In the past, excessive context and lengthy elaboration was seen as a cure for dry news reporting. Today, that’s no longer the case. As a writer, your goal should be to tell your reader what they need to know in as few words as possible. The strategies outlined in our lesson are a good place to start.
In This Lesson
How to Condense Writing
- Avoiding “The Hype”
- Use Shorter Sentences
- Use Shorter Words
- Be Critical of Your Quotes
- Think About Using Hyperlinks for Context
- Consider if Your “tag” is Necessary
[Click here to view and use the presentation “How to Condense Writing”]
Activities
In the following two activities, Strip the Sentences and Cut Down the Story, students will be given 10 overly-elaborate sentences and a longer story. They will then be asked to cut them all down. In the process, students will practice identifying unnecessary words and familiarize themselves with different strategies to condense overall text lengths.
[Click here to view and print the handout “Strip the Sentences”]
[Click here to view and print the handout “Cut Down the Story Length”]