies save only a couple of words per edit, but you will find they add up quickly. Use these ten tips to make your essay more compact and readable.

Bonus tip to gauge your essay's readability

Get a “read” on your writing’s readability with the Hemmingway App .

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Some tricks to reduce word count in academic writing.

More often than not, you end up needing to reduce word count in your academic writing. This can be a painful task, because you don’t want to lose the substance of your writing, but you’ve got no choice if you want to hand the piece in as required.

(By the way, you’re reading a site about East Asian Studies – if you’re interested in that then you could try an online Chinese course or an online Japanese course .)

There are one or two things you can do to reduce word count without affecting the substance of the writing, though. One thing to remember is that reducing word count actually means reducing the number of spaces (i.e. word delimiters) in the text. It’s not about making it faster to read, necessarily.

Also, make the following quick checks that might let you cut out a lot of word count without making any changes:

• Does the bibliography count?
• Do footnotes count?
• Does the abstract count?

Quite often those can take at least a thousand words off on their own.

Reduce word count by simplifying your style

The goal here is to reduce your writing down to its bear bones, leaving little else behind. This may make your writing less pleasant to read, but realistically you can’t be marked down for that. This isn’t a literature contest - it’s about getting your ideas down on paper in the least amount of words possible.

Also remember that the person reviewing your work and giving you credit is most likely going to scan through it at high speed. They may not even notice your prose style particularly, instead looking for the important content to follow the thread of your argument. In that case, you’re actually making the experience more pleasant for them by cutting out the extras in your writing.

Delete adverbs

Adverbs are usually very deletable in academic writing. At the very least, adverb-verb pairs can be converted into a better chosen verb on its own. For example, “dropped rapidly” could be replaced with “plummeted”.

Tip: using ctrl + f to search through your document for “ly” is a quick way to find a lot of adverbs.

Delete adjectives

Whilst adjectives make your writing livelier and more interesting to read, you can nearly always sacrifice them to reduce word count in academic writing. You probably won’t lose credit for duller writing, but you will for exceeding the word count.

Instead of using adjectives, try to keep your prose clear and straightforward, and get straight to the point. Avoid detailed descriptions unless they are absolutely necessary for following your argument and you are sure that the reader needs the detail.

Delete connectives

This is another tip that will reduce the flow of the text but is effective in reducing word count. Rather than having longer sentences linked with “and” or “but”, just delete those connectives and have two separate sentences. This will reduce the word count.

Again, remember that your reader will most likely be scanning your text at high speed, not reading it in close detail. Keeping everything clear and simple will make this process easier for them.

Delete prepositions

This tactic is a little harder to explain. The idea is to convert chunks of text that use a lot of prepositions (thus adding spaces and increasing your word count) into rephrased, shorter versions without prepositions.

For example, you could replace “tea from China” with “Chinese tea”. It’s only one word, but this adds up if done consistently over a long document.

“Of” is frequently a good candidate for deletion. You can often avoid using “of” just by changing the word order. For example, “writer of fiction” could just as well be “fiction writer”.

Delete auxiliary verbs

As with adjectives and adverbs above, auxiliary verbs might make your sentences more aesthetic if read in close detail, but that shouldn’t be your goal with academic writing. As always, keep it concise and to the point.

The auxiliary verbs you might want to remove in academic writing are ones like “could”, “may”, “might” and so on. These can be useful to express tentativeness, which is often a good thing in academic writing, but sometimes it’s just not necessary. Say what you mean directly and drop the extra verbs wherever you can.

Replace phrases with words

There are certain phrases in English that have become fixed and are used repeatedly in the same form. You can often replace these with single words to reduce your word count.

Again, there isn’t a set rule for identifying these, but go through your text looking for phrases of several words that seem to be expressing one concept. Whenever you spot one, use a thesaurus to identify one word which conveys the same idea.

Eliminate redundancy

You’re likely to have achieved this in steps above, but there may still be some redundancy in your writing that’s increasing the word count unnecessarily. Definitely delete sequences of descriptive or explanatory words and replace them with one word that summarises the list, even if you lose some of the nuance.

Beyond that, eliminating redundancy is about finding parts of your writing that inadvertently say the same thing twice. You can test sentences by deleting various words and seeing if the meaning actually stays pretty much the same. In those cases, always stick with the deletion.

Reduce word count by rearranging your content

Beyond the word and phrase level tricks above, you can achieve some big reductions in word count by making some structural edits to your work.

Reduce the introduction and conclusion

The introduction and conclusion are hugely important parts of a piece of academic writing. Remember, though, that their main function is really to summarise. Give a very concise explanation of your work in the introduction, and reaffirm and back-up your reasoning for it all in the conclusion.

Beyond that, you’re probably wasting word count. There’s no need to go into a lot of detail in these sections - that’s what the main body is for. These sections are all about summarising and condensing. Also remember that you should not include new information in the conclusion - keep it all in the main body.

Cut out repetitive chapter-linking sections

Another habit that a lot of people have in academic writing is to ‘tie off’ each section with a mini-summary and then ‘refresh’ the reader again in the beginning of the next one. This is redundant and wastes a lot of word count.

Try to keep section closings extremely concise and short. The reader has just read the content in that section and shouldn’t need anything beyond a short summary of key points to keep things clear.

You can probably delete the ‘refresher’ at the beginning of sections entirely. Just get right into what that section is about. Leave it up to the reader to follow your argument, and make sure that the main content enables them to do so.

Got any more tips for reducing word count in academic writing? Please share them in the comments below!

Other resources for reducing your word count

• Editing DOWN for Word Count -  Accentuate Author Services
• Word Count Limit Got You Down? Try These 6 Editing Tricks - The Expat Freelancer
• How to Reduce Prolific Prepositions - Write Tight Site
• academic writing
• dissertation

Text Compactor: Online Shorten Essay Tool

It cannot be easier to use our text compactor. Insert any text into the given window, choose the needed settings, and press the button. The results will appear in seconds!

For a person engaged in academic writing, it is crucial to save time wherever possible. There is nothing more crushing than realizing that a source you were using doesn’t fit your topic. This is especially true when it happens halfway through the text. The hours you've spent reading are lost forever, and you still have to look for new sources. This is exactly why we use essay compactors – to avoid situations such as these.

This isn’t the only reason for using summarizers. They can also be useful when you're working on your own texts. The main aims might be a) to create summaries to use as examples and b) to shorten your writing. Below, our team has discussed these points in further detail. We have also offered advice on how to effectively condense an essay on your own.

📈 Why Is a Text Compactor Useful?

👍 tips to make a text compact, 👌 online text compactor: the benefits, 🔗 references.

During your studies, you may encounter a very diverse set of tasks. You may have to write a synopsis , analyze an article, compose an essay, etc. Online tools like paragraph compactors are meant to help you with all kinds of assignments. They are free, quick, and ready to use whenever!

Besides, a text compactor has the following benefits:

• Reduces information to key ideas. When composing your papers or evaluating the work of others, you should be able to summarize the presented arguments and conclusions. Online tools automatically select and reveal all the critical elements from the given text.
• Helps to memorize and understand the data. Remembering hundreds or even thousands of sentences at a time is almost impossible. A single one can go on for an entire paragraph and have complicated jargon. Summarizing tools can shorten your sentences to a manageable length, helping you understand and memorize them better.
• Saves time. Summaries, in general, cut down the reading time. It is one of the reasons research papers typically include an abstract before the main text. In addition, digital summarizers will save you a lot of time writing and rewriting the summaries yourself.
• Assists in reviewing materials. When you study for your exams, you have tons of information to go through. If you insert the text of an article or a book chapter into the text compactor, you will immediately see its meaning. This way, you save precious revision time and keep your material organized.
• Creates abstracts, abridged texts, and more. As mentioned above, you will get many different assignments during your studies. Sometimes, you will have to write an abstract for a project. Or you might need to give a speech based on an academic paper. Online text summarization is an easy solution for these tasks and many others.

You may find it challenging to decide which elements of your work are essential. This becomes particularly worrying when your deadlines are approaching and your paper is still well above the word count. That’s why sentence compactors turn out to be life-saviors for many students.

If you insist on doing the work yourself, we have a couple of tips for you. Pay attention to them, and you won’t have any trouble shortening your writing.

Two short sentences are better than a single long one.

Lengthy sentences can be challenging to follow. They are usually packed with numerous prepositions and linking words that can be easily avoided. Breaking up drawn-out sentences into several parts will help reduce text complexity. Just pick a linking phrase or comma that you can replace with a dot and do so. But first, check what punctuation marks you should keep .

Cut down on filler words.

We are familiar with “parasite” words that appear in speech (such as “like,” “kind of,” “you know,” etc.). We may not even notice that we often use them in essay writing. Fillers are words and expressions that don’t contribute to the text’s meaning. For example, phrases like “as a matter of fact” don’t add any new information and only take up space. Try to delete them all from your writing.

Try not to sound redundant.

Like fillers, redundancies are pointless repetitions that can be removed without losing meaning. To illustrate, in the expression “final outcome,” the first word is unnecessary. That’s because both of them mean the same thing. Modifying text to get rid of the redundancies can significantly shorten it.

Stick with the active voice whenever possible.

It may seem that the passive voice sounds more professional and scholarly. However, it can also make sentences longer, more awkward, and harder to understand. Consider switching to the active voice wherever you can. It will improve readability and save space. Remember, you can always use an online sentence shortener. It will provide you with the results in seconds!

We hope that our tool will help you in your work and that you have found our text compactor useful. We have another option if you didn't like the summary you received or expected something different. Try our alternative summary generator , which is just as easy and quick to use!

How to Shorten an Essay

It is critical to make an essay more concise while maintaining its persuasiveness when shortening it. Keeping the vital arguments and evidence in the text is essential, while redundancies and complicated structures can be safely removed.

How to Shorten a Speech

Your presentation may serve various purposes. When you’re shortening it, the most important thing is not to lose the main message. Highlight the key points and use as simple and concise language as possible. This way, you can communicate your ideas effectively in less time.

How to Shorten a Paragraph

According to the rules of academic writing, one paragraph should convey one main idea. This idea is formulated in the topic sentence, and the rest sentences support and confirm it. Your task here is to preserve the meaning of the topic sentence and not lose key evidence and arguments; you can throw away unnecessary details.

• When to Summarize, Paraphrase, and Quote – The Writing Center, George Mason University
• Writing Concisely – The Writing Center, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Eliminating Wordiness – Writing Resources, Hamilton College

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Writing a 400 Word Essay: Length and How to write it Well

400 word essay

Often, students are given tasks or assignments that require them to come up with written works that have a word count limit. When students are given word limits as part of the instructions, they are required to adhere to the rules lest they lose points.

There are various word count limits and this article will focus on essays with a 400-word limit. 

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What is a 400-Word Essay?

A 400-word essay is a short piece of written work. This essay is assigned to students by their instructors to test their knowledge concerning a topic that had been taught and their ability to organize their thoughts concisely. 

400-word essays are commonly assigned for less complex academic works such as discussion boards, personal statements, formal/informal letters, and other simpler academic genres.

Though this is the case, some complex academic genres may require students to come up with 400-word essays.

Such genres may include but are not limited to abstracts, proposals, and project outlines. 

While it is true that some 400-word essays may be part of a complex academic paper, we have some occupations that require professionals to write short works because they are expected to be brief and straight to the point.

Those professionals include communications specialists, journalists, and lawyers. 

From an academic point of view, why should 400-word essays be short as well as concise? Well. Such essays are typically shorter than other academic essays.

As we shall note later in this article, a 400-word essay is less than 2 pages, meaning that it will not require students to expound a lot on their points or provide a lot of examples to elaborate on issues. 

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How to Write a 400-Word Essay

As aforementioned, 400-word essays are meant to allow you to express your thoughts in the fewest and most concise words.

Therefore, you need to follow this guide whenever you are writing a 400-word essay to ensure that your readers understand your arguments quickly and in a short time. 

1. Conduct Research on your Topic

The first and most important step before drafting your 400-word essay is to conduct thorough research on your topic. It may be tempting to write your essay from ideas that have been directly derived from your mind.

This is not recommended because the essay will lack new or challenging ideas. It will also lack an academic appeal or credibility because it will be based on what you know or have experienced – not anything new. 

2. Coming up with an Outline

The second step of writing a 400-word essay is to create a plan on how to organize your arguments and findings from the research you have conducted.

The plan is in the form of an outline that will help you organize your essay while sticking to the main subject. Think of an outline as a skeleton and the main essay as the meat.

The skeleton is the basic structure of your essay from which content can be added to create the complete essay. Therefore, an outline is written in point form from the introduction, the body paragraphs, and the conclusion (we shall discuss this later).

3. Structuring your Essay

Since you have already conducted thorough research concerning your essay and came up with an outline, you can begin drafting your work. The 400-word essay should always begin with a title because the title dictates what the essay is all about.

The title should be short with main words capitalized. Your essay’s title should be a summary of your entire essay.

A 400-word essay has three major parts: an introduction paragraph, body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph.

The introduction paragraph introduces the essay to the readers. It should begin with a hook to ensure that the readers are captivated.

It should then provide the purpose of the essay and end with a thesis statement. Since you are writing a 400-word essay, limit your introduction to between 50 and 70 words. 

The body paragraphs of the 400-word essay contain individual points that should be explained and illustrated within individual paragraphs. Always ensure that a paragraph only contains a single point.

The basic structure of a body paragraph is point, illustration, and explanation. A body barograph begins by providing a single point that relates to the thesis statement. This is followed by an illustration or making the point clear using research findings. Explanation of the point follows by justifying your perspective or idea using scientific skills and/or logic. 

The conclusion paragraph is the last part of your 400-word essay that summarizes your main points or arguments. It should also not exceed 70 words since it is a brief restatement of the thesis statement, a summary of main points, and your concluding remarks. 

When you complete drafting your 400-word essay, ensure that you proofread your work and include references to the sources of information. Such sources should come from your research and should be peer-reviewed. 

Examples of 400-Word Essay Topics

Essay topics for 400-word essays are many. Some of them include: 

1. Global Warming 

2. My favorite food

3. My aim in life 

4. Importance of education

How Long is a 400-Word Essay?

In terms of pages, a 400-word essay should be one-and-a-half (1.5) pages in length if the page is double spaced.

The length is directly proportional to the wideness of a page’s spacing. In terms of paragraphs should be about 4 to 6 in number.

When it comes to the number of sentences in a 400-word essay, the estimation is about 20 to 27 sentences. 

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Frequently Asked Questions

What a 400-word essay looks like.

Such an essay contains about 4 to 6 paragraphs with the first paragraph being the introduction. It is followed by 2 to 3 body paragraphs and a 1-paragraph conclusion. It is typically less than 1.5 pages. 

Are 400 Words Considered an Essay?

Yes. 400 words are considered an assay because there is a topic, an introduction with a thesis statement, body paragraphs containing supporting points, a concluding paragraph, and references. 

How long is a 400-Word Paragraph?

While it is not recommended to have a 400-word paragraph, it would probably be between 1 and 1.5 pages if you follow the academically recommended line spacing (double-spacing). 

With over 10 years in academia and academic assistance, Alicia Smart is the epitome of excellence in the writing industry. She is our chief editor and in charge of the writing department at Grade Bees.

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400 Word Essay Examples

Rubber, rise of an essential commodity.

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Painting a room

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Correlational Research

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Legal and Ethical Issues in Business: Drug Use and Privacy

Traditional forms of media vs. the modern ones.

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The Only Good Indian

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Modeling, Prototyping and CASE Tools: The Inventions to Support the Computer Engineering

Divorce reform: “gender and families” by scott coltrane and michele adams.

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The Problem at the Agency and Negative Impacts on the Department and Patients

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Collective Bargaining in the Public Sector

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Formulating a Research Question in Action Research

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Treatment of Antisocial Behaviour in Children

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The art of start

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Australia, Asia, and the World

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The Way to Wild Place and Back to Civilization

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The Evaluation of People’s Perception of Self

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Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire)

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The Local Inhabitants of the Mountain Side

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Amount of Safety Stock to be carried for Goldfield’s Electronics

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Philosophy of Libertarianism

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Lighting System: Incandescent or Fluorescent Lamps

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The Problem of Speech Genres

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Why Do Projects Fail?

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Briefing the CEO on the Organization’s Financial Status

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Following the Tracks of the Case Study: When Trust Stretches too Far

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The Mobile Phone in the Education System

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Competition and Oligopolistic Behaviors in the Airlines Industry

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Planet Earth: Mountains

Attitude of being right.

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Conservationists and Biopiracy in Cuba and Canada

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The Utilitarianism Theory in Society

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The War of 1812 in the American History

The leadership theories: followership and servant leadership.

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The Use of Social Media in Marketing

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Racial and Ethnic Politics in Latin America

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Advantage of Hong Kong Relative

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Urbanisation Provides Potential Socio-Economic Benefits for Developing Countries

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Concept of the Learning and Learning Theories in Education

Why intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic motivation.

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Proposal to Supply Coffee to Peter’s Doughnuts

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Blackberry Messenger and the Older People

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The Concept of Intellectualism

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Concept in Financial Accounting

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Latino Population: Heterogeneity, Migration, Acculturation and Health

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Bioinformatics: Pathogen Profiling Efforts

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“Different Societies, Shared Futures” by David Reeve

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Film Studies: “Double Suicide” by Masahiro Shinoda

• Subjects: Art Film Studies

Cultural Studies: What is Folklore?

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Fast Food Industry and Its Impacts

• Subjects: Health & Medicine Healthy Nutrition

Ms. Gregorio’s Concept of Education

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The Nivea Skin Care Product Advertisement

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Utilitarian Ethics: Shooting Down Flight 93

Role of food in cultural studies: globalization and exchange of food, consumers: “the paradox of choice” by schwartz barry.

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The Role of Leadership in Organizational Change

Language: the art of translation.

• Subjects: Importance of Language Linguistics

Baltimore City Hall as an Example of Classical Architecture

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The Positive Aspects of Tourism in Iraq

• Subjects: Tourism Trips and Tours

New Imperialism’ Role in the World History

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America as a Policeman of the World

Mashreq bank’s business environment, what makes a leader.

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The Defamation Law in the UAE

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Recruitment and Selection Process Analysis

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Riordan Manufacturing: Organization Performance Measurement

The congress of vienna and the concept of peace, qualitative research: methods and process, multiple measures: ways of student achievement assessment.

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The Art of Academic Writing

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Solar Energy: Definition and Ways of Usage

• Subjects: Environment Environmental Management

Egypt Great Cry in “The Ten Commandments” Film

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China’s Economic Development and Social Problems

Israeli-palestinian conflict: optimistic prognosis.

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Joysun’s Cold Chain Logistics Implementation

Pedagogical scenarios: teaching arabic.

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English Language Arts and Common Core State Standards

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Intervention for Children with Hearing Impairments

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Sexuality According to Playboy

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“The Value of Formal Planning for Strategic Decisions” Armstrong (1982)

Big data and corporate social responsibility, inclusion in early childhood education, wildfire forensic company’s risk assessment.

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Quality Management: Business Excellence Models

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The Union House, Its Role, Design and Restoration

Tourism for disabled in “right to risk” documentary, business-to-business selling and alternative methods, the smart balance wheel, its pros and cons.

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The Oil and Gas Industry: Project Management

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Oil Spill in the “Deepwater Horizon” Movie

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The Project Manager’s Career

Financial ratios’s features and types.

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The MUSC-2020 Company’s Strategic Plan

Antitrust legislation in the united states.

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The Film “Hearts of Darkness (1993)” Review

Salmonella in raws for paws pet food.

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Entrepreneurial Innovation in American Schoolhouse

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Haigh’s Company on the Chinese Market

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Recognizing the Ordinary as Extraordinary

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Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

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Medicating Kids to Treat ADHD

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Behavioral Issues During Organisational Changes

No idling educational project in the uae, ancient chinese history and modernity.

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Program Theory for Social Behavior Research

Market forecasting method: how to choose, interviewing a therapist: skills and principles.

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“Bring on the Learning Revolution!” by Sir Ken Robinson

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The Role of a Leader in the Instructional Program

• Subjects: Education Pedagogical Skills

“The Pilgrimage” by Nelofer Pazira

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“American in Paris” a Musicals by George Gershwin

Mystery compositions in church music.

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Childhood Obesity and Its Causes in the US

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You might think that writing a 400-word essay is a piece of cake because it is short; however, it does not always work this way! The most challenging aspect of writing a short essay is its length since you need to choose only the most critical information to cover. Also, it is pretty tricky to fit arguments, your thoughts, a compelling introduction, and a solid conclusion into 400 words.

But why, then, write such a short essay?

Such a volume is suitable for personal statements that usually take 400 to 800 words. In fact, a 400-word essay can be a good chance for a teacher to assess the student’s understanding of the topic as well as their ability to express thoughts concisely.

Below, we will analyze each component of a 400-word essay, and you will see how everything works in practice! For more free essay examples , check out our website!

💡 400 Word Essay Examples – Highlights

📝 400-words essay topics.

• 🤳 Technology Essay Examples
• ✒️ Personal Statement Examples

✍️ How to Write a 400 Word Essay

• 🌞 Global Warming Essay Examples
• ⚠️ Responsibility Essay Topics
• 💀 Examples on Hamlet, Othello, & Macbeth
• 👨‍🎓 Topic for College Student
• 📌 400 Words Essay FAQ
• Traditional Medicine vs. Modern Medicine In the modern society, traditional medicine is considered the most appropriate way to treat sick people. This would let the doctors to dispense medicine in the best possible way to satisfy each cultural group.
• Concentrate and Bottling Business: The Difference in Profitability For instance, Coca-Cola and Pepsi rivalry on the market places an additional burden on the companies, who are sometimes forced to lower the price of a final product on the shelves to stay competitive.
• “The Homeric Hymn to Demeter” by Homer Review Although her daughter is returned to her, a part of her is lost because she has to spend part of her life in the underground as the mistress of the underground ruler.
• Humanities as Academic Disciplines On the other hand, the study of classical and modern languages acts as the cornerstone for the study of modern-day humanities.
• Hellenization and Its Affects on the Birth and Spread of Christianity Hellenization is a term that is commonly used in describing the spread of the culture of the ancient Greeks as well as, to a smaller degree, the Greek language in particular.
• Mockingbirds: The Similarities and Differences Between Tom Robinson and Boo Radley First of all, it is the race of the two men. Secondly, the lives Tom and Boo lead have a different level of openness.
• “The Contrast” by Royall Tyler The play shows the contrast between the representatives of American folk and Yankee on the basis of Jonathan’s behavior and manners.
• Art Styles: Naturalism, Idealization, Stylization This style does not require the artist to recreate reality as a work of art, but to construct a perfect representation of an object or a person.
• Sexuality According to Playboy Sexuality is defined as the way of how people are able to experience themselves as sexual beings and show the others the things that can prove that the chosen experience is deserved to be called […]
• Spanish vs. English Colonization In their efforts to colonize the Americas, the Spanish and the British opted for polarly different approaches, with the methods of the latter showing to be more effective and prosperous in the long-run.
• Tricompartmental Osteoarthritis in the Left Knee Case Study Osteoarthritis is a common form of arthritis that may affect many people from different parts of the work. This type of inflammation damages joints.
• Leadership and Organizational Psychology of Vince Lombardi The Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator is one of the most renowned personality tests an individual can use to assess one’s leadership journey.
• History of Mexican Festival The experience of attending the Mexican festival stretched my cultural perception as I discovered that Mexicans have a rich culture in terms of food, art, and music.
• The Smart Balance Wheel, Its Pros and Cons An important advantage of the smart balance wheel is that it has a smart feature, which means that a person automatically maintains balance while on it.
• The Utilitarianism Theory in Society Therefore, utilitarianism should lead to an increase in happiness of the society. In utilitarianism, rules are necessary in the governing of the actions.
• The ethical side of banning abortion.
• The impact of social media on teenager self-esteem.
• Discipline as a key to academic success.
• Why are family traditions crucial?
• Drug addiction: methods to overcome the issue.
• How to stop global warming?
• Discrimination and inequality at the workplace.
• Language as a cultural identity marker.
• The issue of bullying and cyberbullying in high school.
• The role of hope in religious beliefs.
• Triggers: the value of finding causes of anxiety.
• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.
• What is the role of women in the development of science?
• Remote education in the 21st century: pros and cons.
• The influence of music on our emotional well-being.
• Marine pollution and its consequences for the environment.
• How can AI replace humans in many jobs?
• The impact of deforestation on food security.
• The role of the family in the formation of moral values.
• How to deal with stress in everyday life?

🤳 Human Dependence on Technology Essay 400 Words

Check out these excellent examples of human dependence on technology essays of 400 or more words.

• Smartphones Make Dull Minds Essay 400 Words Nowadays, people depend on smartphones greatly. How does constant digital connectivity affect cognitive abilities? You can assess whether the prevalence of smartphones contributes to intellectual stimulation or, as some argue, leads to diminished mental engagement, potentially making minds dull.
• Are We Too Dependent on Computers Essay 400 Words Explore the intricate relationship between humans and computers in contemporary society. To what extent have we become dependent on these technological marvels? Both in our personal lives and professional endeavors. Analyze the potential consequences, benefits, and drawbacks of this dependence, considering factors like convenience, productivity, and privacy.
• Digitalization in Daily Life Essay 400 Words Digitalization has transformed nearly every facet of modern life. Investigate how digital technologies have seamlessly integrated into our daily routines. Assess the impact of this digital revolution on society, including changes in communication, commerce, and culture. What are the implications for the future?

Find more 400-word essay topics below.

• The Mobile Phone in the Education System The first issue is that not all pupils own a mobile phone and this brings in the challenge of uniformity in use of this technology.
• The Importance of Media in the Classroom The theory is developed from the perspective of a teacher and aims at the analysis of the classroom media employment as well as the accommodation of the reviewed sources to the school conditions.
• Streaming Entertainment: Netflix and Amazon Prime Video To conclude, Netflix and Amazon Prime have a similar price for the basic subscription, with the latter offering additional discount for students, but each platform has different advantages.
• The Use of Technology in the Human Services Field The sphere of human services is one of the essential components of any community since people working in this area set themselves the task of making the life of other people easier.
• Psychological Considerations and Sociological Effects of Drones Drones improve the psychological wellbeing of soldiers because they eliminate the trauma and stress of engaging in war.
• Information Technologies and Disaster Management In this article, Sakurai and Murayama present examples of the application of information technology in various stages of disaster management, including preparedness, recovery, response, and risk reduction.
• The Affect of the New Technologies on the Tourism and Hospitality Industries Hence, it might be relevant to design a novel application of VR within the mentioned industry, utilizing the theory of telepresence, as well as to compare it to the related currently available opportunities.
• Wireless Networks Integration in Business This paper will discuss the main categories of wireless networks that have the potential to be used in business, as well as the pros and cons of such a solution.
• Internet Use and Well-Being Among College Students Finally, Gordon et al.analyze the role of Internet use in students’ escapism and psychological adjustment. The article by Gordon et al.offers valuable insights into the relationship between students’ use of the Internet and their well-being.
• Waymo vs Uber: The Theft of Intellectual Property As part of the settlement, both companies agreed to employ an independent technical expert to ensure no Waymo technology is incorporated in Uber’s hardware and software.
• Cell Phone Use While Driving: Policy Analysis Therefore, in a public policy debate, proponents of regulation would argue that per capita healthcare savings and resulting QALY measures are significant enough to justify a ban on the use of private cellphones in driving […]
• Technology in Social Interaction Within Ten Years Technology will ease the ability for people to interact because they will be able to access information and content in real-time.
• YouTube as a Product Promotion Platform The rapid development of Internet technologies and the emergence of social media structures affect the marketing methods and strategies greatly. The posts and customer reviews create the risk factors for the marketing strategies efficiency, and […]
• Mobile Technology Impact on Romantic Relationships For young men it is better to send a message with a poor mimicry of invitation than to follow all the steps of the traditional courtship.
• Technologies and Instructions in the Learning Process To students, instruction is the way of life. It is true that the current technology being used to deliver instruction may change in future.

✒️ 400 Word Personal Statement Examples – 2024

A personal statement (or admissions/application essay) is a short essay where you should present the qualities and skills you’ve gained over your life. Such a piece is required to apply for college and is evaluated by the admission committee. Here are some topics for a personal statement of 300-400 words.

• How do you choose a job of your dreams?
• The influence of a teacher on my professional growth.
• The obstacles I have overcome to achieve my goals.
• Career ambitions and their importance.
• Why do you want to attend this school?
• The facet of my personality and experience.
• How to learn from obstacles?
• My journey of self-discovery.
• Effective methods of becoming a leader .
• Why have I chosen this college?
• My experience of teamwork: benefits and challenges.
• The impact of personal values on the choice of profession.
• Effective strategies for achieving career goals.
• The person who inspires me the most.
• What does your favorite book reveal about you?

A 400-word essay includes an introduction, main body, and conclusion. It is vital to mention a thesis statement in the introduction since it is a significant element of your essay. Estimate 75-100 words per paragraph, where only one point is discussed and supported with facts and examples. A literature review is not always necessary for such short essays, but if your assignment requires it, you may include a list of sources at the end of your work.

400 Word Essay Length

How many pages is a 400-word essay? If you use Times New Roman font and 12 pt size, your essay will take 0.8 (single-spaced) or 1.6 (double-spaced) pages. In case you are writing your paper by hand, it will take 1.6 pages, depending on your handwriting.

Here is how each section of a 400-word piece can look:

• The introduction – 75-100 words (one paragraph, 2-3 sentences).
• The main body – 200-250 words in total. Each paragraph might have 70-120 words depending on the number of body paragraphs, which can range from 3 to 4.
• The conclusion – the remaining 75-100 words (2-3 sentences).

With our professional Research Paper Outline Generator , you can create an efficient plan for your 400 word paper and save lots of time.

400-Word Essay Introduction

The introduction of a 400-word essay should be concise and focused. It can take 3-4 sentences or 75-100 words. The introduction should catch the reader’s attention and provide enough information about the topic covered. There are two key components a good intro for an essay of 400 words should include:

• A hook that expresses your essay’s meta-theme . You can think of it as a punch line encouraging readers to continue reading.
• A thesis statement that articulates your argument . Try to make it as clear as possible to convey your core idea in just a few words.

Use our research introduction maker to ease your work and get a concise introduction suitable for a 400-word essay.

400-Word Essay Conclusion

A conclusion is an essential part of the essay since it gives the reader a sense of closure while reminding them of the paper’s contents. In an essay of 400 words, the conclusion section requires you to give a factual summary of your essay in about 75-100 words or 3-4 sentences. The first sentence should repeat the thesis, while the remaining two should summarize the rest of the essay. Then, you may indicate that you have finished your text using a final statement. With the help of this closing sentence generator , you can make a perfect final sentence.

So, the structure of the conclusion for your 400-word essay will look the following way:

• Restated thesis.
• Summary of the essay.
• Ending statement.

How Many References Should I Use in a 400 Word Paper?

Depending on the task, complexity of the topic, and requirements, the number of references can be different. For a 400-word essay, 1 or 2 sources may be quite enough. If you are writing a personal statement or an autobiographical essay, then references are unnecessary (unless stated otherwise in the requirements).

You can rely on a citation generator to make a bibliography list of the appropriate style.

🌞 Essay on Global Warming 400 Words

• Social Work Practice From an Ecological Perspective The social worker implemented the life model approach in four stages: first, in the preparatory stage, the social worker attempted to get to know the client and his environment.
• Recycled Water – Is It Safe for Drinking? There are a number of barriers that always work against the desire to obtain safe drinking water from recycling plants.
• Global Warming: Speculation and Biased Information For example, people or organizations that deny the extent or existence of global warming may finance the creation and dissemination of incorrect information.
• The Paris Climate Agreement: The UAE’s Engagement The UAE also recognizes the significance of the climate change problem and the necessity to address it. The UAE’s engagement in the Paris Climate Agreement and its contribution to addressing climate change is significant.
• How Climate Change Could Impact the Global Economy In “This is How Climate Change Could Affect the World Economy,” Natalie Marchand draws attention to the fact that over the next 30 years, global GDP will shrink by up to 18% if global temperatures […]
• Environmental Injustice Impeding Health and Happiness The authors note that there is a constant flow of the white population to the areas most protected from flooding and the displacement of the black population from there.
• The Dangers of Global Warming: Environmental and Economic Collapse Global warming is caused by the so-called ‘Greenhouse effect’, when gases in Earth’s atmosphere, such as water vapor or methane, let the Sun’s light enter the planet but keep some of its heat in.
• Aspects of Global Warming Global warming refers to the steadily increasing temperature of the Earth, while climate change is how global warming changes the weather and climate of the planet.
• Article Review on Carbon Tax Policy Whereas the article points out the financial implication of the Canadian government policy on climate change, it failed to appreciate the general ethical benefits that the world will gain if Canada commits to climate change […]
• Climate Change: Who Is at Fault? The rationale for the author’s argument is centered around the premise that it is wrong to praise the political and economic system of the 1980s while blaming people for the inability to make changes in […]

⚠️ 400 Word Essay on Responsibility

• The importance of corporate social responsibility.
• Personal responsibility for fighting against stereotypes.
• Why should people be responsible for their own decisions and actions?
• Diplomacy: responsibility for peace and conflict resolution.
• Ethical responsibilities in the business industry.
• How to combine personal and professional responsibilities?
• Responsibility in disaster preparedness and response.
• Internet etiquette and responsibility for online behavior.
• The ethical responsibility in the healthcare industry.
• Environmental responsibility and its value.
• The role of parents in students’ academic responsibility .
• Why people should be responsible for their mental health?
• Responsibility in journalism and its importance.
• The peculiarities of religious responsibility.
• The importance of responsibility for aging populations.
• Why are we responsible for our future generation?
• Students’ responsibilities and their values.
• Why should people be responsible with modern technology?
• The role of parental responsibility in child development.
• Ethical responsibility in end-of-life care.

💀300-400 Words Essay – Hamlet, Othello, & Macbeth

Othello essay 400 words.

• The Significance of the Handkerchief to Othello The main reason for the discord is that Othello slept with his wife and justifies all the negativity toward Iago. The handkerchief is the best proof that Desdemona has entered into an intimate relationship with […]
• Social Issues in Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Othello” The social environment of England at the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century was characterized by great attention to social class, citizens’ jobs, and their reputation.
• Shakespeare’s Tragedy “Othello” Speaking of racism as a possible motivation for Iago’s behavior, it is worth noting that it is not the primary and only source of its manifestation.
• Mind vs. Heart in “Othello” by William Shakespeare The main idea of the William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, written in 1604, is the confrontation of the mind and the heart.

Hamlet Essay 400 Words

• “Hamlet” and “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” The link of “Hamlet” and “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” to the present days can be seen in the lost characters.
• Hamlet vs. Oedipus Rex: Who Is More Resilient? In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Oedipus is a protagonist; he is seeking the truth and is unconcerned about the harm it may pose.
• Hamlet and Gertrude Relationships in Shakespeare’s Play However, even though Hamlet threatens to murder Gertrude to “wring” her heart, the audience can understand that he loves his mother and wants her to repent of her sins and end the relationship with Hamlet’s […]
• Deceiving Appearances in “Hamlet” and “The Lion King” In particular, Claudius and Scar represent villains under the guise of well-wishers, while Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from Hamlet and hyenas from The Lion King appear worse than they seem.
• Hamlet’s Relationship With His Mother and Uncle Hamlet’s assessment of his issues is accurate in the sense that he already associates Claudius with problems, but the prince is too quick to judge his mother.

Macbeth Essay 400 Words

• William Shakespeare: Hamlet and Macbeth It is important to examine the role that the setting plays in Hamlet and Macbeth in relation to the tragic flaw and developments of the plot.
• Omens in The “Macbeth” Play by William Shakespeare The supernatural was an aspect of the plot structure used to add tension and drama to the occurrences and situations and manifested in various ways. To conclude, the owl and raven were utilized as omens […]
• Analyzing the Adaptation of the Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” Furthermore, the names of all the characters in both films are the same except for a little twist in the spelling of names like Mcbeth and Mcduff.
• Shakespear’s “Macbeth”: Main Character Change Analysis Macbeth is essentially the story of a character who lives his life in a state of confusion to the degree that the only constant in his life changes.
• Macbeth: An Analysis of the Play by Shakespeare Macbeth’s treachery springs from his reliance to the witches who gave him prophecy that results in his endless creation of enemies.

👨‍🎓 400 Word Examples for College

• What is the meaning of our life?
• Music as a universal language.
• The philosophy of mindfulness.
• What is happiness, and why is it crucial?
• The challenge of having freedom.
• Is there hope for our future and life after death?
• The difference between mathematics and logic.
• How can one person change the world?
• The opportunity to live forever: pros and cons.
• What makes human life so valuable?
• The goal of humanity in the 21st century.
• How does Art affect our perception of the world?
• The concept of peace and its importance.
• Do all people deserve respect?
• The problem of knowledge skepticism.
• Can we choose our emotions, or do they just happen?
• The origin of evil and good.
• What is the purpose of education?
• The stand for truth and its influence on society.
• How do you determine one’s self-worth?

📌 400 Word Essay: Answers to the Most Pressing Questions

📌 how many pages is 400 words double spaced.

How long is a 400-word essay? It will typically be 2 pages double-spaced or one page single-spaced. The exact number of pages a 400 words essay takes will depend on the citation style you use, the number of your footnotes (if you have any), and the length of your bibliography section.

📌 How Many Paragraphs Are in a 400 Word Essay?

How many paragraphs is a 400-word essay? Since a typical paragraph in academic writing contains 50-100 words, an essay of 400 words will consist of 4 to 6 paragraphs.

📌 How Many Sentences Is 400 Words?

How many sentences is a 400-word essay? A typical sentence in academic writing consists of 15-20 words. So, 400 words are not less than 20-23 sentences.

📌 How to Outline a 400-Word Essay?

A 400-word essay outline usually follows a standard five-paragraph structure. Start your paper with a short introduction that includes an attention-grabber, some background information, and a thesis. Then add three body paragraphs that focus on your arguments. Finish your 400-word paper with a conclusion that contains a restated thesis and a summary of your ideas.

📌 How Long Does It Take to Write 400 Words?

How long does it take to write a 400-word essay? It will take you 8-16 minutes to type 400 words on your keyboard (the total time will depend on your typing speed). Writing an academic paper will take more time because you’ll have to research, make an outline, write, format, and edit your text. It would be best if you planned to spend not less than hour and a half for a 400-word paper.

📌 How to Extend an Essay Word Count?

To extend the word count in a 400-word essay, you can clarify your position, add more examples, and use direct quotations. It is also worth checking if your introduction and conclusion are extensive, cohesive, and clear enough. It might be better to add some information to these two sections than to rework your body paragraphs.

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• Knowledge Base
• College essay

How Long Should a College Essay Be? | Word Count Tips

Published on September 29, 2021 by Kirsten Courault . Revised on June 1, 2023.

Most college application portals specify a word count range for your essay, and you should stay within 10% of the upper limit. If no word count is specified, we advise keeping your essay between 400 and 600 words.

You should aim to stay under the specified limit to show you can follow directions and write concisely. However, if you write too little, it may seem like you are unwilling or unable to write a thoughtful and developed essay.

Table of contents

Word count guidelines for different application types, how to shorten your essay, how to expand your essay, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about college application essays.

Each university has a different suggested or required word count depending on which application portal it uses.

Some application portals will allow you to exceed the word count limit, but admissions officers have limited time and energy to read longer essays. Other application portals have a strict limit and will not allow you to exceed it.

For example, in the Common App , the portal will not allow you to submit more than 650 words. Some colleges using the Common App will allow you to submit less than 250 words, but this is too short for a well-developed essay.

For scholarship essays , diversity essays , and “Why this college?” essays , word count limits vary. Make sure to verify and respect each prompt’s limit.

Don’t worry too much about word count until the revision stage ; focusing on word count while writing may hinder your creativity. Once you have finished a draft, you can start shortening or expanding your essay if necessary.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

On some application portals, you can exceed the word limit, but there are good reasons to stay within it:

• To maintain the admissions officer’s attention
• To show you can follow directions
• To demonstrate you can write concisely

Here are some strategies for shortening your essay.

Stay on the main point

It’s good to use vivid imagery, but only include relevant details. Cut any sentences with tangents or unnecessary information.

My father taught me how to strategically hold the marshmallow pierced by a twig at a safe distance from the flames to make sure it didn’t get burned, ensuring a golden brown exterior.

Typically, my father is glued to his computer since he’s a software engineer at Microsoft. But that night, he was the marshmallow master. We waited together as the pillowy sugary goodness caramelized into gooey delight. Good example: Sticks to the point On our camping trip to Yosemite, my family spent time together, away from technology and routine responsibility.

My favorite part was roasting s’mores around the campfire. My father taught me how to hold the marshmallow at a safe distance from the flames, ensuring a golden brown exterior.

These college essay examples also demonstrate how you can cut your essay down to size.

Eliminate wordiness

Delete unnecessary words that clutter your essay. If a word doesn’t add value, cut it.

Here are some common examples of wordiness and how to fix them.

Use a paraphrasing tool

If you want to save time, you can make use of a paraphrasing tool . Within the tool you can select the “short” mode to rewrite your essay in less words. Just copy your text in the tool and within 1 click you’ll have shortened your essay.

If you’re significantly under the word count, you’re wasting the opportunity to show depth and authenticity in your essay. Admissions officers may see your short essay as a sign that you’re unable to write a detailed, insightful narrative about yourself.

Here are some strategies for expanding your essay.

Show detailed examples, and don’t tell generic stories

You should include detailed examples that can’t be replicated by another student. Use vivid imagery, the five senses, and specific objects to transport the reader into your story.

Reveal your feelings and insight

If your essay lacks vulnerability or self-reflection, share your feelings and the lessons you’ve learned.

Be creative with how you express your feelings; rather than simply writing “I’m happy,” use memorable images to help the reader clearly visualize your happiness. Similarly, for insight, include the follow-up actions from your lessons learned; instead of claiming “I became a hard worker,” explain what difficult tasks you accomplished as a result of what you learned.

If you want to know more about academic writing , effective communication , or parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Academic writing

• Writing process
• Transition words
• Passive voice
• Paraphrasing

 Communication

• How to end an email
• Ms, mrs, miss
• How to start an email
• I hope this email finds you well
• Hope you are doing well

 Parts of speech

• Personal pronouns
• Conjunctions

Most college application portals specify a word count range for your essay, and you should stay within 10% of the upper limit to write a developed and thoughtful essay.

You should aim to stay under the specified word count limit to show you can follow directions and write concisely. However, don’t write too little, as it may seem like you are unwilling or unable to write a detailed and insightful narrative about yourself.

If no word count is specified, we advise keeping your essay between 400 and 600 words.

If you’re struggling to reach the word count for your college essay, add vivid personal stories or share your feelings and insight to give your essay more depth and authenticity.

If your college essay goes over the word count limit , cut any sentences with tangents or irrelevant details. Delete unnecessary words that clutter your essay.

You can speed up this process by shortening and smoothing your writing with a paraphrasing tool . After that, you can use the summarizer to shorten it even more.

There is no set number of paragraphs in a college admissions essay . College admissions essays can diverge from the traditional five-paragraph essay structure that you learned in English class. Just make sure to stay under the specified word count .

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Editing | Writing

How to cut thousands of words without shedding a tear.

Strategies for Writers, part 3 of 3

Is your book too long? Does it feel a bit wordy, perhaps slightly bloated?

Or . . . does it feel perfect  but it’s a little high in word count?

There comes a time in every writer’s life when they need to reduce their word count. Ack! Not my precious words! Even if your word count is fine, most writers would benefit from tightening up their manuscripts before submission. (I, for one, would appreciate it.) But how do you do this?

Most writers can significantly shorten their manuscript simply by eliminating extraneous adverbs, adjectives, gerunds, and passive verbs, i.e. things you don’t need anyway. If you cut 10 words per page in a 350-page manuscript, you’ve already shortened it by 3,500 (unnecessary) words.

So how do we do this? Here’s a checklist of things to consider cutting:

→ Adverbs, especially those with “ly” endings. Ask yourself if they’re necessary. → Adjectives. Often people use two or three when one or none is better. → Gerunds. Words that end in “ing.” → Passive voice: Over-use of words like “was,” “were” and “that” indicate your writing may be too passive. Reconstruct in active voice. → Passages that are overly descriptive. → Passages that describe characters’ thoughts and feelings in too much detail (i.e. long sections of narrative or interior monologue). → Passages that tell the reader what they already know. → Unnecessary backstory.

Here’s a list of words to watch for. Carefully consider their necessity and effectiveness:

about, actually, almost, almost, like, appears, approximately, basically, close to, even, eventually, exactly, finally, just, just then, kind of, nearly, practically, really, seems, simply, somehow, somewhat, sort of, suddenly, truly, utterly, were.

(Make use of the “search and replace” function in Word to help with this process if there are specific words you tend to overuse.)

Once you go through this exercise, you’ll find your manuscript remarkably cleaner. Try to have fun with it!

And remember, no matter how many words you’re able to cut, your editor will always find more.

What are your secrets for reducing word count?

Rachelle Gardner

191 comments.

I often remove conjunctions. It sometimes works.

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In order to keep track of the number of word and character in the typing text, I use this Chrome extension https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/character-count-tool/kgbhecilfockpoompdcgpakedchcgklb . It has a web version at http://charactercounttool.com and it works like a charm.

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what type of editing is it that cuts my page number down without losiing any story

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Some in both my workshop groups need to learn this. It’s amazing how few people do this… drives me up the wall.

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Thank you for the tips.

thanks for the tips!

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Thank you for writing this. Now I feel justified for the edits and rewrites I’ve been working on with my ‘break in’ novel. I can’t tell you how appreciative I am of you and your blog.

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Thank you for posting this, I’ve been looking for a redundant word checklist for a while. I’d also add “apparently”, one of my bugbears, to that list.

okay… here goes…. My first novel which I had mentally labelled as a ‘story’ and (note here Stephen) had decided no human alive was ever going to see –

was 187,000 words.

feel free to laugh. So, after following this blog ALOT, re-reading it and cutting it back about 10 times (torture, absolute torture) it is now around 127,000.

And, every reader has either enjoyed it – or rung me saying how they could not put it down or stop crying. I thought I would get a stomach ulcer from the nerves when I gave it to my first reader. I’ve written 3 novels and I’m not published…yet. We must see ourselves as God does – he just looks to his right to His Son. For as He is so are we in this world. If I could overcome all this you can – Go Stephen!

I know this is like, so three days ago, but I have one more question. WHY are authors asked to cut words from their manuscripts? Is it because of the cost of publishing, and if so, does e-publishing offer the possibility of adding more words to an electronic version of a book? Just curious…. 🙂

Usually newer writers use too many words. Simple as that. Manuscripts are often a bit bloated with all those things I mentioned in the post. So, the main reason to cut words is to “tighten up the prose” to create a better reading experience.

The other reason is that publishers have decades of experience and experimentation telling them what length of books tend to sell best in each genre.

And yes, digital publishing is already changing all of that. Book length is looked at quite differently now.

Got it, thanks so much!

This could not have come at a better time! I have to cut 11k from my WIP, and your tips are fantastic–all of you! Thanks so much!

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Hi, I have the opposite problem! maybe it comes from my journalism background — (being cut off at a comma if I went over the word count for a column, etc.) but I have a lot of trouble (I don’t believe in padding, etc.) fleshing out my fiction to make a reasonably sized novel. for example, my first draft of my new mystery novel was at something like a 50,000 word count! After consulting with a mystery writer friend, she said that i had to add at least another 10,000 words. I finally did, actually, it ended up at 65,000– but it wasn’t easy. wish I had the other problem– then I’d just cut, cut, cut — after lots of editing, of course!

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Excellent post! Thanks for all your wonderful advice, Rachelle 🙂

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I once terrifyingly deleted thousands of words from a manuscript – all 3 chapters from the front and all 2 chapters at the end, and then mercilessly cut in between–and this was right after I’d sent it to my editor as “complete” – something bugged me so much that the next morning I asked for her not to read it – to give me another week to “fix something.”

I’d always thought those chapters/words were needed, but boy am I glad something or someone poked me about it that night!

I think back to that now and know that if I’d have left those chapters/words in that book, it’d not be the “right” – I breathe a sigh of relief that I’m not afraid of the Delete Button every time I think of that book!

Here is a link to a small program that I find very useful and easy to use: http://wordfrequency.codeplex.com/

You paste your manuscript into the program window and it calculates how many times each word appears in it. The program displays a list of words and their frequency. Inspecting the list of words with high frequency will tell you if you have been overusing any of them.

A timely post. I’m getting ready to do a final edit of a manuscript I’m ghostwriting. These tightening strategies will come in handy! A thousand THANKS!

I haven’t discovered my secrets yet … Have to cut 38k from my current manuscript and believe is will be both doable and largely pain-free. Thanks for the tips though. I’ll be referring to them as I go 🙂

Guilty, guilty, guilty. Oops!!!

This was a really great post with some valuable ideas for polishing a manuscript.

I am so excited to have found your blog. I’m trying to go through and read some of your past posts. Thanks for providing such a valuable resource.

I don’t usually have trouble cutting adjectives and adverbs and the like. It’s when I find a particularly lovely passage that just doesn’t need to be there that I am reluctant to cut.

My trick is to make a slush file. I place all my lovely tidbits in that file so I don’t feel so bad about completely cutting something I’m attached to or think is well written, and yet it is no longer in the MS.

This helps me anyway! Great idea for a post!

I am relieved that I am largely innocent of using the infractions you cite in the list of words to avoid.

Currently I am doing battle with “that,” a word I type with alarming frequency even though I don’t need to use it.

I once heard an author quip that she cut her novel by 1,000 words merely by removing erroneous occurrences of “that.”

One more comment from me about alleged “passives.” “They were going” is not, not, not “passive.” It is called Imperfect ACTIVE Indicative. It may not be the strongest way to say something, but let’s don’t call it “passive.” The New Testament, for example, uses it quite frequently — continuous or ongoing action in the past. “Passive” means something is DONE TO THE SUBJECT, the SUBJECT is ACTED UPON, not performing the action. “They” are doing the “going.” “They were going” is not passive. Thank you.

The word search function really helps find out those hanger-on words. I’d suggest adding “pretty” to that list. Maybe it’s just me, but I use it a lot.

Great post, Rachelle! And something I really needed to hear. Having recently put the coveted “The End” on my second manuscript, I am now working on some more extensive editing. My problem is when I edit, I don’t find that I do much trimming.

The first time around that wasn’t such a bad thing as my first manuscript was on the lighter side, word wise. This time I am at a loss. I finished right at 100K words. I am about 60 pages in and I am already up another thousand.

I know most ranges for full length novels run 80-100k. How many words over 100K would you say is acceptable for romantic suspense?

I’m going to put these tips to good use and hopefully not have to take a hacksaw to it later.

Thanks for the suggestions!

You know, i do two kinds of editing. THe first is what I call content editing. That is, making sure that the STORY is right, that everything matches up and makes sense. When I do this kind of editing, I’m not concerned with making the writing as clean as it could be.

I save that for the second edit, or clean up edit. That is where I actually trim and focus on the flow and language.

To my mind these are very different functions requiring a different mind set. If I were you, I’d keep on with that first edit and then go through again to clean up and trim. (Also, I’d keep it under 100K! 🙂 )

Good luck to you!

I often slip into passive speak, and can reduce words while bring clarity by switching to active mode.

words ending in ‘ing’ are another big one for me (which relates to the passive speak).

“They were going to the store” becomes “They walked to the store.” It reads clearer and uses fewer words.

Great tips, Rachelle! Thanks!

What a great post and ensuing discussing! Thank you so much. In addition to all the great ideas that previous commenters suggested, I think what helped me was to put on my editor hat…to look at it with as much emotional detachment as possible. I asked myself, “How would I want to read this if it was written by someone else?” It was also helpful to work with a critique partner for this same reason–he wasn’t attached to my work at all and neither was I to his. Voila!

Thanks for the post Rachelle, it was very interesting and helpful. I will be looking at this again when my manuscript is finished.

These strategies really help! While revising my last manuscript, I had to cut 20 words a page to meet my word count goal, and getting rid of those kinds of extraneous words helped me do a big chunk of that. I think my problem right now is describing too much the characters’ movements, physical reactions, etc. There doesn’t need to be so much looking and glancing and gazing; a lot of it can probably be inferred. Like Dale above me said, control + F is a useful tool!

I like to clean up my manuscript by using the word finder (ctrl F) to pinpoint the words I tend to use most often. The ones you mentioned, Rachelle, plus looked, glanced, thought, wondered, later, before, of the, nodded, smiled, grinned, laughed, little, a few.

Aha! I use every one of those! My characters forever have a smile pasted on their lips. Do you use a sentence set up like, “He did this and this, then that”? I constantly have an ‘and/then’ thing going on. ‘As’ is also an addiction.

I try to cut down on “as” by sometimes substituting “while.” It helps.

I’ve tried that too, but the ‘while’ only seems to be remembered when I do revisions.

There’s no “hard and fast” rule about pretty much ANYTHING in writing, and on’t let anyone tell you there is! Take into account what YOUR manuscript needs in terms of pacing; and thing about readers’ attention spans. Personally I usually recommend between 2,000 and 5,000 words per chapter, but 5k is getting kind of long.

Good to know! Thank you for easing my mind about this one.

I have a question! ….*raises hand*…. Is there any hard, concrete rule on how many words one should include per chapter for a memoir piece? I’ve read it’s anywhere from 3000-5000, but I wanted to poll everyone here to see if y’all have any insight in this regard. Are there requirements out there we need to know about?

My brother made this note on my MS just last night:

“Every word you cut gives its power to the words that remain.”

I really like that! I’m going to remind myself this when I edit.

I cut 10,000 words from my first manuscript. It wasn’t quite as hard as I though it would be. I ended up with several scenes that I needed to write for myself, but didn’t need to be in the book. As a result of being pushed to cut those I now better recognize scenes that don’t quite belong *before* I finish writing them.

And I never could have done it without you asking me to cut it down before I submitted.

Slice, dice, and chop. Not just for cooking. 😉

Guess what I’m doing today?

Thank you, Rachelle, for this much-needed advice.

I’d like to join the adverb discussion/debate/diatribe. From whence does all this hatred of adverbs come? By and large from a misunderstanding of and lack of appreciation for their proper use. Like anything, they can be overdone. They can be ridiculous, as in “He laughed titteringly.” Yes, you WANT to kill that particular construction, swiftly. And yes, that is an -ly word describing with what intensity you wish to perform that particular action. And it is perfectly (another -ly word) acceptable. To eradicate a part of the English language from professional writing, especially (another -ly word) fiction, only (another -ly word) impoverishes style. And all too often, “seldom use” actually means — another -ly word — “NEVER EVER AT ANY TIME USE.” Adverbs are a legitimate part of speech and, when used judiciously (another -ly word), add color and dash to one’s expression, not unnecessary clutter.

That’s the point though, isn’t it? To use an adverb judiciously is to make it more interesting. Just like anything else, when over used (which they often are, hense their discussion here) adverbs become tedious.

I have run into this advice before and so have applied it, I hope well. But even before cutting words, I find I have the opposite problem.

My word count always falls short.

Even in grad school, my thesis was significantly shorter than it ought to be. It seems I am just too good at being succinct.

Which is a terrible recipe for writing a novel.

Help, hell–I like short novels, personally. And just because your novel doesn’t fit the industry standard doesn’t mean it’s unpublishable. If it’s a well-told story, then it’s the right length.

Winter’s Bone…perfect example, imho, of a short novel that lacked nothing.

Thank you both for the encouragement. c:

I agree with Stephen and Josh. The right length for any story is simply the length it must be. Word counts DO affect publishers’ P&L models, and what readers are willing to pay–but they don’t affect literary perfection.

The problem is emotional attachment. We writers can become so fond of our creations that cutting words feels like abandonment. Protect yourself by saving the current (longer) version of your text and making cuts in a copy. (“I haven’t really betrayed you, my precious child. Look, I’ve enshrined you in an archive.”) After a day or two, you’ll come to think of the edited copy as the current version and you can move on with it guilt-free. Repeat as needed.

LOL. I like the enshrined analogy. I keep a cut file and back-up versions, but I hadn’t thought of this as pacifying the MS. Love it.

Cutting words began as a task that has morphed into a game. After several drafts, I enjoy searching for just the right word to convey the same meaning as several words. Words that can be cut stand out on the page. I’m challenging myself, and it’s fun.

I tend to like the “ly” words. Ugh. But scanning through to remove them sharpens my writing skills as I grapple with re-phrasing or choosing alternate words. Thanks for your list! I’m saving it for current/future use!

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I especially concur with the last two. And I have my own problems of style I’ll have to tone down. Scene descriptions–love reading them, love writing them. Place is another character for me, and I love well-placed character descriptions. I also have a deep love for adverbs, and I’m certain an editor will put a stop to this elicit affair at some point. But for now, the rhythm they create gives me a musical high. I’ve already reined in much of this behavior, to be fair on myself! 🙂

Wow, I just did ten pages, and this is fun. Most editing is tiresome, but cutting words is heartening. I like this–trying to get my book back under 90,000 words. The burdens we carry…..

I cut more than 10K words out of my second draft of The Baker’s Wife, and almost 200 pages out of my first draft of House of Mercy. This required huge chainsaw cuts as opposed to scalpel cuts, but they made a huge difference. What helped me:

> I keep a document of “Cut Text” so that when I cut, I don’t actually throw away. It’s less painful to feel I could reinstate a beloved phrase or sentence if I really can’t live without it. In the end, I rarely do.

> A huge weakness of mine is to spend too much time in character introspection. It’s getting easier and easier for me to cut head time and replace it with character action/behavior.

> I try to pay attention to scenes that feel tedious while I’m writing them, or boring when I’m revising them. Chances are, the reader will find them tedious and boring too. Sometimes whole scenes must go.

> Like compressing two words into one, sometimes two or more scenes can be collapsed into one. I want my scenes to advance plot, characterization, and theme all at the same time. It’s surprising how often I find scenes that only accomplish one or two of these things. Scenes that do double or triple duty are good for pacing and reader engagement!

I do that too, Erin! All of my cut scenes are in a separate file because I can’t bear to delete them yet.

Thanks Rachelle…I cut and cut and cut some more, but now I have a few guidelines! Great post….

MakingTheWriteConnections

Great advice, Rachelle. Like Kara, the first thing I do on reviewing my first draft is decide whether a scene moves the action forward. If not, out it goes (and if there’s good info there, I work it in elsewhere).

Like Ann, I’m in love with the word “just,” as my first editor, Barbara Scott told me. So I also do a word search for it and remove or change in where possible.

Finally, as Rachelle suggested, I search for what I’ve heard Deb Raney call “weasel words,” and remove them.

Since I tend to try to “write tight” in the first place, I don’t often have to cut a ms. because of length, but I’ve learned to remove extraneous material. Try as I may, though, Rachelle’s right– the editor will always find more.

Great post as usual. Mary DeMuth advised me about a book called “The First Five Pages” by Noah Lukeman. It was so helpful. He talks about all the excess words we don’t need. The most helpful thing to me was the use of commas.

Thank you for this series – I’ve learned and am implementing these in my writing. I find I repeat myself or I use ‘just’ too much. Thank you for helping us become better!

Thanks for this. Your list along with some of the other comments are excellent suggestions. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I can’t WAIT to get cutting!:)

Excellent list! I’d already started cutting a lot of overwriting from my mainstream novel and this is a good reminder. Thanks.

Very timely! I’ve been polishing and refining along those lines (‘maiming’ the MS, someone else said; let’s call it ‘beautifying’ the MS). Thanks for posting a neat and tidy list! That list is getting copied and planted right at eye level in my work space.

Love these tips! As an editor and writer, I pretty much ask myself, “How can this be worded differently and in fewer words?”

Like a few here I just love the word just. If I could just write without that one word cropping up in just about every sentence, I’d be so much better. I’m just sure of it. 🙂

Another trick I’m learning is to let go of telling the reader what the emotion is rather than only showing it. “She felt angry as her hands balled into fists” easily changes to “Her hands balled into fists.” Readers are smart enough to pick out which emotion is being felt.

I had to stop myself from writing just at least three times in the previous paragraph, LOL!

A hot topic for sure and thanks Rachelle for some excellent advice. I’m doing a “find” on the words you’ve suggested as a test right now! I haven’t been able to read everyone’s comments but generally agree that the best writing seems to occur in stream of consciousness and in that case some of us just throw the “rule book” away. I’m not published but follow a lot of writers who share this theory. I already know I’m guilty of too much description and unnecessary backstory. A trick I use to reign myself in is to playback my writing through “voice” (my computer reads it back to me) on my MAC. I can alway spot when a scene is dragging or going off course by doing this.

When I wrote my ms, I kept a lot of this in mind. I stayed clear of ly words and other extraneous words — or at least I tried to. Even keeping this in mind, I still have places where I’m overly descriptive.

I’ve also heard to watch out for the word as.

And watch dialogue. Someone mentioned the word ‘that’. I too take that out when I can. But there are other areas where words creep in that, especially in dialogue, are unneeded. When we speak we don’t use perfect English often leaving out words. People don’t always speak in full sentences to each other.

“How’s the desert?” “This is excellent.” Or “How’s the desert?” “Excellent.”

Oh, and my pet peeve is when people spell out acronyms. Unless it’s something out there that the reader won’t get or that the character doesn’t understand then spell it out, but if it’s obvious please use the acronym. Use the character’s voice. Don’t spell out for the reader.

Loved all the ideas presented, Rachelle. The tips in the comments are also valuable! One of my pesky words is, “just.” I look for that with Search and Replace when editing.

Also, when I’m editing/revising, I look for places where I’ve used two sentences to tell about the same thing. One of my weaknesses. 🙂 I’m learning to show the same thing in one sentence. Or, when my characters are conversing, sometimes I change a thought and make it something the character says instead.

Not sure ifthis makes sense, but I’ve found putting more between the quotes tightens my writing.

Ah, great tip, “more between the quotes”.

Only once in my ms did I ramble on about the same thing using more than one sentence to convey the same thought. It was because a character was purposely being annoying as opposed to a grammatical problem.

I stole that tip from Rachel Hauck.:) I usually find that I try to “show” something, and then in the next sentence I find that I’ve also “told” it. Gotta love first drafts and doing the edits. I love the editing process. Your character sounds like he was good at “annoying.” 🙂

Same problem here, it’s as if I have to show and then explain in case the read was dense. Which, of course, makes me look dense.

Oh man, I did the Wordle thingy and found I’m a Just junkie too! But my main habit seems to be “like.” I saw that and was like no way!

Laughing out loud, P.J. 🙂 Having lived in California for a number of years, I, like, used to be addicted to the word, “like.”

Like, no way?! I grew up in Vancouver, like, for like, ever. I’ve lived in the Far East for 16 years and still, like, love that word.

Still laughing out loud. 🙂

I recently cut 15k. A few scenes had to go, but I also found that a lot of prepositions were unnecessary. I’d thought I was writing in close POV, but when I looked for words to cut, I was surprised how many, “she thoughts” or “he noticed” I had. The ms was much stronger without those anyway.

Thanks for the tips. I’ve noticed I tend to use the word “just” too much. It is making me aware of other words I can cut out.

I plug my entire manuscript into wordle.net–it turns any block of type into word art. The trick is, the more you use a word, the larger it is. The first time I used it, I was pleased to find my main characters names and some key nouns all in giant letters. Unfortunately, the word JUST was also huge. It’s a great way to find those words you overuse. (Mine are just and little.) http://www.wordle.net/

I didn’t know Wordle did that! I love that idea.

That’s awesome! Thanks for the link!

Ooooo gadgets, I like it! Thanks!

That’s really cool. Thank you for sharing it!

Ah, yes…when I began my first novel, “-ly” adverbs, four or five adjectives in a sentence, and huge swaths of passive voice were rampant. See, I made the mistake of believing I was being “artful” with my use of language. When I read over it, well, I read enough in my genre to know it was pretty bad. And also, in revision, there were sections I was rather proud of (as far as story, if not the writing itself) that had to go. Just no room in the manuscript for it. So, instead of trying to be an artist, now I just write the story without all of that. One must first learn to follow the rules of the craft before becoming a stylist.

Call me a nut job, but I LOVE chopping and tightening. Makes me giddy.

I have seen an improvement in speed but, only somemites. I have noticed that when I have a lot of tabs open(say 10 or so) then, my computer slows down dramatically. Not sure why. Wouldn’t mind some insight.

Boy, this is a timely post. Just cut 10,000 words from my manuscript over the last couple months using a lot of the suggestions you mention. I also cut scenes that, though they were lots of fun to write, really don’t support the story enough to justify the word count. It was difficult, but the story is definitey tighter, and the smaller word count gives me a wider potential for representation. Thanks for the additional suggestions. I think I’ll try the “search” function and see what extras I have left.

I call this putting your ms on a treadmill to make it lean. There’s no better way than ditching the passive voice for the active voice. It’s tighter and packs more punch.

I love your emphasis on the emotional attachment most people have to their words. That’s probably trickier than deleting adverbs and other great tips. Here are some more, which I recently shared on a guest post at Write to Done. http://writetodone.com/2012/04/19/15-ways-to-write-tight/

Nice work, Barb! I bookmarked that!

Rachelle, I love this post. Your suggestions are exactly right and it’s such a great option for a novelist to cut unnecessary words rather than needed scenes!

Another possible area for cuts is those “pet” words we writers seem to use, often a different one for each manuscript. Lately mine has been “juxtaposition.” How lovely. At least it doesn’t tear out my heart to cut it!!

I love my pet words. I try to make them sit and stay and only come when called. 😉

Have you ever read a book in which the pet words were so obscure you had to pull out a dictionary? That shows great pomposity.

And juxtaposition falls into that category. Why it’s chosen me to help carry out its nefarious scheme of undermining literary careers, I can’t imagine. Maybe because I’ve ignored it for most of my life. You know the old saying, “A word scorned…” 🙂

But it sounds so good!! So does ‘nefarious’. Another one that I like is ‘abject’. My personal pet word is ‘utterly’. My main hero is English, so I can get away with using it. Rathah smashing!

I already have this printed out and sitting next to me. It’s very helpful indeed. Doesn’t make the process any less painful, but it does help to know I’m not alone in this!

Ohhh. I don’t feel so good right now. It’s like I just fed 35 people at a dinner party last night and now the hospital is calling wanting samples of everything.

My MS spans 30 years, it’s thick and full of meat. Ugh. Estoy strung out.

LOL Samples huh?

BTW, as a beta reader, I’m enjoying the test read!

Thanks, once again, for really helpful advice! Unneccessary back story is one of my bad habits. When I feel the need to trim, that’s where I begin.

Leaving the writing for an incubation period is always helpful. It’s amazing what extraneous material can be found after examining with a fresh eye.

I believe editing out the superfluous in our writing makes us much better writers. Overwriting is the curse of the beginning writer. When I published a newspaper with my ex, he would place all the ads and then leave me blank space leftover for writing my column. I had no choice but to get my point across in the fewest words possible. Great exercise!

Prepositional phrases often add unnecessary fat. In many cases you can cut these and gain a crisper, leaner sentence with more impact.

I know it’s old, but I use Richard Lanham’s Paramedic Method with my students and on my own writing.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/635/01/

Axing unnecessary prepositional phrases are my #1 fix!

Amen to that, Cheri. Cutting prepositional phrases is simple surgery, requires no anesthetic, and produces a healthier manuscript. Sure, some prep phrases are worth keeping, but often they simply sit there like wasteful cellulite. 😉

I forgot to mention a tip I learned from a fellow author. He told me to set up a “cut” file and save all the passages and scenes I cut in that folder. That takes a lot of the remorse out of the editing process. Who knows? Maybe those brilliant bits are the seeds of the next book.

There’s no “who knows” about it in my case; my chief work in progress right now, and the third book in Return of the Gods, sprang from a cutting I yanked out of the second book.

Think of it this way–if the creative side of your brain cared enough to create some prose, then it’ll eventually find a way to use it. If not, worst case is you’ve wasted a few bytes.

I use a cut file, too. It saves my heart!!

Yep, yep. I love the cut file! Of course, I later realize that I’m a pack rat, but still…

I love the cut file idea!

I’ve been writing scenes that haven’t happened yet in the timeline of the story. The words and scenes are saved and I don’t have to panic over what I forgot. Thank heavens for files!

I do this too and it definitely makes it less painful! And who knows – maybe I can use some of it, somehow, in future works!

I do it a little differently: I copy the entire manuscript into a new document and do my edits there. Then I have two complete copies of the story: the original version and the edited version.

But it probably amounts to the same thing. 🙂

As an Indie, I don’t have to worry about word counts except as a way to label my works–the last work I published was technically a “novella” due to its word count, and so it was labeled as such. But if my next book ends up being plus or minus compared to the “standards of the genre” according to the publishing industry, well, then, phooey on them. Besides, every writer I’ve talked to or read on the topic says word counts are a superfluous concern in storytelling anyway, and a scan of the word counts of those big-name folks who can have pretty much whatever they want published seems to back that up.

That said, there’s no excuse for crappy writing, and your suggestions on what words to examine closely are good ones. That’s “examine closely,” not “avoid entirely.” The English language includes adverbs, the perfect tenses (incidentally, perfect tense is NOT the same as the passive voice), etc., for a reason, but they shouldn’t be overused any more than the stately exclamation point that Twain loved to pick on should be. It has a purpose! *ahem* 🙂

Man, I wish I could edit my own posts. Progressive tenses, not perfect tenses, are what RG exemplified in her post. Same diff in terms of my argument, but I know some English major is gonna scold me over the misspeak. 🙂

I like the part about present and past perfect not being the same as passive. It is so irritating when someone edits something and scribbles a red penned “passive” over “I have not yet begun to fight!”

When I make the first pass on edits, I try to look for places where I tell the reader too much. I cut out anything that triggers a “so what?” response. As writers we have to know almost every detail of our characters’ lives, quirks, etc. As readers, anything that doesn’t move the action along or give us critical information becomes fluff.

I’ve found I have a bad habit of using the word “clearly.” If something is that obvious, why do I have to tell the reader?

Another quick cut is the word “that.” On edit, I find it’s unnecessary about 98% of the times I use it in draft.

I found it a useful exercise to write a couple of short stories and practice editing on them. I figured if I could cut a 3,500 word short down to 2,000 words I would be able to trim the fat out of a novel.

Yes–“clearly” is one of my demons, too. I’m glad to say, though, that at least I’ve gotten to the point where my fingies just won’t type “very” without triggering the “you’re being stupid” area in my brain. But that takes practice.

“That,” speaking of, is an interesting case. I’ve gone back and forth several times recently on a single instance of the word. You’re correct in saying that often it’s completely unnecessary, but sometimes I find myself just flat liking the way the sentence flows better with it in.

“That” is why I allow myself to use “that” 2% of the time. 😉

My fingers still insist on typing “very” and his sister, “quite,” sometimes, but they rarely get past me on edit.

Mmm Hmm, those fluff words just connect the pipe sometimes.

Pretty much the same. Sometimes I also have useless scenes which can be cut, or paragraphs that are reiterating something that was already said.

Recently I hired a professional editor who gave me the opposite feedback-to go back and add more descriptive adverbs and adjectives especially in dialogue tags. Her quote, “MS has almost ZERO fat” (just realized as I wrote that, the MS narrator has anorexia, and she needs some fat too 🙂

Giggling. 🙂

Like they say, steak without fat is jerky. I know this somehow applies here, but I haven’t had coffee yet.

I like jerky! Only, not when I’m in the mood for steak.

How’s that for application? 🙂

Yep Yep, works for me! I have coffee now, so the world makes sense. ^^

My secret for reducing word count: Be honest.

When reading over the manuscript, be honest with yourself. I had several scenes in mine I loved – I loved what happened, the dynamic between characters, the writing, whatever – but when I re-read them, I knew they just didn’t belong. What surprised me was how easy they were to cut – it didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would.

I thought that maybe I should perhaps comment on your blog post anyway, it seemed. All those tentative words ruin things! A useful post, as usual, Rachelle.

🙂 Marion, you post reminds me of a real reject letter from an agent trying to get his point across that my MS was overwritten 🙂

Yes exactly Marion, you should write that right at the beginning of chapter two, but you can also cut more if the main character dies at the end of chapter one and does not fall in love with a shark, a pebble, or a policeman. (Sorry, watched “OK…Not This” off your blog :-D)

Marion, I had to figure out what Mr Casselman was talking about. AHAHAHA!! Hilarious! Egypt? COOL!

PJ, you read my blog? I’m stunned! I didn’t think anyone was reading it! I’d better hurry up and do a blog post then. Actually (OK, cross out that word Actually) I was thinking of posting Rachelle’s latest guest post–how lazy is that!

Thank you for the advice, Rachelle! I will be revising three books when I’m done with the current writing and I’ll keep an eye out for the words in your list.

While I’ve not needed to shorten my books, I have had to shorten a hundred sermons. The key to that is asking the question: Will keeping this add or subtract to the flow of thought? Sometimes, it hurts because the joke was really funny or the illustration was a tear jerker. Yet a cut can often mean the difference between “a timely powerful message” and “a good sermon (just glad it’s over!).” John Stott said “every sermon should feel like it’s twenty minutes.” Perhaps every novel should feel like a “weekend read?”

I am not going to say a single word about shortening your sermons. If they’re as good as your comments, then your congregation must enjoy those “20 minutes”.

Thank you, Jennifer!

i concur! what she said!

Thanks, Stephen!

your very welcome.

You know, it is a good thing Rachelle doesn’t have a “Maximum Allotted Rabbit Trail Comment” exploding screen thingie, or you would be toast. Or TOSK. Or a few others…Don’t tell her I suggested that though, or some of us would have to go and do what we’re supposed to be doing…

Ah yes, the Holy Hand-grenade of Antioch! 1, 2, 5!

A lot of helpful advice here, Rachelle, but I have heard of someone telling an author that an adverb should only be used about once in every four pages, which is absurd. They should be used when necessary for communication.

And, I don’t understand why the poor old gerund (an “ing” word) is so frowned upon.

And another thing – the mere use of “was” doesn’t indicate passive voice. It can indicate an ongoing action e.g.”He was walking to the shops when the dog bit him.” If it is changed to say “He walked to the shops and the dog bit him” it doesn’t mean the same thing at all.

Lots of your tips are great, but I am troubled when some authors make blanket rules about some of them.

To be fair, Rachelle didn’t make any blanket rules. She gave us a list of things to look for to consider cutting. You and she are both correct. Adverbs and the perfect tenses are both in the language for a reason, but they’re also both overused.

I agree, Stephen, but I’ve just had a post from an author who has actually revised the first chapter of her ms and removed all the “ly” and “ing” words – because she was told she shouldn’t use them. It’s that kind of blind adherence to “rules” regardless of whether or not the substitution is warranted which I find really distressing. And she’ll do that now for her whole manuscript.

Heh–I’ve supposed there are writers like that, but I’m sad you’ve actually run into someone. I, personally, read that other Stephen King’s book on writing, got to the passage decimating adverbs, and ran to my bookcase to see how the master told stories without one of the main parts of speech. First page I flipped to, first paragraph, had a little -ly weed sprouting right in it.

First myth of writing: rules are more important than storytelling. 🙂

I think the point here is that beginners DO have a strict set of rules to adhere to. I’m a newbie writer, but let me give you an example I can relate to from experience. Music is a craft, like writing. When I was beginning to learn to play drums as a kid, there were fundamentals and rudiments I had to learn first, never deviated from them until they were as involuntary as my heartbeat. As my play improved and I understood that drumming wasn’t just banging away on a drum head (like writing isn’t just banging away on a keyboard), I began to develop my own style of play and even challenge some of the rules. The rules don’t always apply, but it takes time, experience, and wisdom to understand the difference.

Zillah, I have to wonder if this writer showed her “beginner” status by thinking that a mentor said to take out ALL “ly” and “ing” words. Perhaps there was simply too many of those like Rachelle has listed. If not the case, that mentor was certainly wrong. It is the same principal as using the same word too many times in the same sentence, beginning too many sentences and even paragraphs with the same word. While that is not a good thing to do there are no “rules” about it and times when only that same word will do. And of course, there are also occasions when the deliberate use of the same word can be used for emphasis, increased emotion, tension etc.

Zillah, “blind adherence to rules˝ is a bigger problem than I can fix here (although I have tried). Taking one person’s advice as gospel without thinking it through and checking other sources indicates an issue with that person, I think, not neccessarily a problem with the advice. My humble opinion.

Also, you,ll notice on this blog I don’t ever use language like “you must ALWAYS do this” or “you must NEVER” – I typically make suggestions.

Thanks for the comment!

I know you don’t, and didn’t lay down the law on these things Rochelle. And I hope I didn’t offend you by what I said. I do feel so strongly about it. But, I am happy and relieved to be able to report that the author who had gone ahead and removed all her ing and ly words has checked with a mentor who put her straight, and she is now reversing that process :-). As you say, we should check out all these things for ourselves.

This is great advice. I’ve been going through a fantasy manuscript that I thought was done, but I’m finding that a total rewrite has allowed me to cut a lot of descriptions that can be told more through the actions of the characters. I turned the first 5000 words into 3000, and it felt great!

I go back and ask myself in every chapter what the point of the scene is.

I often find that while a scene is sometimes well written and I’m taken with the witty dialogue and fabulous prose it doesn’t actually move the story on.

If I can’t find a way for it to advance the plot it’s got to go.

For the first t, I’m not crying over spilled words :). Great post. Thx

I’m in the process of reading through my manuscript and cutting out whole sentences that I decide are unnecessary. The original draft was just over 80,000 words and the draft I am doing this to now was just over 77,000, so I’m just hoping I don’t end up making the manuscript TOO short. I’ve heard in places that below 60,000 is too short. The advice you’ve given here is good to go by, this is the sort of stuff I’ve been cutting out of my manuscript.

I added this post to my iPad’s home screen to have it handy. Thank you for posting. Enjoy the rest of your week!

I looked through my manuscripts and realized that I have too many passages that described the characters’ thoughts and feelings, so I’m going to have to cute some of them out. I always end up getting carried away and writing too much, but on the other hand I realized that I need more action in the story and less description. So thanks for the advice!

Here’s a little trick I use: when I have a paragraph with a sentence that trickles a word or two over onto the final line, I look for ways to reword something in the paragraph to eliminate that fractional line. That tightens the writing and, if done enough times within a chapter, might even eliminate an entire page from the manuscript.

Great idea, Ross!

Great advice! Eliminating characters or sub plots that weigh down the story, or don’t support it, is another way to cut word count. I just erased two minor characters in my WIP and don’t even miss them! 🙂

I went through a recent spell where I avoided my ms because I knew I needed to maim her. 9k words down, it’s better than it was. And I didn’t even hyperventilate in the process.

Very helpful! Cutting the word count right now, and this helps a ton. Thanks!

One way you can also decrease the word count is to combine two or more words into one word e.g. very big = enormous; every day = daily.

I wish I had the trouble of needing to cut down on word count! The first book of my fantasy is, after adding extra description and other revisions, just over 57,000 words. 2nd book, around 88,000, and the rest around 60,000. If you don’t already have a post on the subject, would you terribly mind giving advice on how to flesh out your work? I feel I give too much description, only to find I gave too little… Anyway, thank you for your post. At the least, you helped me find some things I’d be better off editing out.

Hi, Nuku. It seems like your instinct tells you the books are right, so maybe the genre is wrong. Coult you should sell them as young adult books? I think the word counts on those are shorter. A lot of adults read young adult, anyway.

I do this as well. I’ve hardly ever needed to cut. I usually find I need to add — a lot.

Oh, I should’ve mentioned that. I plan to make then teen, or YA books. The MC is 18, but I hope that won’t be a problem. I can’t change his age, or the ages of those around him, because the knowledge and experience they hold wouldn’t be believable otherwise. I’m in my 20’s, so I know adults read YA! (^O^) As for the word count for YA fantasy, everything I’ve looked at told me I needed 75,000 words at least. And books by my favourite Christian Fantasy author, who writes YA, has his books written in the 400 page range. So, I dunno. I guess I’ll really have to work at fleshing it out some more, eh?

Well, thank you for your comments! (^_^)

If it is well written, then eventually, the word count will be less important. Also, you might be the one to start a new trend: shorter YA-ish books. Some day we all might strive to write as succinctly as you!

Ooh! That would be nice! I can see it now!-But I won’t bore you with the details of my daydream. (^_^) Thanks, though. You’ve given me some thing to push me forward. Worrying about word count has been making my muse shake her head and sigh, telling me that’s all that matters. But, for now, I’ll throw word count out the window and just strive to make my books good! Wahoo! (clasps hands in anticipation.) I can’t wait to get restarted! (Don’t you just LOVE writing?)

thank you for your well placed advice. for people like me who truly are weak in writing, and business, (and life) your website is “literally” a God-send! thank you!

Stephen, why do you cut yourself down so much? A truly weak person would never even try to write. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. When I started to write my novel about WWII over three years ago, I thought it would be easy. I had the plot down solid, the characters, the research etc. No sweat. Now, many revisions and much pain later, it’s finally ready to go to an agent.

So, never cut yourself down, there are plenty of others who’ll do it for you. Youre a winner!

well i don’t feel like a winner, i have not “won” in my life, except for my salvation, but i anticipate a season change, and winning would be a welcomed new friend. as for writing, i know have a gift, but currently i am not a writer, and except for my current divinely inspired project, i will most likely limit my prose to poetry, and music. maybe after maturity weighs more heavily upon me, we shall see, but for now, just one day at a time! but thank you for your encouragement, bless you!

Stephen, it takes courage to put your words into a public forum. As for your writing, by merely writing your thoughts, ideas and feelings, you *are* a writer. Stick around, this is a great place to learn and grow. And find tons of encouragement. Now, go look in the mirror and tell yourself 5 nice things.

Dude…. First–what Jennifer said is correct. You’ve written here, ergo you’re a writer. Get over the mythos with which people surround that word, and just go with it. Rejoice in what you’ve done so far.

More generally–ask any three or four people whom you consider successful whether or not they’ve “won” at life. Odds are they’ll say no. I haven’t, despite having a fancy title in my day job that makes people go “ooh” and being a published author. Accept yourself and accept your past for what they are, and decide what you want to accomplish next. Then make sure you do something today, big or small, to move toward that goal. Then, tomorrow, celebrate what you accomplished today and do something else toward your goal. Do it for thirty days and you’ll build a habit. Do it for a few years and you’ll accomplish more than you think is even possible.

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