“Does the report need to be so long?” “Can you edit this down?” “Why are some of these paragraphs so long and confusing?”  If you author workplace investigative reports for a living, chances are you have fielded these questions, whether from a client or a supervisor. 

Learning to write concisely is not a skill mastered overnight.  Nonetheless, there are a number of practical, commonsense ways to improve your writing.  This blog discusses six tips you can employ right away:

• One sentence, one purpose.  Each sentence should contain one, singular focus.  Do not multi-task or conflate a variety of topics together.  To do this in practice, find ways to transform longer sentences into two, short ones.  Try searching for “and” or “but.”  Chances are you can split those sentences into shorter, more digestible ones.

• One paragraph, one purpose.  Like sentences, paragraphs need to be narrowly focused.  Avoid long paragraphs with a multitude of topics or subjects.  Think to yourself, “What is this paragraph about?”  If your answer is multifaceted, consider transforming one paragraph into two, shorter paragraphs.

• The visual tests.  As you write, pay attention to visual clues your word processer provides.  For instance, keep sentences to one or two lines in length.  Similarly, write paragraphs that contain four to six sentences in total.  Use these parameters as a guide to help you understand what concise writing looks like.

• Eliminate fillers.  Remove unnecessary words that do not add substantive information to your report.  For instance, write actively (“the supervisor yelled”) rather than passively (“the assistant was yelled at by his supervisor”) to save on word count.  Also, replace phrases (“due to the fact that”) with words (“because”).  Finally, eliminate qualifiers such as “actually,” “probably,” and “very” whenever possible. 

• When in doubt, speak it out.  Try reading a sentence, or paragraph, out loud to yourself during the writing process.  Doing so will clarify what is necessary and what is not.  For instance, if you lose your train of thought or stumble over words as you read out loud, you need to cut and edit further.

•  Utilize “Readability” tools.  Once the report is drafted, use proofing tools commonly available in word processors such as “Readability Statistics.”  That tool scans the document and identifies word count, number of paragraphs, number of sentences, percentage of passive voice, and other useful items, such as the grade-level at which the document is written.

Taken together, implementing these tips will help you write reports that contain more substantive information, and less fluff and filler.  It will also help you strike the proper balance between writing thorough, yet concise, investigative reports.