Tips To Reduce The Length Of Research Paper

Many English writers find it to be a challenge to write concisely. It’s a technique and it takes a lot of practice to actually notice what can be done better in order for the research paper to be shorter and more concise.

People usually have a problem keeping it short namely because they have so much to say and a word limit only stops them. However, with research papers or any kind of essay, in general, it’s essential to keep to the set rules and given word count limits. Exceeding the word count limit usually means that the writer wasn’t clear enough on his message and that he has to edit the document heavily to remove redundancies and make a clearer point. Rarely does the exceeded word count mean that there is any value in the extra amount of words written.

Here are some ways you can revise your research paper and find excess words.

Look at sentence beginnings

Redundancies usually begin at the very start of the sentence. People use phrases to create a subtle yet meaningful transition from one paragraph or chapter to another but there is really no need to do that.

So, when revising, pay attention to redundancies like “therefore”, “there was a previous study on”, “it has been reported that”, “scientists have found” and so on.

Especially with examples like the last three, these are unnecessary. Since you can use citations to show exactly which study it is and scientists involved, you don’t need to emphasize that the statement is related to said research.

Nominalizations

Nominalizations happen when you use the noun form of verbs instead of verb forms. These are a huge contributor to redundancies and wordiness in research papers. They also indicate that the passive wording has been used.

The passive wording, in addition to being wordy, is also mitigating the strength of your message. It makes the overall writing weaker and less engaging for the reader. Look out for these in your papers.

Check for obvious sentences

Always remember that it is your professors or someone with more knowledge than you that is reading your document. They already know all of the basics and it would be a good idea to skip them. People usually start sections and paragraphs with these sentences as a way to softly invite the reader in. While in theory it might be a decent idea since you can almost instantly show what the research paper is about, it may seem patronizing to your target audience. It’s still very important to establish some sort of context in the beginning, doing so in this way may come off as poor writing and poor amount of knowledge about the subject.

For instance, if you are writing about toys, it would be a bad idea to start with “Toys are favorite entertainment of millions of children”.

Writing a good research paper is one of the main tasks of any student. But, given the word count, you might need a bit more revising than you have originally expected. Stay within the limits with some of these tips, make sure that you are on the subject and that your message is clear.