How do you get an essay under the word limit?

College Essays
1

<p>I'm having a bit of trouble with my UC essays. For the life of me, I can't seem to write anything decent that hits under the word limit.</p>

<p>This has always been a huge weakness of mine. In elementary school when we had to write "short" stories, mine was 30 pages long. In middle school, we had an assignment where every week in English class, you had to write a short summary of 100 pages of a book you were reading on your own time. My summaries were always the longest (1,000+ words), and my teacher was so annoyed at me, she added a line to the top of the sheets she passed out to the class which said "no more than 250 words" (in an obvious reference to me). Time and time again, I've stayed up late struggling to cut my assignments down to a certain page limit. When I can't, I cheat by slightly adjusting the margins.</p>

<p>I just can't seem to summarize. I like writing long things. I don't do it because I * want * to, I do it because I can't seem help it. Once I get started, I just have to get everything out or else I won't feel satisfied. Hitting a page requirement has never been a problem for me. All of my best ideas are expressed in long writing, and I just can't seem to write anything decent in a short word limit, because I end up looking at my essay and feeling disappointed and unhappy with how I couldn't really delve in to things. </p>

<p>What are some techniques and strategies for writing under the word limit? This has been a major problem my entire life, and I have to figure something out. I'm thinking of scrapping my essay rough drafts and starting over, because trimming doesn't seem to work for me. </p>

2

<p>you can definitely delete minor details or shorten some sentences. Starting over will take longer time and it’s almost the deadline.</p>

3

<p>It’s possible. To revise, I recommend this guide :
<a href=“Wilbers: Concise Writing”>http://www.wilbers.com/ConciseWriting.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>The Maker’s Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts by Donald M. Murray is one of the best pieces I read on revising for any writing:</p>

<p><a href=“http://marlenharrison.com/images/makers%20eye.pdf”>http://marlenharrison.com/images/makers%20eye.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Hope this helps. Best of luck! :)</p>

5

<p>I had the same issue. The key is to be meticulous. If something is not necessary to the story, cut it. If something can be said with less words do it. If it is getting to be too long, look at perhaps if there is one moment or one particular part of the incident you can delve deeper into and leave out the rest. Backstory oftentimes isn’t as necessary as you think and can be summed up in a few sentences. Delete unnecessary perpositions.</p>

<p>Read through your entire essay, summarize it. Then build off from there. If you can take the main ideas from the major parts in less words, do it. Rewrite, edit, and revise. Sometimes you just gotta scratch out a certain paragraph. Remember it is about depth, not breadth, so you need not talk about everything.</p>

<p>I went through the above and shortened some of my essays by 150 words or more</p>

6

<p>I used to write lengthy opinion pieces for my college’s newspaper, and for almost every piece I had the hard task of cutting out up to 300 words. [28 words]</p>

<p>vs.</p>

<p>When I was a columnist for the college daily I was inevitably tasked with cutting up to 300 words from my pieces. [22 words]</p>

<p>vs.</p>

<p>When I wrote for the college daily I would cut hundreds of words from each column. [16 words]</p>

<p>Discussion: Essentially these three sentences convey the same idea, but the 3rd does it in close to half the words. </p>

<p>With the 1st sentence, there are unnecessary words and ideas. “Cutting out” can simply be “cutting,” “almost” is illogical in the sentence, the fact that it is a “hard task” is obvious, and “lengthy” is redundant seeing as I had to cut words out. Accordingly, this sentence is burdensome. </p>

<p>Enter sentence 2. Most of the mistakes of the 1st sentence have been addressed, and if I was near the word limit I may not touch this sentence. But there are ways to convey the same idea in fewer words.</p>

<p>Enter sentence 1. It will win no prizes for language, but sentences like that will get you under the word limit. It also makes for a very readable essay. And it will free up room for you to expound on your ideas, rather than waste words on background exposition. </p>

<p>For now, abandon your notion of which sentence sounds better and just focus on the words on the page. Which sentences, phrases, words are absolutely essential? You cannot become attached to your first draft. You’ll have sentences that you love but that do not move the essay forward. These must be cut. You’ll have an ornate phrasing whose idea can be expressed in a couple words. That must be revised. </p>

<p>Only once you get under the word limit can you add back in, and even then I’d encourage against it. Brevity pays in the college essay.</p>

7

<p>Thanks for all the tips guys! :slight_smile: I’ve started using a few of them - I now see the light in this situation</p>