Academic Writing - Sentence Length and Conciseness

 

Expressing what needs to be said in writing without unnecessary words can be challenging. However, concise sentences can make reading easier and retain the reader's attention for a longer period. 

In academic writing to effectively communicate complicated ideas, there is a tendency to use compound or compound-complex sentences. Particularly when literature from more than one source has to be cited or multiple research insights have to be shared. Compound-complex sentences, if used indiscriminately, can easily turn into lengthy run-on sentences. Lengthy run-on sentences often fail to clearly articulate the author’s intentions. Academia, therefore, prefers concise sentences.

Should all concise sentences be short in length?

Sentence length is the number of words used to form a sentence. According to the publication manual of the American Psychological Association, ‘the author who is more concise—that is, more frugal with words—writes a more readable paper.’ But there are no suggestions regarding the maximum or minimum length of frugally-worded sentences. However, the manual mentions that excessive use of short and simple sentences could produce a choppy or clumsy prose. Likewise, the excessive use of long sentences can produce an incomprehensible prose. To be readable, manuscripts with varying sentence length are preferred.

Sentence type (simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex), therefore, becomes the primary determinant of sentence length. This suggests that concise sentences can differ in length. It is also known that a sentence longer than 30 words is usually difficult to comprehend and less readable. So, while most sentences longer than 30 words are likely to be less concise, not all concise sentences have to be short in length.