Concision Checklist

the university writing center
"because writers need readers"

What is the UWC?

Concision Checklist

1.	Find sentences which are more than three lines long. Examine these first, then move to shorter sentences.


2.	Omit needless words
	Find words which occur in pairs: if and when, each and every, define and establish, ready and willing etc. Replace as many of these as possible with a single word. Look for category words which are unnecessary. Instead of tight financial conditions, try tight finances. Instead of school board members, try school boards. Instead of nonessential areas, try nonessentials. Look for meaningless modifiers (generally, usually, certain, various) and delete them, unless you have exceptional reason to do otherwise. Whenever possible, substitute a word for a phrase. Instead of: A sail-powered craft that has turned on its side or completely over Try: A capsized sailboat... Instead of: In a situation in which a class is over-enrolled... Try: when a class is over enrolled...
3.	Omit any information which readers can easily supply or infer.
	Delete any details which can be inferred from context Instead of: Energy used to power our industries and homes will in years to come be increasingly expensive in terms of dollars and cents" can become "Energy will eventually cost more." Instead of: In the area of educational activities, tight finances are forcing school boards to cut nonessentials drastically. We can safely delete the opening phrase. Delete any information which your readers will already know. If you are writing about clogging for a group of cloggers, you don't need to describe the dance steps, for example.
4.	Avoid excessive metadiscourse.
	"Metadiscourse" is any language which discusses elements in a rhetorical moment. It can refer to (a) what we do as writers (to sum up, candidly, I believe, therefore), (b) what we want our readers to do (note that, consider now, as you see), or (c) what we intend our text to do (first, second, finally). While we need metadiscourse to write effectively, sometimes writers use too much of it.

	Here are some kinds of metadiscourse to look out for:
		Metadiscourse that announces your topic:
		In this essay, I will discuss Robert Frost's nature imagery in his early poems. Concise: Robert Frost used nature images in his early poems.
		Metadiscourse that hedges. The following words simply mean "I standby my claim, but I understand it can only be tentative":
		usually, often, sometimes, virtually, possibly, in some ways, to a certain extent, might, can, could, etc.
		Metadiscourse that intensifies. The following words generally mean little more than "believe me":
		very, quite, central, crucial, basic, really, fundamental, major, as we know, as we can see, it is clear that, it is obvious that
		Metadiscourse that attributes:
		"High divorce rates have been observed to occur in areas that have been determined to have low population density." You could as easily say,"High divorce rates occur in areas with low population density." "Patterns of drought and precipitation have been found to coincide with cycles of sunspot activity." This could be, "Patterns of drought coincide with sunspot activity," or "Patterns of drought apparently coincide with sunspot activity."
		Metadiscourse that highlights. Some phrases, like "There is/are/was/were" are used to place special emphasis on the word that follows. This device can be useful in special circumstances, such as when you are introducing an idea that the next few sentences will elaborate on. If you've used such phrases for any other purpose, try revising.
		"In regard to a vigorous style, the most important feature is a short,concrete subject followed by a forceful verb" can become, "The most important feature of a vigorous style is a short, concrete subject followed by a forceful verb."