how to make an essay less wordy

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How to Avoid Wordiness

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Cut Adjectives and Adverbs

This is something Ernest Hemingway became famous for. While working as a reporter, he learned to cut unnecessary words and get to the point of a story as fast as possible, claiming that all those extra adjectives/adverbs could be filled in by readers’ imaginations and the context of the story.

Take this sentence: “The frightened woman quickly ran away from the drooling, crazy, rotting zombie.” Is all that necessary? What about: “She ran away from the zombie.” Is this really any different? Or can you just assume the woman is frightened, she’s running fast, and the zombie is hideous?

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Eliminate Redundant Words and Phrases

Here at ProofreadingPal , there are whole classes of words and phrases we delete right away because they are redundant including:

• Introductory words such as “basically” or “truly.” These don’t really add anything to your writing and thus get cut.
• Qualifiers such as “very”, “really,” and “quite.” These don’t add anything either. They’re too vague and easily replaced by better words. Take “I’m really hungry,” for example. Is this a good sentence? Or is “I’m starving” better?
• Linking phrases such as “in order to.” Look at, “I need money in order to buy a trip to Jurassic Park,” as opposed to “I need money to buy a trip to Jurassic Park.” Same meaning, fewer words.
• Unnecessary phrasing such as the “person who…” construction. Look at, “He is a man who delivers mail,” instead of simply, “He is a mailman.”
• Finally, some cases involve removing whole sentences. For example, when writing academic essays, some people like to write “In the next paragraph, I am going to discuss the method section.” But, if the next section starts with the heading “Method,” do you really need to say the above sentence? Not at all. It’s clear from context.

Don’t Use Unnecessary Prepositions

Avoid Passive Voice

Carve it in stone: You should avoid passive voice wherever possible. For our purposes, passive voice is another way that wordiness creeps into your writing. Take the sentence. “I ate lunch.” A nice simple, clear sentence, right? Well, if you want to say the same thing in passive voice, it would be “Lunch was eaten by me.” Three words become five. Pretty much every “was/is + verb” construction is wordy, and switching to active voice improves the phrasing.

Use Simple Past/Present Instead of Present/Past Perfect and Present/Past Continuous

This is a similar issue. From essays to business documents to novels, it’s much more succinct to use simple present/past tense over any other tense, especially present/past perfect and present/past continuous. Why? Because doing so cuts down on unnecessary words, and, most of the time, you don’t need any of those other tenses because they’re clear through context. For example, change, “I have worked there,” to, “I worked there.” Change, “He was surfing,” to, “He surfed.” Nothing is different, right? There are exceptions, of course, but keep an eye on this issue, and you’ll find lots of instances where you just don’t need those extra modifiers.

Now, let’s look at all of these together. Take the sentence: “The kind of person who eats lots of ice cream in order to feel good is me.” Lots going on in that sentence. Or maybe not. From above you know we don’t need “lots of” because it’s an adverb. We don’t need “kind of person who” or “in order to” because they’re redundant. And we need to change the sentence to active voice and to use simple verbs. So what are we left with? “I eat ice cream to feel good.” This is much simpler and more succinct, and your reader easily understands what you mean, which is the point of communication, right?

Try these tips in your writing. Practice makes perfect (as opposed to, “In order to achieve perfection, you should take the time to practice”). And, for extra help, send it to us at ProofreadingPal , and we’ll sort you out!

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Eliminating Words

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1. Eliminate words that explain the obvious or provide excessive detail

Always consider readers while drafting and revising writing. If passages explain or describe details that would already be obvious to readers, delete or reword them. Readers are also very adept at filling in the non-essential aspects of a narrative, as in the fourth example.

2. Eliminate unnecessary determiners and modifiers

Writers sometimes clog up their prose with one or more extra words or phrases that seem to determine narrowly or to modify the meaning of a noun but don't actually add to the meaning of the sentence. Although such words and phrases can be meaningful in the appropriate context, they are often used as "filler" and can easily be eliminated.

Here's a list of some words and phrases that can often be pruned away to make sentences clearer:

• for all intents and purposes

3. Omit repetitive wording

Watch for phrases or longer passages that repeat words with similar meanings. Words that don't build on the content of sentences or paragraphs are rarely necessary.

4. Omit redundant pairs

Many pairs of words imply each other. Finish implies complete, so the phrase completely finish is redundant in most cases.

So are many other pairs of words:

• past memories
• various differences
• each individual _______
• basic fundamentals
• important essentials
• future plans
• terrible tragedy
• final outcome
• past history
• unexpected surprise
• sudden crisis

A related expression that's not redundant as much as it is illogical is "very unique." Since unique means "one of a kind," adding modifiers of degree such as "very," "so," "especially," "somewhat," "extremely," and so on is illogical. One-of-a-kind-ness has no gradations; something is either unique or it is not.

5. Omit redundant categories

Specific words imply their general categories, so we usually don't have to state both. We know that a period is a segment of time, that pink is a color, that shiny is an appearance.

In each of the following phrases, the general category term can be dropped, leaving just the specific descriptive word:

• large in size
• often times
• of a bright color
• heavy in weight
• period in time
• round in shape
• at an early time
• economics field
• of cheap quality
• honest in character
• of an uncertain condition
• in a confused state
• unusual in nature
• extreme in degree
• of a strange type

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Conciseness and Eliminating Wordiness

Writing concisely is one way to capture and retain readers' interest. By writing clearly and concisely, you will get straight to your point, so your audience can easily comprehend it. There are several techniques that can help you learn to write clearly and concisely.

The table below shows some commonly-used elaborate words and their simple alternatives.

Replace Vague Words with Specific Ones

Vague or abstract words tend to conceal your meaning. On the other hand, specific words precisely and shortly convey your meaning.

• Vague: The Acme Corporation is developing a new consumer device that allows users to communicate vocally in real time.
• Specific: The Acme Corporation is developing a new cell phone.

Avoid Overusing Expletives at the Beginning of Sentences

Expletives are phrases of the form it + be-verb or there + be-verb.

Example #1:

• Wordy: It is the governor who signs or vetoes bills.
• Concise: The governor signs or vetoes bills.

Example #2:

• Wordy: There are four rules that should be observed.
• Concise: Four rules should be observed.

Avoid Overusing Noun Forms of Verbs

Use verbs when possible rather than noun forms known as nominalizations.

• Wordy: The function of this department is the collection of accounts.
• Concise: This department collects accounts.

Eliminate Unnecessary Words

Unnecessary words can come in many forms like excessive detail, repetitive words, or redundant words.

Excessive Detail

• Before: I received and read the email you sent yesterday about the report you’re writing for the project. I agree it needs a thorough, close edit from someone familiar with your audience.
• After: I received your email about the project report and agree it needs an expert edit.

Repetitive words

• Before: The engineer considered the second monitor an unneeded luxury.
• After: The engineer considered the second monitor a luxury.

Redundant words

• Before: The test revealed conduction activity that was peculiar in nature.
• After: The test revealed peculiar conduction activity.

Replace Multiple Negatives with Affirmatives

Affirmatives, instead, convey concise meaning that needs no interpretation.

• Before: Your audience will not appreciate the details that lack relevance.
• After: Your audience will appreciate relevant details.

8 Proven Methods to Reduce Essay Word Count, AI Included

Table of contents

Yona Schnitzer

We all know how hard it is to write long essays with a minimum word count.

But sometimes, we're faced with the opposite challenge - keeping our essays under a maximum count.

How to Reduce Essay Word Count

1. Use an active voice instead of passive 2. Spot the fluff 3. Eliminate redundant words 4. Shorten wordy phrases 5. Stop using "What" and "There" as subjects 6. Drop the conjunctions 7. Forget the running starts 8. Use shorter words

Anyone who has ever tried covering complex topics with a maximum word ceiling can tell you that it can be challenging to reduce the word count without sacrificing the meaning or flow of your piece. 

In this article, I’ll give you 8 easy tips to help you reduce the word count in your essays without compromising the quality of your writing.

Instantly reduce your word count with this FREE AI tool > Instantly reduce your word count with this FREE AI tool >

Get Wordtune for free > Get Wordtune for free >

So, without further ado, here are 8 proven methods to reduce essay word count:

1. use an active voice instead of passive.

Using an active voice makes your writing more direct and concise. Passive voice often adds unnecessary words and can make your writing sound less engaging. For instance:

By switching to the passive voice, we’ve reduced our overall word count, while also making the sentence more engaging. 

Be sure to check out our full guide on how to nail the active voice .

2. Spot the fluff

One of the easiest ways to reduce word count is to identify any unnecessary or redundant information in your piece. Whether it’s drawn out introductions, or repetitive information, there’s always something that you can do without. Some tools, like Wordtune can actually help you identify areas where you can afford to shorten your writing, or even entire paragraphs that you can cut out.

3. Eliminate redundant words

Many sentences contain words that don't add any value to their meaning and can be easily removed. Very, for example, is a very common offender (see what I did there?). Instead of writing It was very cold outside, just write It was cold outside.

Here are some more examples of redundant words to help you get the idea:

4. Shorten wordy phrases

Another way to reduce word count is to identify and shorten wordy phrases. 

For example, instead of writing "due to the fact that, " you can write "because."  

Once you get in the habit of shortening your phrases, it will be like second nature. There are also some tools that can help you with that, like Wordtune's "shorten" feature, which can suggest shorter ways to write a sentence without sacrificing clarity.

5. Stop using "What" and "There" as subjects

Using "What" or "There" as the subject of a sentence will add unnecessary words to your writing. Instead, you can rephrase the sentence to make the subject more specific. 

For example: 

6. Drop the conjunctions

Conjunctions such as "and," "but," and "however" can be used to connect two independent statements, but they also add unnecessary words to your sentence. Instead of creating one, long sentence that is put together by conjunctions, try writing two separate sentences instead. Usually you’ll find that these end up using less words overall. 

For example:

This may seem like a small difference, but over the course of an entire paper, these small changes will really add up.

7. Forget the running starts

In writing, a "running start" refers to a sentence that begins with a word or phrase that does not provide any useful information and can be easily removed without affecting the meaning of the sentence. Common examples of running starts include words like "it," "there," "here," "this," and "that." These words often add unnecessary words to a sentence and can make the writing sound less direct and less engaging. Removing them can help to make your writing more concise and to the point.

Pro Tip: Wordtune's "Shorten" feature is great at eliminating running starts.

8. Use shorter words

Sometimes, an assignment has a page limit rather than a word count, in this instance, it can be worth it to identify words that can be replaced with shorter words of the same meaning. For example, instead of writing " utilize ," you can write " use ." 

Here are some other common words that can afford to lose a few letters:

Less is more

‍ If you’re looking for tips on how to INCREASE word count, check out this article . 

There are plenty of ways to reduce your word count without sacrificing the quality of your writing. Use these tips and tricks the next time you find yourself desperately trying to squeeze too many sentences onto one page. Keep in mind that whenever you shorten a text, you’re usually improving it by making it more readable and accessible to a larger audience. 

Remember, when it comes to writing - less, is usually more. 

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How to Reduce Wordiness

#scribendiinc

Written by  Scribendi

Do you find yourself writing sentences that are far too long?

Have you ever re-read a sentence and struggled to finish it in one breath?

If so, you may be suffering from something called prolixity, or in layman's terms, wordiness. Wordiness is one of the most  common ESL mistakes . It happens when a writer, either intentionally or unintentionally, uses far too many words or unnecessarily complex or abstract words.

Wordiness can seriously detract from the coherency and quality of your writing and frustrate your readers. Below, we suggest several ways to help you reduce wordiness and increase quality.

How to Reduce Wordiness: 4 Key Considerations

1. eliminate filler words.

One easy way to avoid wordiness is to limit or eliminate the use of "filler words." Filler words sneak between relevant words, and though they may sound good, they are essentially useless.

Take the phrase "It is commonly believed that . . .," for example. The filler in this phrase is "commonly," as it serves no purpose. Leaving this word out would not change the meaning and would actually improve the sentence.

Often, it is during revision that wordiness becomes apparent. For example, the phrase "Some experts commonly believe that . . ." could be revised to "Some experts believe that . . ." to make the sentence more concise.

2. Remove redundancies

Redundancies are another cause of wordiness. Redundant writing can take two forms: writers may include redundant words or redundant information.

Redundant wording is most often found in descriptive writing. This occurs when writers attempt to describe something and overuse synonyms. Take this sentence: "Mark is a funny, hilarious, and comical person." Here, three words that basically mean the same thing are used to describe Mark.

The second form of redundancy is likely familiar to students worldwide. Redundant information occurs when writers say the same thing many times but in different ways. Readers are forced to read more and yet learn nothing new.

Redundant information often crops up in essays: "Scientists have found that cancer cells can be repressed through the twice-daily consumption of carrot juice. Carrot juice, when consumed on a twice-daily basis, has been found to repress cancer cells."

The two sentences, while written differently, contain the same information. Redundant information should be avoided in order to reduce wordiness in your  essay writing .

3. Avoid overusing qualifiers

Qualifiers come directly before an adjective or  adverb  and are used to either increase or decrease the quality of the modified word. For example, in the phrase "John is very cool," the qualifier is "very." The overuse of such qualifiers can distract readers.

Qualified words can often be replaced by a single more potent word. For example, "Sue is extremely angry" could be shortened to "Sue is furious."

When every adjective or adverb is preceded by "very," "extremely," "barely," or "hardly," the qualifiers begin to lose their meaning. Always try to use one good word rather than two or three mediocre ones. This will instantly improve your writing.

4. Resist logorrhea

This form of wordiness can be the most frustrating. Logorrhea is the intentional use of long sentences or overly abstract wording.

If you've ever read a postmodern novel,  lab report , or law journal, you've likely encountered it.

An author could say something succinctly in three words, but instead they've composed a sentence so laden with adjectives and qualifiers that readers will simply be confused by the time they reach the end. All of these extra words could unnecessarily complicate  expository writing .

Here is an example of logorrhea by a famous writer, George Orwell. He was deliberately satirizing the use of logorrhea in political discourse and wrote this as an example of a sentence with many words but little meaning:

Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.

If your writing resembles this example, you may want to put down the thesaurus and remember that writing is about conveying a message. Your readers should always be able to understand what you're saying.

Parting Advice

With these four considerations in hand, you should have no trouble reducing wordiness in your writing. 

Image source: iqoncept/bigstockphoto.com

A Professional Editor Can Help You Eliminate Wordiness

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• Avoiding Wordiness: 330 Examples & What to Use Instead

“A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.” ―William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, The Elements of Style

You’ve probably come across more than one article, blog post, or product description that took way longer to get to the point.

In your frustration, you may have started skimming the piece, missing important information along the way.

Alternatively, you may have turned the page or clicked away.

Either way, you’ve wasted time, and the writer has wasted both their time and yours.

Creative writing offers a little more leeway with the use of language.

Depending on the genre in question, the setting of a story (fictional or real), or the character, flowery phrases may be appropriate to convey authenticity.

Song lyrics require an occasionally awkward turn of phrase to keep a line’s length and beat consistent with the others. The same goes for poetry in general.

Most other writing―be it journalism, business writing, or web writing―lends itself to a spare, even Spartan, style.

Unless a reader wants to be transported to another world, they probably just want you to get to the point. It’s not that they don’t want to hear what you have to say; it’s that they DO want to hear you. Right away.

Sandwiching your message between unneeded verbiage helps no one. It doesn’t make you sound smarter, clearer, or more persuasive. It’s. Just. Noise.

The next time you sit down to write, the burning question running through your mind after each period should be, “Do I really need to tell them this?”

Without further ado, here are 330 examples of common cases of wordiness (as of Nov. 12, 2020), along with shorter alternatives.

BUT : Keep a word or phrase if …

• removing it ruins the grammatical structure.
• it’s a key idea, fact, feeling, or description.

This page is constantly updated and further words and phrases are added from time to time.

• If you want to stay in the loop, bookmark or share this page now.
• If you want an example added to the list, feel free to comment below.

Helpful. Thanks.

A wake up call on superfluous words. Thank you

but does not help with long reports for school.

But if you’ve been using the shorter versions and need your report to be longer you can use the long version instead

Actually, it helps. A good teacher would accept a shorter essay if it doesn’t have redundant words or phrases…

Probably. Sixty-seven percent. A good chance. It might. It’s a common outcome. A prediction would be yes.

an eyeopener to less wording

Thanks! And it’s great that we can use it backward.

what do u mean ‘ backward’ ?

he means that he uses it to convert basic-tier lexical items into higher-echelon words, perfectly opposite to the intended use.

You forgot the capital letter. But what is “lexical” and “echelon”?

Love it. I shared this with my team.

Any chance you can add “indicate” to your list? E.g.:

indicate -> use “show” or “point out” instead

Helpful. Thx

Mark Twain used many wonderful words in his take-down of “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offences.” You can google it. It’s wonderful!

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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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Great Ideas From Readers

How to Fix Wordy Writing

A writer and teacher shares a lesson for helping students understand the importance of clear, concise writing, and spotting needless words.

By Chelsey Philpot

This idea was submitted by Chelsey Philpot , who teaches nonfiction writing at Boston University. She is the author of two young adult novels (“Be Good Be Real Be Crazy” and “Even in Paradise”) and her work has been published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Slate and BuzzFeed.

Teachers might use this lesson to prepare students for The Learning Network’s second annual 100-Word Personal Narrative Contest , which is accepting submissions until Nov. 1.

Do you teach with The Times? Tell us about it here , or browse our full collection of reader ideas .

Lesson Overview

Rule 17: Omit needless words. — “The Elements of Style,” William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White

Of all the commandments contained in “The Elements of Style,” the ubiquitous writing guide by Cornell professor William Strunk Jr. and his former student, and author, E.B. White, Rule 17, “Omit needless words,” has proved to be the most pertinent in my writing classrooms.

When I was new to teaching writing to young adults and teenagers, I theorized that social media, texting and even our shortened attention spans meant that I should be ready for terse correspondences, malnourished prose and final assignments that just barely made the required word count.

I was way off.

Indeed, my experience teaching nonfiction writing to undergraduates and high school students has taught me that today’s nascent writers hand in assignments just as full of redundancies, unnecessary prepositions and fluff as those Cornell students presented to Strunk over a century ago.

In this lesson, students will learn the importance of concise, clear writing as well as techniques for spotting and omitting those pesky “needless” words.

Educators will need a whiteboard or whiteboard app such as Web Whiteboard or Whiteboard.fi to share definitions, examples and student responses.

1. Define “wordiness” and share examples.

Wordy sentences are sentences that contain more words than they require to clearly communicate a point or idea.

When teachers write “wordy,” “bloated” or “verbose” in the margins of a paper, they aren’t saying that a sentence is too long, nor that its structure is too complicated. Rather, they are stating that “needless” words are hindering the clear communication of the students’ ideas.

2. Introduce Rule 17.

If you haven’t used “The Elements of Style” in your classroom, give students a synopsis of the book’s history ( “‘The Elements of Style’ Turns 50” by Sam Roberts is a great resource for this) before sharing and explaining the dictum to “Omit needless words.”

3. Brainstorm in small groups.

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short, or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell. — “The Elements of Style,” William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White

Divide your class into small groups of three to five students. Ask each group to carefully read the above quotation before answering the questions below.

What does it mean to “omit needless words”?

What does it mean “that every word tell”?

Why is wordy writing problematic?

What are tactics you can use to spot wordy writing?

Can wordiness ever be a good thing?

Invite a member from each small group to record students’ responses on the classroom whiteboard or online whiteboard app. Bring the class together to discuss what the groups have shared.

If students did not come up with the following thoughts on their own, educators will want to add them to the whiteboard during discussion.

Wordiness is problematic because …

it can hinder the clear communication of ideas.

it can lead to readers losing interest.

it can make the text sound as though the writer is adding more words merely to meet a page or word-count quota.

Exercise: Create, Find and Fix Wordy Writing

This exercise helps students identify wordiness in their own writing by asking them (in small groups) to make a Times article wordy, then challenge their peers to edit the piece back to clarity and concision.

1. Choose and discuss.

Have each group select a recent New York Times article to make verbose.

If students have a Times subscription, they can choose their own articles. Encourage them to focus on headlines that seem to promise light subject matter (the Style section is a great place to start). Overall, your goal during this step is to avoid trivializing breaking news stories.

Here are some examples of articles that would work well:

On the Coney Island Boardwalk, It’s the Summer of Snakes (and a Wallaby) Are You Ready? The Nu Metal Renaissance Is Upon Us. A Long, Shining River of Verse, Flowing From a Rower and Writer She Steals Surfboards by the Seashore. She’s a Sea Otter. The Mango Is King of the Miami Summer This Ancient Whale May Have Been the Heaviest Animal Ever Furby, Is That You? The Dance of Too-Hot Summer? Melt Into the Pinegrove Shuffle.

And if you’re looking for short, but engaging, articles students can get through quickly, have them choose a Tiny Love Story from the Modern Love column or this handy teaching resource . Are your students taking part in this year’s 100-Word Personal Narrative Contest ? Ask them to select a work from among the 2022 contest winners .

Once groups have chosen a piece, each member should read it carefully before discussing the following questions:

What’s the article about?

How would you describe the article’s style?

Are there any places where the author uses more words than necessary?

2. Introduce common wordiness errors.

Once students have discussed their piece, take some time to go over common wordiness culprits. Come armed with plenty of examples, including some from students’ own work (be sure to redact anything that might identify the writer, or ask students beforehand for permission to use their work).

Here is a starter list of common wordy phrases that educators can share with their students and expand upon.

Redundancies

Repetitive expressions decorate our conversations so seamlessly that it’s no wonder phrases like “8 a.m. in the morning,” “join together,” “close proximity” and “A.T.M. machine” find their ways into student papers.

Needless or unintentional repetition

When repetition is used deliberately it can be a powerful communication tool, adding cadence to speeches, emphasis to ideas and poetic pauses that force readers to slow their pace. However, when students repeat ideas, words or phrases unthinkingly, repetition becomes a wordiness issue, leading to tangled sentences and confused or annoyed readers.

Sometimes bad repetition is obvious:

I have been playing soccer most of my life and it has played a significant role throughout my life.

The feeling I felt after the competition will stay with me forever.

Other times, identifying it requires students to slow down and think about the words they’ve chosen and their meaning:

I volunteered to coach illiterate adults who did not know how to read.

Strive to use active instead of passive verbs: I wrote the paper is easier to read than The paper was written by me .

Whenever possible, avoid using “to be” as your main verb: My sister is quick to reply to my texts, versus My sister replies to my texts promptly.

Watch out for nominalization (converting parts of speech such as verbs and adjectives into nouns) as it leads to clunky writing. For example, Margot made a distortion of the story, which made her plot difficult to follow, is three words longer than Margot distorted the story, which made her plot difficult to follow.

Preposition overload

Look for places where excessive prepositional phrases have caused bloat:

Students will understand the reason for the assignments being due exactly on the first of April once the latest version of the rubric for the assignment has been dispersed among all students.

Often, prepositions can be eliminated without changing a sentence’s meaning.

Add-nothing adjectives and adverbs

Adjectives and adverbs add nothing to a sentence when they’re redundant, nonsensical or simply not needed.

For example, the first of the following two sentences contains an unnecessary modifier, which the second version eliminates: Flynn yelled loudly for help after he saw the two cars collide, versus Flynn yelled for help after he saw the two cars collide.

No matter what the rules are, what matters is getting rid of words and phrases that are only taking up space. If they add nothing, they’ve got to go.

3. Inflate.

Now the fun begins.

Have students take the articles they’ve chosen and make them more wordy by replacing terms or phrases, adding modifiers, pumping up the prepositions, and doing whatever else they can do to increase sentences’ word counts without changing their meanings.

For example, from the article “ On the Coney Island Boardwalk, It’s the Summer of Snakes (and a Wallaby) ,” I took this delightful sentence:

The variety of wildlife available for photographs at Coney Island made headlines this month when a young man’s pet wallaby, that kangaroo-adjacent animal native to Australia, was seized on the boardwalk by the police. (34 words)

And made it into a barely readable behemoth:

The variety of different wildlife animals made available for photographs at Coney Island made attention-grabbing and interesting headlines this present month when a young man in his early 20s had his pet wallaby, that kangaroo-adjacent animal that comes from the country of Australia, seized and taken by police who were assigned to patrol Coney Island and who were on the boardwalk at the time the wallaby was spotted. (68 words)

4. Exchange and revise.

Have students put away their selected articles before asking groups to exchange the bloated sentences they’ve created with one another. Challenge student groups to revise their classmates’ wordy sentences until they’re clear and concise.

5. Compare versions and reflect.

Ask students to compare their revised sentences to their counterparts in the published articles.

Did students’ reworked versions come close to the original writing?

Did students’ versions fail to catch any needless words or phrases?

Do any of their sentences improve upon the original work?

I’ll leave you with a final thought: Can wordiness sometimes work? Sure, but as I tell my students many times a semester: You must know the rules before you can knowingly break them.

• Writing Worksheets and Other Writing Resources

Bloated Language aka Wordiness

About the slc.

• Our Mission and Core Values

There is a common misconception that a verbose writer is a great one. While supplementary sentences or words can seem to add “smartness” to an essay, unnecessary fluff can only frustrate a reader. Good news: there is some telltale signs of wordiness that can help both tutors and tutees tighten up an otherwise long-winded paper.

 In Paragraphs:

2. combine shorter, abrupt sentences. .

Choppy sentences become repetitive after awhile and can begin to bore the reader. Usually, these can be merged easily, especially if both sentences speak to the same idea.


In this paragraph, the author uses metaphors. These metaphors depict the volatility of the character’s mood swings.

A Better Example:

In this paragraph, the author uses metaphors that depict the volatility of the character’s mood swings.

1. Do not repeat ideas. 

While some ideas do need more than one sentence to be fully explained, many essays can often get redundant in this regard. If you re-read a sentence and realize that it adds no additional value, it probably should be removed (despite any writer’s attachment you may have to it).


The poem contains devices that suggest the audiences in Shakespeare’s time were relatively educated.  In other words, those who saw and appreciated Shakespeare’s plays were well read.

In Sentences:

1. use active voice..

Passive voice usually leads to longer phrases, complicated syntax, and indirect meanings. Sometimes passive voice can appear more academic or objective. However, when used frequently, it could cause confusion on the reader’s end.


Common passive verbs: is, are, was, were, am, be, been

In her essay, there are many passive verbs being used.

Her essay uses many passive verbs.

2. Get rid of wordy phrases.

In the English language, there are many phrases that could really be said with one or two words. Below are some examples.
Note: this is not an exhaustive list.

Due to the fact that → Because

With regard to → About, Concerning

Have the capability to → Can

A majority of → Most

Subsequent to → After

In the event that → If

 Caveat: Although a writer should be cognizant of his/her wordiness, there is a fine line between expressive and rambling. Thus, while these tools can be useful for wordy essays, be careful to not take them to an extreme. Rule of thumb: moderation is key.

Christine Hou

Student Learning Center, University of California, Berkeley

©2009 UC Regents

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution

Word Choice

What this handout is about.

This handout can help you revise your papers for word-level clarity, eliminate wordiness and avoid clichés, find the words that best express your ideas, and choose words that suit an academic audience.

Introduction

Writing is a series of choices. As you work on a paper, you choose your topic, your approach, your sources, and your thesis; when it’s time to write, you have to choose the words you will use to express your ideas and decide how you will arrange those words into sentences and paragraphs. As you revise your draft, you make more choices. You might ask yourself, “Is this really what I mean?” or “Will readers understand this?” or “Does this sound good?” Finding words that capture your meaning and convey that meaning to your readers is challenging. When your instructors write things like “awkward,” “vague,” or “wordy” on your draft, they are letting you know that they want you to work on word choice. This handout will explain some common issues related to word choice and give you strategies for choosing the best words as you revise your drafts.

As you read further into the handout, keep in mind that it can sometimes take more time to “save” words from your original sentence than to write a brand new sentence to convey the same meaning or idea. Don’t be too attached to what you’ve already written; if you are willing to start a sentence fresh, you may be able to choose words with greater clarity.

For tips on making more substantial revisions, take a look at our handouts on reorganizing drafts and revising drafts .

“Awkward,” “vague,” and “unclear” word choice

So: you write a paper that makes perfect sense to you, but it comes back with “awkward” scribbled throughout the margins. Why, you wonder, are instructors so fond of terms like “awkward”? Most instructors use terms like this to draw your attention to sentences they had trouble understanding and to encourage you to rewrite those sentences more clearly.

Difficulties with word choice aren’t the only cause of awkwardness, vagueness, or other problems with clarity. Sometimes a sentence is hard to follow because there is a grammatical problem with it or because of the syntax (the way the words and phrases are put together). Here’s an example: “Having finished with studying, the pizza was quickly eaten.” This sentence isn’t hard to understand because of the words I chose—everybody knows what studying, pizza, and eating are. The problem here is that readers will naturally assume that first bit of the sentence “(Having finished with studying”) goes with the next noun that follows it—which, in this case, is “the pizza”! It doesn’t make a lot of sense to imply that the pizza was studying. What I was actually trying to express was something more like this: “Having finished with studying, the students quickly ate the pizza.” If you have a sentence that has been marked “awkward,” “vague,” or “unclear,” try to think about it from a reader’s point of view—see if you can tell where it changes direction or leaves out important information.

Sometimes, though, problems with clarity are a matter of word choice. See if you recognize any of these issues:

• Misused words —the word doesn’t actually mean what the writer thinks it does. Example : Cree Indians were a monotonous culture until French and British settlers arrived. Revision: Cree Indians were a homogenous culture.
• Words with unwanted connotations or meanings. Example : I sprayed the ants in their private places. Revision: I sprayed the ants in their hiding places.
• Using a pronoun when readers can’t tell whom/what it refers to. Example : My cousin Jake hugged my brother Trey, even though he didn’t like him very much. Revision: My cousin Jake hugged my brother Trey, even though Jake doesn’t like Trey very much.
• Jargon or technical terms that make readers work unnecessarily hard. Maybe you need to use some of these words because they are important terms in your field, but don’t throw them in just to “sound smart.” Example : The dialectical interface between neo-Platonists and anti-disestablishment Catholics offers an algorithm for deontological thought. Revision : The dialogue between neo-Platonists and certain Catholic thinkers is a model for deontological thought.
• Loaded language. Sometimes we as writers know what we mean by a certain word, but we haven’t ever spelled that out for readers. We rely too heavily on that word, perhaps repeating it often, without clarifying what we are talking about. Example : Society teaches young girls that beauty is their most important quality. In order to prevent eating disorders and other health problems, we must change society. Revision : Contemporary American popular media, like magazines and movies, teach young girls that beauty is their most important quality. In order to prevent eating disorders and other health problems, we must change the images and role models girls are offered.

Sometimes the problem isn’t choosing exactly the right word to express an idea—it’s being “wordy,” or using words that your reader may regard as “extra” or inefficient. Take a look at the following list for some examples. On the left are some phrases that use three, four, or more words where fewer will do; on the right are some shorter substitutes:

Keep an eye out for wordy constructions in your writing and see if you can replace them with more concise words or phrases.

In academic writing, it’s a good idea to limit your use of clichés. Clichés are catchy little phrases so frequently used that they have become trite, corny, or annoying. They are problematic because their overuse has diminished their impact and because they require several words where just one would do.

The main way to avoid clichés is first to recognize them and then to create shorter, fresher equivalents. Ask yourself if there is one word that means the same thing as the cliché. If there isn’t, can you use two or three words to state the idea your own way? Below you will see five common clichés, with some alternatives to their right. As a challenge, see how many alternatives you can create for the final two examples.

Try these yourself:

Writing for an academic audience

When you choose words to express your ideas, you have to think not only about what makes sense and sounds best to you, but what will make sense and sound best to your readers. Thinking about your audience and their expectations will help you make decisions about word choice.

Some writers think that academic audiences expect them to “sound smart” by using big or technical words. But the most important goal of academic writing is not to sound smart—it is to communicate an argument or information clearly and convincingly. It is true that academic writing has a certain style of its own and that you, as a student, are beginning to learn to read and write in that style. You may find yourself using words and grammatical constructions that you didn’t use in your high school writing. The danger is that if you consciously set out to “sound smart” and use words or structures that are very unfamiliar to you, you may produce sentences that your readers can’t understand.

When writing for your professors, think simplicity. Using simple words does not indicate simple thoughts. In an academic argument paper, what makes the thesis and argument sophisticated are the connections presented in simple, clear language.

Keep in mind, though, that simple and clear doesn’t necessarily mean casual. Most instructors will not be pleased if your paper looks like an instant message or an email to a friend. It’s usually best to avoid slang and colloquialisms. Take a look at this example and ask yourself how a professor would probably respond to it if it were the thesis statement of a paper: “Moulin Rouge really bit because the singing sucked and the costume colors were nasty, KWIM?”

Selecting and using key terms

When writing academic papers, it is often helpful to find key terms and use them within your paper as well as in your thesis. This section comments on the crucial difference between repetition and redundancy of terms and works through an example of using key terms in a thesis statement.

Repetition vs. redundancy

These two phenomena are not necessarily the same. Repetition can be a good thing. Sometimes we have to use our key terms several times within a paper, especially in topic sentences. Sometimes there is simply no substitute for the key terms, and selecting a weaker term as a synonym can do more harm than good. Repeating key terms emphasizes important points and signals to the reader that the argument is still being supported. This kind of repetition can give your paper cohesion and is done by conscious choice.

In contrast, if you find yourself frustrated, tiredly repeating the same nouns, verbs, or adjectives, or making the same point over and over, you are probably being redundant. In this case, you are swimming aimlessly around the same points because you have not decided what your argument really is or because you are truly fatigued and clarity escapes you. Refer to the “Strategies” section below for ideas on revising for redundancy.

Building clear thesis statements

Writing clear sentences is important throughout your writing. For the purposes of this handout, let’s focus on the thesis statement—one of the most important sentences in academic argument papers. You can apply these ideas to other sentences in your papers.

A common problem with writing good thesis statements is finding the words that best capture both the important elements and the significance of the essay’s argument. It is not always easy to condense several paragraphs or several pages into concise key terms that, when combined in one sentence, can effectively describe the argument.

However, taking the time to find the right words offers writers a significant edge. Concise and appropriate terms will help both the writer and the reader keep track of what the essay will show and how it will show it. Graders, in particular, like to see clearly stated thesis statements. (For more on thesis statements in general, please refer to our handout .)

Example : You’ve been assigned to write an essay that contrasts the river and shore scenes in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. You work on it for several days, producing three versions of your thesis:

Version 1 : There are many important river and shore scenes in Huckleberry Finn.

Version 2 : The contrasting river and shore scenes in Huckleberry Finn suggest a return to nature.

Version 3 : Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn suggests that to find the true expression of American democratic ideals, one must leave “civilized” society and go back to nature.

Let’s consider the word choice issues in these statements. In Version 1, the word “important”—like “interesting”—is both overused and vague; it suggests that the author has an opinion but gives very little indication about the framework of that opinion. As a result, your reader knows only that you’re going to talk about river and shore scenes, but not what you’re going to say. Version 2 is an improvement: the words “return to nature” give your reader a better idea where the paper is headed. On the other hand, they still do not know how this return to nature is crucial to your understanding of the novel.

Finally, you come up with Version 3, which is a stronger thesis because it offers a sophisticated argument and the key terms used to make this argument are clear. At least three key terms or concepts are evident: the contrast between river and shore scenes, a return to nature, and American democratic ideals.

By itself, a key term is merely a topic—an element of the argument but not the argument itself. The argument, then, becomes clear to the reader through the way in which you combine key terms.

Strategies for successful word choice

• Be careful when using words you are unfamiliar with. Look at how they are used in context and check their dictionary definitions.
• Be careful when using the thesaurus. Each word listed as a synonym for the word you’re looking up may have its own unique connotations or shades of meaning. Use a dictionary to be sure the synonym you are considering really fits what you are trying to say.
• Under the present conditions of our society, marriage practices generally demonstrate a high degree of homogeneity.
• In our culture, people tend to marry others who are like themselves. (Longman, p. 452)
• Before you revise for accurate and strong adjectives, make sure you are first using accurate and strong nouns and verbs. For example, if you were revising the sentence “This is a good book that tells about the Revolutionary War,” think about whether “book” and “tells” are as strong as they could be before you worry about “good.” (A stronger sentence might read “The novel describes the experiences of a soldier during the Revolutionary War.” “Novel” tells us what kind of book it is, and “describes” tells us more about how the book communicates information.)
• Try the slash/option technique, which is like brainstorming as you write. When you get stuck, write out two or more choices for a questionable word or a confusing sentence, e.g., “questionable/inaccurate/vague/inappropriate.” Pick the word that best indicates your meaning or combine different terms to say what you mean.
• Look for repetition. When you find it, decide if it is “good” repetition (using key terms that are crucial and helpful to meaning) or “bad” repetition (redundancy or laziness in reusing words).
• Write your thesis in five different ways. Make five different versions of your thesis sentence. Compose five sentences that express your argument. Try to come up with four alternatives to the thesis sentence you’ve already written. Find five possible ways to communicate your argument in one sentence to your reader. (We’ve just used this technique—which of the last five sentences do you prefer?)Whenever we write a sentence we make choices. Some are less obvious than others, so that it can often feel like we’ve written the sentence the only way we know how. By writing out five different versions of your thesis, you can begin to see your range of choices. The final version may be a combination of phrasings and words from all five versions, or the one version that says it best. By literally spelling out some possibilities for yourself, you will be able to make better decisions.
• Read your paper out loud and at… a… slow… pace. You can do this alone or with a friend, roommate, TA, etc. When read out loud, your written words should make sense to both you and other listeners. If a sentence seems confusing, rewrite it to make the meaning clear.
• Instead of reading the paper itself, put it down and just talk through your argument as concisely as you can. If your listener quickly and easily comprehends your essay’s main point and significance, you should then make sure that your written words are as clear as your oral presentation was. If, on the other hand, your listener keeps asking for clarification, you will need to work on finding the right terms for your essay. If you do this in exchange with a friend or classmate, rest assured that whether you are the talker or the listener, your articulation skills will develop.
• Have someone not familiar with the issue read the paper and point out words or sentences they find confusing. Do not brush off this reader’s confusion by assuming they simply doesn’t know enough about the topic. Instead, rewrite the sentences so that your “outsider” reader can follow along at all times.
• Check out the Writing Center’s handouts on style , passive voice , and proofreading for more tips.

Questions to ask yourself

• Am I sure what each word I use really means? Am I positive, or should I look it up?
• Have I found the best word or just settled for the most obvious, or the easiest, one?
• Am I trying too hard to impress my reader?
• What’s the easiest way to write this sentence? (Sometimes it helps to answer this question by trying it out loud. How would you say it to someone?)
• What are the key terms of my argument?
• Can I outline out my argument using only these key terms? What others do I need? Which do I not need?
• Have I created my own terms, or have I simply borrowed what looked like key ones from the assignment? If I’ve borrowed the terms, can I find better ones in my own vocabulary, the texts, my notes, the dictionary, or the thesaurus to make myself clearer?
• Are my key terms too specific? (Do they cover the entire range of my argument?) Can I think of specific examples from my sources that fall under the key term?
• Are my key terms too vague? (Do they cover more than the range of my argument?)

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Anson, Chris M., and Robert A. Schwegler. 2010. The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers , 6th ed. New York: Longman.

Cook, Claire Kehrwald. 1985. Line by Line: How to Improve Your Own Writing . Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Grossman, Ellie. 1997. The Grammatically Correct Handbook: A Lively and Unorthodox Review of Common English for the Linguistically Challenged . New York: Hyperion.

Houghton Mifflin. 1996. The American Heritage Book of English Usage: A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English . Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

O’Conner, Patricia. 2010. Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English , 3rd ed. New York: Penguin Publishing Group.

Tarshis, Barry. 1998. How to Be Your Own Best Editor: The Toolkit for Everyone Who Writes . New York: Three Rivers Press.

Williams, Joseph, and Joseph Bizup. 2017. Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace , 12th ed. Boston: Pearson.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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How to Shorten an Essay: 4 Techniques to Reduce Word Count

If you need to shorten your essay by 100-500 words, or even more, you can use one or more of four techniques. You can clean up your sentences, remove repetition, summarize your examples, and/or cut out an entire section.

One of my subscribers recently asked me, “ How do I compress an essay of 700-1000 words, or even more, to just 300 words? ”

In this tutorial I will show you four easy ways to shorten your essay by as much or as little as you wish. I am giving them to you in the order you should try them out.

Here are four techniques to shorten your essay:

Technique #1: Sentence Cleanup

When I taught essay writing in college, I noticed that students wrote sentences that were just too wordy. 

They used 20 words where 10 would have probably done the trick. If you examine your sentences, you’ll often find that you can say the same thing in much fewer words.

“In my opinion, there are many people who want to lose weight.”

This sentence contains 12 words. 

Here’s how we can shorten it by performing a Sentence Cleanup.

First, you never have to say, “ In my opinion, ” because if it were not your opinion, you wouldn’t be stating it. Okay? So, let’s cross out “ in my opinion. ”

“ In my opinion, there are many people who want to lose weight.”

We just cut out three words. 

Next, the phrase “ there are ” is usually unnecessary, and if you take it out, your sentence will become more elegant. So, let’s do it. Let’s just cross it out.

“ There are many people who want to lose weight.”

We also have to cross out the extra word “ who ” because it is only needed if you use “ there are. ”

We just got rid of three more words. 

And so our sentence becomes:

“Many people want to lose weight.”

How many words is that? That is now a six word sentence. Guess what – we just cut this sentence in half. 

Do this enough times in your essay, and it will get a lot shorter.

“How do I cut out 200 words from my essay to make it shorter?”

This sentence contains 14 words. Let’s perform a Sentence Cleanup.

Notice that it is pretty obvious that to cut out 200 words from an essay will make it shorter. Therefore, stating that you want to do it “ to make it shorter ” is unnecessary. 

If we get rid of that phrase, we’ll cut out 4 words from this sentence and make it a lot more elegant. 

“How do I cut out 200 words from my essay to make it shorter ?”

Technique #2: Removing Repetition

Repetition can be found on all levels – in a sentence, in a paragraph, or a section. When you reduce or eliminate repetition in your essay, you are making it less redundant. “Redundant” just means repetitive and therefore useless.

In the last example we just did, we eliminated a redundancy from a sentence. And that’s part of a Sentence Cleanup. But you can also find and eliminate entire redundant sentences.  

Look for repetitive phrases, sentences, and even passages in your content and remove them. 

Students often repeat things over and over, using different words, thinking that they’re writing great content. Those are your opportunities to significantly shorten your essay while improving it at the same time.

Here’s an example from a fictitious student essay. Let’s say the student writes about his trip to Paris and states:

“ I found that Parisians are very nice if you talk to them in French. ”

And then, in the same or even a different paragraph or section, the following sentence would appear:

“Parisians can be very nice people, but they really prefer that you speak French with them.”

Well, the two sentences say the same thing, just using different words. 

So, what do you do? 

Pick the longer sentence and just delete it.

Sometimes you will find a whole paragraph in your essay that is repetitive and can be removed without the essay losing any meaning. If you find such a paragraph, just delete it.

Technique #3: Zooming Out

Make sure that you go through your essay using the first two techniques before you employ this and the next one. 

The only case where you would do Zooming Out first would be if you had to shorten your essay drastically – by 30% or more. 

If you’ve cleaned up all your sentences and removed all repetitive content, and you still need to lose hundreds of words, the Zooming Out technique will really help. 

Here’s how it works. 

You may have heard that in essay writing, you are supposed to proceed from general to specific. Whether you stick to this rule really well in your essay or not, I want you to notice something. 

In your essay, you make statements that are:

• very general
• less general
• somewhat specific
• very specific

The most general statement in your essay is the thesis because it summarizes the entire essay. And the most specific parts of your essay are examples .

So, in order to shorten your essay, you can summarize your examples. I call this Zooming Out because you are taking something that was very specific (zoomed in) and making it more general (zoomed out). 

Let’s say you’re writing about the harms of second-hand smoking. And in one of the sections you provide an example of your friend or someone in the news who became seriously ill because she lived with a smoker for a long time:

“My friend Isabelle was married to a chain smoker. Her husband refused not only to give up his habit but even to reduce it. As years went by, Isabelle began to notice some respiratory symptoms. At first, she developed a light but persistent cough. Then, she started to feel out of breath more and more often. When she finally went to a pulmonologist, a test revealed that she had COPD, a serious lung disease.”

This example is 74 words long. And this is your opportunity to shorten your essay dramatically. 

You can simply contract this example into one short sentence and write something like this:

“A friend of mine developed lung disease after having lived with a chain smoker for twelve years.”

Now, this sentence contains only 17 words. We just cut out 57 words just by Zooming Out on one example. 

We are Zooming Out because we are no longer exploring this example in detail. We simply provide a fact without giving a lot of specific information. 

So, look for these detailed examples in your essay and just summarize each of them into one short sentence.

Technique #4: Cutting out a Section

This technique works very well to cut out a big chunk of your essay in one fell swoop.

Let’s say that you wrote an essay in which you have four supporting points to prove your main point, your thesis. 

If this is a 2,000-word essay, then each section is approximately 500 words long. But do you really need four reasons/sections to support your point?

Is it possible that if you provide only three supporting points, your essay will still work very well?

For example, if you argue that apples are a great food, you could have four supporting points, claiming that apples are:

But what if you simply took out one of these points? Let’s say that you eliminate the section about the portability of apples.

Will your essay still work? Sure it will. It will work just fine with the three remaining supporting points. And you just cut out 500 words (in a 2,000-word essay). 

After you have cut out a section, make sure to go back to your thesis statement and edit it to reflect the change.

I’ll leave you with one final tip. When trying to choose which sentence, paragraph, or section to cut out from your essay, go for the content that you know is not the best.

For example, you may have a section in your essay where you quote too much. Or, perhaps you were not very careful in paraphrasing, and your passage sounds too much like the original source. These would be great bits of content to get rid of.

I hope this was helpful. Now go ahead and shorten your essay to your heart’s desire!

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Tutor Phil is an e-learning professional who helps adult learners finish their degrees by teaching them academic writing skills.

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• 15 Clunky Phrases to Eliminate From Your Writing Today…and How to Crack Down on Wordiness

You should also read…

• How to Write a Brilliant Essay
• How to Write Targeted Essays that Answer the Question

This problem often leads to clunky phrases, with unnecessary additional words used as a filler to help reach the word count more quickly; these words and phrases are usually redundant, read poorly, or take five words to say what could be said in one. Another factor behind clunky phrasing is the need to sound more intellectual; many students labour under the misapprehension that lengthening their sentences, and making their writing sound more complicated by using more verbose words and phrases, will make their writing appear more learned. It’s not the case, of course; it simply makes the essay harder to read, which defeats the object: a good essay should explain things clearly and be enjoyable to read.

To improve your academic English, you’ll need to get out of this habit and start being more economical with your words. In this article, we’re going to show you a few specific phrases that can be shortened or altered to make them more elegant. If word counts are an issue, you’ll find a section at the end of this article discussing other ways of reaching the prescribed word count.

Common clunky phrases

Let’s start by looking at some of the most commonly used clunky phrases. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but once you’ve grasped why this lot degrade the quality of your writing, you should have a good idea of what else to avoid.

1. In terms of

“In terms of” is a meaningless phrase often employed in speech, but it’s also popular with students who perhaps think that it makes their writing sound more academic by adding emphasis. “In terms of Bronte’s imagery, the author has some interesting observations.” A better way of phrasing this would be to turn it around and change the “in terms of” to “about”: “The author has some interesting observations about Bronte’s imagery.” It’s almost always better simply to use a single preposition in place of this phrase. For example, “the data is expressed in terms of a percentage” could easily be rephrased to “the data is expressed as a percentage”.

2. The fact that

Phrases that incorporate “the fact that” can virtually always be simplified. For example, “due to the fact that” can be changed to “because” or “since”, and so can “in light of the fact that”; “given the fact that” can be replaced with “since”.

3. Needless to say

This phrase, in common with “it goes without saying”, means “it is assumed”, that something is self-evident, or “it doesn’t need to be said”. The clue here is in the meaning: “needless to say” doesn’t need to be said, as the sentence will work perfectly well without it.

4. In order to

In most cases, the phrase “in order to” works just as well without the “in order”, with the infinitive form of the verb on its own. For example, the phrase, “In order to assess the author’s intentions” would work just as well if it read, “To assess the author’s intentions”, and no unnecessary words will have been used.

5. All of the

Many people make the mistake of adding the “of” after the word “all”, as in “I finished all of the cakes”. This doesn’t just sound clunky – it’s wrong. The “of” is only necessary when the word following it is a pronoun, as in “all of us” or “all of them”. When the next word is “the”, the “of” is dropped, so the aforementioned example becomes “I finished all the cakes”.

6. At the end of the day

“At the end of the day” is an idiom, and it’s therefore less appropriate to use in an academic essay anyway; but if you do find yourself thinking of using it, remember that this phrase takes six words to say what could be said in one: “ultimately”.

7. First and foremost

A common phrase to read in student essays is “first and foremost”, as in “First and foremost, we need to look at the evidence.” Since “first” and “foremost” mean the same thing, it’s unnecessary to say both: “Firstly” would suffice. If you’re tempted to write “first of all”, it’s also advisable to substitute it for “firstly”.

8. The passive voice

Though this is not itself a clunky phrase, its use is responsible for many a clunky sentence. Students often employ the passive voice when writing essays because they think it makes their writing look more intellectual. In fact, it makes it harder to read and less interesting than using the active voice, and usually adds unnecessarily to the word count. For the difference between the two, have a look at the following examples: Passive : It was decided by the authorities that a curfew should be imposed. Active : The authorities decided to impose a curfew. Rephrasing this from the passive voice to the active has reduced this phrase from twelve words to seven, and made it sound more interesting in the process.

9. Expressing possession

Another clunky wording arising from the complexities of English grammar is the use of the possessive, or the idea of something belonging to someone or something else. Rather than saying, for example, “the core of the Earth”, you could say “the Earth’s core”, which would sound neater.

10. It is important to note that

This is a fairly meaningless expression, the sentiment of which could be equally well expressed by saying “Importantly” or by leaving it out entirely. For example, “It is important to note that not all scholars agree on this” could be changed to “Not all scholars agree on this.” The second version works just as well without the clunky phrase that starts the first version, and it’s a much neater way of expressing the same thing.

11. In actual fact

Just say “actually”, or don’t use it at all.

12. Inasmuch as

“Because” or “since” are much better ways of saying this.

13. In excess of

This is a pompous way of saying “over” or “more than”. For example, instead of saying, “The site was occupied by in excess of a hundred people”, it would be better to say, “The site was occupied by over a hundred people.”

14. In the process of

This phrase is usually redundant, meaning that the sentence works without it. For example, “When you’re in the process of gathering data…” becomes “When you’re gathering data”.

15. Whether or not

It’s usually preferable simply to say “whether”. For instance, “The character had no idea whether or not she would be making the right choice” would become “The character had no idea whether she would be making the right choice”.

Tips for writing more concisely

We’ve now seen some of the most frequently used clunky phrases, which should enable you to spot others in the same vein. Some more general tips on writing concisely may also come in useful, as these will help you combat the issues that lead to wordy, inelegant phrasing and help you edit them out before your essay reaches your teacher. Here are our top tips.

• Ask yourself what you’re trying to say. Being clear in your thinking is a big step towards achieving clarity in your writing; if you aren’t sure what you want to say, waffling is almost inevitable.
• Read your writing aloud and see how easy you find it. If you find yourself stumbling over your words, or having to start a sentence again, you may need to edit to make it more concise and easier to read.
• If you read your work aloud and it sounds far more complicated than it would do if you were simply explaining something out loud to a friend, it needs simplifying. When you write, imagine that you’re talking to a friend. That doesn’t mean employing conversational English, of course; stick with a formal tone, but try to explain the concept as clearly and simply as you can, eliminating unnecessary words that you wouldn’t use if you were speaking.
• Re-read the sentence and cross out any words that don’t add anything to the meaning (such as “basically” or “actually”). This will help you distil the sentence to the bits that matter.
• Use words instead of phrases where possible.
• Weed out unnecessary repetition (“9am in the morning”, for instance, should just be “9am” because the “am” bit tells you that it’s in the morning).
• Use the “Ctrl + F” function on your word processor to take you straight to instances of the phrases we’ve discussed in this article. This will help you fix glaring clunkiness quickly.

And if you’re struggling with word counts…

At the beginning of this article, we talked about students’ difficulty reaching word counts as being one of the major causes of clunky phrases and filler words. If you’re having trouble writing a long enough essay, you don’t need to sacrifice neat, concise writing just so that you can squeeze in as many words as possible. Here are some other ways in which you can up the word count instead of using phrases like those outlined above.

Introduction and conclusion

Clearly, the introduction and conclusion are vital components of a good essay, but they also bolster your word count. If you’ve started writing your essay by writing the ‘body’ of it first – constructing the points and argument – don’t forget that the introduction and conclusion will add to the word count if you feel you’ve run out of things to say. While neither should be too lengthy, this is an opportunity to add information on why it’s important to think about the topic you’re discussing, to summarise the arguments you’ve discussed, and to give your own opinion.

Another way of boosting the word count of your essays is to define concepts as you go along. Even though you’re writing an essay for someone who knows a lot more about the subject than you, it’s a good idea to pretend that you’re writing for someone who doesn’t know the subject. This means defining concepts the first time you mention them, as this shows the person marking your essay that you have a firm grasp of what you’re writing about. In some instances, a definition may be particularly important because there may not be one agreed definition; in such cases, it’s best to acknowledge the lack of a widely agreed definition, giving a flavour of how definitions differ, and stating the definition you’ll be using in your essay to avoid any confusion.

Add background and context

If you feel that there isn’t enough you can say about the issue itself, you could add to the word count by explaining the background and context of the issue. For instance, an outline of the Industrial Revolution and its background would not look amiss in a discussion of certain William Blake poems, as this was going on at the time Blake was writing and had a profound influence on his poetry. The bonus is that you’ll also score extra marks for including context.

Quote other opinions

While you should be wary of quoting extensively from other works, it’s fine to quote a little or to paraphrase the scholars you mention. If you run out of things to say, you simply find another scholar who’s voiced an opinion on the issue and write about what they have to say on the subject. Once you get to university, you’ll probably find that you have the opposite problem with word counts, at least with a big piece of work such as a dissertation: you’ll end up having to shorten a piece to keep it within the word count, rather than worrying about reaching it. Hopefully the tips in this article will help you do this too. Why not print this article and put it up next to your desk to remind yourself what to avoid writing in your essays?

Image credits: banner ; Jane Eyre ; knitting ; cupcakes ; chickens ; dog ; crowd ; editing ; typewriter ; Blake . 

How to Start a College Essay: 5 Effective Techniques

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Impressionable Openers

Descriptions and demonstrations, show vulnerability, be authentic, stay personal, fun & quirky, common mistakes to avoid in your college essay.

• Ways to Overcome Writer's Block

Frequently Asked Questions About Starting a College Essay

College essays are a huge part of your college career. If not huge, one of the biggest, and for someone who has been there and done that, I know the amount of pressure the beginning of a college essay, as well as the entire essay, can put on your shoulders.

Not only are you trying to juggle things like word count and grammar errors, but you're also trying to create the perfect college essay introduction that will attract admissions officers to your application or professors to your writing skills. And that, itself, can feel impossible, fill you with dread and self-doubt, but just breathe. I am here to help all present and future students know how to start a college essay.

Today is all about starting a college essay. I have come up with five easy and effective techniques that will help you create essays so good you're going to leave your readers wanting more , starting with your opening sentence! So, this is for all college students and college applicants. Stress no more! This guide was created to help you write a successful college essay. Let's get into it.

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The beginning of your essay should, first and foremost, always have a strong opening sentence . This sentence sets the tone for not only your readers but for the entire essay. Having a wobbly, almost interesting opener can steer an admissions officer and/or professor away, so you want it to be strong. And it doesn't have to be complicated! Less is more in this situation. Here are a couple of ways you can accomplish this.

• Look within and be relatable
• Use your real life for inspiration
• Think about ways to evoke emotion

Here are some examples of impressionable openers:

• Example 1: When I was 11 years old, my mother told me she had cancer over breakfast.
• Example 2: Maybe yellow isn't my favorite color.
• Example 3: I sat next to this girl in class who made me feel stupid.

DISCLAIMER : your opener should ALWAYS adhere to the essay prompts. These are just a few examples that can capture your reader's attention almost immediately.

In order to keep readers interested, visuals are key . Image-based descriptions will not only add value to your writing, it will give your readers front seats to your essay's journey. These descriptions let actions speak for themselves.

Here is an example of a description and demonstration in an essay:

• Example 1: "I was sitting on a bar stool when the word 'cancer' hit me like the smell of her coffee brewing on the stove. The Rice Krispies were popping in my cereal bowl, and MTV Jams was playing in the background, yet all I could hear was the sound of doom all around me. The lips of my mother were moving, but I was frozen, crumbling on this stool like my mother's health. She was sick, and I didn't know how sick or what that even meant, and that terrified me."

Why This Works:

Here you can clearly feel the writers emotional state: shocked, still, scared. Not only is this moment at breakfast traumatic, you feel frozen in time with the writer. Using descriptions like this will evoke so much emotion and leave your reader wanting more.

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Something one of my teachers told me in high school was any good essay will have personal elements in it, no matter the topic. That always stuck with me and became the way I approached my college essays. Showing vulnerability in your writing will always guarantee interest. It also evokes emotion.

You can show vulnerability by:

• Being honest
• Explaining what's going on inside underneath the exterior
• Describe what's going on around you at the moment
• Letting go of the fear of being seen
• Connecting with the topic
• Being transparent about mistakes/flaws

Examples of showing vulnerability:

• Example 1 : My mother telling me she had cancer over breakfast was not on my bingo card this year.
• Example 2 : I never thought losing someone I love would change me.
• Example 3: I had to lose everything in order to gain everything.

I know being vulnerable can be tough for some , but showing this side of you to college admissions officers and/or professors will not only make you stand out, but it can also help free you of things that might be weighing on your mind. Not to sound corny, but it can be therapeutic and make you a better writer . Just make sure you are staying on track with the essay prompt, and you're set!

Whether it's believed or not, an admissions officer wants to see pieces of you in your personal statement, so starting your essay by showing authenticity is a major major key. Along with being vulnerable, there are a few ways you can achieve this.

• Reflect : Take the time to reflect on your experiences, values, and beliefs that have shaped who you are today. Let your values, passions, and interests shine through in your writing.
• Mind Your Voice : Write in your own voice and avoid trying to sound like someone you're not. Authenticity comes from being genuine and true to yourself.
• Tell Your Story : Share personal anecdotes and insights that show your unique perspective.
• Be True to You : Focus on what matters to YOU (as long as you're on topic!). Write about what is meaningful and important to you rather than what you think admissions officers want to hear.

Above all, be open . Showing introspection and self-awareness in your essay will show any admissions committee who you are beneath the surface, as well as your personal growth.

You can also begin your essay being as random and silly as you'd like . It goes hand-in-hand with other important factors like vulnerability and authenticity. But don't get too crazy . Beginning your essay with something strange will definitely draw readers in. Let me show you what I mean.

• Example 1 : I start my mornings off in silence and solitude to keep people away from me.
• Example 2 : Sometimes, I like to circle big words in complex articles to learn new words. Yeah, but to also keep one in my back pocket for later use.
• Example 3 : Being the youngest child means getting away with everything you want, and that's exactly how I like it.

Do you see how each sentence draws you in? Not only are they light-hearted, but they also make you want to know why you want to keep people away in the morning and what kind of weapon you're forming against others with new words. And every youngest sibling will attest to feeling that exact same way. All of these examples are sure to make your essay fun, show who you are, and leave readers wanting more.

Years of writing college essays have taken me through every high and low of the process possible. And when they're good, they're great! But for some reason, my mistakes stick out more than anything. So, I've compiled a list of common mistakes to avoid when writing your college essay .

• Avoid Being Cliche - While you want to be captivating, you want to avoid overly used syntax and phrases that could potentially lose your reader's curiosity. For example, "in today's day and age," "follow my heart," "don't judge a book by its cover," etc. are all cliches that can be avoided by thinking outside of the box.
• Using Vocabulary to be Impressive - I know you want to impress the admissions committees, but it's important to stick to what you know and not what you can allude to. That is, use verbiage that resonates with your personality. Using extravagant words can work against you, and they can also sound forced. College admissions officers want to see the real you, so show it to them.
• Steer Clear of Controversy - Though it's not said enough, your college essay should tell your personal story and not touch on things that can stir the pot. For instance, talking about politics and religious beliefs may not be the route you want to take UNLESS it's called for in the college essay topic. And if so, stay on track with the essay prompts.
• Procrastinating : Waiting until the last minute to start writing your essay will bite you in the butt. You will feel rushed and end up writing a poorly crafted piece. Give yourself enough time to complete an essay draft, edit the draft, and repeat this two-step cycle until your essay is complete.
• Lack of originality : This goes hand-in-hand with avoiding cliches. Your college essay should exude a lot of your personality, so show admissions officers and teachers who you are! Include your cultural background, test scores that you're proud of, any future aspirations, etc. This all depends on the essay prompts, of course, but in my experience, every essay topic has room to show who you are.
• Ignoring the prompt : This is a major key. STAY ON TRACK. Make sure to carefully read and understand the essay prompt, and write your essay accordingly. The last thing you want to do is write a college essay that has nothing to do with the prompt. Reading is essential here.
• Lack of focus : If you want to know how to start a college essay, that means knowing how to stay focused. Find a quiet space, turn off electronics, hide your phone, and really nestle into how you want to capture your reader's attention. This will help you use your five senses clearly, keep your writing strong and not write an overly wordy essay. Focus is the tool here.
• Poor organization : Make sure your essay has a strong structure with clear transitions between paragraphs. An outline will work best to accomplish this. If you go into starting your college essay without a plan, be prepared to hit all roadblocks.
• Neglecting to Revise and Edit : Like procrastinating, don't fail to revise and edit your work. Always, always, always proofread your essay for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors , as well as clarity and coherence.
• Not Seeking Feedback : Listen, I know that completing an essay is an accomplishment in itself, and you immediately want to submit it, but it's so beneficial to have others read your essay for feedback. You can only spot so many holes in your work when your eyes are constantly reviewing it, so a second, third, or even fourth set of eyes can help point out areas for improvement.

Above all, trust the writing process. Though I do want you to be aware of your jargon, don't get too wrapped up in thinking you're making a mistake. That's what editing is for! Once you complete your college essay, you should always revise and edit accordingly . What you thought sounded good might make you edit it to sound great. Just keep in mind that many colleges are looking for honesty and authenticity vs how well you can sound on paper . So, if you're aware of these factors, you'll be good to go.

Ways to Overcome Writer's Block

Take it from someone who has suffered from chronic writer's block, it's a pain to get through . Imagine being on a writing streak so good that when you stop, the entire essay writing process stops as a whole. It's definitely a challenge, but after 10 years of writing essays and really honing my craft, I learned a few things that have helped me get through even the thickest of writer's blocks, and I want to share them with you. Check them out:

• Take a break : This works every single time. Take a short break and step away from your computer to clear your mind and come back with a fresh perspective. For me, 15 minutes is all I ever need. If you need more time, that's okay. Just try not to make your break a rest.
• Freewriting : Sometimes, I'd start writing without worrying about my structure or grammar to get the ideas flowing, and surprisingly enough, I found my essay taking a pleasant turn.
• Change your environment : Move around. Don't underestimate the effects of a different location or workspace to stimulate creativity. Try coffee shops, bookstores, a park, or a new room in your house. New environment, new energy.
• Set small goals : This one is actually the most important. Some people get overwhelmed with the word "essay" for things like lack of proper writing skills, pressure to write a great essay, etc. But if you try breaking down your writing task into smaller, manageable chunks to make it less overwhelming, it can help. For example, set a goal of three paragraphs one day, take a day to edit those paragraphs, two more the next day, and so forth. Find a formula that works for you.
• Brainstorming : Write down all your ideas--everything. No matter how small you think the idea is, write it down. Even if these ideas seem unrelated, they will help you generate new thoughts and connections.
• Read or listen to music : It took me a while to realize this helps, but engaging in other forms of art can inspire new ideas and break through mental blocks. And new creativity can lead you to impress admissions officers.
• Talk it out : As a writer, it's hard to let people in on the creative process, but discussing my ideas with a friend, family member, or colleague helped me gain new perspectives and insights.
• Relax and Meditate : Hear me out: it works! Practice deep breathing and/or meditation to reduce stress and anxiety that may be contributing to writer's block.

I won't sugarcoat it: the college application process can be intimidating , but it doesn't have to throw you off your game. When it comes to college essays, I see them as opportunities to be fun and expressive. Trust me when I say if you have fun with it, you'll attract the reader's attention , paint vivid details, and write an essay that will leave the admissions officer wanting you at their school. So, take it one step at a time and watch your personal statement come to life.

How can I make my college essay stand out to admissions officers?

Simply put, be yourself. As long as you stay on track with the essay's topic, showing pieces of yourself will allow admissions officers to know more about who you are. Essays are meant to show readers who you are, how you feel, and what you think naturally, not robotically, so be authentic in your writing, and you'll be sure to stand out amongst the rest.

What are some common mistakes to avoid when writing a college essay?

Some common mistakes to avoid in your essay are using cliches and boring wording. You also want to avoid procrastinating, wasting time, not focusing, not editing, etc. When writing your essay, you want to make sure you give your writing the time and attention it deserves, so make sure you're aware of what is pulling you away from your writing. This will help you stay focused. If you have any other doubts, refer to the section about mistakes in this article and let it guide you to success.

How important is the college essay in the admissions process?

Your college essay is key in the admissions process . It's an admissions committee's first impression of you as a writer and potential student, so it should be taken very seriously. Trying to cut corners or rush through the writing process will be obvious, and it will stand out more than things like test scores, academic achievements, extracurricular activities, and any other positive influence you've had in your life. So, don't take the easy way out and really work on your essay.

Feeling confident in your college essay skills and want to explore some other essay content? Explore our blog on the comma splice to enhance your technical writing skills!

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Reduce Word Count Generator

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

• Paste the text.
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⭐️ 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.

• 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...

LESSWRONG LW

Quick advice on writing essays.

Writing is difficult. Even writers with 20 years of experience will attest to this. But I recently heard some excellent writing advice from Saloni Dattani, and thought I should share it more widely.

But first, some context. Last September, Saloni wrote a piece about the history of malaria vaccines, and why they took so long to develop. The article is a whopping 9,000 words (if I recall correctly) and it was re-written several times. It took Saloni several months to put the article together.

When you are writing an essay of this length—or any length, really—there is a tendency to become bogged down in the details. I often get a few paragraphs in, read what I’ve just written, and decide that it is crap. Or, in Saloni’s case, you write an entire draft only to realize afterwards that it’s missing an essential ingredient—a certain je ne sais quoi—that renders it unfinished; perhaps the introduction isn’t quite right, or the conclusion feels unsatisfying.

This happens, I think, for a few reasons:

The speed of thought is faster than the speed of writing. When we have an idea and then move to write it down, we often find that the writing failed to capture an essential part of our thoughts.

Our ideas are not generated in the same form as an essay. Ideas rarely pop into our heads “fully formed,” with supporting evidence and a catchy hook. The act of writing an essay is therefore a personal struggle with the fabric of an idea itself. The act of writing requires that we break apart and rebuild ideas into a form that captivates others.

Writing requires multi-tasking. Excellent essays have a good structure, clear prose, and compelling details (among other things.) But each of these ingredients requires deep focus and attention in its own right. When we think about structure, it’s difficult to simultaneously do research to find compelling details. And when we are re-writing a sentence to make it beautiful, we cannot think about the structure! Our mind is not compartmentalized in this way.

Saloni uses a simple strategy to circumvent some these problems. I’ve used her advice to write two draft essays that will soon be published in Asimov Press, and it helped me get to a beautiful draft much faster than is typical for me. Here is my new approach:

Settle the Idea. Essays begin with a compelling idea. This idea should not be too big or too small. An essay about smallpox does not make any sense, because smallpox is a large topic with hundreds of years of history and dozens of characters who contributed to its success. But an essay about Edward Jenner’s 1796 experiment that led to the first smallpox vaccine is focused and narrow enough for an essay. Note that Saloni’s essay is not called, “The History of Malaria Vaccines,” but rather “Why We Didn’t Get a Malaria Vaccine Sooner.” The former is a topic, whereas the latter answers a single compelling question and is therefore addressable in a single essay.

Outline. Once I’ve found an idea, I begin to write out a brief outline. I also list out some of the evidence or key moments I’d like to conclude, while acknowledging that I’ll have to do a lot of research to back up my claims.

Ask Questions. This is where my new writing process deviates from my prior approach. Rather than just start from an outline, which forces me to alternate back-and-forth between research and writing, I create a fresh Google Doc and list out all the questions I’d like to answer in the essay. In Saloni’s case, these questions would presumably be things like:

• What are malaria vaccines made from?
• How are vaccines actually made?
• How many people die from malaria each year? What fraction of these deaths can be prevented with vaccination?
• When was the first malaria vaccine approved?
• Who are the seminal people behind the malaria vaccine?
• Why am I writing this essay now?
• What is my claim about how vaccine development can go faster?
• What evidence do I have to support that claim? etc.

Answer Questions. Now I do research and answer each of the questions, one at a time. I try to make my answers as “clean” and beautiful as possible, so that I can later copy-paste them into an essay.

Compile the Essay. The final step. I take my answers and arrange them into the essay’s structure. Rather than writing a draft, this process is more akin to composing or compiling a draft.

I think this approach works for a few reasons. The first is that, once you answer the questions, you always have them. In other words, while an essay draft will likely get broken down and rearranged several times before it is published, your answers to these questions will not be. So you can use them again and again to build new versions of the essay. You will not have to start each draft from scratch.

This approach also segregates various parts of essay writing that require deep thought. It allows you to focus entirely on structure first, then focus entirely on research, and then entirely on structure again. This is better than attempting to write a draft from a blank page, which requires instead that one alternates back-and-forth between research, writing and structure.

Book authors presumably follow a similar formula. Erik Larson, the non-fiction author, spends years digging through archives and taking notes before he puts his books together. But I’m not sure how common it is to explicitly list out questions you want to answer before you do the research. Maybe this biases the things that you find, and I’d be curious to hear what others think. This advice is also, presumably, less relevant for fiction.

In any case, this approach was new to me, but may not be new to you. If you already use this technique, I’d be interested to talk to you and learn more.

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Filler Words for Essays: How to Avoid Them

Table of Contents

Drop Filler Words for Essays: How to Write Better

Your writing is too long. How do we know? You drop filler words for essays and didn’t cut words from your writing.

When you write, you want to drop filler words for your essays because they’re like little rocks in the river of language. They rob you of fluidity.

You might have seen how people can write 1,001 words and still not say it all — it’s called wordiness.

A wordy writer is not a lazy writer. The problem is that too many writers use filler words to make their writing more readable.

Let’s talk about what filler words are and why you should drop filler words for essays. 

Understanding Filler Words and Their Impact

Writers use filler words at the end of a sentence to add emphasis, express emotion, or slow down the sentence. 

They often make a sentence sound more formal and polite. For example, it’s a little more formal to say “You should’ve let me know that” than “You should’ve called me.”

Since grammar rules are complicated and subject to many exceptions, the best way to learn them is to practice and play. Try to cut as many filler words as possible. 

For example, the sentence “I’m going to the store, please wait for me” can be written as “I’m going to the store, please wait.” Cut out all unnecessary words so as to enjoy fluent writing. 

The best way to drop filler words for essays is to use different words and sentences with few repeated words . Use as many adjectives and adjectives as needed in your writing! It’s all up to you. 

Remember, writing is supposed to be a creative expression rather than a copy purely meant to convey facts and data. 

Steps to Avoid Filler Words in Your Writing

• Write your essay by breaking it down into smaller pieces to get it done. Common filler words that people habitually use even in speech are “well,” “you know,” “so,” “like,” and “for example.” 
• Don’t begin sentences with words like “since” or “as.”
• Use paradoxes that are opposing ideas. “The cost of our lives is greater than the cost…
• Don’t go for simple words like “it’s” and.”
• Avoid saying “It was like…” instead, say “It was like that.”
• Notice where you might be unwittingly repeating yourself
• Choose your words carefully because they stick

If there are problems with your writing, perhaps it will irritate or aggravate your reader. The relevance of the word “too long,” no matter where it lies, varies considerably depending on your medium and the reader’s stamina. 

There are various ways to make writing meaningful and lean. One sure way is to find sentences to delete without loss of meaning.

This method entails finding flabby sentences or words cutting through the entire manuscript rather than individual words or sections.

Overwriting usually means you focus on yourself instead of the reader, which ultimately means your message will be lost.

Sometimes, a writer could continuously use the same word or phrase, albeit unconsciously. Learn to say what you need to say once. Continuous repetition of words irritates, bores, or puts readers to sleep.

Strategies to Improve Your Essay

• It is best to remove the majority of “that.” Writers should use “that” to indicate a grammatical need or deliberate emphasis.
• Start and end sentences with strong words. Restructure sentences to begin and end with nouns or verbs rather than prepositions or filler words when possible. “Jane was kind of petty” rather than “Besides all that, she was petty, kind of.”
• Put strong words in anchor positions and pay essential attention to the sounds. Emphatic sentences come out good when sharp consonant sounds like d, g, k, p, etc. are in place.
• Word cloud helps. Copy-pasting your entire document with an online tool like Wordle will create a picture of all the words you use. 

Flabby words make the reading of the essay seem less cohesive and less focused. They add noise to the text and make it harder to read. Always be on the lookout for flabby words and take steps to minimize their effects.

Are flabby words the same as fillers? Flabby words are words that have no contribution to the sentence. They can be flukes, fillers, or dead words. 

Flukes are flabby words that don’t add any information to the sentence. Fillers are flabby words that appear in the sentence without any grammatical role.

Dead words are flabby words that don’t fit into the flow of the sentence. They often appear in the sentences as if they have their role to play, and it is confusing to the reader. In both cases, the primary purpose of a flabby word is not to add information to the sentence. 

Grammar expletives are obnoxious words that go entirely against proper word usage. They are words that shouldn’t exist in the English language, but here we are nonetheless. 

Explanations used to introduce clauses (not to be confused with cuss words) delay the sentence’s subject. Expletives do not add any tangible meaning to verbs or nouns, which play a specific role in expression.

Grammar expletives may be used at the beginning and end of a sentence to express emotion or emphasis. There are many expletives, but only a few are considered grammatically correct. 

It’s never easy to get rid of grammar expletives from a piece of writing. This is because the writer will probably have to rethink the entire essay.

There are some common grammar expletives that you should avoid if you want your paper to come out clean. Words like “then,” “and,” “but,” “never,” “so,” and “yet.” These words don’t just belong on essay topics and papers. They should be banned entirely. 

Before you write, take a look at the expletives you want to remove and jot down a note about what they are. Spend some time reading your note and figuring out how you want your final essay to look after the expletive removal.

Identifying and Eliminating Redundant Words

Redundant words are unnecessary additions to your writing. They are a sign of a weak vocabulary and lack of creativity. They are common and non-urgent and should be left out of your essay. Removing redundant words will make your essay less wordy and cleaner. 

The most effective essays are clear, concise, and to the point. When you are writing, you must be careful about your words. Words like and, is, are, are, that, or too should be used only when they are necessary. 

If your essay can be easily rewritten without using any of these words, you have used too many of them. Your writing is not good if you always have too much information and a lot of it is redundant. If you must include all of this information, then it indicates that you have not written enough on the topic. 

A good essay should be short, concise, and to the point. That is the only way to make your essays interesting and understandable to your readers. 

Avoiding Colloquial Expressions in Formal Writing

Colloquial expressions are phrases or slang words that many people in popular culture might use. They are typically informal and are distinctive to a specific region or group of people. They also create sound effects, lighten the overall tone, and often express opinions. Colloquial expressions also often carry a cultural stigma that might affect the tone of a speech or essay. 

Here are some colloquial expressions that you might use: The cheapest way to get high is: to smoke, drink, or eat.

Colloquial expressions, just like filler words, undermine the effect you want your reader to have. When writing an essay, it is recommended to fine-tune colloquialisms to formal equivalents.

Clichés (such “as time will tell’ and ‘as luck would have it), Idioms (‘a drop in the ocean’ and ‘cut to the chase’), and fillers (‘very,’ ‘so’ and ‘even.’) Are types of colloquial language that are inappropriate for formal writing .

Readers could misinterpret clichés because they are not specific in meaning. Idioms can be understood and taken literally, while fillers detract from the effectiveness of sentences. Avoid them!

Drop filler words for essays. Avoid using words that don’t bring anything to your piece that you can’t already do with a more concise word. 

If a word is dull, overly wordy, or simply unnecessary, it should be removed. If you can’t think of any words that could be removed, the essay is probably full of filler and can’t be saved. 

Using filler words can cause the essay to sound more haphazard and disordered, making it less engaging.

Pam is an expert grammarian with years of experience teaching English, writing and ESL Grammar courses at the university level. She is enamored with all things language and fascinated with how we use words to shape our world.

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How to Improve Your Sentence and Writing Flow?

• Smodin Editorial Team
• Published: May 23, 2024

We’ve all been there – hitting backspace repeatedly on a piece of writing because it just doesn’t flow. If you struggle to make your writing smooth, don’t worry; you’re not alone. Many writers struggle to craft sentences that flow naturally while conveying their ideas.

Whether you’re writing the next bestseller or a high-stakes research paper, the key to captivating readers lies in the structure and rhythm of your sentences.

Don’t know where to start? Just keep reading on for some practical strategies to improve your sentences and enhance your writing flow.

1. Use AI Writing Tools

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the way we approach writing. It makes it easier than ever to improve sentence and writing flow. With AI writing tools, writers can get instant feedback on their work and identify areas that lack sentence flow.

These tools can also analyze your text and suggest ways to make your sentences flow better. In some cases, they can even make the edits themselves.

For those new to writing fiction or non-fiction, AI can be very helpful. It can act like a virtual writing coach, guiding you on the best sentence structure for impact and readability. This includes advice on using simple, complex, or compound-complex sentence structures. Also, AI can help you identify and reduce unnecessary words that ruin the flow.

Another fantastic benefit of AI in writing is how it can suggest transition words or phrases that enhance the connection between sentences. This ensures your readers move smoothly from one idea to the next.

2. Eliminate redundancy

If you want your writing to be clear and compelling, you have to eliminate redundancies. Redundant phrases and repetitive words clutter your sentences, making them hard to read and your ideas less impactful.

Start by critically reviewing your writing. Focus on identifying words or phrases that don’t add value. Often, these are adjectives or adverbs that don’t contribute new information. For example, phrases like “true facts” or “advance planning”. Why? Because “facts” are inherently true, and “planning” naturally implies advanced action.

Using tools like Smodin can help you detect and eliminate redundancies, simplifying your writing process. Smodin can analyze your text and highlight areas where you can tighten your prose without compromising your reader’s understanding. Trust us, removing these excesses can help ensure each word serves a purpose.

3. Vary sentence structure

A study published in by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) found that using a variety of sentence structures can enhance the flow and continuity of academic writing [ 1 ].

So, varying your sentence structure can be a powerful way to enhance readability and engagement. By mixing different types of sentences, you can create a more rhythmic and interesting narrative or discussion. This variety helps keep the reader’s attention and makes the content more enjoyable to read.

One way to do this is by incorporating compound sentences. These are sentences with two independent clauses joined, like “and, “but”, or “so.” A compound sentence is great for connecting related ideas. They’re also great for adding complexity to your writing without overwhelming the reader.

You should also consider sentence lengths. Mixing short and long sentences can dramatically improve writing flow. Short sentences can provide emphasis and create a dynamic rhythm. Long sentences allow for more detailed descriptions and the development of more complex ideas.

Experimenting with different types of sentence structure also encourages deeper engagement from readers. By using sentence variety, you can cater to different reading paces and preferences.

4. Improve transition words and phrases

Improving your use of transition words and phrases is important for ensuring that your writing flows smoothly from one idea to the next. Transition words serve as bridges between thoughts. They help to maintain the logical progression and clarity of your narrative.

Start by considering the relationship between your ideas. A well-chosen transition word can signal whether you’re contrasting, adding to, or providing an example related to the previous sentence. For example:

• However – Introduces a contrast
• Furthermore – Adds information
• For example – Introduces a picture of a point previously mentioned

Also, paying attention to sentence order is crucial. Place your sentences in a logical sequence to ensure each transitional word or phrase builds on the one used in the next sentence. Coherence here can help a reader follow your train of thought more easily and keep them engaged with your content.

Transitional words also play a critical role in pacing your writing. When you use them just right, they can create a sentence flow that enhances the reading experience. The best way to refine your transitions is by reading your work aloud to see how naturally the ideas connect. After that, make adjustments as necessary to give you a good flow.

5. Streamline wordiness

Wordy sentences can obscure your message and frustrate readers who may struggle to find the main point in the clutter. To streamline your writing, eliminate irrelevant words and phrases. Remember, the words and sentences you add need to add value to the writing.

Begin by identifying common sources of:

• Redundant pairs – “each and every”
• Filler words – “actually,” “basically”
• Passive constructions – Instead of saying “it is believed by many people” simplify it to “many people believe.”

Making these changes can reduce the word count and strengthen the sentence. Speaking of strengthening, use strong specific verbs to convey action and reduce the need for adverbs. For example, “walk quickly” can be streamlined to “hurry.” This makes your writing a lot more direct and vibrant.

Also, be mindful of nominalizations or nouns formed from verbs and adjectives. Phrases like “make a decision” can be condensed to decide. Do you see how this choice delivers the same meaning but more succinctly? That’s what you need to aim for.

6. Maintain a consistent voice and tone

Consistency with voice and tone helps you build a connection with your readers, making your writing more relatable and easier to follow. Whether you’re crafting a creative writing piece, a technical report or a fact-based essay, the voice and tone should reflect the intended audience and goal of your text.

Here’s how you can maintain consistency:

• Define your voice early on : Decide how formal or informal your voice needs to be based on the type of piece you’re writing. Once defined, stick to it throughout your piece.
• Use consistent language : Avoid switching between technical jargon and casual slang, unless the context demands it. Consistent language can reinforce your voice.
• Read aloud : This can highlight shifts that may not be obvious when reading silently.

It’s important to reflect on the emotional tone of your writing. If your goal is to excite your readers, a lively, upbeat tone is appropriate. On the other hand, topics that are serious might require a more subdued approach. If you don’t get it right the first time, don’t fret, adapting the tone while keeping the voice consistent requires practice.

7. Proofread and edit

Proofreading and editing are steps in the writing process that you can’t do without. They ensure that your draft is polished and error-free. Besides correcting grammatical mistakes, like ensuring the right placement of punctuation marks, these practices can help refine the flow.

Here are key aspects to look out for during proofreading and editing:

• Grammar and punctuation : Check for common errors like misplaced commas or incorrect verb tenses. Tools like Smodin can automate some of this process.
• Consistency : Ensure that your writing maintains a consistent style regarding formatting, terminology, and voice. This uniformity is key to professional quality writing.
• Clarity and conciseness : Get rid of unnecessary words and phrases. Aim for clear, direct sentences that convey your ideas effectively.

Proofreading shouldn’t be rushed. So, before you get into it, it’s always best to take a break after writing. Come back with fresh eyes then review your work. Read aloud to expose awkward phrasings and overlooked errors. You can also ask someone else to review your work, if possible.

Use Smodin to Improve Sentence and Writing Flow

Improving your writing is within reach! By focusing on how to improve sentence and writing flow, you’ll have your readers gripped in no time. Utilize transitional words and vary sentence structure. Good writing hinges on mastering these elements.

Whether it’s crafting a simple sentence or enhancing the overall sentence flow. And remember, if all else fails, there’s always Smodin!

Smodin offers a suite of power tools designed to enhance your own sentences and streamline the writing process. Here’s why you should consider Smodin:

• Text Rewriter : Perfect for refining your drafts and improving clarity without losing our original message.
• Plagiarism checker : Ensures your content is unique, boosting credibility and originality.
• AI Writer : Generates high-quality, coherent text that resonates with readers, ideal for both academic and creative writing.
• Text and Website Summarizer : Quickly grasp the essence of extensive material. Saves you time and effort in research.
• AI Essay Grader : Provides feedback on your writing’s structure and style. Helps you polish work before submission.

Use Smodin to enhance the quality of your writing and improve your flow!

17 Small Changes That Will Make Your Writing Irresistible, According to an NYU Writing Professor

Get right to the point, be specific, and make sure to find your own voice.

Would you like your writing to be lively, persuasive, and compelling, and impossible to ignore? Whether you're writing an email , a blog post , or a report on a technical subject, some simple changes can make what you write more appealing to readers, even if you've never taken a writing course.

To learn how to make any kind of writing sparkle, I talked with Estelle Erasmus, a prolific writer and former magazine editor, writing professor at New York University, and author of the new book Writing That Gets Noticed (New World Library, 2023). Erasmus shared some of the tips she gives to her students, which include both new writers and published authors, to make their writing stand out from the crowd. Here's some of her best advice.

1. Get straight to the point.

Whether you're trying to write a compelling essay or a legal or financial report, "you want to get to the hook of what you're writing about," Erasmus says. "You don't want to do 'throat-clearing,' which is putting a lot of unnecessary information in there before you get to the meat."

"Everyone's busy these days," she adds. "The attention span is so much shorter than it was when I started in this business. So you want to be concise and get to the point very quickly."

2. Consider using bullet points.

Bullet points aren't appropriate for every type of writing--for example, they generally aren't used in personal essays or most news articles. But in the right situation, they can be a powerful tool. "If you're trying to convey a lot of information, bullet points are a very good and concise way to do it," Erasmus says.

3. Make sure you have a compelling title.

It's easy for even seasoned writers to pay little attention to the title (or headline) of what they write. But titles and headlines are incredibly important, because that's how some people will decide whether or not to read what you wrote.

So put some careful thought into your title. "It should be compelling and it should evoke emotion in some way, because the science shows that, the more you evoke emotion in a reader, the more the message will resonate with them."

4. Use numbers.

One way to make your title more compelling is to use a number in it (something we often do at Inc.com). "'50 ways to make an impact" is an example of this approach, Erasmus says. Using relevant statistics, either in your title or within the piece, is another way numbers can make what you're writing more persuasive.

5. Reference someone or something in the news.

"You can make a provocative statement," Erasmus says. "A therapist wrote a piece called 'How John Mayer helped me become a better therapist.' There are ways of bringing more attention to your pieces by connecting them to something provocative."

6. Consider starting with an anecdote or a quote.

"Start your piece with a dramatic or compelling anecdote," Erasmus says. If you're writing about a medical topic, consider starting with the story of someone who had the condition. Or perhaps with a surprising or compelling quote from an expert in what you're writing about. These can both be good ways to grab the reader's attention right from the start.

7. Make every sentence count.

"Make sure that every sentence has a point and moves the piece forward," she advises. "So you're not just writing a sentence that doesn't have a point." With readers so busy these days, and so many other things (YouTube! Netflix! Social media!) pulling at their attention, you don't want that attention to wane, even for a moment.

So make sure every sentence has a purpose. That purpose could be to set a scene for the reader by describing a place or a person, depending on what you're writing, or it could be to convey information or tell what happened next.

8. Use active language.

It's way too easy, even for experienced writers, to fall into the trap of using passive language. "Our new product is beneficial to customers in various ways" is an example of passive writing. "Our new product benefits customers..." is active, and more compelling.

"Often, passive writing does not really resonate with the reader because it doesn't feel like you're involved in it," Erasmus explains. It's way too easy to fall into using passive language without realizing it, so she recommends you go back over a piece of writing once you've completed a draft, to look for passive language and replace it with active language.

While you're doing that, you should also eliminate jargon, she says--unless it's within context and you know it will be familiar to the specific audience you're writing for. When in doubt, if you can't remove a technical or unfamiliar term, make sure to add a definition.

9. Get rid of clichs.

"I used to use clichs like they were going out of style, but now I wouldn't touch one with a ten-foot pole," it says in one of my favorite Frank and Ernest cartoons. Erasmus recommends removing clichs from all your writing, and there are two very good reasons to do so. The first is that clichs are--by definition--very familiar, which means they're liable to bore your reader, and you risk losing their attention. The second is that, while you may know what you mean when you use a clich, it could mean something completely different to someone else. Whenever possible, find your own words to convey an idea, rather than defaulting to a tried-and-true phrase.

10. Remove "filler" words.

"You're trying to get noticed with your writing," Erasmus says. "So you want to get rid of 'filler' words like 'it will be,' 'there will be,' 'it was,' 'it wasn't,' 'there are,' and so on. That will create tighter sentences, which helps keep people's attention." She suggests trying an online grammar checker--often the software will flag wordy sentences and make suggestions for improving them.

11. Vary sentence length.

If a piece of writing has nothing but long sentences (like this one), it can become confusing and maybe even exhausting for a reader to get all the way through it, and you could lose them along the way. Short sentences are great. They convey movement, Erasmus says. But not too many in a row. That can make your writing feel choppy. (As the last five sentences do.) So to create writing with a natural flow, try varying your sentence length, with some longer ones interspersed with shorter ones.

12. Pay close attention to the last word of a sentence.

This is a bit of an advanced technique, and you don't need to do it all the time, but it can be very effective: Use the last word of a sentence to draw the reader into the next sentence. Erasmus refers to her book for an example: "Because Emily was arrested, she didn't come to work." To make the writing stronger, Erasmus suggests a change to "Emily didn't come to work because she was arrested." The next sentence is: "The cop booked her into the precinct for shoplifting."

"So 'arrested' is the ending of the first sentence, and 'the cop'--obviously the person doing the arresting--is the beginning of the next," Erasmus explains. That can help you keep your reader's attention and pull them along through the piece.

13. Be specific.

"The mark of an amateur is someone who writes very broadly and doesn't use specifics," she says. So instead of writing "This is a beautiful and evocative painting," try saying exactly why you see it that way. "With glistening sand and an endless turquoise ocean, this painting evokes a summer day at the beach."

14. Use sensory language.

The example above uses visual description to engage the reader, but remember that they have other senses as well. "Research has shown that if you use sensory language, which is touching, tasting, smelling, feeling, it paints a picture for the reader and gets them involved," Erasmus says. And sensory writing is not confined to narrative writing like fiction or essays. "Whatever it is you're writing about, you can involve the senses."

15. Be authoritative.

Too often, people use qualifiers that make what they are writing seem less definite, Erasmus says. "Don't vacillate. Don't say 'I think' or 'it could possibly be.' Especially if you are trying to be a thought leader and build a platform. You want to be the authoritative presence that your followers or your clients rely on."

16. Find your own voice.

You have your own unique speaking voice, not only in its sound quality, but in the choice of words and phrases that you use. It's a great idea to have your own unique voice come out in your writing as well, which will make it more personal, and recognizably yours. If, say, you're writing about tips and tricks to help readers improve their lives, set your voice up at the beginning and come back to it at the end, Erasmus advises.

How do you find your own voice? "Record yourself, listen to how you speak, and use that in your writing," she says. "And you can read pieces by writers you admire and think of how they showcase their voices. You can tweak that to showcase your voice."

17. Come full circle.

When appropriate, it's always great to end a piece by bringing the reader back to where they began, what Erasmus calls "circling back." She explains: "Maybe you're writing from a conference, and you give an example from the beginning of the conference. Then you share a lot of tips and advice. Then you go back and at the end, offer one final tip from the conference."

At the start of this piece, I promised to make your writing livelier and more compelling. Making even some of these changes will help make your writing sparkle, and engage your busy readers, so that they keep on reading.

Academic Essay Writing Made Simple: 4 types and tips

The pen is mightier than the sword, they say, and nowhere is this more evident than in academia. From the quick scribbles of eager students to the inquisitive thoughts of renowned scholars, academic essays depict the power of the written word. These well-crafted writings propel ideas forward and expand the existing boundaries of human intellect.

What is an Academic Essay

An academic essay is a nonfictional piece of writing that analyzes and evaluates an argument around a specific topic or research question. It serves as a medium to share the author’s views and is also used by institutions to assess the critical thinking, research skills, and writing abilities of a students and researchers.  

Importance of Academic Essays

4 main types of academic essays.

While academic essays may vary in length, style, and purpose, they generally fall into four main categories. Despite their differences, these essay types share a common goal: to convey information, insights, and perspectives effectively.

1. Expository Essay

2. Descriptive Essay

3. Narrative Essay

4. Argumentative Essay

Expository and persuasive essays mainly deal with facts to explain ideas clearly. Narrative and descriptive essays are informal and have a creative edge. Despite their differences, these essay types share a common goal ― to convey information, insights, and perspectives effectively.

Expository Essays: Illuminating ideas

An expository essay is a type of academic writing that explains, illustrates, or clarifies a particular subject or idea. Its primary purpose is to inform the reader by presenting a comprehensive and objective analysis of a topic.

By breaking down complex topics into digestible pieces and providing relevant examples and explanations, expository essays allow writers to share their knowledge.

What are the Key Features of an Expository Essay

Provides factual information without bias

Presents multiple viewpoints while maintaining objectivity

Uses direct and concise language to ensure clarity for the reader

Composed of a logical structure with an introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion

When is an expository essay written.

1. For academic assignments to evaluate the understanding of research skills.

2. As instructional content to provide step-by-step guidance for tasks or problem-solving.

3. In journalism for objective reporting in news or investigative pieces.

4. As a form of communication in the professional field to convey factual information in business or healthcare.

How to Write an Expository Essay

Expository essays are typically structured in a logical and organized manner.

1. Topic Selection and Research

• Choose a topic that can be explored objectively
• Gather relevant facts and information from credible sources
• Develop a clear thesis statement

2. Outline and Structure

• Create an outline with an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion
• Introduce the topic and state the thesis in the introduction
• Dedicate each body paragraph to a specific point supporting the thesis
• Use transitions to maintain a logical flow

3. Objective and Informative Writing

• Maintain an impartial and informative tone
• Avoid personal opinions or biases
• Support points with factual evidence, examples, and explanations

4. Conclusion

• Summarize the key points
• Reinforce the significance of the thesis

Descriptive Essays: Painting with words

Descriptive essays transport readers into vivid scenes, allowing them to experience the world through the writer ‘s lens. These essays use rich sensory details, metaphors, and figurative language to create a vivid and immersive experience . Its primary purpose is to engage readers’ senses and imagination.

It allows writers to demonstrate their ability to observe and describe subjects with precision and creativity.

What are the Key Features of Descriptive Essay

Employs figurative language and imagery to paint a vivid picture for the reader

Demonstrates creativity and expressiveness in narration

Includes close attention to detail, engaging the reader’s senses

Engages the reader’s imagination and emotions through immersive storytelling using analogies, metaphors, similes, etc.

When is a descriptive essay written.

1. Personal narratives or memoirs that describe significant events, people, or places.

2. Travel writing to capture the essence of a destination or experience.

3. Character sketches in fiction writing to introduce and describe characters.

4. Poetry or literary analyses to explore the use of descriptive language and imagery.

How to Write a Descriptive Essay

The descriptive essay lacks a defined structural requirement but typically includes: an introduction introducing the subject, a thorough description, and a concluding summary with insightful reflection.

1. Subject Selection and Observation

• Choose a subject (person, place, object, or experience) to describe
• Gather sensory details and observations

2. Engaging Introduction

• Set the scene and provide the context
• Use of descriptive language and figurative techniques

3. Descriptive Body Paragraphs

• Focus on specific aspects or details of the subject
• Engage the reader ’s senses with vivid imagery and descriptions
• Maintain a consistent tone and viewpoint

4. Impactful Conclusion

• Provide a final impression or insight
• Leave a lasting impact on the reader

Narrative Essays: Storytelling in Action

Narrative essays are personal accounts that tell a story, often drawing from the writer’s own experiences or observations. These essays rely on a well-structured plot, character development, and vivid descriptions to engage readers and convey a deeper meaning or lesson.

What are the Key features of Narrative Essays

Written from a first-person perspective and hence subjective

Based on real personal experiences

Uses an informal and expressive tone

Presents events and characters in sequential order

When is a narrative essay written.

It is commonly assigned in high school and college writing courses to assess a student’s ability to convey a meaningful message or lesson through a personal narrative. They are written in situations where a personal experience or story needs to be recounted, such as:

1. Reflective essays on significant life events or personal growth.

2. Autobiographical writing to share one’s life story or experiences.

3. Creative writing exercises to practice narrative techniques and character development.

4. College application essays to showcase personal qualities and experiences.

How to Write a Narrative Essay

Narrative essays typically follow a chronological structure, with an introduction that sets the scene, a body that develops the plot and characters, and a conclusion that provides a sense of resolution or lesson learned.

1. Experience Selection and Reflection

• Choose a significant personal experience or event
• Reflect on the impact and deeper meaning

2. Immersive Introduction

• Introduce characters and establish the tone and point of view

3. Plotline and Character Development

• Advance   the  plot and character development through body paragraphs
• Incorporate dialog , conflict, and resolution
• Maintain a logical and chronological flow

4. Insightful Conclusion

• Reflect on lessons learned or insights gained
• Leave the reader with a lasting impression

Argumentative Essays: Persuasion and Critical Thinking

Argumentative essays are the quintessential form of academic writing in which writers present a clear thesis and support it with well-researched evidence and logical reasoning. These essays require a deep understanding of the topic, critical analysis of multiple perspectives, and the ability to construct a compelling argument.

What are the Key Features of an Argumentative Essay?

Logical and well-structured arguments

Credible and relevant evidence from reputable sources

Consideration and refutation of counterarguments

Critical analysis and evaluation of the issue 

When is an argumentative essay written.

Argumentative essays are written to present a clear argument or stance on a particular issue or topic. In academic settings they are used to develop critical thinking, research, and persuasive writing skills. However, argumentative essays can also be written in various other contexts, such as:

1. Opinion pieces or editorials in newspapers, magazines, or online publications.

2. Policy proposals or position papers in government, nonprofit, or advocacy settings.

3. Persuasive speeches or debates in academic, professional, or competitive environments.

4. Marketing or advertising materials to promote a product, service, or idea.

How to write an Argumentative Essay

Argumentative essays begin with an introduction that states the thesis and provides context. The body paragraphs develop the argument with evidence, address counterarguments, and use logical reasoning. The conclusion restates the main argument and makes a final persuasive appeal.

• Choose a debatable and controversial issue
• Conduct thorough research and gather evidence and counterarguments

2. Thesis and Introduction

• Craft a clear and concise thesis statement
• Provide background information and establish importance

3. Structured Body Paragraphs

• Focus each paragraph on a specific aspect of the argument
• Support with logical reasoning, factual evidence, and refutation

4. Persuasive Techniques

• Adopt a formal and objective tone
• Use persuasive techniques (rhetorical questions, analogies, appeals)

5. Impactful Conclusion

• Summarize the main points
• Leave the reader with a strong final impression and call to action

To learn more about argumentative essay, check out this article .

5 Quick Tips for Researchers to Improve Academic Essay Writing Skills

Use clear and concise language to convey ideas effectively without unnecessary words

Use well-researched, credible sources to substantiate your arguments with data, expert opinions, and scholarly references

Ensure a coherent structure with effective transitions, clear topic sentences, and a logical flow to enhance readability 

To elevate your academic essay, consider submitting your draft to a community-based platform like Open Platform  for editorial review 

Review your work multiple times for clarity, coherence, and adherence to academic guidelines to ensure a polished final product

By mastering the art of academic essay writing, researchers and scholars can effectively communicate their ideas, contribute to the advancement of knowledge, and engage in meaningful scholarly discourse.

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How To Write A Research Proposal

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Imagine this: you're sitting in your cluttered dorm room, surrounded by piles of books and stacks of notes. It's the middle of the night, and you're desperately trying to piece together your thoughts for that looming research proposal deadline. The pressure is on – you know this research proposal could be the ticket to kickstarting your academic career or securing that much-needed funding for your groundbreaking research idea. But how to write a research proposal? Don't worry, you're not alone. Making a research proposal can seem daunting, but fear not – with the right approach, it's entirely achievable. In this blog, we'll take you through each step of writing a research proposal, from understanding the basics to putting together a winning research proposal that grabs attention and gets results. 

What is a research proposal used for, and why is it important?

A research proposal is important because it helps determine if there is enough expertise to support your research area. It is a key part of evaluating your application, showing that your project is feasible and fits within the institution's strengths. However, the proposal is just the beginning. Your ideas will likely change as you delve deeper into your research, but it provides a clear starting point. This initial plan helps both you and the institution understand the potential direction and significance of your research, laying solid foundations for your future. 

What Things to keep in mind while writing a research proposal?

Academics often need to write research proposals to get funding for their projects. As a student, you might need to write one when applying to grad school or before starting your thesis or dissertation. A proposal helps you shape your research plans and shows why your project is valuable to funders, educational institutions, or supervisors.

• Relevance: Show your reader why your project is interesting, unique, and important.
• Context: Show that you are comfortable and knowledgeable in your field. Make it clear that you understand the current research on your topic.
• Approach: Explain why you chose your methodology. Show that you've thought carefully about the data, tools, and steps needed to do your research.
• Achievability: Make sure your project can be done within the time frame of your program or funding deadline.
• Tone: When you write research proposals or any academic work, keep it formal and objective. Remember, being clear and to the point is important. Keep your writing concise; being formal doesn't mean using fancy language.

How long should my research proposal be?

Usually, research proposals for bachelor’s and master’s theses are just a few pages. But for bigger projects like Ph.D. dissertations or asking for funding, they can be longer and more detailed. The main aim of a research proposal is to explain what your research will do clearly. So, while the length of the proposal matters less, what’s really important is that you cover all the necessary information in it.

Sections of a research proposal

Research proposals usually have a simple layout. To meet the goals we talked about earlier, here’s how to write a research proposal:

If your proposal is really long, you might want to add a summary and a list of what's inside to help your reader find their way around. Just like your dissertation or thesis, your proposal should have a title page with the following

• The title of your project
• Your supervisor’s name
• Your school and department

Introduction section of research proposal

The beginning of your proposal is like the first pitch for your project. Make it clear and brief, explaining what you want to do and why.

In your introduction:

• Introduce your topic
• Provide background and context
• Explain the problem you're addressing and your research questions

To help you with your introduction, include:

• Who might care about your topic (like scientists or policymakers)
• What's already known about it
• What's still unknown
• How your research will add new information
• Why do you think this research matters

Literature review

As you begin, it's important to show that you know about the key research on your topic. A good literature review tells your reader that your project is based on solid existing knowledge. It also shows that you're not just repeating what others have said but adding something new.

In this part, explain how your project fits into the ongoing discussion in the field by:

• Comparing different theories, methods, and debates
• Looking at the strengths and weaknesses of different ideas
• Saying how you'll use past research in your own work - whether you'll build on it, challenge it, or bring it together with new ideas

If you're not sure where to start, check out our guide on writing a literature review.

Background significance

Your background section sets the stage for your research. Here, you explain why your topic matters and what questions you're trying to answer. It's like showing the backstory of your project, giving readers a clear picture of why it's worth their attention. In your research proposal, it's crucial to cover:

• Background and why your research is important
• Your field of study
• A brief look at existing research
• The main arguments and changes happening in your area

Research design, methods, and schedule

After looking at existing research, it's time to talk about your plans in this methodology section of a research proposal. One key thing to remember when learning how to write a research proposal is to include details about your research methods, like how you'll collect data and analyse it. Here's what your materials and methods in research proposal should cover:

• What kind of research you'll be doing - qualitative or quantitative, and whether you're gathering new data or using existing data.
• Whether your research is experimental, looking at connections, or describing things.
• Details about your data - if you're in social sciences, who you're studying and how you'll pick them.
• The tools you'll use to gather data - like experiments, surveys, or observations, and why they're right for your research.

When figuring out how to write a research proposal, start by clearly stating your research question and explaining why it's important and don't forget to include:

• Your timeline for the research.
• How much money do you need?
• Any problems you might face and how you'll deal with them.

Suppositions and Implications

Even though you won't know your research results until you do the work, you should have a clear idea of how your project will help and contribute to your field. Knowing how to write a research proposal also involves explaining the potential impact of your study. This part of your research proposal is extremely crucial because it explains why your research is necessary.

In this section on how to write a research proposal, make sure you cover the following:

• How your work might challenge current ideas, theories and assumptions in your field.
• Why your research is a good starting point for future studies.
• How your findings could be useful for professionals, teachers, and other researchers.
• The problems your research could potentially help solve.
• Any rules or guidelines that could change because of what you find.
• How your research could be used in schools or other places, and how that'll make things better.

Basically, in this section of a research proposal, you're not saying exactly what you'll find. Instead, you're explaining why whatever you discover will be important.

When applying for research funding, it's likely you'll need to provide a thorough budget. This demonstrates your projected costs for different aspects of your project. Be sure to review the funding body's guidelines to see what expenses they're willing to fund. For each item in your budget, include:

• Cost : How much money do you need?
• Why : Why do you need this money for your research?
• Source : How did you figure out this amount?

When you're making your budget, think about:

• Travel : Do you need to go somewhere to get your data? How will you get there, and how long will it take? What will you do there?
• Materials : Do you need any special tools or tech?
• Help : Do you need to hire someone to help with your research? What will they do, and how much will you pay them?

In this section of a research proposal, you tie everything together. Your conclusion section, much like the conclusion paragraph of an essay, gives a quick rundown of your research proposal and strengthens the purpose you've laid out. It reminds the reader of the main points and emphasises why your research matters. It's your final chance to leave a lasting impression and make a case for the importance of your work.

Bibliography

Writing a bibliography is essential alongside your literature review. In this part of your research proposal structure, unlike the review, where you explain why you chose your sources and sometimes even question them. The bibliography just lists your sources and who wrote them.

Citing depends on the style guide, like MLA , APA , or Chicago . Each has its own rules, even for unusual sources like websites or speeches. If you don't need a full bibliography, a references list with just the sources you cited is enough. If unsure, ask your supervisor.  Be sure to include:

• A list of references to important articles and texts you talked about in your research proposal.
• Choose sources that fit well with your proposed research.

Editing and proofreading a research proposal

When writing a research proposal, use the same six-step process you apply to all your writing tasks. Once you've drafted it, give it some time to cool off before proofreading. This helps you spot errors and gaps more effectively, ensuring a polished final version. Taking breaks between writing and revising enhances the quality of your work.

Common mistakes to avoid when writing a research proposal

When you’re writing a research proposal, avoid these common pitfalls: 

Being too wordy

Remember, being formal doesn't mean using fancy words. In fact, it's best to keep your writing short and direct. The clearer and more concise you are about your purpose and goals, the stronger your proposal will be.

Failing to cite relevant sources

When you do research, you contribute to what we already know about your topic. Your proposal should mention important past research in your field and explain how your work relates to it. This shows not just why your work matters but also that you know your stuff. Referencing landmark studies gives your proposal credibility and strengthens your argument.

Focusing too much on minor issues

Your research likely has many important reasons behind it, but you don't need to list them all in your proposal. Including too many details can distract from your main goal, making your proposal weaker. Focus on the big, key issues you'll address. Save the smaller details for your actual research paper. Keeping your proposal focused strengthens your argument and makes it more effective.

Failing to make a strong argument for your research

Overloading your proposal with too many minor issues can weaken it significantly, as this approach is more subjective than others. Essentially, a research proposal is a form of persuasive writing. While it's presented objectively, the aim is to convince the reader to support your work. This applies universally whether your audience is your supervisor, department head, admissions board, funding provider, or journal editor. Keeping your proposal focused enhances its persuasiveness.

Polish your writing into a stellar proposal

When you're seeking approval for research, especially when funding is involved, your proposal needs to be perfect. Spelling mistakes, grammar errors, or awkward wording can hurt your credibility. Even if you've edited carefully, it's essential to double-check. Your research deserves the strongest proposal possible to make the best impression and secure the support it needs.

If you're unsure how to write a research proposal, don't worry! There are plenty of resources and examples available to guide you through the process. We hope this blog helped you answer your question of “how to write a research proposal”. Practice is key when learning how to write a research proposal, so don't be afraid to ask for feedback and revise your proposal until it's clear and compelling.  

Frequently Asked Questions

How to write an abstract for a research proposal, what is the research proposal format , how to write a proposal for a research paper, how to write a dissertation proposal, how to write a phd proposal.

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PPF #2: Get in Flow

The path of least resistance.

Welcome to The Door to E. A series-style newsletter for people obsessed with exploring, explaining, and expanding ideas to unlock human potential. Each week, I publish around 3 chosen series that share ideas, experiences, and stories to help you design your life.

This essay is a part of the Practical Philosophy Friday series.

Thank you for reading, and please forward this to anyone who you think needs to walk on the journey.

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Dear Friends, Seekers, and Everyone else

Functionality is key.

You could try to be efficient and productive all the time, but that is a disaster waiting to happen.

So, I've been on a one-week creative break to readjust my calendar, events and tasks and make things easy for work.

It is a fact that efficient thought is the enemy of creativity. It's not something I've seen evidence for, but when I try to concentrate on creative work I have to stop thinking about doing things succinctly or in a set block of time.

To me, creativity is not something to be controlled, and as such FLOW cannot be controlled by structures and frameworks either.

But what is flow anyway? 

Path of Least Resistance

For all that is said out there, in different fancy and wordy ways, I'll tell you what flow means to me:

A state of Flow is when the mind learns to stop resisting the momentum it's gaining towards doing one action.

You don't feel the passage of time as severely as you would in your normal life, or loss of the inner voice that points out your mistakes or logical movement of memory.

You often see this happen with artists, sports people and even writers. There is effortlessness in their movement and actions, they lose awareness, it feels like they have complete control over what they are doing.

For a lack of better analogy, I'd say it feels like doing mediation through action.

While FLOW as a term is quite new, as new as the 1960s when Dr Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote a book called " FLOW: The Psychology of Optimal Experience " where he talks about a highly focused mental state that helps you do good work. 

The concept itself is way older than that, 6th century BCE to be exact when the legendary Lao Zi wrote Tao Te Ching ( a book I'm dying to read. )

Not Controlling, but directing

In some parts of the world, there is aggressive attention given to process and productivity. To follow a set framework, checklist, and template to get the desired result.

I'm sure you've heard of people claiming " I've got a 3-hour block of deep work setup every morning ". That's a common practice in the areas of time management and productivity.

But there is another side to it... the extremely passive, non-time bound but chained by intention side of things.

Where the priority is given to action and the fulfillment of that action, not necessarily on the time constraints.

That comes from the fact that "you cannot force effortless work if you don't let your mind find the effortless way to do it". After all, transcendental states cannot be achieved with effort.

This is my personal experience as well. I've never been able to honor a time commitment for creativity, but I have been able to honor the Intention commitment for creativity every single time.

Because not doing anything is just as important or even more important than doing something.

There was even this conversation I heard between David Perell and Ana Lorena Fabrega where they were passionately defending the point that "original content arises when you let the mind wander around an idea, and let it germinate the idea".

Similarly, "flow" is achieved not by control, but rather signposting. You add constraints on what you want to do and think and then let your mind do it's thing.

I'm a big advocate for the idea of letting things marinade in your head and embracing the "letting go" aspect of life.

But how can I turn this idea into a practical one? 

Get into Flow

Have you ever observed monks when they meditate? What is their environment setup like? It is open, clear, and with little distractions. But there is something peculiar about it.

There's stuff that is common among every type of monk or artist when they do their work. 

It is the environment. 

Every day they do their work in the same spot at the same time.

For someone to get immersed in their work, they need to cut out as many adjustments and distractions as possible.

So the prerequisite for getting into flow state more often is

1. A clear goal that is challenging enough

The mind doesn't do well when things are uncertain, so make your tasks specific with a fixed outcome.

But you must make it slightly more challenging than your current capabilities, or else your brain won't engage in the process and drive energy to the process and problem-driven side of things rather than to a sense of time, or awareness or lose the inner critic.

“Inducing flow is about the balance between the level of skill and the size of the challenge at hand.” 

~  Jeanne Nakamura, positive psychologist and flow researcher

2. Remove distractions and struggles of adjustments

The less adjustments and decisions you have to make while doing the task, the better. 

So questions like

Where should I sit?

What time should I work?

What should I wear?

Any more questions you can possibly think of cause this is all I can come up with at the moment.

The fewer roadblocks you have, the faster you'll get into a flow state. But you must be careful because, in a flow state, you lose the sense of awareness, which means you'll forget food, water, sleep, or how you've been sitting on your chair that your back might hurt when you try to get up after a while.

Good for work, not so good for the body.

So have those things at hand - a water bottle, some snacks, a proper desk...stuff like that.

3. Add in sensory triggers

This is somewhat unconventional but it's worked for me.

When I was in college I used to have incense sticks burning when I was meditating, or eat dark chocolate when I used to work or listen to classical music when I studied.

One day I didn't do that, and it felt like hell cause I wasn't able to get into flow state as fast as I would. It was then that I realized that your senses have memory.

I think it's also the same reason monks light candles or incense when meditating or praying.

Your senses create the condition for your body to slip into different environments, even if they are simulated. 

Sense like taste, smell, and sound have a powerful recall effect on the body and a great way for the brain to know you're about to get into work and that it should get ready too.

Final Words

The philosophy or psychology of flow is directly connected to LEAST RESISTANCE. And it's hard for a lot of beginners to do because we are soo used to staying in control of the situations, that letting go of the reins seems scary.

But who knows, if you let go, you might really start working like yourself.

Like your real self.

That’s it on the cringy and wise line

Until next time

Be weird and curious

P.S. If you are interested in info products and building an information-led creator business, check out Wide Thinker Letters . Series issues go out every Sunday.

If you haven't already, subscribe to the newsletter and hop on the learning journey with me to unlock your potential.

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60 Short Middle Grade Books That Kids Will Love

This post may contain affiliate links.

Recently, I tweeted about the long lengths of recently published middle grade books . The tweet went viral, and I was invited to write for Publisher’s Weekly to expand on my concerns. My essay shared my opinion about too many long middle grade books at a time when kids are reading less and middle grade books sales are decreasing. I said that while we need both short and long books, right now, we need MORE short middle grade books to get our growing readers reading; books around 200 pages.

Why? Because the majority of children aren’t excited about reading 400-page middle grade books! Shorter books appeal to more readers for a variety of reasons. First, the size looks manageable, and second, the writing is generally tighter and better-paced than the longer counterparts.

Why else am I calling for shorter books? Attention spans are getting shorter. In addition, kids want the satisfaction of finishing a book in a timely manner. (Not after four months!) Short books work for children’s decreasing attention spans and the goal to read more books.

Teachers, librarians, and parents want this, too. Short books mean that kids can read more books in a variety of genres. Shorter books also allow for rereading books for deeper learning purposes and enjoyment.

And as a book reviewer, I am tiring of long, wordy books that get sluggish in the middle. (Most kids don’t want books like this either.)

So without further ado, here are SHORT, well-written (fictional) middle grade books you’ll want to share with your readers, ages 9 to 12. I hope you find something wonderful to read next!

Please leave a comment if you have more book ideas to add to this list!

Oh, and one last thing — don’t forget about nonfiction books and novels in verse. I didn’t include either on this list because they deserve book lists of their own. So here are 25 middle grade novels in verse you don’t want to miss! And here is a list of engaging but short nonfiction books .

Happy reading!

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50 Short Middle Grade Books Kids Will Love

Legends of Lotus Island: The Guardian Test  by Christina Soontornvat, illustrated by Kevin Hong 160 pages FANTASY (series) Plum is  thrilled with the opportunity to go to a Guardian school where she hopes she’ll turn into a Guardian to protect the natural world.  At the Academy, she struggles to focus; she worries that she’ll never get her animal bond like the other students. But she learns how to fight, talk to animals, and hopes she can prove herself. Readers will love the cool world-building, the captivating illustrations, and the engaging story!

The Magical Reality of Nadia  by Bassem Youssef and Catherine R. Daly, illustrated by Douglas Holgate 176 pages MAGICAL REALISM (series) Nadia unexpectedly discovers an ancient Egyptian teacher (Titi) trapped in her hippo amulet.  He comes out onto a paper and TALKS! Tita helps Nadia with problems she faces at school, including the new kid who is rude and prejudiced about her Egyptian culture. Totally wonderful, heartfelt, and relatable– don’t miss this new series!

Plague Thieves written by Caroline Fernandez HISTORICAL FICTION / SHORT MIDDLE GRADE 200 pages If you’re like me and you love Thieves essential oil and historical fiction, then you will LOVE this fascinating historical fiction story about the origin of Thieves during the Bubonic Plague in London . Rose’s dad owns a spice shop in London in 1665, but he and her mom suddenly die of the plague. Her dad gives Rose instructions to make a spice and oil blend that will protect Rose and her older brother. He sends them into the streets to steal and survive, burning their building as to not spread the disease. Rose is abandoned by her gambling addict brother and she lives under a bridge with other street kids– but she’s hunted because adults are desperate to get their hands on her so-called cure. It’s a harrowing time of hunger, suspicion, survival, and death, but the engaging story is written in an age-appropriate way and recommend it for 9 to 12 year olds.

Boo Hag Flex written by Justina Ireland SCARY / SHORT MIDDLE GRADE 208 pages In a story within a story, after Tasha’s mom dies, she’s sent to stay with her grandmother and deadbeat dad. Mostly Tasha hangs out with her new friend Ellie. The girls soon realize that a boo hag is killing the old folks at the trailer park and Tasha’s grandmother is next. They read in a hoodoo legends book how to stop the boo hag but they could never imagine who the boo hag is. Tasha will need her wits and bravery to save her grandmother and stop the murderous creature trying to live forever. Thankfully, this was not as scary as I thought it would be (I did save if for daytime reading) but still is a bit creepy. It’s a quick read with an interesting plot and believable, likable characters.

Kingdom Riders is created by Shannon Eric Denton and Marcus To FANTASY GRAPHIC NOVEL / SHORT MIDDLE GRADE 208 pages The exquisite illustrations in this exciting fantasy adventure graphic novel feel cinematic. The story is about a poor, low-born girl named Kayla who wants to earn enough money to buy her best friend’s freedom. She and her frog steed enter a race that earns enough money to get her friend out of servitude and earns the a spot on a team for the kingdom’s race to the death. Filled with unique magic, danger and betrayal, cool cretures, and a sinister ruler, this is a must-read epic fantasy starring a heroic main character whose kindness toward others shocks the kingdom and inspires her team.

The Terrible Two  by Mac Barnett and Jory John, illustrated by Kevin Cornell 224 pages HUMOR (series) If you like  funny books , you’ll LOVE these books! Plus, in this first book, you’ll learn valuable cow trivia. But, it’s mostly the hilarious adventure of two pranksters  who start as rivals but eventually work together to pull off the biggest prank of all time — a prank that will ensure they get April Fool’s Day off from school.

Once Upon a Tim  by Stuart Gibbs 160 pages FANTASY (series) Hilarious, illustrated, and perfect for fantasy and adventure fans!  Tim and his sister Belinda are peasants who hope to improve their lot in life, so they sign up as knights for a not-very-brave prince and his so-called magician sidekick. Helpful foreshadowing, a strong narrative voice, humor throughout, helpful life lessons from the princess Belinda about the patriarchy, and great vocabulary words (which are helpfully indicated so your parents will know the IQ benefits) add up to a stellar start for this new series.

Fortunately, the Milk  by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Skottie Young 128 pages HUMOR If you like quirky humor, then this is your perfect book.  Because you will never believe what happens when the kids’ father goes out to get more milk. He doesn’t even get the milk, but he does run into pirates, aliens, and all sorts of incredible things! It’s totally hilarious and quite short–which makes for a great reading option — and read aloud choice.

Bob  by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead 208 pages MAGICAL REALISM In the sweet story of friendship,   10-year-old Livy meets Bob, a green zombie-looking monster wearing a chicken costume  living in the closet at her grandma’s house. He’s been waiting for her to return for the last five years. The problem is that Livy can’t remember him at all. Even when she leaves the house for an errand, she forgets him again. But she’s determined to help Bob find his way back home. Wherever that may be. So heartwarming!

Snow & Rose  by Emily Winfield Martin 224 pages FANTASY Snow and Rose are two sisters who live with their mother live in the woods where their father disappeared.  The girls befriend both a young boy from a mushrooming family and a large bear. Then danger arrives with a Huntsman hunting the bear and a sinister Little Man seeking to enchant or kill them. Surprisingly,  this is a MARVELOUS Grimm story with a happy ending!

Thirst   by Varsha Bajaj 192 pages REALISTIC Set in Mumbi, this is a deftly narrated, hope-filled story of the inequities around water with themes of advocacy, education, and community.  12-year-old Minni’s community has access to water only a few hours per day with severe water shortages. When Minni is forced to leave school to work as a maid, she sees the water (and other) iniquity first-hand and discovers that the family’s dad is the water mafia boss. Her decision and action to report him makes a difference — and gives us hope that one person can make a difference.

Ghost  by Jason Reynolds 192 pages REALISTIC (series) Ghost accidentally gets on a track team, and it’s life-changing.  His coach becomes a mentor and father figure who pushes Ghost to take responsibility for his mistakes (stealing sneakers) and to start dealing with the ghosts of his past. Well written and hopeful about growing up and growing into yourself.

Odd and the Frost Giants   by Neil Gaiman 128 pages MYTHOLOGY If your child hasn’t learned about Norse mythology , this will be a great intro! To end the long winter, Odd must journey to find Asgard, a city under siege from the Frost Giants.  It’s a wonderful, nail-biting adventure packaged in a short middle grade book.

The Last Kids on Earth   by Max Brallier, illustrated by Douglas Colgate 240 pages SCI-FI / HUMOR (series) It’s the end of the world! Jack and his best friend Quint live in an upgraded, well-defended treehouse. Currently, their plans only include rescuing June (who can rescue herself) and fighting zombies. Illustrations throughout make this even more appealing to read and imagine. Tons of fun!  BOXED SET HERE

Mythics: Marina and the Kraken written by Lauren Magaziner, illustrated by Mirelle Ortega FANTASY 144 pages (lower middle-grade ages 7 – 10) What an exciting start to what is sure to be a smash-hit series of adventure, girl power, and mythical creatures! When Marina doesn’t get matched with a familiar like the other kids, she and four other 10-year-old girls discover their familiars aren’t everyday animals but mythical creatures and together, they’re destined to save Terrafamiliar. The girls start their search by boat to look for Marian’s familiar. But they’re chased by a golden jumpsuit lady who wants to steal their mythical powers. As they evade their pursuer, Marina discovers that her familiar is a kraken– a kraken who accidentally capsizes their ship. Now she and her kraken must save her friends from drowning and escape the sinister lady.

Haru Zombie Dog Hero by Ellen Oh 176 pages PARANORMAL Edge-of-your-seat writing and action, the bond between a dog and boy (and family) grounds this paranormal adventure in love even though it’s also about evil scientists and zombies! Luke loves his dog, Haru, more than anything. So he’s devastated when their family’s mean landlord gets Haru taken away by the pound. But instead of going to the pound, Haru is sent to a sinister laboratory where scientists experiment on dogs. (This part is hard to read for us animal lovers — but hang in there, Haru will be okay.) Instead of dying like the other dogs, Haru wakes up changed. Violent. A stray cat named Penelope reminds Haru of his people, which helps his impulses. Then, the other more violent zombie dogs escape the lab — and Haru knows he must protect his people no matter what!

The Enchanted Life of Valentina Mejía  by Alexandra Alessendri 224 pages MYTHOLOGICAL When their papi gets stuck in a crevasse after an earthquake, Valentine and her brother Julián go for help but they accidentally enter another world. In this world, the Queen hates humans since her son was stolen by them so she sealed the portals so the kids can’t get back to their world. The siblings journey to the Queen’s castle to convince her to unseal the portals.  Readers will love the magic and excitement in this Colombian mythological adventure with talking animals, a one-legged vampire, a helpful water dragon, new friends, and a surprising plot twist!

A Wrinkle in Time   by Madeline L’Engle 256 pages SCI-FI (series) A Wrinkle in Time  is a remarkable, well-written  adventure in space that deals with the overarching theme of good vs. evil.  Meg and her brother, Charles Wallace, and friend, Calvin, leave Earth for space in order to find her scientist father who disappeared while researching tesseracts.

Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures  by Kate DiCamillo 240 pages MAGICAL REALISM Quirky and delightful, this is the  tale of a girl named Flora who rescues a squirrel and keeps it as a friend . Together they experience the world in a unique, funny, and wonderful way and straighten it out, too — especially Flora’s mother.

Restart  by Gordon Korman 256 pages REALISTIC After a head injury, Chase has no memory. But he starts to get clues about his personality when his little sister is scared of him and his two best friends act like it’s funny to torment other kids. Just what kind of person was he? Chase doesn’t think he likes what he’s learning about himself. Now  he’ll have to decide what kind of person he wants to be going forward.  It’s a thought-provoking novel that will challenge kids to consider how their behavior influences the way other people perceive them.

Sideways Stories from Wayside School  by Louis Sachar 163 pages FUNNY Old school humor at its best!  These short middle grade humorous book series describe a wacky school with crazy teachers and even crazier students and events.  BOX SET

Garvey’s Choice  by  Nikki Grimes (Also read Garvey’s Choice: The Graphic Novel written by Nikki Grimes , art by Theodore Taylor III) 120 pages REALISTIC Grimes wrote this entire book in tanka poem. The story is so engaging that you don’t even notice it’s written this way. Garvey wants to connect to his father, but it seems like the chasm is too big. Garvey likes reading and chess, while his father likes sports. But when Garvey finds an interest in music, will that be the bridge that connects him to his dad? I loved this painful, sweet story of redemption and belonging!

What Lane?  by Torrey Maldonado 144 pages REALISTIC   Short and fast-paced, this is the story of a boy who learns to think for himself instead of being influenced by friends . In addition, Stephen notices he’s living in a world that treats him differently than his white friends. Stephen concludes that he gets to decide what lane he’s in– and that the world and his peers  don’t get to choose his lane.

Cress Watercress  by Gregory Maguire, illustrated by David Litchfield  244 pages ANIMAL FICTION With delicious figurative language and deliberate word choice, I adore everything about this beautiful story about family, community, grief, and stories.  Cress and her family leave their cozy burrow after the death of her father. They move to the Broken Arms oak tree ruled by a cranky Owl with a noisy neighbor squirrel family. Cress navigates her new environment, the natural world, and the stories around her, all of which help her understand her inner world, especially how grief waxes and wanes like the moon’s cycles. Filled with immensely lovable characters, a gentle storyline of adventure and discovery, and lavish illustrations. (Read my interview with Gregory Maguire here .)

How to Stay Invisible by Maggie C. Rudd 240 pages (ages 10+) REALISTIC A heartbreaking and hopeful survival story . Raymond’s neglectful parents abandon him completely so he takes his dog Rosie, and they set up camp in the woods behind his middle school. There, he survives on his own, foraging in dumpsters and fishing for food as he continues to attend school. When a playful coyote hurts Rosie, he meets an old man who helps them both — which is especially significant because it’s over the Christmas break when he can’t get dumpster food from school. Raymond doesn’t want to tell anyone, including the old man or his two friends at school, what he’s surviving, but the truth comes out when another boy discovers his campsite and a snake bite almost kills him. HOW TO STAY INVISIBLE is a powerful story of grit, survival, and longing for family.

Fenway and Hattie  by Victoria J. Coe 176 pages ANIMAL FICTION Narrated by Fenway, a young Jack Russell terrier, Fenway isn’t happy that his best buddy, a human girl named Hattie, isn’t playing with him anymore. Fenway’s perspective is hilarious — and will encourage readers to make inferences to figure out what’s going on.

Gossamer Summer by H.M. Bouwman 192 pages MAGICAL REALISM Since her grandmother died, Jojo has lost the magic of the stories she told her three sisters. Now at her grandmother’s house, unsupervised because their mom is on deadline, Jojo, her sisters, and their new neighbor see a muddy fairy that seemingly stepped out of a previous Jojo story. The fairy needs their help, so they enter fairyland and see bone birds, the same birds Jojo made up in another story. Grumpy, sad Jojo is forced to reckon with her grief so she can find a way to save the fairies. If you love stories with tight sister bonds, imaginative play adventures, and the power of stories, read this book next.

Wait Till Helen Comes  by Mary Downing Hahn 196 pages SCARY Well-written and scary! Molly and Michael’s new step-sister Heather befriend a sinister ghost-child named Helen, but Helen influences Heather toward malevolent actions. Building in suspense little by little, readers will be freaked out by her creepy warnings that when Helen comes, they will get what they deserve…YIKES!

A Long Walk to Water  by Linda Sue Park 128 pages BIOGRAPHY / CURRENT EVENTS This is the amazing & powerful biography of a boy with courage and hope who  walked across Africa to find a better life.  We also learn the story of an African village for whom water is a two-hour walk and how the boy, now a man, builds a well for the village.

Killer Species   by Michael P. Spradlin 240 pages ADVENTURE  /SCI-FI (series) Get ready for a  fast-paced adventure series about a mad scientist who creates a hybrid crocodile-dinosaur-bird killer  creature to stop visitors from entering the Everglades. Emmet and his father arrive to investigate but when his father is kidnapped, Emmet and his friend, Calvin, know it’s up to them to find where the kidnapper is holding Emmet’s father. GREAT for reluctant readers — and anyone who loves an action-packed sci-fi mystery!

The Giver  by Lois Lowry 240 pages SCI-FI (series) Set in a  dystopian  society, this Newbery medal winner grabs your attention and keeps it until the end.  What is going on in this strictly controlled community? When Jonas is assigned his job as “Receiver of Memory” he learns just how much the government has suppressed from the people’s knowledge, not to mention that they’re giving pills meant to control people’s behavior and that they murder so-called defective babies and older people. When his foster baby brother is up to be killed, Jonas must decide how he will save them both.

Gaby, Lost and Found  by Angela Cervantes 224 pages REALISTIC Gaby’s mom is deported, and now Gaby lives with her disinterested, neglectful father who forgets to feed her. Gaby’s only solace is in the animal shelter where she volunteers. Her hope is that when her mom comes home, she’ll  (series) have a real home again…and get to adopt a cat of her own.

Wishing Season by Anica Mrose Rissi 240 pages REALISTICish It’s Lily’s first summer vacation since her twin brother Anders died of cancer. But she still sees Anders in the woods, an overlap of their worlds, so she spends every day there with him — playing like they used to. But little by little, the overlap is shrinking, and she’s trying to map it so she can get it back. Only Anders wants her to let it go so they can be together and play for whatever time they have left. Lily can’t let go of her panic that she’s losing Anders once and for all. Then her mom comes out of her room and starts to interact again, and Lily makes a new friend. Ultimately, as the overlap disappears, Lily learns to live with the weight and space of the pain of grief. It’s a heartbreaking and beautiful grief journey that will probably make you cry. (I did!)

Three Tasks for a Dragon by Eoin Colfer, illustrated by P.J. Lynch 112 pages FANTASY In a short middle grade novel that feels like high fantasy, our hero, Prince Lir, is tricked by his stepmom and stepbrother, a dark sorcerer, to forfeit his kingdom and embark on a quest to rescue a girl supposedly kidnapped by a dragon. Prince Lir uses his wits to avoid death by solving the dragon’s problems, like cave mold and a broken wing…and he stays alive. When the dragon fails to kill Prince Lir, the evil stepbrother arrives to do it himself. But the girl, Cethlenn, calls the wolfhounds to herself, and they save Lir just before the stepbrother dies, cursing Lir and the dragon and freezing Cethleen. Wonderfully complex language, vivid imagery, and lovely world-building, this book transports readers into a magical world of good versus evil. Will our heroes get a happy ending?

Everyday Angel   by Victoria Schwab 198 pages REALISTIC (series) My daughter loved these sweet, short middle grade books about  an   angel named Aria who is earning her wings by helping girls who are struggling.  In the first book, Aria helps Gabby. Gabby’s brother is hospitalized indefinitely and her mom is totally focused on her brother. It’s up to Aria to help Gabby at her new school and discover who she is. These are sweet, uplifting stories.

The Remarkable Rescue of Milkweed Meadow by Elaine Dimopoulos 192 pages ANIMAL ADVENTURE Butternut grows up in a close-knit rabbit family with lessons, rules, and storytelling. Although, when he ignores his family’s rules, everything changes for the better. Breaking the rules, Butternut befriends a talkative, kind-hearted robin, and a wounded fawn. When they discover coyote cubs without their mother, Butternut must decide how far his kindness toward others will extend — will it include predators? Metafiction elements about stories, plotting, and narrative twists add extra playful fun to this story as well. This is a sweet story of kindness, friendship, and community.

Wild Survival: Crocodile Rescue! by Melissa Cristina Marquez 240 pages ADVENTURE / ANIMAL RESCUE (series) Adrianna’s parents have an animal sanctuary and host an animal rescue that is moving from YouTube to television. On this trip, which is being filmed for the new show, the family goes to the mangrove forest of Cuba to help an injured crocodile. (The book is interspersed with factual information about all the wildlife they encounter!) Andriana messes up and gets grounded . Then she realizes something the grown-ups missed– that the rescued crocodile had a nest of eggs. She convinces her brother to help her save the eggs but they have a very close call with poachers, adding in suspense and a touch of danger. Engaging and interesting!

Dragon Vs. Unicorns: Kate the Chemist by Dr. Kate Biberdorf with Hillary Homzie 144 pages STEM (series) Exciting from the first page (a fire-breathing science experiment!!), these awesome new STEM chapter books for 4th graders are hard to put down. There are many things happening in Kate’s busy life every day. Whether she’s dealing with science, the school play, or friends, she’s a determined problem solver. When she tries to figure out who is sabotaging the school musical, it’s going to take all her skills to find the culprit.

Katerina Ballerina  by Tiler Peck and Kyle Harris, illustrated by Sumiti Collina 192 pages REALISTIC (series) An earnest young girl loves  ballet , but since her dad can’t afford lessons, she watches YouTube videos and practices in her room. After a disastrous talent shows Katerina’s dad her bravery, Katrina’s dad stretches the budget for lessons. It’s not a great start when she shows up in a red swimming suit and homemade tutu! But she makes a friend who helps her learn ballet terms and adjust to formal classes. As Katrina becomes more serious in her dancing,  a competition reminds Katrina that she needs to balance both working hard and enjoying dancing.

A Monster Calls  by Patrick Ness, illustrated by Jim Kay 224 pages MAGICAL REALISM Worth reading and rereading because there are layers of meaning, skillful writing, and a haunting truthtelling that resonates with us all.  Ever since Conor’s mom got breast cancer, a wild, ancient tree monster visits Conor’s nightmares.  The monster demands that Conor admit the truth about his mother, but Conor refuses. In the awake world, Conor moves in with his cold, unfriendly grandmother. The metaphorical nightmare echoes Conor’s real-world experiences as we journey with him into pain, loss, and eventually… healing. Astonishing and powerful, this is one of the best books I’ve EVER read.

The Sheep, the Rooster, and the Duck  by Matt Phelan 240 pages HISTORICAL FICTION In this illustrated historical adventure,  Benjamin Franklin’s young assistant Emile teams up with a sheep, a rooster, a duck, and a girl his age to thwart a dastardly villain  and a sinister secret society who want to use one of Franklin’s inventions for nefarious purposes.

The Worst Class Trip Ever  by Dave Barry 244 pages HUMOR (series) Hilarious. While on a class trip to Washington D.C.,  Wyatt and his best friend, Matt, are positive they’ve discovered a plot to blow up the White House.  Wyatt’s crush, Suzanna, helps the friends make a plan, and as you can imagine, disaster and hilarity strike. I totally loved this book and know your kids (especially those who like humor) will as well.

Hands  by Torrey Maldonado 144 pages CONTEMPORARY (SHORT) Trev thinks a lot about throwing hands.   He starts learning how to box so he can protect his mom and sisters when his stepdad gets out of jail. But when his Uncle Larry, Quick and Uncle Frankie all ask him why and encourage him to use his brain, Trev sees how fighting could make things even more of a mess. And that if he wants to have a future, he can use his hands differently than fighting, including for his drawings. Maldonado writes shorter books so keep that in mind if your reader is looking for a short middle grade book.

Ghost Boys  by Jewell Parker Rhodes 224 pages REALISTIC This book brilliantly addresses the very real issue of police violence against black children , but it does not vilify or stereotype. The author shows us the complexity of issues and the humanity of a police officer from the perspective of his daughter. After Jerome is shot by her father, he becomes a ghost. Sarah, the policeman’s daughter, is the only one who can see and talk to him except for the other ghost boys who were also killed in racially motivated violence. It’s a well-written, fast-paced read but one that is going to stay with you as you ponder the important topics it addresses.

Carry Me Home  by Janet Fox 208 pages REALISTIC /  HOMELESSNESS Lulu tries to take care of her little sister after their dad abandons them at the RV park where they’ve been living,  making paper cranes and to bring her dad back. They go undiscovered by adults for several weeks, but one day when she misses her sister’s pick-up time, Social Services is called and the truth comes out. When it does, Lulu learns what community means, that adults aren’t the enemy and that her dad is never left them — he’s been a John Doe in the hospital. 

Patina  by Jason Reynolds 240 pages REALISTIC Patina’s anger sometimes gets the best of her but running helps. She’s mad about her dad dying, her mom’s legs being amputated, and her new school. When her track coach makes Patty work with her teammates in a relay, she’s forced to rely on them. And that changes things.  Patina  is a beautiful  coming-of-age story that will tug at your emotions.

Louisiana’s Way Home  by Kate DiCamillo 240 pages REALISTIC What a luminous, sparkling gem of a book with quirky, complex characters! Granny drags Louisiana out of bed in the middle of the night, insisting that they leave their home to confront the family curse. Not only does Louisiana not want to leave her friends and home, but things get even worse when Granny abandons Louisiana at a motel along the way.  Forced to fend for herself, Louisiana figures out how to survive miles from home while worrying that the family curse has destined her for an unhappy life.  

Black Brother Black Brother  by Jewell Parker Rhodes 240 pages REALISTIC Twins with very different skin colors, one whiter and one darker, are treated differently, most noticeable at their school.  Donte is unfairly accused of something and when he tries to defend himself, the police are called, and he’s suspended from school. Not to mention, a popular guy at his school calls Donte “black brother” because he’s darker than his twin, Trey. Donte starts fencing to get revenge but as he trains, he finds that he’s smart, good at fencing, and courageous. If you think the world still isn’t racist and colorist, read this compelling story, and you’ll see that we still have a long way to go.

Coraline  by Neil Gaiman  208 pages SCARY This book showcases Gaiman’s incredible storytelling ability. It’s about a girl, Coraline, who discovers an alternative reality identical to her own — same house, same mother and father — through a little door in her house. It’s a world that at first seems wonderful yet it becomes frightening when Coraline realizes she might not get to leave. Very creepy. (With a real haunted house!)

Finding Langston  by Lesa Cline-Ransome 112 pages HISTORICAL FICTION Langston is a former country boy who moves with his dad to Chicago in the 1940s after his mother passes. It’s a hard transition, yet when he discovers the library, he also discovers himself through the poetry of Langston Hughes. This is a  beautiful story of redemption, healing, and the power of words.

Stef Soto, Taco Queen  by Jennifer Torres 192 pages REALISTIC In a sweet story of figuring out who you are and taking pride in your culture, Stef Soto feels embarrassed by her dad’s taco truck, especially when he picks her up at school. But that changes when she learns that new city regulations could force her dad to sell the truck and get a different job. Filled with relatable middle school angst, Spanish words, Latinx culture, friendship troubles, and a loving family, this yummy read is a savory treat.

Bernice Buttman, Model Citizen  by Niki Lenz 240 pages REALISTIC This genuinely sweet story about a girl who goes from a bully to a trying-to-do-better model citizen will make you laugh and warm your heart. When Bernice’s mom sends Bernice to live with her nun aunt, it’s a chance for this former bully without any friends except the town’s librarian, to reform her mean-spirited ways. Bernice does it — she makes a friend, becomes nicer, and finds an unexpected home with the nuns.

Number the Stars  written by Lois Lowry 150 pages HISTORICAL FICTION Lowry does an excellent job at writing about the Danish resistance during WWII in a way that isn’t too scary or inappropriate for kids.  Annemarie’s best friend hides Annemarie’s Jewish family . But tensions are high as the Nazis look everywhere for Jews or Jewish sympathizers. It’s challenging to hide, knowing that every day you could be caught and sent to a death camp. Finally, the family escapes to Sweden, where they will be safe from the Nazi death camps.

Link + Hud Heroes by a Hair by Jarrett Pumphrey and Jerome Pumphrey REALISTIC 240 pages (on the Short Books list and Illustrated MIddle-Grade book list ) Jarrett and Jerome are brothers with BIG imaginations. When they go on imaginary adventures, the format is told as a graphic novel. And they use their powers — to get rid of babysitters. Now they’re working on terrorizing their older babysitter, Ms. Joyce. But she’s smart–and saves their dad’s failing hair product business by turning it into a cleaning product. Kids will love the action, humor, and fun!

The Many Fortunes of Maya by Nicole D. Collier REALISTIC 240 pages (on my Short Books list) Because MJ adores her soccer-loving dad, she tries to be the best soccer player she can be while secretly still playing the flute. When her parents separate, it forces her on a summer journey of self-discovery at soccer camp where she tries too hard, in the swimming pool where she can’t swim well enough to go in the deep end, and at home with her family, including her music-teacher uncle. Eventually, MJ realizes that her dad will love her even if she picks the flute and not soccer– and that she can figure out what she likes and who she is without trying to please anyone except herself.

Hero Rescue Mission  by Jennifer Li Shotz 192 pages ADVENTURE  (series) In this Hero the police dog story, Ben’s dad is captured by escaped convicts. Ben and Hero set off to find Ben’s dad. Ben’s already injured and Hero’s too emotional to track the scent so they’re going to need help if they’re going to find his dad. Action from the first page to the last.  Kids who love adventure and animals will love this book and series.

The Kicks Saving the Team  by Alex Morgan 192 pages REALISTIC (series) Finally, a  fantastic book for soccer girls ! If you have a soccer player in your house, and I think a LOT of you do, you’ll want to get your soccer lover this book –actually, buy her the entire series. Written by Olympic Gold Medalist and U.S. Soccer team member (among other things),  Alex Morgan , it’s a realistic story of life, friendship, and playing soccer. Box set  here .

Clayton Byrd Goes Underground  by Rita Williams-Garcia 176 pages REALISTIC Clayton feels happiest with his grandfather, playing the blues.  Unfortunately, his mom hates everything about the blues because it represents her father’s abandonment of the family.  When Clayton’s beloved grandfather dies, and his mom takes his harmonica, Clayton ditches school to find his grandfather’s old band.  Instead of musicians, he encounters a gang of boys and gets picked up by the police. This is a superbly crafted short middle grade book about grief, family, and forgiveness.

Kiki’s Delivery Service  by Eiko Kadono, illustrated by Emily Balistrieri 208 pages FANTASY As a huge fan of the movie, I was so impressed with the book, too.  This sweet story is about a 13-year-old half-witch named Kiki who leaves home for her year-long apprenticeship to a town.  She flies with her cat and they find a seaside town that needs a witch. There, Kiki settles above a bakery and uses her wits and magic to endear herself to the town as a helpful delivery girl. Lovely, lovely, lovely!

Wish  by Barbara O’Connor REALISTIC Charlie Rose does not want to live with her aunt and uncle or make friends with the friendly neighbor boy named Howard because she wants to go back to her mom. She relies on superstition and wishes, yet as the story progresses,  Charlie’s relatives show her love and kindness, and the wishes start to seem less meaningful.  After some time, Charlie sees that her mother is never going to change and begins to soften into her new family…what she always wanted. It’s a powerful story about finding love and belonging.

Rosetown  by Cynthia Rylant 160 pages REALISTIC  /  WHOLESOME This is an  atmospheric, small-town slice-of-life story in Rosetown, Indiana about 4th grader Flora’s life after her parent’s separation , her friendship with Yury, and reading in the used bookstore where her mom works. Flora’s struggling to adjust to two different homes but no matter where she goes, she brings her cat, Serenity. Flora does things like take piano lessons and help Yury with his dog training classes. The story ends with Flora’s parents working things out and starting their own business together.

The Jolly Regina: The Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters  by Kara LaReau, illustrated by Jen Hill 176 pages ADVENTURE  / HUMOR (series) Even before their parents disappeared, Jaundice and Kale Bland loathed excitement and adventure.  But their boring existence is rudely disrupted when they are kidnapped by all-female pirates.  Who would have thought they could adapt to pirate life, search for their long-lost pirate parents, and return home with the exact same desire for boring as when they left? Funny and very entertaining!

The Loser’s Club  by Andrew Clements 240 pages REALISTIC Ever been called a bookworm or a loser? Well, Alec has been called both — because he  IS  an avid reader. In fact, he gets in trouble for reading during class. As far as the loser comment? Alec decides to claim that word.  He makes an after-school care club just for reading (not a book club because who wants to talk?), calling it the Loser’s Club.  Surprisingly, the club attracts other kids (despite the name). As it does, Alec starts noticing life outside his stories — the cute girl, the needs of other kids, the feelings! Book lovers, you’ll want to read this genuine story with all your favorite books, relatable characters, and the growing pains that happen when we look up from a book.

Eddie Red Undercover Mystery in Mayan Mexico  by Marcia Wells 224 pages MYSTERY (series) Eddie, his best friend Jonah, and his parents are on vacation in Mexico. When Eddie’s dad becomes the primary suspect in a theft of a stolen Mayan mask, so Eddie and Jonah decide to solve the mystery themselves. Only they don’t speak Spanish all that well, and there’s more to this mystery than just a stolen mask. You’ll love the Spanish words throughout, the well-paced action, and the characters.

The Friendship Code #1 Girls Who Code  by Stacia Deutsch 144 pages STEM REALISTIC (series) Lucy joins coding club so she can make an app for her uncle to remember his medications. But the class is moving TOO slow. Then, a mysterious letter arrives on her locker with instructions in code. The subsequent messages in code put her back in touch with old friends and help her build a new friendship. Whoever is sending messages is teaching Lucy and her friends about input/output, conditionals, loops, and variables.  To solve the mystery, the girls decide to write their own code…

In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse  by Joseph Marshall III, illustrated by James Mark Yellowhawk 186 pages REALISTIC / HISTORICAL Jimmy McClean’s grandfather takes him on a road trip where he shares the stories of Crazy Horse — his life and battles up to his death. They travel from the Dakotas (home of the Lakota) to Wyoming and other places significant to Crazy Horse’s life. I thought that following the duo traveling to the sites and then hearing the grandfather’s mesmerizing stories made this book easy to follow and very interesting. It’s a sobering, powerful story based on historical events.

Not Your All America Girl  by Wendy Wan-Long Shang and Madelyn Rosenberg 256 pages REALISTIC Lauren, a girl with Jewish and Chinese heritage, tries out for the school play but, despite her talent, she doesn’t get cast as the lead since she doesn’t look the part of someone “all-American”.  Her best friend Tara, who is not as talented, gets the leading role because she fits the look of a so-called American girl. The story is filled with both micro-aggressions and overt racism. Tara finds solace in the music of Patsy Cline and finds her voice. 

Orbiting Jupiter  by Gary D. Schmidt (ages 10+) 192 pages REALISTIC Joseph is an abused boy with a violent father, a parent at age thirteen, and is now living as a foster kid with Jack’s family on their organic farm.  As he learns to trust them, we slowly learn about Joseph’s deep love for a rich girl named Maddie, his daughter named Jupiter, who he’s never seen, and his shattering heartbreak. This is an amazing story– painful yet filled with redemption and hope — beautifully written and will make you cry!

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Illustrated Chapter Books & Middle Grade Books

Short Nonfiction Books

Melissa Taylor, MA, is the creator of Imagination Soup. She's a mother, former teacher & literacy trainer, and freelance education writer. She writes Imagination Soup and freelances for publications online and in print, including Penguin Random House's Brightly website, USA Today Health, Adobe Education, Colorado Parent, and Parenting. She is passionate about matching kids with books that they'll love.

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What would you suggest for strong second grade readers or third graders looking to transition always from the short quick read series books (Junie B Jones, princess in black, clementine). I have a hard time directing them to longer books but not too mature topics.

Hi, Julie! Try these — they’re great transitional, easier middle grade choices that hit the right spot for 2nd – 4th grade ages. Legends of Lotus Island: The Guardian Test by Christina Soontornvat The Magical Reality of Nadia by Bassem Youssef and Catherine R. Daly Mythics: Marina and the Kraken written by Lauren Magaziner The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett and Jory John Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar Fenway and Hattie by Victoria J. Coe Once Upon a Tim by Stuart Gibbs Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo (It might be a on the harder side.) Bob by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead Everyday Angel  by Victoria Schwab Dragon Vs. Unicorns: Kate the Chemist by Dr. Kate Biberdorf with Hillary Homzie Katerina Ballerina by Tiler Peck and Kyle Harris