How to Shorten an Essay Without Cutting Strong Arguments

Writing essays can be tough. Imagine finishing your essay, proud of your arguments. But when you check the word count, you realize you need to cut it down by 30 percent. Yikes! Shortening an essay can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. With the right approach, you can remove excess words, sentences, and paragraphs to create a clear, concise paper that is easier to read and understand. Learning how to write paper faster can also help you become more efficient in structuring your thoughts and trimming unnecessary content from the start. This blog will show you how to shorten an essay effectively while maintaining your voice, ensuring your work is free of unnecessary fluff, and preserving your essay’s integral structure and strong arguments.

AI writing tools like Conch can help you shorten your essay quickly and efficiently. This tool can help eliminate redundancies, improve organization, and enhance clarity to help you create a more concise and readable essay.

How to Shorten an Essay Without Losing Key Points

When it comes to academic writing, clarity and focus are king. Without clear writing, your readers will struggle to understand your ideas and won’t be pleased. On top of that, any time you over-explain concepts or get lost in lengthy descriptions, you risk losing your audience’s interest.

Distilling Clarity

As such, cutting unnecessary words from your writing is crucial to improving clarity and helping your reader better understand your ideas. The more concise your writing is, the easier for your reader to follow your train of thought. Cutting word count will help you eliminate redundant information, which can also detract from clarity and focus.

Strategies for Revising Essays to Reduce Word Count

There are four basic strategies. Which you employ can depend on how much you need to cut (though you’ll generally find yourself using all of them somehow).

1. Word by Word

For the easiest phase of the revision game, and especially if you’re only over word count by, say, 5ish%, cut extraneous words, one by one.

Which words are extraneous below? Can you cut at least one, then do a celebration dance?

“I couldn’t believe that I would be stuck handling prom preparations.”

That’s right: “I couldn’t believe ~~that~~ I would be stuck handling prom preparations.”

1 word! Let’s dance–

But wait! Hold up! We found another.

“I couldn’t believe ~~that~~ I’ ~~woul~~d be stuck handling prom preparations.”

Did you know: contractions are actually cool in college essays?

(Sssh: don’t tell your English teacher. But seriously. They’re fine.)

2 words gone! Okay, do your Safety Dance~~, or the Macarena, or the Dab, or Gangnam Style, or Griddy, or…~~

2. Phrase by Phrase

With phrase-by-phrase cuts, you want to watch for ways to tighten the flow and emphasize scene versus summary—ways to improve your writing while dropping word count. When we say “flow,” we mean rhythm and pacing—“trippingly on the tongue” (thanks, Hamlet!). Your words should flow through the admission officer’s mind, and if possible, make them forget they’re reading.

Here’s an example of stellar student writing. He had to cut some of it to make room for a salient paragraph on his favorite research project in AP history. He also had to turn to his brilliant hook paragraph for some cuts because space was limited (thanks, 650-word count!).

Here’s the original:

“In the 55th minute, with the game deadlocked at zero, South African winger Siphiwe Tshabalala fired a rocket of a ball into the top corner of the net to score the first goal of the tournament. A reaction of shock in the crowd quickly turned to joy.”

Spot any phrases that you could get rid of?

Here’s what he did:

“In the 55th minute, with the game deadlocked at zero, South African winger Siphiwe Tshabalala fired a rocket of a ball into the top corner of the net to score the first goal of the tournament. ~~A reaction of~~ shock ~~in the crowd~~ ~~quickly~~ turned to joy.”

Which makes the writing better: Do you see how a super-short, pithy sentence at the close of a long, image-rich sentence works beautifully? Good call, student! He should celebrate those six words gone. And celebrate that he kept some cool, cinematic touches here, resonant details of a World Cup game that showcase his love of sports and travel.

But guess what? It’s all in the eye of the beholder, i.e., the author, which means other students have looked at this example since and suggested other cuts. Thus proving the following: there’s no one right way to cut, and many different methods work for individual contexts.

For example:

“In the 55th minute, ~~with~~ the game deadlocked at zero, South African winger Siphiwe Tshabalala fired a rocket ~~of a ball~~ into the ~~top corner of the~~ net to score the first goal ~~of the tournament~~. ~~A reaction of~~ shock ~~in the crowd~~ ~~quickly~~ turned to joy.”

So, if the student happened to be really desperate for cuts and had to reduce that opening hook to just the essentials, then here are 18 words—gone!

Need more? “Into the net” could go as well.

Prioritizing Relevance in Personal Essays

In other words, it all depends on the essay you are writing and what is essential to the cinematic portrait of you. Would the student be smarter to add more specifics in another paragraph about his history research paper, and limit the amount of storytelling he does about his visit to a World Cup game?

Or is it better to render an immersive portrait of a World Cup game for the reader to illustrate the student’s passion and hook the reader? Only you, the author, can make that kind of call.

A key takeaway here: Notice how frequently prepositional phrases (like “into the top corner” or “of the net” or “of a ball”) are expendable in favor of strong details, and how unnecessary adverbs (e.g. “quickly”) are easy cuts.

3. Line by Line

Sometimes, you need to strike through an entire sentence, AKA an independent clause to make more significant cuts. (If you have no idea what we’re talking about, now’s the time to school yourself on independent clauses, which can stand on their own as complete sentences. Your college professors will appreciate it.)

Where do you see an independent clause that could go?

“When I started wearing a mask in public, at the very beginning of the pandemic when no one else was, most of the people that I knew at school were extremely supportive about my situation, but a few people did not understand. Some people snapped my mask straps or whispered and pointed as I walked by.”

Hint: where is there repetition of an idea? Maybe a summary of something that’s already shown with a great example?

“When I started wearing a mask in public, at the very beginning of the pandemic when no one else was, most of the people that I knew at school were extremely supportive about my situation, but ~~a few people did not understand.~~ Ssome people snapped my mask straps or whispered and pointed as I walked by.”

“A few people did not understand” is an independent clause that could go. Why? The example of the mask-snapping, whispering, pointing classmates does the job for us, and does it better. It’s clear to the reader that they did not understand, not in the least.

In other words, you can trust the reader to get the point if the details rock. But you saw some other places to cut, too, right? Everything else we suggest below is implied: that she’s in public, that it’s school

“When I started wearing a mask ~~in public~~, at the very beginning of the pandemic when no one else was, most ~~of the~~ people ~~that I knew at school~~ were extremely supportive ~~about my situation~~, but ~~a few people did not understand. S~~some people snapped my mask straps or whispered and pointed as I walked by.”

Watch for independent clauses/complete sentences that are effectively redundant.

4. Idea by Idea

Every example above is a version of this fourth strategy: cutting repeated content. One general principle to keep in mind for every revision is redundancy. Where do you use different words, a single word, a phrase, or a sentence, to restate an idea that’s already said?

What if you’d written all this in the fever of an early draft? (Which, btw, is fine—that’s what early drafts are for.)

“I couldn’t believe that I would be stuck handling prom preparations all by myself, solo, and without anyone to rely on.”

… pretty sure you got it the first time, right?

How about instead

“I couldn’t believe ~~that~~ I’ ~~woul~~d be stuck handling prom preparations ~~all by myself,~~ solo~~, and without anyone to rely on~~.”

Cutting and the Art of Replacement

When professionals cut, they rewrite, too. They find new, pithier words, phrases, and sentences to say it shorter, which is what admission officers want: more Hemingway, less Herman Melville. So this is a core skill you will use to drop word count effectively.

Original:

“One doctor’s appointment for my semi-annual thyroid check would lead to me being told that I would have to take daily medicine.”

New:

“One doctor’s appointment for my semi-annual thyroid check would ~~lead to me being told that~~ reveal I would have to take daily medicine.”

The student found one word to do the work of several.

Several students have since suggested other cuts, which is cool because another pair of eyes can often see what we can’t.

“One ~~doctor’s~~ appointment for my ~~semi-annual~~ thyroid check would ~~lead to me being told that~~ reveal I’~~woul~~d have to take daily medicine.”

Again, make it a game. You have many options to explore.

8 Tricks to Reduce Your Word Count in Academic Writing

Here are key tips enough to trim the excess and make your essay sharper and more readable.

1. Eliminate Redundant Words and Phrases

Redundancy is like overpacking for a trip. You’re carrying things you don’t need.

Words like “basically,” “actually,” or “in order to” can often be chopped without any harm to your meaning. For example, instead of writing: “In order to complete the project, the team worked hard,” you can simply say, “To complete the project, the team worked hard.”

One small change, and you’re already saving words. Did you notice that I gave the example of replacing “In order to” with “To” twice in this article? That’s redundancy right there!

Another common culprit is the word that. While it’s useful sometimes, it’s often unnecessary.

You can write: “I believe that this is true” as “I believe this is true” and it won’t hurt anyone. Similarly, any word or phrase that feels redundant has to go. But redundancy is also about repeated ideas. If you’ve explained something once, don’t explain it again unless it adds fresh insight.

Let’s say your essay is about space exploration, and you’ve already mentioned the challenges of zero gravity. You don’t need to revisit it every time you talk about astronaut training. To find out if a phrase or idea feels repetitive or overstuffed, reading your essay out loud helps a lot. Not to mention this trick will also point out other issues in the essay.

2. Combine Short Sentences

While short sentences are great for clarity, too many can bloat your word count.

Merging related sentences can help reduce such sentences and the word count, as a result.

For example, instead of writing: “The experiment was a success. It showed that the hypothesis was correct,” you could say: “The successful experiment confirmed the hypothesis.”

See what happened there? Two sentences became one, and the message stayed intact.

You can also merge sentences with overlapping ideas. For instance: “The book was interesting. It had a lot of historical details.” can become: “The book was interesting for its historical details.” Again, fewer words, same point.

And don’t worry about losing your voice or style. Combining just creates smooth, flowing sentences while keeping your essay lean.

3. Remove Unnecessary Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives and adverbs also often bloat your sentences without adding real value.

And when you’re trying to cut down on word count, they can be the easiest words to let go.

Take this sentence: “The absolutely incredible idea was extremely well-received.” It’s packed with extra fluff that doesn’t make the idea sound better.

You can trim it to: “The idea was well-received,” and you’ve made the sentence less wordy and punchier. Good nouns and verbs don’t need modifiers to do their job. For example, instead of saying, “She ran very quickly,” you could just say, “She sprinted.”

But hey, not all adjectives are your enemies. Only the ones that overshadow everything else need to go. Subtle ones can stay.

4. Trim Excessive Explanations

Sometimes, when we really want to make a point, we go overboard with examples, definitions, or details. Ironically, this can weaken our argument instead of strengthening it.

“Climate change is a global issue that affects ecosystems, wildlife, and human life, causing rising sea levels, extreme weather, and unpredictable temperatures.”

Sure, this is detailed, but it’s also a mouthful. Instead, look at this:

“Climate change affects ecosystems, wildlife, and human life through rising sea levels and extreme weather.”

It’s still informative, but now it’s concise. Simply trust your reader. They don’t need you to explain every little detail. Adding too much explanation is like asking, “How to make your essay longer?”, which is definitely not what we’re doing here!

5. Replace Long Phrases With Shorter Alternatives

Big, sprawling phrases can be hard to let go of because they make you sound eloquent.

But at the same time, they can often weigh down your writing.

Some of them also need to go to meet that word count requirement.

Long Phrases	Example Alternatives
At this moment in time	Now
Due to the fact that	Because
In the event that	If
It is worth noting that	Note
Has the ability to	Can
In light of the fact that	Since
For the purpose of	For
In order to	To
A large number of	Many
By means of	By

Add and compare the word count in both columns and see how big of a difference removing the phrases can make. Remember, the goal is clarity, not length. If you’re tempted to stretch your sentences with long phrases, ask yourself, does it really add anything? If not, cut it. Otherwise, you’re heading straight into “how to make an essay longer” territory, and we’re here to avoid that.

6. Just Really Cut Out Filler Words That Are Very Unnecessary

Did you notice anything about this heading no 6? It’s stuffed with filler words.

Words like just, really, that, or very can sneakily bulk up your essay without adding any real value. They often don’t change the meaning of a sentence.

Let’s look at an example:

“I am really excited about this new idea.”

Cut the filler, and it becomes:

“I am excited about this idea.”

See, removing the fillers didn’t take anything away.

Here’s the thing, though. Filler words can be hard to spot because they hide themselves subtly. So use an AI essay writer to help you identify filler words automatically. Otherwise, be ready for attentively reading the entire essay multiple times.

7. Switch to Active Voice

When considering how to shorten an essay, pay attention to the voice you’re writing in. Passive voice weighs down your writing with extra words. Active voice creates clearer, more concise sentences while making your writing more engaging.

Spot passive voice in phrases like:

“was done by”
“were made by”
“has been”
“will be”

Transform these sentences:

Passive: “The experiment was conducted by researchers.”
Active: “Researchers conducted the experiment.”
Passive: “Mistakes were made during the process.”
Active: “The team made mistakes during the process.”

Active voice strengthens your writing while naturally reducing your word count.

8. Focus on Stronger Verbs and Nouns

Strong verbs and nouns help you say a lot without overloading your sentences. But what even are strong verbs and nouns?

Weak: “She walked slowly to the door.”

Strong: “She strolled to the door.”

Also, notice how the strong verbs saved us words and made our writing more vivid.

Similarly, consider nouns:

Weak: “The big, old car was difficult to control.”

Strong: “The jalopy was difficult to control.”

Weak Phrase	Stronger Alternative
Walked slowly	Strolled, crept
Said loudly	Shouted, exclaimed
Ran quickly	Sprint, dashed
Looked closely	Examined, inspected
Made a decision	Decided
Very tired	Exhausted
Big house	Mansion
Small amount	Fraction
Very happy	Elated, thrilled

So Get to Cutting

Don’t do so too early in the process, but keep in mind that cutting can be a great brain break when you’re blocked on generating new ideas and other essays. If you know for a fact you’ve overwritten, you can switch gears and cut.

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