First, how you shorten your academic writing will depend on how much you need to shorten it by. If you need to cut more than 15%, it means that you are going to be revising [rewriting and restructuring] rather than just cutting.

And second, it’s not just about percentages - 10% of 8,000 words will require very different strategies to 10% of 80,000.

Cutting 800 words from 8,000 will focus on cutting words, reframing sentences for tighter expression, and possibly removing paragraphs; removing 8,000 words from an 80,000 word manuscript will focus more on removing entire sections and paragraphs.

Shortening text that is well written and well argued with not an extra word in sight is daunting, but then, it’s a great challenge that helps us move around those building blocks of language.

My clients are always amazed that I cut as much as I can without actually affecting the text in any perceptible way.

There are some great solutions out there, such as this, to shorten your academic article. None, though, I’m willing to bet, think of it the way I do.

Ineffective Shortening Strategies

When it comes to shortening text, authors tend to use two fairly ineffective and detrimental strategies:

1. They turn well-written and easy-to-understand sentences into some kind of nasty bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo by creating zombie nouns and phrases and opting for the passive voice to make it shorter. That is a shit strategy and your readers will hate you for it. I try so hard not to walk down that path to hell; I have managed to reduce 60-page, and even 40-page, manuscripts by up to 5 pages using the strategies below.

2. Authors just start removing words wherever they can. But that approach is not effective, because unless the edits actually pull back the text by a line or more each time, they are not useful and you will have wasted your time.

So, to focus your energies where they will yield results, use the tricks below to shorten your academic article.

The Trick

So, what’s my strategy when shortening a journal article?

The trick to shortening a journal article is to work with the physicality of the text. Focus on the space that words take up on a page.

That’s it! That little shift in focus is at the heart of my success in shortening journal articles. So here are a few steps to follow:

Effective Shortening Strategies:

1. Scan the text. Find any paragraphs that end with 3 or 4 words on a fresh line. Highlight those words. Removing that number of words from that very paragraph will pull that last line back, and you will save a line. I have cut up to FOUR pages per manuscript with that strategy.

2. Scan the tables. Reduce the font size by 1 point as compared to the body of the manuscript. Scan the text in columns. Certain cells are longer in a row than others. Why? Could increasing the width of that cell’s column help to push the text up? Play with column width. I have sometimes saved ONE page doing that.

3. Check your formatting. If you have a line space between paragraphs, remove it, and prefer a simple indentation at the start of the new paragraph. I have saved up to TWO pages doing that!

BONUS Tip:

1. Move to the Findings. The Findings section is typically descriptive, especially if it comes to a qualitative study (description of the interactions, of the setting, of the respondents etc.). Descriptions are often written more loosely than the rest of the paper, which is dependant on creating the argument. These can be tightened in a way that an argument cannot. Go to town. I have saved up to ONE page with this tactic.

And that’s it. The Big Secret to Shortening! Enjoy. And let me know if that works out for you. And if you still couldn’t be bothered to do it on your own, reach out to me! It will put the biggest smile on my face!!