How can you avoid redundancy when editing for clarity and accuracy?

To improve clarity and accuracy in writing while reducing redundancy, adopt these strategies: 1. Identify and remove unnecessary repetitions. 2. Streamline sentences for conciseness. 3. Choose precise language for clear communication. 4. Logically organize information to avoid repetition. 5. Provide just enough context without over-explaining. 6. Employ parallel structure for readability. 7. Consider your audience's perspective to remove superfluous content. 8. Thoroughly revise and proofread to eliminate redundancies, ensuring your writing is concise and clear.

Listen out for echoes. One of my pet peeves as an editor are writers who use "but" twice in a row - one sentence after another. Broadcasters know not to make that mistake, because they read their words aloud, and hear the but-but echo. If two or more conflicting claims need to be differentiated, choose another word eg "However" or just spell it out. "So and so claims differently, saying that ... "

First draft, on deadline? Don't do any of this. Write however you want, including starting every sentence with boring words like 'The'. The fact is, you can always go back for voice and structure, after writing down all the facts and quotes. Fact is, deleting dead words from sentences makes each sentence clearer, like we just did with the start of this one.

"Read your writing aloud." Good advice for radio, television or multimedia broadcast newsrooms. Other newsrooms, maybe? Not so much. Other newsroom staffers reading aloud? Then by all means, go for it, softly. If no one is reading aloud, soften your cadence, and whisper to yourself. Audio feedback. Straighten back, breath, and .. go, gently.

Many times working on a long or complicated story I'll print out a hard copy. Gasp - but the environment! Sure, not saying print everything. Just the big stuff - and nearly everything we report now has multi-million dollar implications, whether the latest sentence for a career criminal, or a house falling into the sea. Printing a dozen double-spaced pages for a draft or two comes to about, what, $3 max? Next step: Edit manually, i.e. write your corrections. For me, writing manually frees up brain space for spotting typos and, even better, seeing where whole sentences or even paras could fit better. Draw big swooping arrows, underline typos, asterisk double checks. Go hog, grab a yellow highlighter ! Scribble all *over* that thing.