Managers sometimes procrastinate and leave long reports and memos to sit on their desks while reading and acting on shorter ones. How can you make your reports and other documents more concise while still containing all the essential information? It can be a tough battle to cut reports down to size. It’s like preparing a movie for release. Sometimes scenes that are excellent in and of themselves must be cut because they interfere with the flow of the story. To keep my sanity, I’ve gradually developed an editing process that enables me to cut reports to more readable lengths without slashing my wrists in the process.
Begin by preparing an outline of your report. Sticking to the outline when writing can help keep your first draft focused and concise. After you complete your first draft, outline it. Only look at your first outline after completing the second. Then compare the two outlines. They may not match. The comparison helps identify paragraphs that interrupt or slow down your manuscript’s flow. These sections need to be eliminated. Because of your emotional attachment to your freshly written report, these are often much easier to spot when working from both the outline and the report draft. Readers are sure to find the wordiness and excess material you miss. So slice these off before submitting your report.
Excessively long introductions cause readers to lose interest. Beginning your report with information your readers already know and understand may help you warm up before diving into your subject. As a getting-started writing exercise, this is fine. You’ll probably have to cut or greatly shorten these opening paragraphs later, however. By understanding who your readers are, you can better focus your report and provide only the necessary amount of introductory material.
Background material places your subject in context. It engages readers and helps them relate to the report subject. Excessive background information, however, can slow a report’s flow and make readers lose interest. Keep only that which is essential to your story.
Unnecessary summaries can occur when moving from one topic to another or introducing an important piece of information. This summarizing in advance is a natural tendency, but one that cannot be afforded when writing a concise report. Summarizing at the end of your report is usually unnecessary as well. Save the end of the report for your conclusions and avoid redundant wind-down sentences that in essence restate earlier parts of the report or your conclusions.
Repetitious descriptions can also add to report length while slowing your flow. Particularly in a long report, you may miss repetitious descriptions of your information sources or people discussed in your manuscript. By using the “Find” function in your word processing program, you can locate each time you mention individuals and documents and be sure that you describe them in detail only when each is introduced.
Study your transitions from one topic to the next. Are they lengthier than they need to be? Use transitional sentences, not transitional paragraphs. Sharpen transitions while keeping them smooth. Ask yourself whether any explanations you provide as part of the transitions are really necessary.
Bulleted or numbered statements can reduce the number of words by eliminating the need for transitions. In addition, they may be written as phrases rather than complete sentences. These are especially useful with sections of reports lending themselves to list formats.
Examples can engage your readers. However, multiple examples repeatedly making the same point increase the word count unnecessarily while slowing your manuscript’s flow. Keep the best, and jettison the rest.
Now the time has come to narrow your editorial focus to individual sentences. Begin at the opposite ends of the manuscript. Introductions and conclusions often contain surplus sentences and phrases. Find and cut these. If the conclusion is a summary, consider how it can be shortened to minimize redundancy. Then extend your sentence revision to the body of the report.
Edit sentences for structure and clarity. Unless they add power and precision to your sentence, cut out adjectives and adverbs. Compound verbs such as “get out” can be replaced by single words such as “leave.” Avoid using verbs that sound weak or hesitant such as “appear” and “seem.” Occasionally a compound noun such as “end result” will creep into your manuscript. Like compound verbs and unnecessary adverbs and adjectives, these often needlessly lengthen your sentences.
Using the active rather than passive voice usually results in shorter, more forceful sentences. Many word processing programs will analyze your writing to tell you how frequently you use the passive voice. Some will identify individual sentences you can reword to use the active voice.
Is your report still too long? Then you need to clench your teeth and cut some real meat. Do this by returning to your outline and assigning priorities to the individual points and topics covered. Then cut the lowest priority material. If you really feel you must include this information, place it in an appendix.
I always save earlier, longer versions of my reports. Then when a manager asks questions or suggests adding information, I often can provide a rapid response with little additional work.
It helps to establish emotional distance from your report before trimming it down to size. This means scheduling your writing so you can set it aside a day or more before beginning your report surgery. Particularly for longer reports, I find it helpful to schedule a second editing session a day after the first. I find I’m more satisfied with the results than if I substantially reduce the word count of a long manuscript in a single session. For example, I used two sessions to cut this manuscript down to size plus a third to write the first draft.
This process is a lot of work but well worth it. The result is a concise and focused report that flows smoothly from one important point to the next helping your readers draw the same conclusions you do.
JOHN K. BORCHARDT is an industrial researcher who has organized conferences, written many reports and published more than 1,200 articles.
