How do you avoid redundancy?

This page reflects guidance from the sixth edition of the Publication Manual.

For the most current guidelines, see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) and our Style and Grammar Guidelines page for the seventh edition.

Writers often become redundant in an effort to be emphatic. Use no more words than are necessary to convey your meaning.

In these examples, the words in bold are redundant and should be omitted.

  • They were both alike
  • a total of 68 participants
  • instructions, which were exactly the same as those used
  • absolutely essential
  • has been previously found
  • small in size
  • one and the same
  • completely unanimous
  • period of time

(adapted from the sixth edition of the APA Publication Manual, © 2010)