the_excerpt surrounds itself with <p></p>: How do you stop it?

I’m using this basic template:

<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

<?php if(is_category() || is_archive()): ?><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_excerpt(); ?></a>
<?php endif; ?><?php endwhile; ?>

But <?php the_excerpt(); ?> is adding paragraph tags. Where do I go to tell it to stop doing that?