Understanding less is more in advertisement....

How many words are enough?

Writers need to convey key messages to their readers. One concern is how many words should be used to achieve this goal. The writer should provide specific details needed for the reader to understand the message without adding superfluous words.

Editors can provide assistance to writers who tend to be "wordy" and reviewers can request revisions for clarity, however, it is the primary responsibility of the writer to be succinct.

Avoid superfluous words, especially unnecessary verbs, articles, and prepositions.

* Identify the purpose of each sentence.
* After you complete the first draft of your manuscript, delete all sentences that are not necessary to convey key points.
* Delete any sections that repeat information stated elsewhere in the manuscript.
* Delete words and phrases that announce obvious points; for example, replace "the month of December" with "December."
* Avoid cliches. They are trite and overused expressions that substitute for the real meaning.
* Reduce jargon, which is incoherent speech or shop talk; for example, replace "call stat" with "call immediately."
* Avoid slang, which is colorful language that can be decoded by only a few people.
* Make your words precise or get rid of them.
* Use transition words as needed such as "furthermore, however, moreover, in addition . . . ."
* Use short words, not long ones.
* Use concrete words instead of abstract ones.
* Avoid sentences starting with "it is," "it was," or "there are." For example, the sentence, "There are many authors who cannot help being wordy," should read "Many authors cannot help being wordy."
* Delete useless introductory phrases. For example, omit the starting prepositional phrase in the sentence, "At that point in time, she had no educational goal."
* Use action verbs rather than passive voice. For example, say "the investigator found . . ." instead of "it was found ...."
* Check that you do not have too many adjectives or adverbs.
* Eliminate redundancy such as needlessly repeating the same word.
* Do not use a complex word when a simple one will work.

After editing for conciseness and prior to submitting the manuscript, ask a colleague, writer, or editor to review your manuscript for wordiness. They may find additional words to delete.

In The Elements of Style (1979, Macmillan Company), Strunk and White said, "Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing has no unnecessary lines and a machine has no unnecessary parts."

Clutter in writing can become a habit. The key to good writing is to strip every sentence to the essential components. Delete every word that serves no purpose. Change the long words to short ones. Eliminate adverbs that have the same meaning as the verb. And, avoid superfluous words that take up space and distract the reader from the key point.

Try It
Edit the following paragraph using the tips above, and then compare your revision to the one at the end of this article.

It is interesting that the researcher found two factors that were significant for retention of nurses in their jobs. The nurses did not want to be forced to work overtime or to delegate to techs. The single, most important, critical retention factor was the first one, not wanting to work overtime.

Possible Answer
There are many correct ways to edit the sample paragraph. Here is one way, which reduced the word count from 51 to 33.

The researcher found two significant retention factors for nurses. The nurses did not want to be forced to work overtime or delegate to technicians. Mandatory overtime was the most critical factor in retention.

Emailing Screen Shots

On Keyboard click Shift - Print Scrn button
Then paste into an email
Also can copy the address that is in the address bar