how many words is a 4 5 page essay

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Welcome to Words per Page

Enter total number of words, type in your words.

There are times when it helps to know how many words per page you're writing. While a general guideline is one page is 500 words (single spaced) or 250 words (double spaced), this is a ballpark figure. The truth is the number of words per page depends on a variety of factors such as the type of font, the font size, spacing elements, margin spacing, and paragraph length to name a few. While it's not possible to take into all these factors when estimating how many words per page there will be for your writing, this calculator can give a more accurate words per page conversion estimate than the typical 250/500 ballpark figure .

The calculator is able to provide a more accurate conversion by taking into account more specific information. For example, you can choose from a different variety of common fonts to generate an estimate:

• Comic Sans MS
• Times New Roman

You can then choose your preferred spacing from the following options:

• Single spaced
• Double spaced

Finally, you can choose your preferred font size: 10, 11, 12, 13 or 14.

By using these three options to more accurately define your writing, the words per page calculator should provide a better estimate on how many words you need to write to fill a page. In the opposite direction, it can give a more accurate estimate of how many pages you have created if you only know the word count .

While we make every attempt to make our calculators as accurate as possible, the results won't be perfect. This converter addresses some issues to provide a more accurate estimate, but in the end, it's still an estimate. Other issues such as margin space and paragraph length will likely result in some variation from the calculations given. That being said, it should provide a more accurate indication of the number of pages a specific word count will be and the number of words per page you type when compared to the general rule of thumb.

For general information, the following are calculations using 12-point Arial font, double spaced:

How many pages is 500 words? 500 words is approximately 1.8 pages. How many pages is 750 words? 750 words is approximately 2.7 pages. How many pages is 1,000 words? 1,000 words is approximately 3.7 pages. How many pages is 1,250 words? 1,250 words is approximately 4.6 pages. How many pages is 1,500 words? 1,500 words is approximately 5.5 pages. How many pages is 2,000 words? 2,000 words is approximately 7.3 pages. How many pages is 2,500 words? 2,500 words is approximately 9.1 pages. How many pages is 3,000 words? 3,000 words is approximately 11 pages. How many pages is 4,000 words? 4,000 words is approximately 14.6 pages. How many pages is 5,000 words? 5,000 words is approximately 18.3 pages. How many pages is 7,500 words? 7,500 words is approximately 27.4 pages. How many pages is 10,000 words? 10,000 words is approximately 36.5 pages.

How many words are in one page? There are approximately 450 words in one page. How many words are in two pages? There are approximately 900 words in two pages. How many words are in three pages? There are approximately 1350 words in three pages. How many words are in four pages? There are approximately 1800 words in four pages. How many words are in five pages? There are approximately 2250 words in five pages. How many words are in ten pages? There are approximately 4500 words in ten pages. How many words are in 15 pages? There are approximately 6750 words in 15 pages. How many words are in 25 pages? There are approximately 11250 words in 25 pages. How many words are in 50 pages? There are approximately 22500 words in 50 pages. How many words are in 100 pages? There are approximately 45000 words in 100 pages.

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How Many Words In One Page?

You’re assigned a homework in school today, “Please submit an essay four pages long.” That’s all you get. The next question in your mind will be “How many words do I have to write?”, or “What’s the word count for that?”

Fortunately, or unfortunately, there’s no definite answer to that. There are many factors that contribute to the number of words one page can contain. Some of the more common ones are: font size, type of font used, line spacings, margins of the document, etc. Intuitively speaking, the smaller the font size, the more words you need; the smaller the line spacings, the more words you need in a page.

When it comes to writing academic papers, meeting the required word count can sometimes be a challenge. If you find yourself struggling to reach the desired length, consider seeking assistance from a professional assignment writing service .

In any new Microsoft Word document on your computer, the default font size is 12 pt, and the default font is either Times New Roman or Cambria. These are also the standard academic font for college papers. We recommend you to change this to the default if yours isn’t!

In One Page

As a general estimation, a typical page of single spaced document with font size 12 pt takes approximately 500 words to fill the page. Alternatively, you will need 250 words to fill a page of a double spaced document. Therefore, for your assignment of 4 pages long, it will add up to 2000 words for single spaced, or 1000 words for double spaced. The type of font you use may change your word count, but it should not affect too much.

Here’s two tables for your quick reference. Remember, these are just general guidelines for you. If you want the most accurate information, ask the person who gave you the assignment directly! And make sure to follow their instructions!

By word count

How many words do you need to write?

By page count

How many pages do you need to write?

Use our word counter tool to check your word count, and find out how many pages they make up!

October 05, 2019

September 16, 2019

September 11, 2019

September 10, 2019

How Many Words per Page?

When you are given a writing assignment in college, either a certain number of pages or a particular word count is required. If the assignment is to write a six-page paper on a topic related to the American Revolution, you may wonder how many words are in six pages. The fact is there is no perfect answer to this question.

How many words there are on a page depends on the font type, font size, spacing, margins and paragraph length. Depending on the assignment, the Professor may require students to divide their papers into sections, with headings and subheadings. That can also affect the number of words per page.

General Requirements

For college essays and papers, the typical font types are Times New Roman, Arial, and Verdana. The standard font size requirement is 12pt, and the margin requirements are one-inch on all sides. Also, in college, papers must usually be double-spaced, though single-spacing can also be required by some Professors.

There are general guidelines, on how many pages it takes to reach a word count. For example, a 2000-word essay is approximately four pages when single spaced and eight pages when double spaced. A 60,000 word dissertation written by a Ph.D. candidate is about 120 pages single spaced and 200 pages double spaced.

Calculating Words per Page

Let’s say a student must write a short essay with 1000 words. The assignment calls for Times New Roman 12pt font, one-inch margins, and double spacing. So, how many pages is 1000 words going to take up? The answer is about four pages. If the student uses the Arial typeface instead, the total number of pages will be about 3.7. And when using Verdana, the number of pages will be approximately 4.4.

What about an essay that must be 1500 words? Using our Word Counter , the average number of pages for 1500 words is three pages when single-spaced and six pages when double-spaced. Now, let’s say the spacing must be 1.5 per the assignment instructions. If a student uses the Times New Roman font type, and the font size requirement is 12pt, then the number of pages to reach 1500 words is approximately 4.8, which rounds up to about five pages.

How Many Words are in a Speech?

Another typical college assignment entails giving a speech in front of your peers. For example, your Chemistry professor may require you to give a 5-minute speech on an element from the Periodic Table. In preparing the speech, you will need to know how many words are in a 5-minute speech . Again, there is no definitive answer because pacing (how many words you speak per minute) and pausing (breaking between sentences/paragraphs) will affect the total time it takes. Daphne Gray-Grant over at Visual Thesaurus writes: “The average person speaks at somewhere between 125 and 150 words per minute.”

For a five-minute speech done by a person speaking 150 words per minute, the approximate word count is around 750. However, as a general rule of thumb for giving speaches you should use around 100–200 words per minute. This is because for public speaking it is better to speak slowly so your audience understands what you are saying. Hence, a five-minute speech using this general rule will have somewhere in the range of 500–1000 words.

Word Counts for Publishing

For those people that are out of college and writing professionally (i.e. publishing their work), another factor when considering how many words there are per page is how the final work is to be printed. In addition to the layout, the font type and size used for published works is often quite different from college papers. For published books, mainly paperback novels, fonts such as Garamond and Calibri are often used. However, there is not hard and fast rule, as a different font can be utilized depending on the subject, genre, or any number of other factors. The size of the font often used in paperback novels commonly ranges from 10pt to 14pt.

Other factors that will affect the number of words per page in a published book include:

• Whether the book has pictures, charts, graphs, etc. The formatting for a book containing such elements means the word count will differ from a book that has only words.
• The spacing of the text and between paragraphs. In most paperback and hardcover novels, the text in the final printed book is single-spaced. Also, a lot of publishers like to put extra spaces between sections of the book to separate point-of-views and settings.
• The physical dimensions of the book. The typical dimensions for a novel are either 5x8 inches or 6x9 inches. It all depends on how the publisher prints the final work and whether it is a hardcover or paperback.
• The Reading Level of the book. For example, children’s books are going to have fewer words per page than a book meant for adult readers.

Common Novel: Word Counts per Page

How many words per page are there in a typical novel? For manuscripts, the answer is about 250–300 words per page if it is double-spaced. A manuscript for a novel is typically 500 words per page if single-spaced. When the final work is printed for sale and published, the number of words per page will differ.

So, how many pages is 500 words? For a manuscript, the answer is two pages if the word count per page is 250 and it is double spaced. If single-spaced, it is one page. It all depends on the font type, font size, spacing, and formatting of the text. If a novel has a total of 80,000 words with 300 words per page, the number of manuscript pages is 267.

It is interesting, as well as necessary at times, to look at the number of words per page. If you are a college student writing a paper, knowing how many words per page there are in your essay helps you track your progress to the required word count for the assignment. If you are an author working on your next bestseller, you should know that a typical manuscript with double-spaced text has about 250 words per page. Overall, there are multiple answers to the question regarding the number of words per page, as it all depends on font type, font size, and formatting.

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Writing a Standout College Admissions Essay

Your personal statement is arguably the most important part of your college application. Follow these guidelines for an exceptional admissions essay.

Do you wonder how many pages a given number of words is? This website converts the number of words to the number of pages, online and for free. This tool is useful when writing essays at university to determine how many pages you are required to write.

The number of pages changes depending on the number of words, the font and the font size. You can select the following fonts: Arial, Calibri, Comic sans MS, Courier New, Times New Roman and Verdana. Available spacing options: single spaced, 1.5, double spaced.

Note: This calculator provides an indication only and works most accurately for an academic essay with four paragraphs per page and no (sub)headings.

Enter details below

The overview below provides an indication of the number of pages required (based on font: arial, font size: 12, single spaced):

• How many pages is 500 words? 1.1 pages
• How many pages is 600 words? 1.3 pages
• How many pages is 750 words? 1.8 pages
• How many pages is 800 words? 1.8 pages
• How many pages is 1000 words? 2.2 pages
• How many pages is 1200 words? 2.7 pages
• How many pages is 1500 words? 3.3 pages
• How many pages is 2000 words? 4.4 pages
• How many pages is 2500 words? 5.6 pages
• How many pages is 3000 words? 6.7 pages
• How many pages is 4000 words? 8.9 pages
• How many pages is 5000 words? 11.1 pages
• How many pages is 6000 words? 13.3 pages
• How many pages is 8000 words? 17.8 pages
• How many pages is 10000 words? 22.2 pages
• How many words is 1 page? 450 words
• How many words is 2 page? 900 words
• How many words is 3 page? 1350 words
• How many words is 4 page? 1800 words
• How many words is 5 page? 2250 words
• How many words is 6 page? 2700 words
• How many words is 7 page? 3150 words
• How many words is 8 page? 3600 words
• How many words is 10 page? 4500 words
• How many words is 12 page? 5400 words
• How many words is 15 page? 6750 words
• How many words is 20 page? 9000 words
• How many words is 30 page? 13500 words
• How many words is 50 page? 22500 words
• How many words is 100 page? 45000 words

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The Best College Essay Length: How Long Should It Be?

College Essays

Figuring out your college essay can be one of the most difficult parts of applying to college. Even once you've read the prompt and picked a topic, you might wonder: if you write too much or too little, will you blow your chance of admission? How long should a college essay be?

Whether you're a terse writer or a loquacious one, we can advise you on college essay length. In this guide, we'll cover what the standard college essay length is, how much word limits matter, and what to do if you aren't sure how long a specific essay should be.

How Long Is a College Essay? First, Check the Word Limit

You might be used to turning in your writing assignments on a page-limit basis (for example, a 10-page paper). While some colleges provide page limits for their college essays, most use a word limit instead. This makes sure there's a standard length for all the essays that a college receives, regardless of formatting or font.

In the simplest terms, your college essay should be pretty close to, but not exceeding, the word limit in length. Think within 50 words as the lower bound, with the word limit as the upper bound. So for a 500-word limit essay, try to get somewhere between 450-500 words. If they give you a range, stay within that range.

College essay prompts usually provide the word limit right in the prompt or in the instructions.

For example, the University of Illinois says :

"You'll answer two to three prompts as part of your application. The questions you'll answer will depend on whether you're applying to a major or to our undeclared program , and if you've selected a second choice . Each response should be approximately 150 words."

As exemplified by the University of Illinois, the shortest word limits for college essays are usually around 150 words (less than half a single-spaced page). Rarely will you see a word limit higher than around 650 words (over one single-spaced page). College essays are usually pretty short: between 150 and 650 words. Admissions officers have to read a lot of them, after all!

Weigh your words carefully, because they are limited!

How Flexible Is the Word Limit?

But how flexible is the word limit? What if your poignant anecdote is just 10 words too long—or 100 too short?

Can I Go Over the Word Limit?

If you are attaching a document and you need one or two extra words, you can probably get away with exceeding the word limit by such a small amount. Some colleges will actually tell you that exceeding the word limit by 1-2 words is fine. However, I advise against exceeding the word limit unless it's explicitly allowed for a few reasons:

First, you might not be able to. If you have to copy-paste it into a text box, your essay might get cut off and you'll have to trim it down anyway.

If you exceed the word limit in a noticeable way, the admissions counselor may just stop reading your essay past that point. This is not good for you.

Following directions is actually a very important part of the college application process. You need to follow directions to get your letters of recommendation, upload your essays, send supplemental materials, get your test scores sent, and so on and so forth. So it's just a good general rule to follow whatever instructions you've been given by the institution. Better safe than sorry!

Can I Go Under the Word Limit?

If you can truly get your point across well beneath the word limit, it's probably fine. Brevity is not necessarily a bad thing in writing just so long as you are clear, cogent, and communicate what you want to.

However, most college essays have pretty tight word limits anyways. So if you're writing 300 words for an essay with a 500-word limit, ask yourself: is there anything more you could say to elaborate on or support your points? Consult with a parent, friend, or teacher on where you could elaborate with more detail or expand your points.

Also, if the college gives you a word range, you absolutely need to at least hit the bottom end of the range. So if you get a range from the institution, like 400-500 words, you need to write at least 400 words. If you write less, it will come across like you have nothing to say, which is not an impression you want to give.

What If There Is No Word Limit?

Some colleges don't give you a word limit for one or more of your essay prompts. This can be a little stressful, but the prompts generally fall into a few categories:

Writing Sample

Some colleges don't provide a hard-and-fast word limit because they want a writing sample from one of your classes. In this case, a word limit would be very limiting to you in terms of which assignments you could select from.

For an example of this kind of prompt, check out essay Option B at Amherst :

"Submit a graded paper from your junior or senior year that best represents your writing skills and analytical abilities. We are particularly interested in your ability to construct a tightly reasoned, persuasive argument that calls upon literary, sociological or historical evidence. You should NOT submit a laboratory report, journal entry, creative writing sample or in-class essay."

While there is usually no word limit per se, colleges sometimes provide a general page guideline for writing samples. In the FAQ for Option B , Amherst clarifies, "There is no hard-and-fast rule for official page limit. Typically, we anticipate a paper of 4-5 pages will provide adequate length to demonstrate your analytical abilities. Somewhat longer papers can also be submitted, but in most cases should not exceed 8-10 pages."

So even though there's no word limit, they'd like somewhere in the 4-10 pages range. High school students are not usually writing papers that are longer than 10 pages anyways, so that isn't very limiting.

Implicit Length Guideline

Sometimes, while there's no word (or even page) limit, there's still an implicit length guideline. What do I mean by this?

See, for example, this Western Washington University prompt :

“Describe one or more activities you have been involved in that have been particularly meaningful. What does your involvement say about the communities, identities or causes that are important to you?”

While there’s no page or word limit listed here, further down on page the ‘essay tips’ section explains that “ most essay responses are about 500 words, ” though “this is only a recommendation, not a firm limit.” This gives you an idea of what’s reasonable. A little longer or shorter than 500 words would be appropriate here. That’s what I mean by an “implicit” word limit—there is a reasonable length you could go to within the boundaries of the prompt.

But what's the proper coffee-to-paragraph ratio?

Treasure Hunt

There is also the classic "treasure hunt" prompt. No, it's not a prompt about a treasure hunt. It's a prompt where there are no length guidelines given, but if you hunt around on the rest of the website you can find length guidelines.

For example, the University of Chicago provides seven "Extended Essay" prompts . You must write an essay in response to one prompt of your choosing, but nowhere on the page is there any guidance about word count or page limit.

However, many colleges provide additional details about their expectations for application materials, including essays, on FAQ pages, which is true of the University of Chicago. On the school’s admissions Frequently Asked Questions page , they provide the following length guidelines for the supplemental essays: 

“We suggest that you note any word limits for Coalition or Common Application essays; however, there are no strict word limits on the UChicago Supplement essays. For the extended essay (where you choose one of several prompts), we suggest that you aim for around 650 words. While we won't, as a rule, stop reading after 650 words, we're only human and cannot promise that an overly wordy essay will hold our attention indefinitely. For the “Why UChicago?” essay, we suggest about 250-500 words. The ideas in your writing matter more than the exact number of words you use!”

So there you go! You want to be (loosely) in the realm of 650 for the extended essay, and 250-500 words for the “Why UChicago?” essay.

Help! There Really Is No Guidance on Length

If you really can't find any length guidelines anywhere on the admissions website and you're at a loss, I advise calling the admissions office. They may not be able to give you an exact number (in fact, they probably won't), but they will probably at least be able to tell you how long most of the essays they see are. (And keep you from writing a panicked, 20-page dissertation about your relationship with your dog).

In general, 500 words or so is pretty safe for a college essay. It's a fairly standard word limit length, in fact. (And if you're wondering, that's about a page and a half double-spaced.) 500 words is long enough to develop a basic idea while still getting a point across quickly—important when admissions counselors have thousands of essays to read!

"See? It says 500 words right there in tiny font!"

The Final Word: How Long Should a College Essay Be?

The best college essay length is usually pretty straightforward: you want to be right under or at the provided word limit. If you go substantially past the word limit, you risk having your essay cut off by an online application form or having the admissions officer just not finish it. And if you're too far under the word limit, you may not be elaborating enough.

What if there is no word limit? Then how long should a college essay be? In general, around 500 words is a pretty safe approximate word amount for a college essay—it's one of the most common word limits, after all!

Here's guidance for special cases and hunting down word limits:

If it's a writing sample of your graded academic work, the length either doesn't matter or there should be some loose page guidelines.

There also may be implicit length guidelines. For example, if a prompt says to write three paragraphs, you'll know that writing six sentences is definitely too short, and two single-spaced pages is definitely too long.

You might not be able to find length guidelines in the prompt, but you could still hunt them up elsewhere on the website. Try checking FAQs or googling your chosen school name with "admissions essay word limit."

If there really is no word limit, you can call the school to try to get some guidance.

With this advice, you can be sure you've got the right college essay length on lockdown!

Hey, writing about yourself can even be fun!

What's Next?

Need to ask a teacher or friend for help with your essay? See our do's and dont's to getting college essay advice .

If you're lacking in essay inspiration, see our guide to brainstorming college essay ideas . And here's our guide to starting out your essay perfectly!

Looking for college essay examples? See 11 places to find college essay examples and 145 essay examples with analysis !

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Ellen has extensive education mentorship experience and is deeply committed to helping students succeed in all areas of life. She received a BA from Harvard in Folklore and Mythology and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University.

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Convert Words to Pages

Choose number of words, font, font-size, and line-spacing.

The overview below provides an indication of the number of pages required (based on font: arial, font size: 12, single spaced) :

• How many pages is 500 words? It is 1.1 pages
• How many pages is 1000 words? It is 2.2 pages
• How many pages is 1500 words? It is 3.3 pages
• How many pages is 2000 words? It is 4.4 pages
• How many pages is 2500 words? It is 5.6 pages
• How many pages is 3000 words? It is 6.7 pages
• How many pages is 4000 words? It is 8.9 pages
• How many pages is 5000 words? It is 11.1 pages
• How many pages is 10000 words? It is 22.2 pages
• How many words for 1 pages? 450 words
• How many words for 2 pages? 900 words
• How many words for 3 pages? 1350 words
• How many words for 4 pages? 1800 words
• How many words for 5 pages? 2250 words
• How many words for 10 pages? 4500 words
• How many words for 15 pages? 6750 words
• How many words for 20 pages? 9000 words
• How many words for 25 pages? 11250 words

Welcome to our Convert Words to Pages tool! This tool can help you estimate the page length of your essays, stories, speeches, or other articles based on word count. Use it to help make sure your essays hit the mark exactly as they’re supposed to.

How to Use the Convert Words to Pages Tool

• Enter the word count. In the word count box, enter the number of words in your piece.
• Choose your font. Select your font from our drop-down menu. Different fonts take up different amounts of space, so make sure to select the right one. If the font you’re using isn’t here, contact us: we might add it to the tool in the future.
• Choose your font size. Select your font size, from 10 to 14 pt.
• Choose your spacing. Select if you used single, double, or 1.5 spacing.

Common Words to Pages Conversation

• How many pages is 500 words? 500 words is equivalent to 1.1 pages in single-spaced Arial font, or 1.8 pages in double-spaced Arial font.
• How many pages is 1000 words? 1000 words is equivalent to 2.2 pages in single-spaced Arial font, or 3.7 pages in double-spaced Arial font.
• How many pages is 1500 words? 1500 words is equivalent to 3.3 pages in single-spaced Arial font, or 5.5 pages in double-spaced Arial font.
• How many pages is 2000 words? 2000 words is equivalent to 4.4 pages in single-spaced Arial font, or 7.3 pages in double-spaced Arial font.
• How many pages is 2500 words? 2500 words is equivalent to 5.6 pages in single-spaced Arial font, or 9.1 pages in double-spaced Arial font.
• How many pages is 3000 words? 3000 words is equivalent to 6.7 pages in single-spaced Arial font, or 11 pages in double-spaced Arial font.

Tips for Shortening an Essay

If you’re using this tool, there’s a good chance you’re trying to meet a specific page length or range for an essay. Meeting those restraints can be hard: how are you supposed to fit your organic, unique ideas into a rigidly structured essay? Luckily, you’re not the first person to be put in this position, and there are a lot of tips and tricks you can try to make sure your essay or story ends up just the right length.

If you find your essay is too long, here is how to shorten your essay:

Remove adverbs and adjectives.

Adverbs and adjectives might seem like they strengthen your writing, but in truth they can bog it down. Remove any unnecessary adverbs and adjectives to trim down your piece.

Shorten your introduction and conclusion.

It’s easy to find yourself rambling in an introduction or conclusion. But remember, these aren’t the key sections of your essay: they’re just window-dressing. Cut down on any areas where you restate arguments you made elsewhere in your paper, so you can use your words where they really count.

Use active rather than passive voice.

Sometimes it can be hard to remember to use active voice in your writing , especially when you’re writing a formal piece. But passive voice can often take up more space than you have to spare. Go through your essay with a critical eye and remove as many instances of passive voice as possible. As a bonus, active voice isn’t just more succinct -- it’s also more effective, meaning you’ll be turning in a stronger piece to your teacher or professor.

Delete transition words or sentences.

Transition phrases might seem essential to the flow of your paper, but you’d be surprised how well your essay fares without them. If you’re pressed for space, try trimming down your transitions, then read through the essay again to see how it the new flow feels.

Tips for Lengthening an Essay

On the flip side, you might find your essay isn’t quite the five or seven pages your professor asked for. If that’s the case, here is how to lengthen your essay:

Add extra supporting evidence or quotations.

Now is a great time to showcase all the research that didn’t make it into the first draft of your paper. Even if you think you’ve already proved your point, add an extra sentence or paragraph to prove it again. Your professor will appreciate how thorough you’ve been, and you’d be surprised how much space a little research will take up. Quotations in particular are a great way to beef up your paper, because special formatting means a couple lines can occupy as much as a paragraph’s worth of space.

Flesh out the conclusion with forward-thinking ideas.

Rather than using the conclusion solely as a place to restate your argument, think about the potential impacts or implications of your paper’s argument. For instance, if your paper argues that the development of solar power is ultimately more cost-effective than traditional fuel sources, use the conclusion to explore what a solar-powered society might look like in the future, or touch on other potential benefits of solar power outside of cost-effectiveness.

Add a counterargument and refutation.

If you’re far short of your target page length, you might need a more substantial addition to your paper. A counterargument and refutation can be just that. Put simply, a counterargument is a paragraph in which you explore what an opponent to your essay might say. That counterargument is then followed by a refutation, or a paragraph in which you explain why your opponent’s argument is wrong. These structures are often used in argumentative and philosophical papers, but can be applied to many different writing forms.

For instance, for that essay about solar power, you might include a paragraph explaining why others might think the up-front cost of solar power makes it too expensive. You could then refute said argument by showing how long-term expenses are still significantly reduced for solar power. In addition to adding length to your essay, a counter argument can be a great way to show readers how deeply you’ve considered the material.

Break up paragraphs.

If all else fails, try breaking up long paragraphs into shorter ones. While this won’t add a ton of length to your paper, it can stretch out your page count just enough to hit your minimum number of pages.

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How Long Should Your College Essay Be? What Is the Ideal Length?

What’s covered: , personal statement length vs. supplemental essay length, are college essay word limits hard, what if a college essay word count isn’t given, what if you need to submit a graded paper, where to get your essays edited.

Students often spend hours agonizing over the best topics for their college essays. While it’s natural to wonder whether your personal statement is original or compelling enough, there’s one aspect of the process that shouldn’t cause you undue stress—how many words should a college essay be? Fortunately, with a little research, you can uncover the ideal college essay length for all your applications.

Unlike high school assignments, which typically have a strict page requirement, most colleges provide a word limit or word range for their application essays. This practice helps ensure that essays are the same length regardless of font or formatting. A good guideline is that students should strive to get as close as possible to the upper limit of the word range without exceeding it. Keep reading to learn more about best practices for college essay length.

How many words should a college essay be? Personal statements are generally 500-650 words. For example, the Common Application , which can be used to apply to more than 800 colleges, requires an essay ranging from 250-650 words . Similarly, the Coalition Application , which has 150 member schools, features an essay with a recommended length of 500-650 words.

650 words is the most common limit for your personal statement, but some schools may ask students to write more or less. For example, ApplyTexas , a platform used to apply to Texas public universities and other select colleges, requests essays with requirements that vary by school. For example, students applying to UT Austin will need to submit an essay of 500-700 words, along with three short-answer questions of 250-300 words each.

On the other hand, the University of California (UC) application includes a Personal Insight section with eight prompts . Students are asked to respond to any four of these prompts, with each response topping out at 350 words.

Additionally, some schools request a few supplemental essays, which are typically shorter than a personal statement. These questions are designed to gain more information about a student’s interests and abilities, and may include topics like your reasons for wanting to attend their school, your desired major, or your favorite activity.

Most schools require 1-3 supplemental essays, though some may require more or none at all (see our list of top colleges without supplemental essays ). These essays tend to be around 250 words, but some may be just as long as your main essay. For example, Cornell requires applicants to write a second supplemental essay (of 650 words max) that is specific to the program they’re applying to. The exception to this is the Cornell College of Engineering, for which applicants are required to compose two supplemental essays of 250 words max each.

For best results, keep your essays within the word range provided. While you don’t have to hit the count exactly, you should aim to stay within a 10% difference of the upper limit—without including fluff or filler. For example, if the school requests 500 words, try to ensure that your essay is between 450 and 500 words.

For the Common App, try to stay within 550-650 words, even though the given range is 250-650. Any submission shorter than 500 words will make it look as though you simply didn’t care enough to give your best effort. An essay shorter than 500 words won’t be long enough to truly share who you are and what matters to you.

Exceeding the word count isn’t an option—the application portal cuts off anything over the maximum number of allowed words. This is something you want to be particularly careful of if you’re drafting your essay in a Word or Google document and pasting it into the application.

Although most schools provide applicants with a specific word count, some offer more general guidelines. For example, a college may ask for a particular number of pages or paragraphs.

If you aren’t given a word count, try to adhere to the best practices and conventions of writing. Avoid writing especially short or overly long paragraphs—250 words per paragraph is generally a safe upper limit. If you’re asked to write a certain number of pages, single- or double-spaced, stick to a standard font and font size (like 12-point Times New Roman).

In the event that the college doesn’t offer any guidelines at all, aim for an essay length of around 500 words.

While essays are the most commonly requested writing sample, some colleges ask for additional pieces of content. For example, Princeton University requires students to submit a previously graded paper for evaluation .

Princeton offers guidelines that cover length, but if another school requests an old paper and doesn’t offer length requirements, a paper ranging from 3-5 pages should yield the best results. The goal is to select a paper long enough to showcase your writing skills and unique voice, but short enough that the admissions officer doesn’t get bored reading it.

Is your essay effective while staying within the required word count? It’s hard to evaluate your own writing, especially after rereading it numerous times. CollegeVine’s free Peer Essay Review provides an opportunity to have your essay reviewed by a fellow student, for free. Similarly, you can help other students by reviewing their essays—this is a great way to refine your own writing skills.

Expert advice is also available. CollegeVine’s advisors are prepared to help you perfect your personal statement and submit a successful application to your top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

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• Font Arial Calibri Comic Sans Courier Verdana Times New Roman
• Spacing Single 1.5 Double

Words per page

For those who work in the writing field or professional publishing sector, the demand for knowing words per page is extremely important. Therefore, calculating words per page is considered necessary.

Feature Function:

Whenever you write an assignment in the college, both a certain number of pages and a word count are required. If your professor required the assignment of a three-page paper on a related topic, you must wonder how many words are in three pages. Actually, there is no precise answer to this question because it depends on the font type, font size, spacing (single-spaced or double-spaced), margins, and paragraph length. Besides, the headings and subheadings also affect the number of words per page.

There are, however, general guidelines for estimating the number of words on a page. For example, a one-page essay includes approximately 500 words with single spacing and 250 words with double spacing.

By accounting for more specific information, the conversion provided by the tool is more accurate. For example, to make an estimate, you can choose from a number of the below:

• Comic Sans.
• Times New Roman.
• From 13 to 20 (px).

After you input your text into the text box, you will immediately see the needed information on the right-hand side of the screen. In real-time, detailed indicators such as the number of words, full characters, characters (without punctuation and spaces), sentences, paragraphs, and estimated reading and speaking time are displayed.

To sum up, knowing how many words per page helps you manage your required  word count for your content. This tool will allow you to find an answer to the question regarding the number of words per page, as it all depends on specific factors such as font, size, and spacing.

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Home ➔ Essay Length Questions ➔ How Long Is a Typical Essay?

How Long Is a Typical Essay?

The word count of your essay mostly depends on your educational level, subject, department, course, and tutor’s instructions. This piece of writing is normally shorter than research papers or dissertations. But how long should an essay be exactly?

Generally, the length requirements are indicated in your assignment sheet. It can be words, paragraphs, or pages given as a range (300–500 words) or a particular number (5 pages). If you are not sure about your essay’s length, the number-one tip is to clarify it with your tutor. Also, if you’re not sure how to write an essay , we have a detailed guide on that topic, just follow the link.

We will review all the factors you must consider when it comes to an essay’s length, but here’s a quick answer to questions like, “How many words in an essay or how many paragraphs does an essay have?”

An essay is five paragraphs long on average, which is around 400–700 words.

Essay Length Tips

The tips below relate to academic essays that are given as a writing assignment. Everything that concerns admissions essays will be discussed in the following section.

• Three is the minimum number of paragraphs for essays (intro, body, and conclusion).
• The most common structure for a basic paper is the five-paragraph essay.
• The length of the introduction and conclusion paragraphs is always proportionally smaller.
• Each body paragraph must cover only one central idea, which is your topic sentence.
• A double-spaced page with text written in Times New Roman (12pt) usually contains about 275 words.
• A single-spaced page can fit double the amount, which is about 550 words.

How long should each essay part be?

If it’s a short essay (400–1000 words), each paragraph usually contains 100–200 words. The introduction and conclusion should be roughly the same in length and shorter than the overall word count of the body section.

According to Jennifer Duncan from The Writing Centre (the University of Toronto at Scarborough), for a 1000-word essay, its introduction and conclusion should be 4–5 sentences each. If your word count must be bigger, the length of these sections can be several paragraphs or even pages.

You might have seen conversion tables that say, “This number of words equals this number of paragraphs.” They all are based on a fixed length for each paragraph and are not very accurate. Yes, an essay that’s 400–800 words long can be converted like that. But, when your paper is bigger than a thousand words, your paragraphs can scale along, which means their number won’t grow exponentially with the overall essay size. For instance, if a 700-word essay comprises five paragraphs, a long essay (2000 words) won’t necessarily have fifteen paragraphs.

How long should a college essay be?

Here, “college essays” imply essays written for admissions. Admissions essays are quite different from the ones you get as homework. Usually, their chief goal is to show to the board that you are a worthy applicant. All the details about such essays should be publicly available on the college’s website in the appropriate section. But, if you don’t know the word count requirement and can’t find it, you still have some options. Below is a quick answer to the “how long is a college essay” question.

An average college essay is about 500 words long.

Admissions essay length tips

• Once you open the college’s site, look for phrases like “essay questions,” “information about supplemental essays,” “application instructions,” etc.
• As a rule, admissions essays are short (250–600 words) because board officers have to go through a lot of them daily.
• Do not exceed the given range by too much: if it says 500–550 words, the maximum length would be 600.
• When exceeding the word limit, your essay may not even end up being read to the end, so be mindful.

What if there are no length guidelines?

Sometimes colleges will not indicate a length limit for their essay prompts. But, don’t worry just yet because there are several ways to deal with this situation.

1. You need to send a sample of your writing.

They might have several options for applicants. Amherst College provides you with a choice: you can either (Option A) write a response to one of the quotations from the list or (Option B) submit a graded paper that best shows your writing skills. The last option implies that you have a set of papers to choose from, so you’re limited by their word count. But usually, there’s a page that contains guidelines for paper samples.

2. You can understand how long it should be from the description.

In its essay prompt guidelines, Wellesley College doesn’t give you a range of words or pages. Instead, it says, “in two well-developed paragraphs.” That means paragraphs can be quite long but within a reasonable limit, which is about 450–500 words. So this is when you’ll need to estimate or even guess a bit.

3. You need to search for the length requirements.

It can happen that essay length guidelines are not on the same page as the prompts. However, once you google, you can find posts on forums and social networks that discuss these essay writing requirements. You can also try searching “long” or “length” within the college site by typing “site:yourcollegewebsite.com” with those words.

4. You must call the admissions office.

If word limit instructions are nowhere to be found, you should call the admissions office. Even if they don’t have an exact number, they can tell you how long an essay should be based on the ones they had received before.

Sentence length will vary based on the paper type you’re working on. In narrative essays , you have to tell a story, which means sentences can be very long (up to 50 words). But general advice would be to keep sentences shorter than 25 words. Considering that, a 500-word essay would have somewhere between 20 to 45 sentences.

In short, you do. Unfortunately, the education system is “lazy” in this regard. Even though minimum length requirements force students to stretch their writing by adding fluff and verbose phrases, if those restraints were no more, some students would abuse that and submit essays far too short. Although some educators give a small margin over or under the word count, it’s better to write within the given range.

Your introductions and conclusion are usually smaller than body paragraphs. Hence, they will contain fewer sentences. For a 300-word paper, the first and last paragraphs will be about 3–5 sentences each, and every main paragraph will consist of 5–7 sentences.

The list of references

Here, you may find additional information on the topic:

• Paragraph Length — Aims Community College
• Writing Introductions and Conclusions — the University of Toronto at Scarborough

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How Many Words Per Page?

No matter what kind of writing assignment you’re working on, you probably know something about the length of the text you need. For students writing a term paper, the teacher may assign a page count. Novelists often receive feedback about word count from publishers. A journalist might be told the exact number of characters a newspaper has allotted for an article. Still, it’s not always obvious how you should translate from characters or words to pages. After all, the number of pages you complete depends on the formatting of your finished work.

For a term paper with standard formatting, it’s fairly easy to convert characters or words to pages. First, you’ll want to make sure to select default 1-inch margins within your word processor. You should use a standard font, like Arial, Times New Roman, or Verdana, in a 12-point font size. Assuming you’ve made these selections, you’ll know the approximate number of words on each page, based on your line spacing. If you use double spacing, you should have about 250 words per page. If your document is single spaced, you can expect around 500 words per page. Typically, you’ll see 3,500 characters for every 500 words.

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Here’s a chart that shows what you can expect for single-spaced pages:

Now, if you’re writing a book, the number of pages in your manuscript won’t be the same as the number of pages in a printed edition. Manuscript pages, much like term papers, have standard document formatting. They’re almost always double spaced and run 250-300 words per page.

You can expect to see manuscripts fall in line with this chart, although it’s common to fit more words and characters per page:

On a printed and published book page, the size and layout of the book will impact the number of words that fit. Many books use either Garamond or Calibri font, size 10-14, although formatting varies considerably from book to book. Of course, illustrations, photos, and charts can significantly impact the total page count. Again, the number of manuscript pages won’t match the number of pages in the published book exactly. 

Getting a Precise Word and Character Count

While the charts above can be helpful, especially as you begin a writing assignment and need to conceptualize how much writing you’ll need to do, they should be considered general guidelines. Individual writing styles vary. For example, we used a ratio of 7 characters per word. It’s common for people to use longer words; on the other hand, some writers prefer shorter words. The best way to determine a total word or character count for a block of text is to review it in your word processor. 

Here’s how you can navigate to find the word count within different word processing tools. 

Microsoft Word: Tools > Word Count

Google Docs: Tools > Word Count

Scrivener: Scrivener > Preferences > Editing > Live Counts

Pages: View > Show Word Count

Open Office: Tools > Word Count

How many words do articles have?

The length of an average article varies, depending on the publication. For example,  The New York Times  solicits opinion essays that are 400-1,200 words in length.  Longreads  regularly accepts features in excess of 6,000 words. As a good rule of thumb, try to match the word count to other articles published by the same magazine or newspaper. Anything that falls outside the range of the publisher’s previous work may be too short or long for publication.

How many words do books have?

The word count of a book depends on the genre. Here are some examples of types of books, along with typical word counts.

Memoir: 45,000-80,000

Self-Help: 30,000-70,000

Sci-Fi: 50,000-50,000

Mystery: 40,000-80,000

Romance: 50,000-90,000

Young Adult: 60,000-90,000

Middle Grade: 20,000-55,000

No matter what your writing assignment entails, knowing how to convert word, character, and page counts will help you. You can pace yourself, keeping in mind how much space you have to make each argument. Whether you’re writing an 80,000-word mystery novel or a 700-word article, you’ll know how many pages you have left to write. Just remember to divide your total word count by 500 if you’re writing something with single spacing. Divide by 250, when you use double spacing.

• https://self-publishingschool.com/how-many-words-in-a-novel/
• https://wordcounter.io/blog/how-many-words-per-page/
• https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/19574-500-words-or-3500-characters.html
• https://smallbusiness.chron.com/count-characters-openoffice-documents-63353.html

The Word Counter  is a dynamic online tool used for counting words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and pages in real time, along with spelling and grammar checking.

Kari Lisa Johnson

I’m an award-winning playwright with a penchant for wordplay. After earning a perfect score on the Writing SAT, I worked my way through Brown University by moonlighting as a Kaplan Test Prep tutor. I received a BA with honors in Literary Arts (Playwriting)—which gave me the opportunity to study under Pulitzer Prize-winner Paula Vogel. In my previous roles as new media producer with Rosetta Stone, director of marketing for global ventures with The Juilliard School, and vice president of digital strategy with Up & Coming Media, I helped develop the voice for international brands. From my home office in Maui, Hawaii, I currently work on freelance and ghostwriting projects.

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• College essay

How Long Should a College Essay Be? | Word Count Tips

Published on September 29, 2021 by Kirsten Courault . Revised on June 1, 2023.

Most college application portals specify a word count range for your essay, and you should stay within 10% of the upper limit. If no word count is specified, we advise keeping your essay between 400 and 600 words.

You should aim to stay under the specified limit to show you can follow directions and write concisely. However, if you write too little, it may seem like you are unwilling or unable to write a thoughtful and developed essay.

Table of contents

Word count guidelines for different application types, how to shorten your essay, how to expand your essay, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about college application essays.

Each university has a different suggested or required word count depending on which application portal it uses.

Some application portals will allow you to exceed the word count limit, but admissions officers have limited time and energy to read longer essays. Other application portals have a strict limit and will not allow you to exceed it.

For example, in the Common App , the portal will not allow you to submit more than 650 words. Some colleges using the Common App will allow you to submit less than 250 words, but this is too short for a well-developed essay.

For scholarship essays , diversity essays , and “Why this college?” essays , word count limits vary. Make sure to verify and respect each prompt’s limit.

Don’t worry too much about word count until the revision stage ; focusing on word count while writing may hinder your creativity. Once you have finished a draft, you can start shortening or expanding your essay if necessary.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

On some application portals, you can exceed the word limit, but there are good reasons to stay within it:

• To maintain the admissions officer’s attention
• To show you can follow directions
• To demonstrate you can write concisely

Here are some strategies for shortening your essay.

Stay on the main point

It’s good to use vivid imagery, but only include relevant details. Cut any sentences with tangents or unnecessary information.

My father taught me how to strategically hold the marshmallow pierced by a twig at a safe distance from the flames to make sure it didn’t get burned, ensuring a golden brown exterior.

Typically, my father is glued to his computer since he’s a software engineer at Microsoft. But that night, he was the marshmallow master. We waited together as the pillowy sugary goodness caramelized into gooey delight. Good example: Sticks to the point On our camping trip to Yosemite, my family spent time together, away from technology and routine responsibility.

My favorite part was roasting s’mores around the campfire. My father taught me how to hold the marshmallow at a safe distance from the flames, ensuring a golden brown exterior.

These college essay examples also demonstrate how you can cut your essay down to size.

Eliminate wordiness

Delete unnecessary words that clutter your essay. If a word doesn’t add value, cut it.

Here are some common examples of wordiness and how to fix them.

Use a paraphrasing tool

If you want to save time, you can make use of a paraphrasing tool . Within the tool you can select the “short” mode to rewrite your essay in less words. Just copy your text in the tool and within 1 click you’ll have shortened your essay.

If you’re significantly under the word count, you’re wasting the opportunity to show depth and authenticity in your essay. Admissions officers may see your short essay as a sign that you’re unable to write a detailed, insightful narrative about yourself.

Here are some strategies for expanding your essay.

Show detailed examples, and don’t tell generic stories

You should include detailed examples that can’t be replicated by another student. Use vivid imagery, the five senses, and specific objects to transport the reader into your story.

Reveal your feelings and insight

If your essay lacks vulnerability or self-reflection, share your feelings and the lessons you’ve learned.

Be creative with how you express your feelings; rather than simply writing “I’m happy,” use memorable images to help the reader clearly visualize your happiness. Similarly, for insight, include the follow-up actions from your lessons learned; instead of claiming “I became a hard worker,” explain what difficult tasks you accomplished as a result of what you learned.

If you want to know more about academic writing , effective communication , or parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Academic writing

• Writing process
• Transition words
• Passive voice
• Paraphrasing

 Communication

• How to end an email
• Ms, mrs, miss
• How to start an email
• I hope this email finds you well
• Hope you are doing well

 Parts of speech

• Personal pronouns
• Conjunctions

Most college application portals specify a word count range for your essay, and you should stay within 10% of the upper limit to write a developed and thoughtful essay.

You should aim to stay under the specified word count limit to show you can follow directions and write concisely. However, don’t write too little, as it may seem like you are unwilling or unable to write a detailed and insightful narrative about yourself.

If no word count is specified, we advise keeping your essay between 400 and 600 words.

If you’re struggling to reach the word count for your college essay, add vivid personal stories or share your feelings and insight to give your essay more depth and authenticity.

If your college essay goes over the word count limit , cut any sentences with tangents or irrelevant details. Delete unnecessary words that clutter your essay.

You can speed up this process by shortening and smoothing your writing with a paraphrasing tool . After that, you can use the summarizer to shorten it even more.

There is no set number of paragraphs in a college admissions essay . College admissions essays can diverge from the traditional five-paragraph essay structure that you learned in English class. Just make sure to stay under the specified word count .

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Hacks to Write a Five Page Essay Paper in a Day or Less

Let’s face it, writing a five-essay paper fast is not a walk in the park. Like a comprehensive essay , it entails planning, critical thinking, researching, outlining, writing, and polishing. Yet, it is a typical writing assignment in high school, college, and university. Even graduate students pursuing MBAs, Masters, and PhDs write five-page essays on various topics.

One thing is for sure; it is an ideal essay for honing research, writing, creativity, critical thinking, reasoning, and organization skills. However, while some find it easy to write it, some students might struggle, especially if the deadline is shorter.

If you were assigned a five-page paper and need advice on saving time and finishing your 5-page essay paper fast, this quick guide is a perfect place for you to start. We cover aspects such as the meaning of a five-page essay, how to plan and budget time for it, and the steps it takes to write a well-organized and professional essay that scores you a better grade.

Let’s dig right in!

What is a 5-page essay?

A five-page essay is an academic piece of assignment assigned to students to write about a specific topic in 5 full pages. If it is double-spaced, it is between 1250 words and 1500 words assuming a page is anything between 250 and 300 words. If it is single-spaced, it is between 2500 words and 3000 words.

It is a typical essay for nursing, English language, English literature, sociology, business and management, medicine and health sciences, biology, social work, and humanity subjects.

Because of its length, it is expected that students explore different topics in the five pages. Therefore, it always requires 5-8 references or sometimes ten resources, depending on the complexity of the subject or topic.

As it is considered a short assignment, its deadline is often between a few hours and three days. Therefore, when assigned such an essay, do not panic. Instead, follow the steps outlined below to conquer your fears of writing.

The time it takes to write a 5-page essay

In most cases, five-page papers are assigned within a one-week submission window. In other courses, you can be assigned homework to write a five-page paper overnight. Still, some professors assign five pages essay papers to be completed between 10 to 48 hours.

Suppose you are settled to write a five-page essay paper. In that case, it will only take you 10 hours or less, depending on your motivation, the complexity of the content of the paper, availability of resources, your typing speed, and your writing skills. A professional and experienced writer will take 5-6 hours at most, planning, drafting, writing, and polishing a 5-page essay.

Writing fast is relative. For example, a student rushing to complete a last-minute essay may only have a few hours to do it. On the other hand, a student who wants to complete their essay, submit it, and move to other things will also want to hasten the process of writing their essay. At the same time, a student assigned to write an essay that is five pages long under a day would also want to write faster.

The secret of writing a five-page essay paper fast lies in adequate planning. By the end of this guide, you will be able to write a five-page essay in under 8 hours, and not just write it but write it to the desired quality.

Budgeting time for a five-page essay

Assuming you already have a topic and want to write a five-page essay, you should divide the writing process into prewriting, writing, and post-writing stages.

During the prewriting stage, you engage in brainstorming, formulating a thesis, outlining, and researching. Naturally, therefore, pre-writing should take much of your time. Precisely, it should take 60 percent of the entire time you have to write the essay. If you have an hour to fall a tree, spend at least 45 minutes sharpening the ax and the remaining 15 minutes falling the tree quickly. Well, that analogy applies here. We have tested it, our writers use it, and it works perfectly.

Budget your time as follow if you have 12 hours to complete a 5-page essay: brainstorming (2 hours), research (5 hours), and writing an outline (1 hour).

In the writing stage, you frame your title, set the title page, write the body paragraphs, and write the introduction and conclusion. The writing stage should take 25% of the entire time you have to write an essay. For instance, if you have 12 hours to write an essay, allocate 3 hours to the writing section: writing the body paragraphs (2 hours), writing the introduction (20 minutes), writing the conclusion (20 minutes), and setting the title page (10 minutes)

Finally, in the post-writing stage , spend the remaining 15% of the entire time. For instance, if you have 12 hours, allocate one hour for rewriting and editing, one hour for proofreading, and thirty minutes for formatting.

Steps to Write a 5-page essay fast

Now that you are conversant with the essay writing process or stages, and you have probably budgeted your time well, here are some steps to follow to write that five-page essay fast, accurately, and coherently.

Kickout the distractions

To be able to write any essay fast, you need to raise your concentration levels. Therefore, the first step is to find a good place to write your essay . It could be your room, a spot in the library, café, or office, or at your friend’s place.

Let it be distraction-free enough to give you room for concentrating on the task ahead of you. For example, if you work well when listening to music, have your favorite music that sparks your morale in the background.

Another thing, keep off any distractions – turn off your phone or put it in silent mode, mute social media notifications, and don’t engage anyone on the phone unless it is utterly vital.

Have a schedule and stick to it

With the mind free to think, create a schedule for your paper. You can do this manually on sticky notes and pin it where you can see it.

You can place it on a mirror, table, at the back of your laptop, or on the surface of your study area.

Ensure that each time is spent as budgeted to prevent deadline violations or lateness, which can cost you some marks.

Brainstorm for points and the way forward

Assuming you have the topic, begin by brainstorming. Brainstorming stretches your mind , expands your creativity, and makes you actively think of the best ways to solve a problem.

If you brainstorm well, you will create a mind map that guides your writing process. Besides, it makes the research process easier.

While brainstorming, be at ease but do not relax too much. Decide on the points you want to feature in your essay, the claims and the counterclaims, and the examples you want to give. As you brainstorm, take notes. These questions can help you as you brainstorm:

• What is the meaning of the topic?
• What is the purpose of the essay?
• Are there enough sources for this essay?
• What are some examples I can give?
• What are the likely challenges, potential solutions, and recommendations?
• What unique lens can I view this problem given what others have written?
• What perspective am I sticking to for this essay?
• What are the resources and research materials that I will need?

Structure you essay

Now that you have brainstormed, design a proper essay scaffold that will determine the flow of ideas or order of points in your essay. by writing an outline, you are developing a framework that defines your essay paper.

 It is a blueprint or landmark that gives your essay some direction. Outlining helps in avoiding the number one killer of research skills: information overload. When you derail, you will not derail when you have an outline.

Research Widely and Deeply

Nothing substitutes comprehensive research when writing an essay. However, you must check various sources to understand the subject of your essay and get facts to support your thesis.

Although Wikipedia and website blogs are not recommended as scholarly sources, use them to familiarize yourself with your topic .

Check through the governmental documents, pdf files published by organizations, and research journal articles to get facts and evidence to support your thesis. When researching, you will generate fresh ideas to make your essay presentable, engaging, and of high quality.

To avoid information overload, check the authenticity of the information, check for the recency of the information, and omit information that is obsolete, does not create rigor in your essay, or has questionable facts.

As a rule of thumb, always choose information published within the last five years, unless you need old seminal works on frameworks, concepts, and ideas. Keep an inventory of every research that matters.

You can do so using online bibliography organizers such as Zotero, Citethisforme, or Citefast. However, it is best if you decide the number of references to use in your essay early enough so that you can organize them better and cite them as you write for a fast, accurate, and efficient writing process.

Complete the body paragraphs

Although many students prefer to begin their essays with the title, introduction, body, and then conclusion, we find it practical to deal with the body of your essay first. Developing the body paragraphs helps you to understand the flow of your essay better.

 You will know how to develop topic sentences that support the thesis and link each paragraph to one another and the thesis.

The supporting paragraphs in the body of your essay should be between 3-8 paragraphs, depending on the essay's word count . Ensure that every paragraph has its own idea, and it should be supported by facts, evidence, and examples from research.

Cite the body paragraphs where you paraphrase, summarize, or quote from other resources. As well, conclude the body paragraphs with concluding sentences that make sense and link to the next paragraphs or sections of your essay.

Given that your essay is 5-pages long, the body should be comprehensive; it should at least be 4-pages long with 5-8 paragraphs. In addition, each paragraph should have at least 5-9 sentences for good balance.

And to top it all up, write your paragraphs using short, clear, and concise sentences. Of course, once in a while, you can throw in long sentences, but ensure that they are sound and fit the context of your essay. 

Write a catchy introduction

Your introduction is one of the earliest contact points with your readers second to your title. Ensure that it creates a lasting first impression . You must begin the introduction with an appropriate hook . Essay hooks or attention grabbers help to grab the attention of your readers and introduce the topic generally. You can use relevant statistics, facts, evidence, anecdotes, or quotes.

As well, give good background information on your topic. Finally, finalize the introduction paragraph with one or two lines of your thesis statement that announces your main argument in the essay. Ensure that your introduction foreshadows your argument; it is where you frame your arguments.

We have a complete guide on how to begin an essay , familiarize with the process.

Write the conclusion of your essay

In an essay, the topic sentences are signposts that work together with the conclusion and introduction to guide a reader through the arguments in your essay. The conclusion must be succinct but comprehensive enough. You can achieve this through restating the main argument, recapping or summarizing the logic of the argument, and writing a final statement that reinforces the argument better. If possible, include an active call to action for your readers by suggesting materials for further reading or recommending solutions. This is the very last page in your five-page essay, and it should leave a lasting impact on your readers.

Polish your essay without rushing

When you are done with the writing phase, take a break. It helps refresh your mind and develop an objective mind, which can help you spot little or silly mistakes you made while writing.

Rewriting your essay helps to rephrase the essay and make it straightforward, coherent, and accurate. It can also be helpful when you have identified plagiarism in your essay. To speed up the process, read out loud your essay to yourself and make the changes that seem relevant. You will be amazed at how keen you are to be able to catch errors and improve the essay.

You should also proofread and edit your essay, which entails checking for any omissions, misspellings, punctuation errors, grammatical mistakes, and typos in your essay. Make sure that everything flows.

Finally, you need to spend some quick 10-20 minutes checking the format of your essay. Double-space your essay , check on the font style and size, check if your essay's cover or title page is good, and check whether you have achieved the desired essay length . If you are short of a few words, follow our recommended steps to increase the length of your essay . Remember to format the paper in APA , MLA, Harvard, or Chicago formatting styles.

Parting Shot!

Now that you know the tips to write a five-page essay fast, you can apply them when writing a 3-page essay, 4-page essay, or two-page essay. The process is literary the same, only that you will reduce the budget for prewriting, writing, and post writing, respectively.

If you need someone to write your last-minute essay, we have fast essay writers who can help. It could be that you realized late that you have an upcoming deadline, have an emergency, or things are getting pretty sticky with writing an essay, do not struggle alone.

2 out of 3 students get help from experts, their friends, parents, and classmates. Instead of facing the ridicule that comes with such available help, our experts will never judge you. They will write your essay professionally and fast. We are a cheap writing website, so be sure to get a first-timers’ discount. Ask from our support team.

If you decide to write it on your own, keep practicing, perfect, and scale through the heights of academia. We wish you the best of luck!

Gradecrest is a professional writing service that provides original model papers. We offer personalized services along with research materials for assistance purposes only. All the materials from our website should be used with proper references. See our Terms of Use Page for proper details.

How Many Words Should Your Essay Have for Grading High?

How many words are in an essay?

This question bothers all students, whether in middle school or college. Two reasons:

They don’t have word count guidelines to know how long their essay should be to grade high. Or, they struggle with the word limit within a paper and wonder if they can go under the suggested length.

The essay length varies, depending on many factors: subject, purpose, and academic level. Essays are usually shorter than dissertations or research papers. The thesis is the longest one.

In this article, I’ll answer two popular questions: How long is an essay? How many paragraphs are in an essay?

Also, let’s learn how long each essay part is and if it’s okay to go beyond or under the suggested length.

How Long is an Essay, Depending on the Type?

The above rules are average. They may vary at different educational institutions. It stands to reason that elementary-level students write short essays. And their papers get longer in their middle 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th grades, etc.

Often, there’s no exact word number or page count for academic papers. Guidelines usually prescribe a supposed range: 500-850 words, 5-7 pages, and so on. When in doubt, you can ask your instructor.

How Many Paragraphs is an Essay? 6 Main Lengths

You won’t find any rule prescribing a set number of paragraphs for an essay. Five-paragraph essays are a standard, but it doesn’t mean ALL papers should follow it.

Each essay consists of three parts:

• Introduction . Often, it’s one paragraph introducing your topic and thesis to readers. When writing complex papers like dissertations, your intro section can be 2-3 paragraphs.
• Body. It’s a core section discussing the topic in detail. The number of paragraphs here depends on your paper’s type and complexity. This part is 1-4 paragraphs unless you write extended research papers.
• Conclusion. Like intros, this section is often one paragraph summarizing the essay.

Below, I’ll cover the six main lengths to show how to balance a word count in essays.

One-paragraph essays

Three-paragraph papers

Five-paragraph essays

Extended papers

Dissertation

Frequently Asked Questions:

Is essay length important.

Yes, it is. Prescribing a length, instructors understand if you can organize thoughts and arguments. An essay of 1,000 words requires more research and effort than a 350-word paper, agree? The specified length also helps you understand how complex your work should be to grade high. Longer essays teach you to write cohesive texts, choose arguments, and think critically.

Don’t write essays for the sake of count. Quality matters, so please focus on arguments, evidence, and analysis. Avoid placing too many transitions, generic words, and lengthy expressions. Make your every word and sentence count.

How many words are in an essay sample?

350 words at least.

It depends on the essay type you write. Thus, a high school essay sample will be 350 words at least. If you need a college application essay, consider personal papers of 250-650 words. Check essay samples of 800-1,000 words if you need a standard college paper. More complex works like graduate school essays or dissertations will be 3,000+ words.

How long is each part of an essay?

Stick to the 80/20 rule when calculating the length of each essay part. An essay body is the core section of academic papers: Make it 80% of the text. The remaining 20% goes to an introduction and a conclusion.

Say you write a 1,000-word essay. It means you will have 800 words in the body; 100 words go to the introduction and 100 words — for a concluding paragraph. You can go 10% below or above the prescribed limit. (Unless your instructor sets specific limitations.)

How many sentences are in an essay?

21-34 sentences for a standard 5-paragraph essay.

It depends on your essay type and the required word count. I’ll take a standard 5-paragraph college paper as an example:

You have one introductory paragraph, which is 3-5 sentences average. Other 3-5 sentences go to your conclusion. The body consists of three sections, 5-8 sentences each (1). So, here we have it: 21-34 sentences in an essay.

How many words are in an essay introduction?

Take 10-15% of the total length required. Thus, if you need to write a 1,000-word essay, your introduction will be 100-150 words.

For advanced research papers, where intros are longer than one paragraph, stick to 100-150 words per paragraph average. Such texts are usually above 3,000 words, so you’ll follow the 80/20 rule anyway.

Can I go under the suggested length?

It’s not advisable. Please do your best to meet the minimum word count given in the assignment. If the guidelines say “350-600 words,” write at least 350 words in an essay. Sometimes, a 10% deviation is acceptable, but don’t take this rule for granted. Most instructors won’t appreciate your 315-word paper if they ask you to write 350 words at least.

How to make your essay longer?

• Add more examples and evidence to the body paragraphs. 
• Explain and analyze every argument in detail. 
• Mention counterarguments if applicable.

Can I make my essay longer?

Yes, you can exceed the word limit by 10% if allowed by your course instructor. For example, if you get an assignment of 500-700 words, it’s okay to submit a 770-word essay for a review.

Important! Always ask your instructor if the 10% rule is available in their course. And exceed the word count only if you have critical information to add.

Academic writing is all about rules and instructions. Essay length isn’t an exception:

Every college paper has a prescribed, approximate word count to follow. When asking, “How long is an essay?” remember the answer will depend on several factors:

• Academic level. (Middle and high school students write short essays. Undergraduates and graduates craft longer and more complex papers.)
• Type and purpose. (Research-based essays are longer than reflective stories you write for college admission officers.)
• Instructions you get from a teacher. (Check them: The supposed essay length is often there.)

How many words are in an essay? You can answer this question now.

References:

• https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/paragraphs_and_paragraphing/paragraphing.html  
• Essay samples
• Essay writing
• Writing tips

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Words to Pages Converters

Do you get assignments in words or pages? Sometimes, it’s essential to know both values to develop your writing. Another reason to know how many words does it take to fill a certain number of pages: if you’re a freelancer and you need to calculate your prices.

It doesn’t matter what your goal is, let’s talk about the ways to achieve it. In this post, you’ll find 6 awesome words to pages converters. These tools perfectly perform their function by calculating the exact number of pages. To get the precise result, you’ll need to fill in specific fields like fonts, size, line spacing, and more.

Remember, that every tool has its own fields depending on the accuracy of the result, that’s why every calculator is different. You should choose one tool that works for you. It may demand thorough research, but in the end, you’ll be able to find the one you need.

🏆 6 best word to pages converters

🤔 what’s a typical essay format, ✍️ essay types & structure, 🔗 references.

Students often ask us how to convert words into pages. The easiest way is to take the text of your word count, put it into Microsoft Word, and format to the required academic style. But although it’s so easy to accomplish, it’s not the quickest option. Also, you may need to know some pages for an astronomic word count. This won’t be easy to calculate on yourself for a novel or dissertation, for example.

To make your task simpler, use one of these pages converters. They’re easy to use and can calculate for any style and format.

1. Words to Pages

An easy to use tool where you need to fill only four fields to get an accurate result. Enter the number of words, font type, font size, and spacing. When choosing a font, you’ll see six options—Arial, Calibri, Comic Sans, Courier, Times New Roman, Verdana. These fonts are the most popular, but if you use some other fonts or there are two different fonts in your paper, you can enter one of these fonts (preferably, Times New Roman). This way, you’ll easily know the approximate number of pages.

2. Word Counter

This is a popular website bookmarked by hundreds of students. Here you can add such characteristics as total word count, font type and size, and spacing. For advanced settings, you can use the fields below. There it’s possible to paste your text and change its style. There are the following settings:

• Page format (A5, A4, A3, A2, A1, U.S. letter)
• Line spacing

At the end of the page, you’ll find clarifications and instructions on how to get the most accurate result. Also, there’s a short FAQ for those in a hurry to answer your questions like “how many pages is 500 words”.

3. Word Counter.io

This website’s goal is to show how many words in a page there are (with some specific settings, of course). Start by entering the text into the field. The tool won’t only count words but characters as well. It will show the number of sentences, paragraphs and pages.

5. Word Count Tool

This tool will provide you with the characters, words, sentences, and paragraphs count. Also, it will measure the Flesch Reading Score and reading time.

If you already know how many words in the text, type the number into a proper fiels, choose the font, its size, and spacing. It’s important because sometimes you need to format a paper in other styles, and that would increase or decrease the number of pages.

Here you can choose one of six fonts which are usually enough to calculate the pages for an academic paper: Arial, Colibri, Comic Sans MS, Courier, Times New Roman, and Verdana.

6. The Word Finder

Another typical tool to determine how long is your paper. It’s a fast and convenient way to get the result without difficult calculations.

You have to set the word count, and choose one of six font families and one of five sizes. Don’t forget to set line spacing as well—the wrong setting can increase or decrease the number of pages significantly.

These were the most comfortable and user-friendly words to pages converters. Choose the one you like more but make sure it has all the necessary settings. Only when the converter has your font, size, and spacing settings, you can get the accurate words equivalent to pages.

In this section, we’ll describe the typical format colleges and universities require from students. It’s an important topic for everyone who wants to convert words into pages or vice versa.

The point is:

With the choice of font, margins, size, spacing, type of titles, the number of images, and other settings, your paper takes more or less space.

Fortunately, the most institutions use just one format for academic papers. They’re the same for MLA and APA styles, which is a significant fact for students who aren’t sure in the proper format.

Here’s the list of setting for you to prevent the choice of wrong options:

• Font: Times New Roman
• Size: 12 pt
• Line spacing: Double
• Margins: 1-inch on the top, right, bottom, and left
• Alignment: Left side
• Page numbers: Top left.

These settings are what usually chosen for an essay, but your university may ask to change the style according to their requirements. Make sure you’ve read all the instructions before sending the paper in.

Thousands of words may seem a super challenging point to achieve. What should you write to develop a long constructive paper? Where to find supporting arguments for every paragraph?

If you develop a clear outline and hold to one of four essay types, you can easily write a paper of any length.

In this section, let’s investigate these four most popular types and learn to build strong structures for them.

1. Narrative essay

A narrative essay is a piece of academic writing that focuses on your personal experience and thoughts. It usually takes the shape of a story including important narrative elements such as characters, plot, climax, introduction and conclusion, storyline, and so on.

Here are some principles and tips you should stick to while writing one:

• Have an idea. A narrative essay should link to some current events or issues to make people think about something problematic happening in life. Choose an idea that connects with your readers and present it in your story.
• Try to be neutral. As an author, you should take a neutral position in your story. Don’t try to convince readers and don’t let yourself choose between several points of view. An author should only tell the story and let the readers decide which side to take.
• You can use the first pronouns “I” and “we”. As you’re writing a story, you’re free to use first pronouns. This isn’t a rule but an opportunity to build the plot the way you want it to be.
• Search for stylistic devices to include in your text. Your story should be expressive enough to touch readers’ hearts.

2. Descriptive essay

Another type of academic essay that challenges your writing skills. Its goal is to describe a piece of art, person, place, etc. to portray all the senses the object provokes. This essay type is extremely expressive and should transmit the author’s emotions as well as the looks and physical characteristics.

Here’s a couple of tips to follow:

• Use expressive words. A descriptive essay is similar to painting or coloring—it should show the beauty of an object. To achieve this goal, make your language as expressive as possible. Need some help? You can use Thesaurus to find the most appropriate synonyms.
• Make lists. Although the description usually focuses on one person, place, or object, keep the information about it organized and clear. Unfortunately, it’s too easy to lose your ideas when it comes to actual writing. To prevent it, outline every piece of evidence for your paper.
• Make lists. Although the description usually focuses on one person, place, or object, keep the information about it organized and clear. Unfortunately, it’s too easy to lose your ideas when it comes to actual writing. To prevent it, outline every evidence for your paper.

3. Argumentative essay

The argumentative essay can be called the most popular type as long as it teaches to express your thoughts logically and defend your point of view. These papers are often based on debatable issues and usually divide all students into two groups—those who support the topic and those who argue against it.

Here are some guidelines to handle this type:

• Always make an outline. This type of essay depends on the structure you develop. Remove it—and there’s no way to prove your point of view! Mapping is a great way to organize an essay. Just think about arguments for and against the thesis statement and write them on a piece of paper. Then add any supportive points you have for these topics. In the end, you’ll have a detailed scheme on the issue and can follow it to build your writing.
• Use evidential support. You won’t automatically persuade everyone who reads your paper in your rightness. To prove your point of view, it’s significant to find out which supports can change readers’ opinion and make your arguments powerful.
• Facts and statistics. It’s essential to include proven information in your paper. Use credible sources like Google Scholar to find case studies and reports to use as arguments. Always credit the authors of statistics you use. That’s not only an important rule of academic writing but also a way to convince your readers—the fact you have evidence makes even the most uncertain readers change their mind.
• Organize it logically. Firstly, leave the most powerful evidence for the end. Secondly, use a lot of transition words and make your message clear (remember, that every paragraph should have only one idea). Then, eliminate wordiness and ambiguousness.

4. Expository essay

The last type of essay is the expository one. Its main goal is to inform readers. In contrast to the argumentative, the expository essay doesn’t persuade readers from any point of view. It highlights facts, statistics, historical events, and other knowledge to educate people. The way they deal with the information isn’t the issue the author should tackle.

To write a decent informative essay follow these rules:

• Choose the topic carefully. When you select a topic from a specific list or making up on your own, make sure it is appropriate for your college/university subject and possible for you to speak on. Also, don’t make it too challenging to understand—if you write an essay on the Roman army, there’s no need to describe every campaign it participated in (and the paper isn’t long enough for you to accomplish this goal).
• Develop a clear structure. The knowledge you share should be organized to get to the readers. Make your text is free of ambiguous statements, add transitions words, emphasize certain ideas, and follow the outline.
• Check the facts. Whether you include dates, numbers, terms, statistics, and other facts, make sure you’ve written everything right. Fix all inaccuracies if there are some and proofread all statistics you include in the text.

Now when you know all the four types, let’s learn how to develop a structure appropriate for any of them. Usually, students use a 5-paragraph structure to present the information in a logical and concise way.

Let’s break this structure into paragraphs!

The 1 st paragraph is the introduction. Here you should present the topic, develop a thesis statement, and attract readers’ attention.

To start your essay, use a hook—it can be a quote, rhetorical question, statistics, or anything else that can draw the audience to further reading. Also, devote a lot of time to the thesis statement formulation. It should cover all the aspects of your essay in one sentence.

The 2 nd , 3 rd , and 4 th paragraphs combine to build a powerful body. Here you will provide arguments to prove your thesis statement multiple times.

There are many techniques to present your supportive ideas online. But the key principle is: you should explain only one supportive idea per paragraph. Fill up your outline with facts and statistics to make your paper worth trusting.

The 5 th paragraph is the conclusion. The main rule here—don’t provide any new ideas. This section should only summarize the ideas presented before not replace them with new ones. In the end, combine all these evidence in the final statement.

With this easy structure, you can develop a great essay on any topic. All four essay types can follow this organization perfectly. All you have to do is just fill it with information.

In this article you’ve found the best words to pages converters, learned how to develop a good structure, and knew about different types of essays. We hope these guidelines were helpful for school, college, and university students.

Updated: Oct 25th, 2023

• Essay Structure
• A typical structure for an academic essay
• Traditional Academic Essays in Three Parts
• MLA General Format
• Formatting your essay
• Formatting an Academic Paper
• The essay format

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How Long Is an Essay? The Ultimate Essay Length Guide

It’s safe to say that most students struggle with the word limit within an essay. Sometimes, it’s hard to find ideas for a text and meet the word requirement for every part of the paper. With so many factors influencing essay length, it’s easy to get confused.

Luckily, our custom-writing team has your back. In this article, our custom-writing experts will answer all your questions regarding essay length. We will also help you write papers with an ideal number of words!

📜 Is Essay Length Important?

📏 essay parts: recommended length.

• 🤔 How to Make Essays Shorter or Longer
• 📑 Essay Length & Formatting
• ❓ Different Academic Levels FAQ
• 📚 Essay Length: Different Types
• ⭐ Other Aspects
• 📝 Essay Examples

🔍 References

Often, the phrase “word limit” causes panic among students. After all, if an essay is too long or too short, your grade will be lowered. However, in reality, there’s nothing to worry about. When it comes to words, limitations are beneficial for both the students and the professors.

Let’s see what exactly it means.

Many people believe that the longer an essay is, the better. However, according to Frontiers, research shows that it’s a bias that couldn’t be further from the truth. A perfect-length paper is one that allows students to express their ideas and showcase their knowledge fully while keeping it clean and simple.

What Influences Essay Length

Various factors determine the length of an essay. Here are the most important ones:

Let’s start with the essentials. Usually, assignment length is given as a number of words rather than pages. Unless your supervisor or instructor mentions any specific limitations, it’s acceptable to be 10% below or above the word limit.

It’s also worth knowing the 80/20 rule . According to it, the body should constitute 80% of the text, while the intro and the conclusion take up the remaining 20%.

Keep reading to learn more about the recommended length of each essay part. The main numbers are shown in the table below:

How Long Should an Introduction Be?

An introduction is the first section and the face of your essay. For that reason, it needs to be compelling and well-thought-out. Usually, it consists of 3 to 5 sentences or 50 to 80 words .

An introduction must have a hook, some background information, and a thesis statement. While the attention grabber and the thesis are usually brief, you may need 2 to 3 sentences for the background. To avoid going overboard, try to stay on topic and don’t add any filler.

How Long Is a Body Paragraph in an Essay?

The length of a body paragraph may vary. Sometimes, it can be limited to a single sentence. In other cases, it may take up a whole page. Usually, it’s recommended to have between 80 and 200 words (5-8 sentences) per body paragraph.

Since the paper’s body contains the most information, it’s necessary to explain and support your ideas properly. That’s why it’s no big deal if your body paragraphs go slightly over the word limit.

How Many Body Paragraphs Should Be in an Essay?

Like the word count, the number of paragraphs is determined by the type of paper and its topic. The minimum is 1. Generally, however, the body consists of 3-5 paragraphs , 1 for each argument.

To improve your paper’s structure, ensure that there are as many paragraphs as there are points in your thesis statement. Each one should have a purpose and support your arguments. If there’s any fluff, it’s better to get rid of it.

How Long Should a Conclusion Be?

Like the introduction, the conclusion consists of 50-80 words . It’s essential to keep it simple and only mention the central ideas. A weak concluding sentence may affect the reader’s understanding of the topic and spoil the overall impression of your paper.

🤔 How to Make Essays Shorter or Longer: Best Tips

Undoubtedly the essay’s content is more important than the number of words you use. But there are times when students go more than 10-15% below or over the limit. Is there a solution to this problem?

Yes, there is! In this section, we will share the most useful tips to help you stay on point with your paper’s word count.

How to Make Essays Longer

Since having enough words is essential for a good grade, we’ve collected the best tips that can help you lengthen your essay without teachers noticing:

• Use relevant quotations.  You don’t need to litter your essay with citations, but using them whenever appropriate is a great idea. For instance, if you’re working on a book analysis, referencing a couple of direct quotes from the source text will make your essay more credible and increase the word count.

• Give examples.  Go through the claims in your paper and provide additional evidence where possible. It will make your essay longer and more informative.

• Use transitional expressions.  Adding transition words and phrases is a natural way of increasing the number of words. It will also improve your essay’s readability. 

• Add more references.  Providing references is always a good idea when writing a formal essay. That way, you will increase the number of words and make your paper more credible.

• Work on your descriptions.  If you struggle to develop new ideas, go over what you’ve already written and consider adding some descriptive words. It’s a great idea for creative essays to include more imagery. 

How to Shorten an Essay

Another struggle of academic writing is cutting down the number of words in your essay to meet a set limit. We are here to tell you that it’s not that hard. Writing straightforwardly and keeping your sentences short is a key to concise content. Here are several strategies you may use to tighten a lengthy essay:

• Choose the active voice.  It takes up less space than passive voice. Using it also makes your writing more professional and compelling.

• Remove needless transitions.  Transitions can indeed maintain the flow of the paper. But some transitional phrases can be easily removed.

• Get rid of unnecessary adverbs and adjectives.  Some students tend to overuse adjectives and adverbs. It adds wordiness to their writing.

• Avoid running starts.  Some students like to start their sentences with long phrases like: “there are,” “it is believed,” or “the fact that.” Getting rid of them makes texts much more concise.

• Delete “that.”  In most cases, the word “that” can often be easily removed from texts.

Another cool trick is to use our summarizing tool as essay shortener. Try it out!

📑 How Long Is an Essay Depending on Formatting?

As we mentioned earlier, the essay’s length is usually limited by the number of words. But sometimes, a teacher may ask you to write a specific number of pages. This is trickier because the amount of text you can place on the page depends on the formatting. By using the font size and spacing properly, it’s possible to make the paper visually longer or shorter. Let’s discuss it in more detail.

Essay Spacing: How Does It Affect the Length?

• Adjusting the spacing between lines.  Try to make the changes as slight as possible. For instance, if you were asked to double-space the paper, use 2.1 or 2.2 spacing instead. Another option is to slightly extend spaces between paragraphs.
• Extending the margin size.  You can increase the right and bottom margins by a quarter to make very subtle changes in length. For example, if the margins are 1 inch , you can set them at 1.25 inches instead. 
• Increasing the spacing between characters.  It is less noticeable than the line spacing. Still, try not to overdo it and keep the numbers between 1.2 and 1.5 . 
• Adjusting the footer.  Add a footer with page numbers to stretch the bottom margin even further.
• Lengthening the header.  You can extend your header by adding your name, e-mail address, or other relevant information. Another option is double-spacing it.

Length of an Essay: Font and Size

• Using the right type of font.  If your instructor didn’t specify which font you should use, go for the bigger ones. We suggest Arial, Bangla Sangam MN, Cambria, or Quicksand. They will make your text look longer without being too on the nose.  
• Using a bigger font size.  This is another technique that can come in handy. However, be careful and don’t increase your font by more than 0.1-0.5 pt.  
• Increasing the size of periods and commas.   This is one of the less noticeable tricks you can use. For instance, if your paper’s font is 12 pt. , increase it to 14 pt. only for punctuation marks. Italicizing periods and commas will also add several lines of length to your essay. 

What to Do if There Are No Length Guidelines

Sometimes a teacher sets no word limit for a written work. What to do in that case? Well, first, you can ask your professor to confirm if they have simply forgotten to mention it. But if that’s not the case, here are a couple of helpful solutions:

• Think of the paragraph number.  Sometimes, you may be given the number of paragraphs instead of words. In that case, you can decide on the number of words depending on how many paragraphs you have. 
• Think about the topic’s complexity.  The length of your paper is also directly dependent on the theme. If the topic is simple, 4-5 paragraphs will be enough. A more complex issue may require an in-depth explanation, so your essay can be 6-8 paragraphs long.

❓ Essay Length for Different Academic Levels FAQ

The length of the elementary school essay is usually short. Usually, a paper needs to have around 3-5 paragraphs, with 4-5 sentences per paragraph. Primary school essays can be 1-2 paragraphs long.

The word limit for a middle school essay is usually between 300 to 1000 words. The most common essay length is 500 words, which is about 5 paragraphs. However, it may differ from school to school.

The length of the high school essay may differ depending on the school and the complexity of the task itself. Usually, however, a paper can be between 300 to 1000 words long.

The length of the undergraduate college essay often falls within the range of 1500 to 2100 words. It translates into roughly 5-7 pages. 5 pages is the most common essay length at this level.

When it comes to the graduate school admission essay, the word limit is usually between 500 and 1000 words. It’s possible to go slightly over or below the set limit; however, it’s best to stick to the requirements as close as possible.

📚 How Long Should an Essay Be: Different Types

Now, let’s talk about different types of essays. How long should they be? Keep reading to learn about the length of college essays, short and extended ones, scholarship essays, and research papers.

How Long Is a College Essay?

When it comes to a college essay, it’s more important to stick to the word limit than with any other paper. Some teachers may refuse to read it unless it meets all the requirements.

The shortest limit for a college essay is about 250 words which is the shortest length of a Common App personal statement. It’s also rare to see a good college essay with over 650 words . So, an average piece usually has between 150 and 650 words ; you can go over or below the limit by 50.

How Long Is a Paragraph in College Essays?

A college essay usually consists of 4-5 paragraphs . One paragraph takes about 1/3 of the page, which is roughly 5 sentences . Each sentence corresponds with one of the following components:

• Topic sentence.
• Explanation.
• Transitions.

College Essay Length Requirements: Top 5 Schools

To understand the requirements for a college application essay even better, take a look at the table below. It showcases the top 5 schools and their length criteria for personal statements. Keep it in mind when writing your college essay:

How Long Is a Short Essay?

A short essay is usually 500 words long. Using 12pt Times New Roman font with standard margins and double spacing should result in about 2 pages of text.

Extended Essay Length

An extended essay is different from a short or a standard one. It requires extensive research and thorough explanation. That’s why the upper limit for this kind of essay is 4000 words . In this case, a typical essay length is 3500 words or 18 paragraphs .

Scholarship Essay Length

Generally, scholarship papers have a limit of 500 words , which is 1 page in length. Most scholarship programs provide additional requirements that indicate the minimum number of words or pages. If there are no set limitations, you can stick to the limit.

How Long Is a Research Paper?

Typically, a research paper is between 4000 and 6000 words long. Sometimes, there are shorter papers, which have around 2000 words, or in-depth ones with over 10000 words.

⭐ Other Aspects of Essay Length

When it comes to essay length, many different aspects come into play. Here, we’ve gathered all the essential information regarding an essay’s number of pages, paragraphs, words, and references.

How Many Paragraphs Are in an Essay?

Sometimes, it is more convenient to count paragraphs rather than words. Let’s now figure out how many paragraphs are in essays of different lengths. You may also check out the examples to see what such an essay looks like:

How to Count Paragraphs in an Essay Based on Word Count

You can also count the number of body paragraphs for your essay using the formula below:

Number of body paragraphs (average) = (TWC – TWC*0.16)/100

• TWC – total word count
• 0.16 – an average percentage of total word count for introduction and conclusion
• 100 – an average number of words per paragraph

How Many Pages Are in an Essay?

The number of pages in your essay may vary from subject to subject. But it’s still possible to determine the number of pages based on word count. Check out the numbers below to see the conversions with bonus examples:

You can also use a specialized calculator such as Word Counter to determine a number of pages in your essay.

What Does an Essay Look Like when Typed?

You might be wondering: what do essays of different lengths look like when typed? Well, here’s the table where you can find out the metrics for single- and double-spaced papers.

How Many Pages Are in a Handwritten Essay?

In case you need to turn in a handwritten paper, you should check out the table below.

Counting Words in a Handwritten Essay

If you don’t have enough time to count the words in your handwritten essay one by one, here’s what you can do:

• Count how many words there are in one line. Take the first and last lines and a line in the middle of a page. Let’s say there are 15, 14, and 15 words in them. Then, the average number of words per line is 15.
• Next, count how many lines there are on one page. Let’s say there are 17 lines on a page.
• Take the number of words per line and multiply it by the number of lines per page. In our case, we multiply 15 by 17. So, there are 255 words per page on average.
• Finally, multiply the number of words per page by the number of pages. If your essay has 3 pages, it is approximately 765 words long.

How Long Does it Take to Write an Essay?

It is crucial to know how long writing will take you, especially if you are working on an exam essay or just short on time. Note that you need to consider the time for typing and researching necessary to complete a piece. Research time may vary. Usually, it’s 1-2 hours for 200-250 words .

Below, we’ve gathered the average writing time for average and slower writing speed:

And here are the results in pages:

How Many References Does an Essay Need?

Another essential part of any composition is the reference list. Different academic levels require different references. You’ll find out how many of them should be in your paper in the table below!

📝 Essay Examples: Different Length

Finally, we’ve gathered some excellent sample essays of different lengths. Make sure to check them out!

We also recommend you check out our free essay samples sorted by pages:

• 1-Page Essay Examples
• 2-Page Essay Examples
• 3-Page Essay Examples
• 4-Page Essay Examples
• 5-Page Essay Examples
• 10-Page Essay Examples
• 20-Page Essay Examples
• 30-Page Essay Examples
• 40-Page Essay Examples
• 50-Page Essay Examples

Now you know all about essay length, word limits, and ways to lengthen or shorten your text. If you know other interesting tricks, make sure to share them in a comment! Good luck with your writing assignments!

You may also like:

• How to Write a Process Analysis Essay: Examples & Outline
• How to Write a Precis: Definition, Guide, & Examples 
• How to Write a Critical Analysis Essay: Examples & Guide
• How to Write a Narrative Essay Outline: Template & Examples
• How to Write a Formal Essay: Format, Rules, & Example
• Word Limits and Assignment Length: Massey University
• The Paragraph in the College Essay: California State University, Long Beach
• Introductions & Conclusions: The University of Arizona Global Campus
• How Long Should a Paragraph Be?: Daily Writing Tips
• Paragraphing (Length Consistency): Purdue University
• Hitting the Target Word Count in Your College Admission Essay: Dummies.com
• How Long Should Your College Essay Be? What is the Ideal Length?: College Vine
• Writing Personal Statements Online: Issues of Length and Form: Penn State University
• Pen Admissions: Essays: University of Pennsylvania
• Essay Questions: University of Michigan
• Essay Structure: Harvard University
• Components of a Good Essay: University of Evansville
• Write Your Essay: UNSW Sydney
• College Writing: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 21 Helpful and Easy Tips to Make an Essay Longer: Seventeen
• How to Make a College Paper Longer: ThoughtCo
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Words to Pages Converter

In some cases, it is very useful to know the number of words a page includes. It is considered that a page of a single-spaced text comprises 600 words, and that of a double-spaced text - 300 words. However, this is just an approximate number. A word count of one page depends on various issues such as a font and its size, spacing items, margins, the length of paragraphs, etc. Certainly, one cannot mind all these factors when defining the number of words on a page. Still, if to take the indicated factors into consideration, one will manage to determine a more precise number of words per page than just a rough figure indicated above, i.e. 300/600 words.

How to use our converter

Our pages to words calculator online will help you identify a correct word count of one page if detailed information about the type is available. For instance, in order to make correct calculations, you may select one of the 8 popular fonts:

• Times New Roman
• Comic Sans MS
• Verdana Myriad Pro

You can also define the spacing:

Finally, you can pick the font size, 12pt, 14pt (mostly used for essays), 16pt or 18pt.

If you enter the aforementioned data in a specific calculator, the program will help you determine an exact number of words a page should include. Additionally, such a calculator can specify the number of pages you have written in case the word count is known.

Using this words to pages converter you would get known dependence between any amount of words to pages. We have created this converter using the most popular fonts in academic writings. Also, it can be useful when you need to find how many words per page should novel or book include.

We do everything possible to improve our calculators. Still, we cannot guarantee that the obtained results will be perfectly accurate. The calculator processes the entered data to determine as the exact figure as possible. Nevertheless, it is just an approximate number. Such factors as the length of paragraphs and margin spacing will most likely change the outcome. Anyway, by using our calculator, it will be much easier for you to determine a more precise number of pages written and that of words a page contains in comparison with the rule of thumb.

Mid-Terms.com is famous custom writing company. We offer any type of academic writings for the decent price. Here you can check prices per page for an essay . Also, you can proceed to order form and check our another order types.

Defining the Number of Pages

The data presented below are the calculations made by using Times New Roman 12pt font size, double spacing:

• What number of pages do 250 words equal? - 250 words equal about 0.83 pages.
• What number of pages do 300 words equal? - 300 words equal about 1 page.
• What number of pages do 500 words equal? - 500 words equal about 1.7 pages.
• What number of pages do 750 words equal? - 750 words equal about 2.5 pages.
• What number of pages do 900 words equal? - 900 words equal about 3 pages.
• What number of pages do 1000 words equal? - 1000 words equal about 3.4 pages.
• What number of pages do 1250 words equal? - 1250 words equal about 4.2 pages.
• What number of pages do 1500 words equal? - 1500 words equal about 5 pages.
• What number of pages do 2000 words equal? - 2000 words equal about 6.8 pages.
• What number of pages do 2500 words equal? - 2500 words equal about 8.3 pages.
• What number of pages do 3000 words equal? - 3000 words equal about 10 pages.
• What number of pages do 3500 words equal? - 3500 words equal about 11.67 pages.
• What number of pages do 4000 words equal? - 4000 words equal about 13.3 pages.
• What number of pages do 4500 words equal? - 4500 words equal about 15 pages.
• What number of pages do 5000 words equal? - 5000 words equal about 16.7 pages.
• What number of pages do 6000 words equal? - 6000 words equal about 20 pages.
• What number of pages do 7500 words equal? - 7500 words equal about 25 pages.
• What number of pages do 8000 words equal? - 8000 words equal about 26.67 pages.
• What number of pages do 9000 words equal? - 9000 words equal about 30 pages.
• What number of pages do 10000 words equal? - 10000 words equal about 34 pages.
• What number of pages do 12000 words equal? - 12000 words equal about 40 pages.
• What number of pages do 14000 words equal? - 14000 words equal about 46.67 pages.
• What number of pages do 15000 words equal? - 15000 words equal about 50 pages.

Determining the Number of Words per Page

• What number of words does one page include? It includes about 300 words.
• What number of words do two pages include? Two pages include about 600 words.
• What number of words do three pages include? Three pages include about 900 words.
• What number of words do four pages include? Four pages include about 1200 words.
• What number of words do five pages include? Five pages include about 1500 words.
• What number of words do ten pages include? Ten pages include about 3000 words.
• What number of words do fifteen pages include? Fifteen pages include about 4500 words.
• What number of words do twenty pages include? Twenty pages include about 6000 words.
• What number of words do twenty-five pages include? Twenty-five pages include about 7500 words.
• What number of words do thirty pages include? Thirty pages include about 9000 words.
• What number of words do forty pages include? Forty pages include about 12000 words.
• What number of words do fifty pages include? Fifty pages include about 15000 words.
• What number of words do seventy-five pages include? Seventy-five pages include about 22500 words.
• What number of words do one hundred pages include? One hundred of pages include about 30000 words.

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