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For our purposes, concise means precisely what you think it means… unless you think it means angry or purple… in that case, you’d be wrong.
Concise writing says what it needs to say while using words economically.
In this definition, don’t be confused by our use of “economically” – this has nothing to do with money or quality. Rather, it means that concise writing does not waste words. As noted in the previous post, when you’re dealing with a length limit, it’s extremely important that each word contribute something to your story.
While writing in an essay of this type should be concise, that does not mean that it should be boring or clipped. Concise writing should still be eloquent and expressive. Just because you’re working within fairly tight space constraints does not mean that you can throw style out the window in favor of cramming in facts.
Writing that is too long-winded will not work in an admissions essay, as it takes up a ton of space without actually saying much that is meaningful. Admissions committees see tons of this type of writing, and are not impressed by it. Writing that is not concise tends to also be unoriginal and overly generalized. Such traits are often symptomatic of a late start – rushing the process causes people to try and cram whatever comes to mind into the essay as they go – which is yet another reason that you should start this process as early as possible.
Though this kind of writing is no good for our purposes, the opposite isn’t any better; you can take the “concise” idea too far. When that happens, while your essay may be short, it also probably won’t sound good. Writing of that type is mechanical and passionless, which means that it won’t make much of a good impression on the reader. In fact, despite its simple nature, it’s actually hard to read in some respects, since it’s so devoid of energy.
So how do you write in a concise fashion without sacrificing the overall quality of your prose? Well, we have three suggestions that, if heeded, can help you notably improve your writing in this regard. We’ll go into each a bit deeper in our next posts, but here they are now for those of you who want to get a head start:
1. Avoid cliches
2. Minimize use of the verb “to be”
3. Use active verbs and dynamic nouns
Any academic paper should comply with the required word limit. Concise writing is one of the strategies used to achieve the goal. We asked our online essay editors to give top-3 effective recommendations. Keep them in mind when working on your paper; you’ll notice the difference. Do you feel it challenging enough to test yourself? Order editing on EssayEdge.
