Reference no: EM132294842

At a time when we’re all working “smarter and faster” and the Internet has dramatically changed how people read and absorb information, business writing needs to be relentlessly concise. And yet it has to deliver complex information clearly and persuasively. If you’re like most people, you probably find that once you have all the crucial information down, your document is at least twice as long as it should be. Whether you’re writing an e-mail message, a project description limited to 200 words, or an executive summary of a complex report, your challenge is the same: cut length without losing meaning. Here are some quick, effective ways to do this. And there’s a bonus: As you trim excess words, format for readability, and replace generalizations with specifics, you’ll also improve your writing—a lot.

1. EXAMINE THE STRUCTURE Which parts form the foundation or support the roof, and which can be cut away without collapsing the whole structure? The old advice about previewing and then reviewing your message may still be fine for lengthy reports, but for most business writing, this amounts to building three walls where one will do. Don’t announce what you will say—just say it. For example, you may have followed your English teacher’s advice to include in your introductory paragraph one sentence touching on each point you will make. Here’s an easy cut: Delete the introductory paragraph and jump right into the message. Additionally, the foundation you built may be more substantial than you need. For example, maybe you’ve included detailed background information. Does your audience need this in order to understand and be persuaded by your argument? If not, summarize it briefly and get right to the heart of your message. Consider cutting anything that illuminates something other than your main point. And if a section exists mostly for show, it should go.

2. STICK TO SPECIFICS Specifics are the meat of your message, and generalizations the carbs. Put your writing on a high-protein, low-carb diet. A good anecdote or statistic will stay with your audience longer than a generalization and better convey your message. Think of how politicians, in speeches or debates, devote precious time to anecdotes. They know that telling a story (about a wounded soldier, a laid-off worker, or a creative entrepreneur) is often the best way to make a persuasive argument (for better weapons, more unemployment insurance, lower business taxes).

3. FORMAT FOR QUICK UNDERSTANDING of Graphical elements—headings, bullets, and tables—can help you convey your message in fewer words. Headings and bullets. Headings are useful because they emphasize your main points, eliminate the need for topic sentences, create white space, and help readers skim. But the way they’re usually formatted—on a line by themselves, sometimes with a blank line following—takes up a lot of space. If you want to save space without losing the headings, convert them to run-in headings like the one at the beginning of this paragraph. Like headings, bullets help readers skim. They also encourage you, the writer, to “chunk” information into small, digestible bites, as in this list.

Tables. To compare and contrast various options, use a table rather than running text. You won’t have to keep repeating the names of different companies, for instance, or the criteria on which you’re judging them. More important, a table presents complex comparisons in a succinct way. Your readers can compare A and B, B and D, or A, B, and C as they please; you don’t have to explain all the similarities and differences between them. An added bonus: Your audience’s expectations change when they look at tables. They don’t expect complete sentences, and they’re willing to read text in a smaller font.

Maps and diagrams. Think how long it takes to write out directions: Maple St. is the third stoplight. At a time when we’re all working “smarter and faster” and the Internet has dramatically changed how people read and absorb information, business writing needs to be relentlessly concise. And yet it has to deliver complex information clearly and persuasively. If you’re like most people, you probably fi nd that once you have all the crucial information down, your document is at least twice as long as it should be. Whether you’re writing an e-mail message, a project description limited to 200 words, or an executive summary of a complex report, your challenge is the same: cut length without losing meaning. Here are some quick, eff ective ways to do this. And there’s a bonus: As you trim excess words, format for readability, and replace generalizations with specifi cs, you’ll also improve your writing—a lot. 1. EXAMINE THE STRUCTURE Which parts form the foundation or support the roof, and which can be cut away without collapsing the whole structure? Th e old advice about previewing and then reviewing your message may still be fi ne for lengthy reports, but for most business writing, this amounts to building three walls where one will do. Don’t announce what you will say—just say it. For example, you may have followed your English teacher’s advice to include in your introductory paragraph one sentence touching on each point you will make. Here’s an easy cut: Delete the introductory paragraph and jump right into the message. Additionally, the foundation you built may be more substantial than you need. For example, maybe you’ve included detailed background information. Does your audience need this in order to understand and be persuaded by your argument? If not, summarize it briefl y and get right to the heart of your message. Consider cutting anything that illuminates something other than your main point. And if a section exists mostly for show, it should go.

2. STICK TO SPECIFICS Specifi cs are the meat of your message, and generalizations the carbs. Put your writing on a high-protein, low-carb diet. A good anecdote or statistic will stay with your audience longer than a generalization and better convey your message. Th ink of how politicians, in speeches or debates, devote precious time to anecdotes. Th ey know that telling a story (about a wounded soldier, a laid-off worker, or a creative entrepreneur) is oft en the best way to make a persuasive argument (for better weapons, more unemployment insurance, lower business taxes). 3. FORMAT FOR QUICK UNDERSTANDING Graphical elements—headings, bullets, and tables—can help you convey your message in fewer words. Headings and bullets. Headings are useful because they emphasize your main points, eliminate the need for topic sentences, create white space, and help readers skim. But the way they’re usually formatted—on a line by themselves, sometimes with a blank line following—takes up a lot of space. If you want to save space without losing the headings, convert them to run-in headings like the one at the beginning of this paragraph. Like headings, bullets help readers skim. Th ey also encourage you, the writer, to “chunk” information into small, digestible bites, as in this list.

Tables. To compare and contrast various options, use a table rather than running text. You won’t have to keep repeating the names of diff erent companies, for instance, or the criteria on which you’re judging them. More important, a table presents complex comparisons in a succinct way. Your readers can compare A and B, B and D, or A, B, and C as they please; you don’t have to explain all the similarities and diff erences between them. An added bonus: Your audience’s expectations change when they look at tables. Th ey don’t expect complete sentences, and they’re willing to read text in a smaller font.

Maps and diagrams. Th ink how long it takes to write out directions: Maple St. is the third stoplight. Denny’s on one corner and a used-car lot on the other corner, but if you get to the Clarksdale city limits, you’ve gone too far. A map conveys the same information concisely and accessibly. Flowcharts, graphs, and diagrams likewise convey complex relationships in easy-to-understand forms.

Emphasis. To make sure your audience remembers what you have to say, you may be tempted to use phrases like Th is is the most important point or If you take one message away from this document, let it be the following. Instead, put your main point in boldface to convey its importance visually.

4. DOWNSHIFT YOUR TONE Writing to a business audience can cause even the best writers to adopt a formal, bureaucratic tone. When you write this way, you use bigger words, more complex constructions, and longer sentences. If you shift to an informal tone, you’ll naturally write more concisely. Here’s a place to start. Use contractions. Changing will not to won’t and cannot to can’t won’t save much space,  but using contractions will help you avoid the wordy, formal style of bureaucrats, explains Edward P. Bailey in Plain English at Work: A Guide to Writing and Speaking (Oxford University Press, 1996).

5. CUT AND COMBINE Go over your document sentence by sentence, looking for ways to cut words by combining two sentences into one. Consider this passage: Th is presentation examines the benefi ts of outsourcing. It is my recommendation that we reduce overhead by outsourcing noncore processes such as customer service, fulfi llment, and other support functions. Th e fi rst sentence is dead weight. Delete it and write: We could signifi cantly reduce overhead by outsourcing such noncore support functions as customer service and fulfi llment. You’ve now announced your topic and stated your position with wording that’s almost 50% leaner than the original. Here are some other ways to crop words:

Drop lengthy titles. Rather than Bob Smith, Vice President for Corporate Communications and Government Relations, says…, you could write spokesperson Bob Smith says…

Look out for the obvious. Rather than writing, Obviously, this means we will need to raise prices, which could reduce sales, write, Our need to raise prices could reduce sales. Do a search for the word obvious, and see if the sentences in which it appears can be trimmed down. Aft er all, if something is obvious, why waste precious space saying it? Convert “of ” phrases to possessives. For example, change the success of the company to the company’s success.

Replace bloated phrases with simpler words. An adequate number of can be replaced with enough, notwithstanding the fact that is a windy way of saying although, and during such time as simply means while. By applying these tips, you can create documents that are not only shorter but more readable and persuasive.

Emphasis. To make sure your audience remembers what you have to say, you may be tempted to use phrases like This is the most important point or If you take one message away from this document, let it be the following. Instead, put your main point in boldface to convey its importance visually

Convert “of ” phrases to possessives. For example, change the success of the company to the company’s success.