🦩 Reducing the word count 🦩

There is little I love more about writing than reducing the word count on my own texts.

Yesterday, I submitted three speaker proposals for TESOL 2025 in California 🇺🇸. The word limit on one proposal is 300 words. The first reduction – from 380 words to 320 – is easy. But when it comes to the final edit, you have to fight for every word.

Here are some examples of my fights:

1️⃣
Original:
I give students a piece of text and ask them what potential writing tools they notice.

Reduced:
I give students a paragraph and ask them what potential writing tools they notice.

2️⃣
Original:
While the examples come from my work based on articles from “The Guardian” and “New Scientist,” the fundamental principles behind the activities are the same for any kind of reading.

Reduced:
While the examples come from my work based on articles from “The Guardian” and “New Scientist”, the fundamental principles are universal.

3️⃣
Original:
While I use these activities in my creative writing club, they can be used in different writing classes (except academic writing).

Reduced:
While I use these activities in my creative writing club, they can be used for different purposes.

Your turn. Reduce the word count of this piece:

“I give students a task that requires them to write a full coherent text. The task itself can be different and depends on the course requirements. For example, in this specific case, I asked students to write a letter to the editor with a response to the article we read.”