Simple Methods to Make an Academic Paper Shorter (Simple Methods How to Shorten an Essay)
Students in all academic levels in different majors often find that after writing a critical response essay, they have exceeded the word count specified by an instructor. In such a case, it might be tempting to hand in the document as it is.
However, you risk getting an average or low score since teachers deduct marks for failing to adhere to the specified assignment instructions. Besides, failing to meet the minimum and maximum word count for a critical response essay shows the student can't get to the point and lacks impeccable writing skills.
Critical response text that falls too short also limits the ability to explore new ideas, translating to a poor-quality essay.
So how do you trim your critical response essay without compromising on quality? Here's a post to help with that.
Read Critical Response Assignment Instructions Again
It's common for students to reread instructions for a college application essay to ensure everything has been noticed and that their documents meet all specifications, including word limits. The same concept is applied during the editing stage of a college essay, such as a critical response paper.
Rereading allows you to understand the assignment question better and gauge whether you answered it correctly. Likewise, cutting paragraphs that don't give a direct answer will shorten an essay. So, list the important factors and points that must be discussed in a critical response essay. Then remove those that don't fall into that criteria.
Remove a Few Weak Sections From a Critical Response Essay
A quality critical response essay is concise and has no fluff and repetitive phrases. Doing thorough editing helps to remove weak paragraphs and meet the word count. A college application essay with long direct quotes or several in-text citations is considered weak since it doesn't show a student's original ideas.
In addition, sections that fail to support the thesis statement or those that are less convincing lower the quality of a college essay. Trimming them will undoubtedly reduce an essay's word count.
Use an App to Read the Text
Did you know that rereading your critical response essay in silence during editing increases the chances of missing out on errors? This is because your writing will sound different when read aloud than from what you hear in your head.
Reading apps helps to read the critical response text aloud and catch errors missed earlier. It's also a way to separate yourself from your critical response essay and forces you to be intentional with your words. This, in turn, helps to catch awkward sentences and ensure the message that you hear aloud aligns with what was initially envisioned in your head. Furthermore, listening is a great way to notice boring sections and remove them to shorten an essay.
Tips and Tricks to Make a College Essay Shorter
After you've used the methods mentioned above but realize your critical response paper still needs to be shorter, it's normal to feel frustrated. So here are tips to help you hit the word limit.
Get Rid of Too Many Transitions
If a critical response essay is lengthy, eliminating some transitions is one way to trim it and meet the word requirement. Yes, transition phrases allow the ideas presented in a critical response essay to flow smoothly and improve readability. However, there is a big difference between having enough transitions and having too many.
So if you've edited all the paragraphs but still need to cut off a few words in a critical response essay, then go for transitions that also reduce the final word count. Check the entire paragraphs in a critical response essay and remove transitions repeated several times or those placed at the end or middle of a sentence.
Delete Cultured Writing in a Critical Response Essay
Lengthy responses in a critical response essay tend to have unnecessary clutter, which includes adverbs and adjectives. Most adverbs end with -ly, which can weaken a sentence in a critical response essay, or you end up using too many words to communicate a single idea.
Overuse of adverbs results in cluttered critical response writing. So to hit word limits, ensure you have one adverb in a single critical response paragraph. If there are more, remove them to improve your critical response essay.
Besides, using adjectives to make a critical response essay longer is common. So seeking out adjectives to modify nouns is a good way to find words to cut to tighten your writing. The rule of thumb is to check whether removing an adverb or adjective changes the meaning of a sentence in a critical response essay; if it doesn't, remove it from your critical response essay.
Look Out for Wordiness
Keeping the recommended word limit in a critical response essay can be tricky, especially if you have more to say on the topic. However, wordiness makes it difficult to convey your message in a critical response essay. Too many negatives, punctuations, and fancy words make your critical response essay wordy. This lowers quality, translating to a low score award for the submitted critical response essay.
To reach the word count specified in a critical response essay grading guidelines, replace long phrases, drop complex words and be relentless with non-essential words and repetitions. Ensure each paragraph has an objective and is connected to the thesis statement—lookout for drawn-out introductions and odd words that might have been included when writing a critical response essay.
Stay Active
Writing in an active voice is encouraged in academia, even for a critical response paper.
Passive voice tends to create awkward long sentences in a critical response essay and give a vague idea about who is responsible for an action. It's also wordier than active voice.
Thus to make a critical response essay shorter and to attain the specified required word count, replace passive voice with active voice. To do that, move the person doing the action to the beginning of a sentence. Then, ensure the subject in a critical response paper performs the action.
Make Critical Response Essay Headings Shorter
Some college professors clearly state what information needs to be included in the heading for a critical response essay. But if there's no guideline for a critical response essay, trim some words on headings and subtopics. You might be surprised to realize that even cutting out a few words can make a big difference to a critical response essay. This method is ideal when you believe you've edited the entire essay but still haven't met the specified length.
Rephrase Running Starts
Running starts are words in a critical response essay, such as there is, and it was. They replace nouns and make a critical response essay unclear to read. They also fail to provide useful information and can be easily removed without affecting the meaning intended in the critical response essay.
Most running starts in a critical response essay are wordy, which means they increase the page length. Replacing or rewriting such words is key to making a critical response essay shorter. The trick is to move the subject to the beginning of a sentence.
Rewrite Run on Sentences
Sometimes during essay writing, a student can have run-on sentences which are highly distracting and cause the main message to be poorly communicated. Often they are long, wordy, and complicated. They occur when a critical response essay incorrectly combines two or more independent clauses. To remove these types of sentences in a critical response essay, see if the independent clauses communicate more than one idea. Then rewrite both into a single impactful one.
Combine Sentences in a Critical Response
Sentence combinations make writing readable and work to ensure the critical response text is within the word limit placed by a teacher. Combining sentences is all about taking two or more similar short sentences and combining them into one effective short sentence. In addition, writing short sentences in a critical response essay makes the text more engaging. So make it a habit to combine sentences as a part of revising your critical response writing, and you'll be able to keep within the specified words.
Cut Out Words That Evoke Emotion
Emotive language is often discouraged in academic writing. However, students persuading the reader by appealing to their emotions rather than reason tend to get low grades for a critical response essay. Therefore, removing emotive words when writing an essay is a great way to shorten and raise quality. Some words that show emotional response include intensifies, rhetorical questions, and assumptions.
Less Is More
Sometimes, you will include several good ideas when you write a critical response essay. However, you end up with a longer word document in the process. In such a case, it is best to remove some sections. For instance, keep the introduction and conclusion short, preferably within 10% of the requested words. Likewise, in the body sections of a critical response essay, keep those with ample examples and remove those that have only a few.
Focus on the Topic Sentences
Topic sentences show the main idea in a specific critical response essay paragraph. They also support the thesis and control the subject matter. To cut words in a critical response essay, rewrite broad or vague topic sentences and make them specific and short. For a college essay focusing on critical response, it's crucial to have focused topic sentences. Thus drop indefinite articles and formulaic phrases and replace double words with single simple words.
Ask for Help
You can ask a friend to review your college essay and cut out unnecessary words to help reach the word count. Having someone with experience writing essays to check your critical response essay gives you another set of eyes to polish it accordingly. It also gives you a chance to understand how to attain word limits without compromising the quality of a critical response essay. If your friends are busy or don't have exceptional editing skills and you don't want to deal with the tedious task, then an expert at a reputable essay writing service can help.
Parting Shot
Writing an essay while adhering to a specific word limit may seem challenging. It is possible, however, with tricks such as using active voice and removing wordiness or unnecessary adjectives. You can shorten an essay using these tricks and tips while making it more excellent.
