We’re confident that the paper/article you’re about to write aims to pass knowledge or information to your reader. Whether an academic piece, a journal, a research paper, or a dissertation, a common denominator is directly conveying the message through concise sentences. Many writers fill their papers up with “fillers”, a form of increasing wordiness on their writing. This article will help you curate precise sentences to keep your readers to the end of your article.
Fillers are word additions that give a sentence no further meaning. It just “fills the space” and makes your writing look bulky and uninteresting to your readers. This might not be intentional, but because of making a conversation with the reader, the piece becomes “sizable”.
A few examples for understanding:
- They completely accepted the plan
- People were scared due to the fact that he was a cop before
- For the purpose of this class, we created a new section
The bolded words made the sentences sound stretched and uninteresting. If we rewrite the sentences, we have:
- They accepted the plan
- People were scared because he was a cop before
- We created a new section for this class
If you compare both sets of sentences, we’ve reduced word count by at least 25%, giving room for relevant information to be added.
Identifying and Correcting Fillers
Some tips to help you avoid fillers include:
1. Avoid Obvious Facts
We understand you may be eager to pass all the information on your table across, but you should give what is not common knowledge or state what is already known. For instance, a reader visiting a dog website knows that a dog is man’s best friend for animals. You don’t need to write it again. It’s called a fluffy sentence or phrase. Just go straight to the point.
2. Redundant Words
Redundancy means repeating the same point in two sentences in a row. This is not limited to sentences, as articles are also affected. For example, “When I was younger, my favorite books were books on Harry Potter”. A better way to put this is “when I was younger, books on Harry Potter were my favorite”. Don’t forget to ensure your conclusion is not saying the exact thing with the introduction.
3. Avoid words forming a Cliche
Cliche words make your write-up look unintelligent and copied. Don’t get it wrong though, using a little bit and here does not bite, but it takes away the originality when you make it regular. Phrases like “one-stop-shop” and “highest quality” should be used at a minimum or avoided if you can’t control their usage.
Conclusion
When writing, you should set out a plan, more like a table of contents to guide you. Writing without a guide can lead to fillers all over the paper and make you sound like an unintelligent person. Writing without fillers is challenging, but you can become an authority with the sentences driving your points home with constant practice. Write-ups void of fillers increases conversions.
