Writing revisions that increase clarity without changing meaning

Most writing problems are not vocabulary problems. They are structure problems.

A reliable revision pattern is:

1. Identify the claim
2. Identify the evidence supporting the claim
3. Identify the limitation or boundary condition
4. Put those three items in that order

Example

Before
We evaluated whether the intervention improved outcomes and observed meaningful differences across groups.

After
We evaluated whether the intervention improved the prespecified primary outcome. The intervention group had a lower event rate than the control group over the defined follow-up window. Because treatment assignment was not randomized, residual confounding remains possible.

The revised version does three things:

1. Names the outcome
2. States the direction of effect
3. States the main inferential weakness

Paragraph-level checklist

For each paragraph, verify:

1. One point only
2. Evidence appears near the claim
3. The limitation is stated, not implied
4. The transition to the next paragraph is explicit

What this fixes in practice

1. Abstracts that overclaim
2. Methods that hide key choices
3. Results that list numbers without interpretation
4. Discussions that do not match the strength of evidence

If you apply this pattern consistently, reviewers stop guessing what you meant.