Up In Consulting

Elevate your writing and move up in your career

Up In Consulting
  • About
  • Elevate
  • Testimonials
  • Blog
  • FAQs

Make it Count: When Your Word Limit is Not Your Real Problem

  • By Jane
  • July 20, 2015
  • Writing Tips
  • 0 Comments
In the first post in this series I discussed trimming words. The reasons I outlined were mainly aesthetic, detailing how to cut the length of a manuscript that is analytically sound, with strong substance. That type of trimming is still painful, but doesn’t really change the substance of your ideas or argument.

Adding length can be a different story. Generally, documents that are too short have an underlying problem that is substantive rather than aesthetic. In these cases, a more elaborate intervention is needed. Your word count is not your real problem, but rather an indication of something bigger.  In most cases, your paper is underdeveloped.

How do you go about addressing the problems in your paper? The first step is identifying what those problems are. Here, I identify three issues that might be plaguing your manuscript.

You don’t elaborate when explaining your argument.

It is never enough to simply explain your argument and move on. Be sure that you are explaining your argument in detail. This means that you place your argument in a broader context, explain why your argument matters, and anticipate counterarguments.

Your literature review is insufficient.

I’ve talked about literature reviews on this blog before, because they seem to be a source of frustration for many authors.  In this section of your manuscript, you shouldn’t merely summarize what you’ve read, but also analyze the texts. Explain how the texts relate to one another, and how they relate to the argument you are presenting. Also, be sure that you are reading and citing enough. While there is no magic number of citations that will make a literature review sufficient, you should make sure that in addition to having the seminal texts in your field, you also include the most recent literature and the most widely cited literature. This article from Writing for Research clearly details how to identify and collect the appropriate sources.

You aren’t using your evidence effectively.

Adding more data in the way of quotes, tables and charts, ethnographic field notes, and so forth isn’t just about adding words – it’s about building trust. Your reader is more likely to trust you, and believe you, when you show multiple examples of the phenomenon you are describing. Also, more data creates a clearer, more robust illustration.  Just as a painter uses more than one color, you should draw on multiple pieces of data.

Remember that writing is a form of thinking, so it is understandable that your first drafts will be underdeveloped – that’s why they are drafts. As you progress in your writing, however, you should be mindful of the obstacles you might face in fully articulating your argument.

To be clear: longer manuscripts are not necessarily superior manuscripts. In some cases, both long and short manuscripts have the same underlying problem – you aren’t doing a good job of explaining your argument. 

Want more tips on writing? Subscribe to the Up In Consulting newsletter – the sign up is in the left column! 

Share

Related Posts

Genres of Academic Writing

April 1, 2021

Emotional Labor and Writing

September 30, 2020

Three Reasons Your Academic Manuscript is Unwieldy

July 1, 2020

Three Benefits of Outlining Academic Articles

October 24, 2019

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Social

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Archives

  • October 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • January 2021
  • September 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • June 2018
  • April 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014

Categories

  • Academic Writing
  • Asking For Help
  • Book Reviews
  • Book Writing
  • Editing
  • From Course Paper To Article
  • general-testimonial
  • Goal setting
  • Impostor Syndrome
  • Journal Articles
  • Monday Motivation
  • Overcoming Barriers
  • Planning
  • Productivity
  • productivity-testimonial
  • Quick Tips
  • Revising
  • Saying No
  • Services
  • Stress
  • Uncategorized
  • Writing Tips

Meta

  • Entries RSS
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Writing Tips
  • Make it Count: When Your Word Limit is Not Your Real Problem

Let’s get writing.

Subscribe to get the latest writing and productivity tips. Like happy mail for your planner.

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

  • Privacy Policy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

© 2023 Up In Consulting

  • Home
  • About
  • Elevate
  • Testimonials
  • Blog