"Indeed," "Simply" and "Certain" Are Unnecessary Additives

You can drop “indeed” because “even” does the intensifying. In the following paragraph, would you use “indeed” or “to the contrary”?

Investigation turned up no evidence of illegal dumping. [Indeed] [To the contrary], documents accounted for the disposition of every load.

“Indeed” merely tells the reader that something is about to be intensified. It could mean the investigation was particularly thorough, the waste was not even toxic or the dumping was properly documented, which turned out to be the case.

“To the contrary” is more helpful because it suggests the investigation not only failed to find evidence of illegal dumping, but it turned up evidence inconsistent with illegal dumping. The greater specificity of the phrase “to the contrary” connects the second sentence more closely to the first and thus retains a stronger grip on the reader’s attention.

Try one more example:

XYZ Corp. acknowledges that the silicon chip industry is highly competitive. Indeed, all XYZ Corp. employees must sign a secrecy agreement.