word count at end of essay

How-To Geek

How to insert a word count into your word document.

Word tracks certain summary information about documents, such as the number of words in a document.

Word tracks certain summary information about documents, such as the number of words in a document. If you want to display the number of words contained in your document in the document itself that you can quickly update, this is easily accomplished.

To insert a word count in your document, place the cursor at the point in the document where you want to insert the word count and click the “Insert” tab.

In the “Text” section of the “Insert” tab, click the “Quick Parts” button. If your Word window is not wide enough to display “Quick Parts” next to the appropriate button, click the button with the icon to which the mouse cursor is pointing in the following image.

Select “Field” from the drop-down menu.

On the “Field” dialog box, select “Document Information” from the “Categories” drop-down box.

Click on “NumWords” in the “Field names” list on the left.

The “Format” and “Numeric format” lists allow you to specify the format for the field being inserted. However, for the number of words, you don’t need to apply any formatting so don’t select anything from those lists. Click “OK” to insert the field into the document.

The number of words in your document is inserted at the cursor. Once you add or delete words in your document, you can update the word count by right-clicking on the word count number, and selecting “Update Field” from the popup menu.

NOTE: When the cursor is in word count number, the number is highlighted in gray because the number is a field.

If you have other fields in your document you want to update, you can update all of them at once by pressing "Ctrl + A" to select the whole document (minus any headers, footers, footnotes, or endnotes) and then pressing "F9". To update fields in headers, footers, footnotes, and endnotes, you must open those parts of the document and update the fields in them separately.

You can also insert other document properties into your Word document, including built-in and custom properties .

What to do When You’re Over Word Count

• Sasha Chada
• April 29, 2022

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You’ve written a great essay, finished editing, and are proud of what you’ve accomplished. It tells the story of you, as a person and scholar, and shows you in a great light. But when you go to put it into the Common App, your essay is over the allotted word count, and won’t fit. What do you do?

The essays you’ll have to write for colleges have a strict word count (generally, some schools use alternate methods, but all restrict your space in some way; Rutgers, for example, counts your letters). This is often a challenge for our students, who either struggle to meet the word count or, more often, struggle to cut their essays to fit it.

In this article, we’ll share tips and tricks for cutting essays to fit into a strict word count, and a few for making sure your essays aren’t too short.

Paring Down

The first thing to be aware of is that strict wordcount edits is one of the final steps when editing an essay. We recommend your essays stay within 20-30 words of the limit if you’re over in draft form, but it’s fine to play with the extra space while drafting. Paying strict attention to your word count while writing can limit your creativity, but you should be tangentially aware of it. If your final draft is more than 100 words over the count, you may need to lose an entire paragraph.

Here’s our quick guide to how much you’ll likely need to cut based on how far you are over the word count:

• 200+ Words over: Long paragraphs, consider reformatting the essay entirely.
• 100+ Words over: Paragraphs, possibly sections of longer paragraphs.
• 50+ Words over: Several sentences, sections of paragraphs.
• 20+ Words over: Sentences.
• Less than 10 words over: Individual words.

Cutting Paragraphs

If you need to cut entire paragraphs, you may need to reconsider the structure of your essay as a whole. Read through each paragraph and determine: a) how it contributes to the essay as a whole, and b) whether it is necessary for the structure of the essay. 

Print out a copy of your essay, and read through it, while writing beside each paragraph what the main point is, and how it builds on the story of the essay. If you can’t answer those questions, you can cut that paragraph without hurting the overall story you’re telling.

If you find that some parts of a paragraph are necessary, but most are extraneous, then cut what isn’t needed, and leave the remainder either as a stand-alone paragraph, or fold it into another paragraph where it will fit well. 

Cutting Sentences

This is similar in some ways to cutting paragraphs, but on a smaller scale. If you’ve done the exercise with paragraphs, you know what each is saying about your journey through the essay, and how it contributes to the overall message. Now, when reading through a single paragraph, see how each sentence within it contributes to what the paragraph is saying.

Does this sentence add necessary detail, advance the audience’s understanding of what you experienced, or share development you underwent? How does this sentence add to the overall story told by the paragraph?

Sentences which add unnecessary details or repeat information you’ve already stated can be cut. Look for redundancies in detail, language, or phrasing; never say the same thing twice in one paragraph. Repeating information lessens its impact when you have limited verbal real estate.

You may only have to cut one sentence, or you may have to cut several through the essay. Either way, this is an easier way to bring an essay down to word count than cutting individual words, as you remove larger pieces at once.

Cutting Words

Oddly, this is the most difficult of the cutting options, because words affect the flow and tempo of a sentence; a well crafted sentence has a natural flow and cadence, and the reader speaks it aloud in their mind. Removing words can interrupt this flow, like a boulder in a stream, which makes choosing how and where to cut words challenging. 

The first thing to look for is redundancies, where several words say the same thing in a sentence. While redundant adjectives can be used to prove a point, unless this is an overarching theme in your essay, these are the first and easiest to cut.

Next, look for places where you use many words which can be rephrased using fewer. This is a difficult concept to grasp just from reading it, so we’ve included some examples below:

• Then I realized what I’d been missing the entire time
• The lessons of the sea, once learnt, are unforgettable.
• I saw two roads diverge before me, each leading to something I desperately wanted.

This is not a good technique to cut many words, but is instead to make the final push, and take an essay that’s almost at the proper word count down to where it needs to be. This should only be done after cutting sentences or paragraphs, as it isn’t a good way to cut more than 5-10 words from an essay.

A final note: If you are using Google Docs to draft your essay, it will count hyphenated words as a single word, whereas the Common App will count them as two. Be aware of this when trying to cut an essay down to size.

What if You’re Under Word Count?

This depends on how far under word count you are. If you’re within 50 words of the limit, you’re fine not exactly meeting the word count, so long as your essay is solid. Don’t disrupt a strong essay by trying to exactly meet a word count.

If you’re more than 100 words under the limit, you should consider the structure of your essay. Have you said everything that needs to be said? Are details clear without being overwhelming? Does your essay transition naturally from one paragraph to the next? Is there anything unclear or under-explained? 

These are all places where adding more detail can help. Your essay should flow naturally, and not leave readers confused at the end of it. Transitions link paragraphs naturally, and shouldn’t be sudden or jarring.

Finally, consider your use of adjectives; can you use more of them to spice up your essay and give it more personality? Adjectives help define the tone and mood of an essay; processions may be somber or lively, victory triumphant or bitter-sweet. Adjectives help convey your emotions and thoughts on what’s being discussed to the reader. Don’t over use them, but including them in key places reinforces the message of the essay.

Final Thoughts

Not every college has strict word count requirements for their essays (notably MIT, though they do ask you to limit excesses of the pen), but the majority do. Making an essay fit within the allotted word count is a challenge, and that’s part of the test colleges set by giving the essays. They want to know you can express yourself, and do it well, and importantly do it concisely. Using a few words to say a lot is a skill, and one that colleges like to see.

If you’re having trouble even starting your essay, check out our article here . We know college essays can be stressful, as they are like nothing else you’ve written before, and unlike anything else you’ll write again. If you want further guidance on college essays, or anything else in the admissions process, schedule a free consultation today. We’re always eager to help students get into the college that’s best for them.

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APA 7th Edition Referencing Guide: Formatting your assignment

• Reference managers
• Staff guidelines
• Formatting your assignment
• Printable guides
• Interactive learning activities
• Turnitin Similarity Report
• Getting your reference list checked

Check your course module outline, or ask your tutor how they would like your assignments formatted.  If you can't find this information, then the below guidelines have been taken from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association: The Official Guide to APA Style (7th ed.) (the Manual) to assist you.

Quick links

* { box-sizing: border-box; } .row { display: flex; } .column { flex: 50%; padding: 10px; height: }.

All papers should have a title page (you may have been provided a template in your module outline). All pages should be numbered (top right corner) and often you are expected to include your student ID number on each page too.  If you are handing in a paper copy, you may need to ensure you only print on one side of the page (check your tutor's preferences).

All margins (top, bottom, left, and right) should be 2.54 cm (this is the default 'normal' setting on Word).  However, some tutors might like your left margin to be much bigger (e.g. 4 cm) to allow for marking.  Also, if you are intending to get your assignment bound, you need to allow space on the left-hand margin to allow for this.

The entire paper should be double spaced, except:

• Elements of the title page (not relevant for undergraduates)
• The body of tables, figures and images will depend on the presentation of the data.
• Displayed equations

Postgraduate students and those of you publishing your work, refer to the Manual for specific information.

APA style allows for a range of accessible fonts to be used, but be consistent and use the same font throughout your paper.  However, it would be advisable to stick to 11-point Calibri or 11-point Arial throughout your assignments.

Paragraph alignment and indentation

Text should be aligned left, so that your right margin has an uneven "ragged" look. D on't use full justification, otherwise your words will be unevenly spaced across the page.

Indent the first line of every paragraph by using the tab key.

• Level 1 headings should be centred and bold.
• Level 2 headings should be left-aligned and bold
• Level 3 headings should be left-aligned and bold italic

See the Manual for further information.

Appendices contain material that supplements your paper, but would be distracting or inappropriate to include within the body of your text.  For example, if you interview someone for your research, you might want to include the transcript of the interview in an appendix.

Appendices go at the very end of your assignment after references, footnotes, tables, and figures.  Begin each appendix on a new page and provide a label and title for each.  If you only have one, label it Appendix. If you have more than one, label each with a capital letter e.g. "Appendix A", "Appendix B", in the order mentioned in the text. (Note, each appendix needs to be mentioned at least once within the text by its label, e.g. "see Appendix A".)  Labels should be bold and centred.  The appendix title should describe its contents and also be bold and centred, but on a separate line from the label.  Use title case for both the label and title.

Appendix A (label)

Analysis of Speech Fragments (title)

Content of appendix formatted the same as the body of the assignment.

According to the Manual, your word count should include the entire document from the title page to the appendices.  However, for the purposes of an assignment, we would only expect your word count to include the text (and in text citations) of the body of your work, not the title page, contents page, reference list or appendices.  As always, double check with your tutor to find out their preference.

Italicising foreign words

The APA Guide requires any words in a language that the intended reader is not familiar with to be written in italics. However, this is something you can use your judgement on. If you are uncomfortable about italicising 'foreign' words, or think your intended reader/s will be offended by it, you do not have to.

Wintec will always place cultural appropriateness above a formatting requirement.

Please note: Te Reo Māori is an official language of New Zealand. It is not a foreign language.

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• Last Updated: Mar 26, 2024 1:51 PM
• URL: https://libguides.wintec.ac.nz/APA/current

10 Ways to Increase Your Essay Word Count (AI Included)

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One of the biggest challenges students face is writing long-form essays of 2,000 words or more.

Someone brought this up at a recent webinar I attended, and I couldn't help but think back to my freshman year. Several years ago, I had to write a long essay on an interesting but unfamiliar subject. It took me a lot longer than it should.

After writing hundreds of articles, essays and reports, I've developed my own list of 'smart hacks' to help increase word count on any written piece. 

Instantly increase your word count with this FREE AI tool > Instantly increase your word count with this FREE AI tool >

Let's dive into the word count expansion strategies I use today when I write various texts.

How NOT to increase word count

Adding fluff words.

Adding meaningless words only confuses the core arguments and distracts the evaluator. Whatever merit your actual content may have had will be obscured by a mountain of meaningless words.

The sentence in my essay read,

"Violent acts by adults are often caused by childhood exposure to violence.".  

If I try to forcedly add fluff words to expand the text, my sentence would sound stretched:

“Violent acts are often associated with the fact that adults who commit violent acts - acts that are seen as savage, harsh, rough, physically abusive, or otherwise unacceptable in society - have been exposed to similar harsh or extreme violence during their childhoods or when they were young”.

Voice and tone

Although passive voice makes a sentence longer, I have found that my writing is much sharper when I use active voice. Also, do not confuse the need to use a formal or academic tone with passive voice.

Quoting without context

This one is like digging yourself into a hole. I quoted so many out-of-context references that I found my essay running on all sorts of tangents. After spending hours trying to connect the dots between the tangents, I ended up having to rewrite the entire piece because I was unable to justify the distracting content. 

Mindless paraphrasing

You hear it from your professor, and spew it back at her. Mindlessly repeating content in different sections of an essay - as if your teacher wouldn't notice, won't really help you ace your courses.

Even more mistakes

After asking some of my classmates, I found out that some of them had resorted to even worse hacks that eventually got them in trouble:

• Using filler words - In order to fill more pages, some diverge from the specified format and increase fonts, margins, and spacing. You will lose credibility if you do this, and you will also lose points if you deviate from the writing style specified.
• Plagiarism - Plagiarizing large chunks from others' essays or research papers was not only seen as lazy, but it was a fast way from a not-so-great grade to a failed grade.
• Other sneaky tricks - These included whitening out gibberish text and increasing the size of periods. Teachers have seen it all and know every trick in the book.

The right way to increase word count

Eventually, my word count increased in a way that makes each word actually count (pardon the pun), and it turns out there are some pretty cool tricks to do that.

With the right tools and techniques, you spend less time on the heavy lifting, more time on the actual writing, and at the end of the day, you have a much more comprehensive essay that is a delight to read. 

1. Use an AI writing tool

Skip the manual paraphrasing and use a smart AI writing tool. For example, I added almost 50 words to a 125-word paragraph using Wordtune’s text expand feature .

How to add more sentences to a paragraph

One method to expand your word count is to find short paragraphs and adding more sentences that clarify what they mean. This task used to be pretty frustrating, but with the use of AI it's made simple. Start by going over the essay, and notice if there's a paragraph that stands out in terms of being lean and overly simplified. Paste that paragraph into the Wordtune editor, and click the 'Plus' icon.

You'll be able to expand the article in any number of ways, including adding a statistical fact, a joke, example, analogy, or a simple continuation of your idea. Then, simply scroll through the different suggestions that AI produces, and find the best one.

2. Take advantage of outlines

It may seem counter-intuitive, but completing your outline can help you meet your word count goal.

Say you need to turn a 200-word article into a 1,500-word essay. Make an outline of the article before trying to tackle this seemingly impossible task of writing the whole piece.This will give you a clearer picture of how your entire thesis works and how to logically support it.

As an example, suppose we're writing an essay on why kids shouldn't play phone games.

To begin, you need to summarize your message in a few sentences. For example:

‍ “Kids have susceptible brains, and games can change the whole chemistry of their brains in a bad way, causing them to go off on tantrums and screaming fits. Moreover, these games form addictive habits that will persist when the kids become older. By continuing to play phone games, the kids fail to develop emotionally, and may become unsocial introverted people. Moreover, there are signs that games make kids more violent and emotionally unstable. Since phones are always at reach, kids can continuously play throughout the day, not stopping even when eating lunch or when attending a school class.”

Before expanding it, write an outline to get a sense of its structure and flow. As a result, you can easily determine how much text is needed for each section, which ones require expanded text, and which ones can be kept brief.  This clarity not only helps me reduce anxiety, but also gives me a clear plan of action to finish this essay!

For example, for the paragraph on video games, my outline would look something like this:

Introduction (include statistics and research to argue that video games are harmful for kids) and state the thesis (250 words) Negative effects of video games on children: first build larger categories and then substantiate with smaller points, evidence and data within each point: - Effects on emotional development (200 words) - Effects on physical development (200 words) - Effects on social development (200 words) - Effects on intellectual development (200 words) Give counter-views Cite research that talks about potential positive effects of video games, if used the proper way and under supervision (250 words) Give solutions State why parents find it so hard to keep kids away from video games, especially mobile video games, and offer concrete solutions to set better boundaries with kids for video game usage (250 words) Conclusion Offer a strong conclusion that brings all of the essay together in a summary (250 words)

Note that I’ve planned to write a few hundred more words than the prescribed word limit, so I have scope to edit and tighten later on. 

3. Expand your text with intros and conclusions

I use this method all the time to get unstuck and write longer articles without worrying about word counts.

Let's say you finish expanding your outline, and the article is still short a few hundred words.

Two places you should consider expanding are the introduction and conclusion.

How does this work?

• In the introduction and conclusion, you can add free-flowing stories, ideas and paragraphs, without having to validate each sentence with technical reference, sources and quotes.
• You can use anecdotes, personal experiences, news articles, and research findings to introduce your topic, or to close it.
• You can also go into detail about why you were motivated to explore the topic in more depth and why it has helped you to develop your argument. We wrote about essay hooks in more detail here, so be sure to check it out.
• Remind readers why this entire argument matters at the human level in the conclusion. This is done by repeating the topic, the core of your argument, and why you have justified your thesis. 

Add these elements to your introduction and conclusion, and you will quickly reach your essay quota.

Here's an example from the Wordtune blog of an anecdote placed as part of the intro:

4. Use examples to illustrate your point

It is always helpful to provide examples to illustrate complex academic or technical points. As well as adding color and descriptiveness to your own words, examples help your arguments come to life in a way that academic writing cannot. Having read several essays about the same topic, your evaluator will probably find it enjoyable to read something more creative and genuine. 

Examples also help readers visualize your narrative. The situations can be real or imagined, but they must be authentic, relatable, and most importantly, relevant to your topic. Providing examples from your real-life experience will demonstrate to the teacher that you understand your topic.

I started this article by describing my experience as a freshman. The challenges I faced as a student are similar to those you are currently facing, so sharing my journey will help you learn from my mistakes.

5. Invest in serious research 

Research is the most effective way to increase a paper's word count. 

The more research you conduct, the more ideas, perspectives, and information you have to base your arguments on. 

Research takes time and effort, which you may or may not have. 

Here's where my smart tools come into play.

No matter how long a paper is, Wordtune Read will give you all the key highlights.

The following is a composite screenshot of how Wordtune Read summarized the effects of video games on children from a long and complex article. The key highlights on the right help you distill the core messages of the research in minutes, condensing hours of reading into minutes.

In just a few steps, you can add at least two supporting arguments or stats for each point you have in your outline. And just like that, you have several hundred very relevant words, added almost effortlessly to your essay.

6. Ask 'Why' questions

At this stage, the research has already provided you with some solid perspectives, but there's nothing like adding some original perspectives to the existing body of research. Asking ‘why’ questions is an effective way to do this. In addition to strengthening your arguments, it will also enhance your essay with relevant and original content.

Think back to the example of the negative effects of video games on children. Let's say one of the arguments you have is "phone games cause emotional issues". Use a series of 'why' questions to dig deeper into the text. 

Ask questions like: "why is that true?", "Why is it important?", etc. For each answer, ask another why question and develop some original angles based on the insights that may emerge. 

While it beats manual paraphrasing in terms of speed, I felt it also improved the overall quality of the writing.

7. Address the counter view

It's a foolproof way to score brownie points with tutors and also add some value - and word count - to your essay. 

Counter views or counterpoints are positions diametrically opposed to your own.

I argue, for example, that video games negatively affect children in the essay about video games. There is always some literature available (and there is always some literature available) on the counter-side of why and under what circumstances video games can actually have a positive impact on children. I am able to write a pretty solid section on that topic. 

By balancing the pros and cons of both arguments, I will also be able to bridge the two points of view.

Just like that, you've added about 200 words to your essay!

8. Use quotes and references

While the bibliography section doesn’t usually count towards the overall essay word count, there are some easy tricks you can use to maximize the references. Once you are done with the essay, run through your list of citations and find interesting quotes that you may have missed, which you can now incorporate.

9. Get feedback from a friend

If you're like me, working on the same essay for a long time with complete immersion means you develop blind spots to obvious misses and flaws in your text. This could be especially problematic for non-native English speakers .

Ask a trusted friend or peer to look over your essay again. Share your essay on Gdoc with your friends and find out if they spot something that seems missing, out of place, or that stands out like a sore thumb.

Also, ask them to question your assumptions in the essay - this may give you new angles and perspectives to explore, thus expanding the word count even further.

Your friends will help you find the problematic paragraphs in your writing and make them more concise and effective .

10. Add text while editing

Once you have finished writing your essay, you can use the review stage to edit and add text to your essay.

This is another great opportunity to use your AI writing tool, and get suggestions for ways to make your sentences more fluent . You can also replace superfluous words with stronger vocabulary, and pick alternative ways to word sentences that contain repetitive words.

Try and spot long, convoluted sentences and break them up to smaller sentences.

Keep it long and interesting

Essays that meet the prescribed criteria, including word count, indicate to your teachers that you not only possess subject matter knowledge, but also writing, grammar, logic, research, and communication skills.

You can find interesting angles even in the most mundane sounding topics if you challenge yourself to do the work and not worry too much about the word count. With the 11 smart hacks - including use of the smart writing tools - essay writing and meeting the specified word count becomes much easier! 

Learning how to expand a text in an interesting way - and not just by adding fluff - makes you a better writer regardless of the format - essays, reports, statements of purpose - even books! 

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How to Increase your Essay's Word Count

It happens. You pour your heart out to write the perfect college essay. You've included everything you could possibly think of in your work. Before you submit your magnificent piece of writing, you enter the essay into a word counter.

And there it is: You've come up short on your word count .

Whether it's a college application, a scholarship essay, or a report for class, word counts can be daunting sometimes. And when you come up short, there are solutions available to bulk up your writing.

This article will help you find ways to add to your word count without sacrificing on the quality of your work.

1. Know your Goal and How to Measure It Accurately

Is the requirement 800–1000 words? Is it 500 words maximum? Knowing the exact word goal is crucial when beginning to write, especially for something as important as a college entrance essay or a scholarship competition. Always be sure to read the detailed requirements for each assignment.

It's also important to use an accurate word counter for essays to calculate your word count. Find a reliable online tool to help you track your word count as you're working so you can have peace of mind that you're creating something that fits the requirements you've been given.

Once you've figured out what word count you're aiming for, it's common to look for some short cuts to help estimate your word count as you work. Some writers ask, " How many pages is 1,000 words? ". Although this varies with font type, font size, and spacing choices, generally speaking, double-spaced, typed fonts provide about 250 words per page.

Remember this is just a general rule. Always verify with a word counter before you submit a piece of writing such as a college essay.

2. Be Aware of What NOT To Do

When writers fall short of word counts, they sometimes add filler words that don't improve the quality of the writing at all. Adding pointless fillers will instead make the writing weaker.

Does the following sound familiar?

You add a few more random words, ask yourself, "How many words is this now?", check it in a word counter, and then repeat this process until you've reached the desired word count.

Though I've been guilty of this myself once or twice, this is NOT the way to properly bulk up your essay.

Being wordy in your writing does not make you appear more intelligent. If you start adding miscellaneous words to your essays, it becomes very, very, very, very obvious to your reader. (See what I did there?) It would be really, really redundant and repetitive and even more redundant to just add extra words that essentially mean the same thing. (See. I did it again.)

What you choose to add to your writing needs to be high quality and necessary. This next hint will help you add words that will enhance your writing instead of hurting it.

3. Reread Your Essay and Dig Deeper

There are many ways to add quality content to your essays that will increase your word count while still improving your work. Here are some ways to dig deeper into your writing:

Add More Details

Look for places where you might have been vague and clarify. Remember to always try to show—don't tell .

For example, let's say you previously wrote: "My feet were cold."

Can you show us "cold"? Perhaps add details to explain: "My toes were tingling and numb from the chilling, icy snow that was seeping into my tattered shoes."

These details add to your word count while painting a clear picture for your reader.

Offer an Example

If it's appropriate, offer an example.

In a college application essay, you might state, "I have won several awards." However, it's more powerful to provide an example of a specific award that has a deeper meaning: "Winning the most improved player award for volleyball was a proud moment for me. It celebrated how far I had come and how hard I had to work to become a better player for myself and my teammates."

Support Arguments with More Facts and Quotes

Find areas where you are trying to make a point, and back these statements up with more detail. Is there a quality fact you can add to support your case? Is there a great quote from an expert that will help? Adding more solid evidence to your argument can help make your opinion stronger and more supported.

Change Up Your Introduction and Conclusion

The beginning and end of your essay tend to be more flexible than the body. If you feel the body of your essay is already well-supported and doesn't need more information, perhaps it's time to rework the intro or the conclusion . Is there an interesting story you can tell? Is there a way to wrap things up that is more compelling and ties your thoughts together in a more coherent way?

4. Ask a Peer for Help

Sometimes we can't see the gaps in our own writing, so asking a friend to help out can be useful.

Have your friend read through your piece and ask him for feedback. What isn't clear? What needs more explanation? What other questions does he have for you?

These questions can help guide you to places where you can expand and provide more details.

Getting an accurate word count is important for writing college essays and qualifying for scholarship opportunities. But you shouldn't just add any words to help you meet the required length; instead, make sure you're adding quality words to balance essay length with essay quality.

Using the tips mentioned above, you will be on your way to adding the bulk you need to reach your word count and improving your writing by crafting more details and clarifications that will ultimately produce a better piece of writing.

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Essay Word Counter

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What Is Essay Word Counter?

An essay word counter is a simple yet powerful tool that has the ability to quickly count the number of characters and words within an essay. While the primary goal of an essay word counter is to measure characters and words, this tool allows you to determine the number of sentences and paragraphs that your essay consists of.

If you're tasked with reading your essay aloud in front of a classroom, this online word counter can help you prepare by providing you with an estimated speaking time and reading time. If you're asking yourself "How do I count the words in my essay?", plugging your essay into an online word counter will allow you to receive nearly instantaneous results.

Benefits of Using This Tool Compared to Alternatives

Online word counter tools offer the functionality you need to determine what your current essay word count is. There are several additional tools that can provide you with similar functionality, which include Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and PDF documents. Even though all of these alternatives allow users to measure the word count and character count for their essay, they lack many of the extra features that set the online tool apart from the competition.

Wordcounter vs Microsoft Word

When comparing this online word counter to Microsoft Word, the online word counter allows users to paste any kind of text into the box. Even if the text comes from a PDF file, it can be easily copied into the word counter. Among all of the alternatives for an essay word counter, Microsoft Word may be the most comprehensive of the three. Along with measuring the number of words, it can also count characters, pages, lines, and paragraphs. The main issue with Word, however, is that it's less intuitive than using an online tool.

When you click on word count in Microsoft Word, you'll be provided with data on the lines, paragraphs, words, and other aspects of your essay. However, the word count extends to every page of the Word document. To identify the number of words and characters in a specific section, you'll need to highlight the section and select the word count option again.

Wordcounter vs Google Docs

As for Google Docs, this tool doesn't display a status bar that tells you how many words are present in the document. To receive an updated word count, you must select the "Tools" tab that's found in the "Menu" section. From here, you'll be able to select "Word Count". When compared to the online word checker tool, Google Docs doesn't include information about how many sentences are in your essay or the frequency of a specific word.

Wordcounter vs PDF Tool

When it comes to a PDF document, you'll find that these documents are similar to Google Docs in that they don't include a status bar. You're also unable to access any kind of menu that allows you to view the word count of the essay you're writing. There are two distinct options for identifying the word count in your essay. First, you can convert the PDF file into what's known as the Rich Text Format, which makes it easier for you to count the words. You could also upload the file directly into this online word counter, which will give you an accurate word total.

The primary benefit of using the online word counter tool is that there are a number of exclusive features like speaking time and reading time that can't be found in other tools like Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

Essay Length Best Practices

Whether you're writing an essay for a high school class or for graduate school, there are some best practices that can guide you through the process and help you write the best essay. The most important element of writing an essay is getting the length right. If the essay is too long, there's a good chance it isn't as succinct and direct as it should be. The essay length guidelines you should adhere to include:

High school essay

The average essay word count for a high school essay is 300-1,000 words. Most high school essays are five paragraphs long with an introductory paragraph, three total body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph.

College admission essay

This essay should be around 200-650 words long. Along with having a set word limit, these essays should include a look at your motivations and interests.

Undergraduate essay

This essay can be around 1,500-5,000 words long. The content and length depend on the college and program you're entering.

Graduate admission essay

An admission essay should be 500-1,000 words in length. Make sure you include a lengthy personal statement that details your motivations and academic achievements.

Graduate school essay

This extended essay word count is usually around 2,500-6,000 words. The assignment you receive depends on the course you're in. Most graduate-level essays are lengthy and can involve research papers.

IB extended essay

The IB extended essay word count is 4,000 words. This essay is mandatory for every student of the International Baccalaureate program and is based on independent research.

How to Increase Your Essay Word Count

Add Examples

Skim through your essay looking for any place you have used an example to make a point. In most cases, you should be able to provide additional examples which will make your essay stronger by showing your understanding of the topic while also increasing the word count. You can also go through the essay and look for statements made where inserting an example would be appropriate to help support the statement.

Address Different Viewpoints

An effective way of increasing word count and improving your essay at the same time is to address different viewpoints to your own. You have the opportunity to discuss how these alternative viewpoints differ from the conclusions you have made, and it gives you an opportunity to explain why you believe your conclusions are superior. This shows you have considered a range of different opinions while coming to your conclusions, and in doing so make your essay stronger while adding more words.

Clarify Statements

When you find the statements in your writing, if inserting an example doesn’t make sense, then clarifying the statement may be appropriate. This can be achieved by inserting one or more specific statements to clarify the original one. A common way to do this is to follow the statement with, “In other words…” It’s important not to over-clarify statements or use this for every statement you write as it will begin to look like filler, but using it sporadically throughout your essay can increase the word count and show you perfectly understand the points you’re trying to make.

Find Additional Sources

Another way to improve your essay and increase word count is to find additional sources you haven’t previously mentioned which support the statements and conclusions you have made. The more sources you have, the stronger the essay will be in most cases. Spending some time searching for additional sources to add to the essay can be a great way to add quality content to it.

Use Quotations

Chances are you already have appropriate quotations in your essay, and if that’s the case, skip over this suggestion. Adding more will likely not add to your essay. If you haven’t used any, however, finding appropriate quotations from experts in the field that support your statements can be an excellent way to add words to your essay while improving it at the same time.

Rework Introduction and Conclusion

If all of the above haven’t enabled you to reach your word count minimum and you need some filler, look to put it in your introduction and conclusion rather than the body of the essay. Most teachers give more leeway with the introduction and conclusion to be wordy than the guts of the essay. This is something you should try to avoid if at all possible (it’s never good to be wordier than you have to be), but if you tried everything else, it’s better to do it in these two places than in the heart of the essay.

If you’re writing an essay which has a minimum page count instead of a minimum word count, the above suggestions will work, but you have a bit more wiggle room as well. You can make slight adjustments to the font and font size you use through a Words per Page Counter . As long as you don’t go overboard, this can be a relatively easy way to increase page count while not taking away from the essay.

(Photo courtesy of Caleb Roenigk )

I hate it when teachers give a word count. Word count shouldn’t matter at all. It should be the quality of the writing. If I can get my point across in 1000 words, why do I need to write 2500? It makes no sense at all.

You have never been a teacher. If you ever are, you will know why we give word counts.

That’s a lazy answer. Students who write well shouldn’t be punished with a word count because other students aren’t good students. It’s the teacher’s job to help those students who aren’t doing as well without forcing those good students to do stupid things that make no sense for them.

If you can make it more fun to read, this can also help with word count. Add emphasizes or explain something in more detail. There are so many great ways to increase your word count. It shouldn’t be too hard if you put your mind to it!

Word count never mattered as soon as I got to college, my professors used the “bikini rule,” short enough to keep it interesting, long enough to cover the important parts. Don’t use 2000 words to say what you can in 500

This isn’t the correct question to ask. It’s easy to increase word count on an essay, but it’s difficult to increase word count to make the essay better. So many people decide to increase their word count by inserting sentences, paragraphs, quotes and other non-necessary information simply to reach the word count. While it achieves the goal of increasing the word count, it doesn’t make the essay any better, and it usually makes it much worse. What you should always strive for is to increase the number of words in the essay while also making the essay stronger than it was before.

….Read the article you’re commenting on?

In my experience, college is even worse than high school in this regard. I regularly have to conform to word counts and page counts. Right now, I’m writing a research paper that has an 8 page minimum. Why? Because the professor said so. I could certainly be a lot more concise if I didn’t have to pad it out, but this is what’s required of me. The kicker is that the prof is DEFINITELY going to take off points due to obvious padding. DON’T FORCE ME INTO AN ARBITRARY LENGTH, THEN.

Just change the font style to a bigger one and then do the same with the size of the font but not too big or it will seem too obvious.

My professor requires Times New Roman

Really? Great!

LOL i hate Times New Roman, it’s so boring. There are so many interesting fonts out there, why should we have to make it boring? Plus, cool fonts catch your eye and draw you in. I get not wanting super crazy fonts but at least a little wiggle room here! C’mon!

try using Bookman Old Style

Your prof is stupid

For me it’s either times new roman or arial

Mine too I just use it with other things I write now due to habit

bruh they LOOK at the word counts, just cuz the font will be bigger doesn’t mean that they’ll think you have gone over the limit

page counts tho

they are talking about page counts, not word counts

You’re a fuckin dumbass, increasing font size is too obvious

That’s mean

just make your periods a font style bigger, professors will notice a font style bigger for the text

Making a period a font size bigger isn’t going to do anything.

the teachers can see the word count so, there is no point in doing that

Teachers do check the font and word size y’know?

well, part of it is that you cannot be bothered to write out the word “professor” and… well let me show you a corrected version of your post.

*In my experience, college is even worse than high school in this regard. I regularly have to conform to word counts and page counts. Right now, I’m writing a research paper that has an 8-page minimum. Why? It was because the professor said so. I could be a lot more concise if I didn’t have to pad it out, but such are the requirements. The kicker is that the professor is going to take off points due to my padding. So don’t force me to an arbitrary length!

Don’t go ruining people’s self-esteem.

I’m only in Junior high and I have to write over that amount. Be grateful that your situation isn’t as bad as it could be.

That’s just nasty.

Yep, I agree!

I appreciate that I can put it to use when I tutor! Thank you.

LOL never heard of the bikini rule. I love it

Where did you go to college?

So basically you’re saying that you don’t trust your students to be able to write correctly in your class? Isn’t that more a reflection on your teaching than it is on the students who are writing?

See what you just did you got your point across in 18 words YOU JUST ARE STUPID! Anyways why are you on this web site if you are a teacher?

riiiight that’s what i was thinking like this is meant to help students lol

If it makes so much sense to give word count limits to teachers then please explain

but that makes no sense…there is no reason to do so if they are great at writing all ready…

what do i do if my word count is 800 and i only have 512

add another 288!

You keep going no matter what! Thats what i do!

This is a poor answer because it doesn’t give any reason for the word counts. The point was that they -don’t- know why the word counts are necessary, and just stating that “you don’t have my experience and if you did you’d know why” isn’t an argument or a good contribution to the discussion, when surely it would have been a better idea to just explain why word counts are necessary in the first place.

WHY DO YOU?

Care to explain? That was a super vague answer.

want to expand on that? XD

U realise this is an article for student right? u don’t need to be here dissing all of us. [EDIT]: so many dislikes on teach’s post. lmao

look, not. helping. this is why i hated a bunch of my professors, you all act like we should be overjoyed that you aren’t making us ruin our writing more because we have to stretch it out, you have students with real potential, why do so many ignorant professors waste that and take off marks for something the student cannot control? seems wrong huh?

I’m not a teacher but I do understand that word counts push students to do their best, although I according to everyone, have always been teacher’s pet, and I love to write so having a word count is an amazing way for me to experiment with my writing.

But I have an assignment in which they say use the set format, which doesn’t allow for many words, but they say it has to be 500. I physically can’t stick to the structure and the word count. I understand max word counts, but I can get my entire point across in 300 words, and I am seriously struggling to increase. I think that minimum word counts should not be put in place as I can get the point across in a lot less.

What is your essay’s point? Is it simple? I have to write 1250 word essays regularly, and I’m only on this article because I have 1156 and can’t come up with more. You sound lucky to me.

ill never be one so tell why >:(

it seems teach got the “nobody liked that” experience

We gotta keep this comment section going for 2020.

lol so many dislikes

Proceeds to not give the reason! just makes you sound like a moron with excuses. you have not proven her wrong in the slightest.

Oh my god, you are right.

Teachers too often tried to make things easier on themselves to the detriment of the students are trying to teach. I think making minimum word counts is one of those. On the other hand, I think that maximum word counts can actually be beneficial because it forces the students to better edit their writing.

“Teachers too often tried to make things easier on themselves to the detriment of the students [they] are trying to teach.” Are you making this very bold statement because you have experienced it as a teacher, completed an in-depth research on this topic, or are you just making your opinion seem like a fact? I ask simply because I am a teacher, a high school English teacher to be more specific, and I found your comment to be nothing but overblown opinion. I cannot speak for every teacher, but in my class, I have to put a minimum word count on my essay assignments or I would have the majority of the students attempt to turn in a paragraph and say it is an essay. It would not matter that I instructed them on the purpose of the essay, explained what an introductory paragraph, body paragraph, and a conclusion paragraph are and their individual purposes. It also would not matter if I also spent an entire six week grading period teaching, instructing, modeling, and practicing writing essay, I would still have some that would turn in a ridiculously short essay and argue that they have “gotten to the point.” However, any logical person would know that these student’s essays would not meet the required components of an essay and would not serve as evidence of mastery, which is what a teacher is suppose to do right? Help students master certain skills, regardless of what is “easier on” them?

Just grade them an F

Lol! Sorry to break it to you, but Z isn’t a grade. Sorry.

Lana! r/whooosh

yes it is, its a double f

nobody likes your long paragraphs.

Instead of using a minimum word count, say that you must have at least five paragraphs, and if they turn in 5 sentences, that’s on them. High school students know that a section is longer than a sentence. And if they pretend not too, that’s on them. And your problem that they turn in just a paragraph? They know what an essay is, they are lazy and, quite frankly, don’t care about the class. So give them an incomplete grade and the chance to rewrite it, if they decline, they have failed that assignment. It is harsh but necessary.

I don’t think you understand: if I can get it across in a short paragraph, and otherwise it would be graded well, then why should I have to write a three-hundred word long paragraph just to explain the same thing? I shouldn’t have to. That’s the answer.

I think that minimum word counts are fine with this reasoning, but I am very reluctant to agree with you due to your unnecessary rudeness. Also, teachers, please don’t make the minimum more than 800 words! For college, I understand, but not below college.

Exactly! 2000 words in 4 days! IMPOSSIBLE

2000/4 = 500/1

Just write approx 500 words per day; spend like 1-2 hours for the next couple day adding like 500 words every time. Or you could be a knucklehead like me and try to get it all done in one go, then me suffering the next morning because you fell asleep at 3:30

The only thing thats impossible is impossibility!!!

Hey you stole my Name!

Its Not Impossible, the only thing thats Impossible is Impossibility!!!

i agree 100%

Guidelines are so unaccepted. 🙁

I was researching but I got caught up reading you guys arguing

lmao yeah me too

Same here. Whoops.

Once more… same here.

I am supposed to be writing an essay then I just saw war in the comments so I had to read.

exactly, what is the point in a word count when you can make it easier on yourself and write shorter essays

i only have to write 400 words luckily, but it’s in a language im not great at 🙁 i only need 40 more but don’t have any ideass

Our teacher gave us a 20000 word count for the Australia Murray River Basin… I’d be lucky if my teachers ever give me a 2500 word count. Last year one of the students in our class scored a 38000 word count when the minimum word count was 25000. don’t complain. International School Of Hefei (CISH)

Just had to re-read that. Twenty THOUSAND word count? I was given that as a goal for a story in one of my classes, and we had the entire year to do it. I don’t know how long y’all had for it, but either way that’s too much for an essay.

yeah I’m in class right now in grade 8 and have to do a 250 word since assessment but I cant think of anything else to add because I stuck to the assessment sheet and used the teaches advise but I only have 227 words. (I will add my assessment below)

Energy comes in six basic forms that are chemical which is renewable, electrical, radiant, mechanical, thermal and nuclear. These types of energy are both renewable and nonrenewer, electrical, thermal and radiant are all renewable energy types but electrical, chemical mechanical and nuclear are non-renewable because there is not a infinite source of this type of energy. There are other types but these are the six basic types of energy that make up other types. Energy is the thing that powers most electrical items you can’t create and destroy energy but you can move it to an object like a light bulb or battery. Energy can be transferred by copper and other conductive materials. There are also materials that are nonconductive like wood and rubber. Energy is mostly transferred between thing with wires like when you charge you phone or turn on light. Energy can change form into other types of energy. for example if you turn on a light bulb the electric energy will turn into thermal energy and light energy. A car is also a good example of this because the car hold chemical bonds of fuel which later turns into several different types of energy and gases. The law of conservation states that every type of energy can not be created or destroyed it can and will only be transferred into other types of energy.

Now you need to write an article on how to decrease word count when you go hopelessly over the maximum allowed.

Yes! This is what I need. I don’t understand how people can write under the word count given. I’m ALWAYS over, and by a lot. I had a 1000 word paper to write and I wrote 2500. Teachers never give enough word count for writing.

I once had 200 word essay and i wrote 400!

I struggle to get to the word count, but once I’m there I go over and struggle to remove stuff without ruining it.

Here you go: https://wordcounter.net/blog/2016/01/26/101025_how-to-reduce-essay-word-count.html

The second link in the first paragraph is to just such an article.

A thesaurus is your friend when you are only a bit under word count. I’m glad to see you added one to your tool. it’s so much easier than going back and forth to another thesaurus website. Thank you for making this useful tool and not charging any money for it.

Adjectives and adverbs can help with this, but it won’t make the essay stronger. You usually want to eliminate adverbs and adjectives in your writing to make it better. You have to make a decision as to whether word count is more important or a better essay is more important before using these methods.

I’m 500 words short of the minimum word count my teacher assigned for my essay. What is the best way to increase word count fast without a lot of effort?

Did you even read the article?

Don’t use contractions.

Writing takes effort. If you want to write with no effort, your writing is going to suck.

I hate that I never seem to be able to write enough words for assignments. If I have answered a question, why do I need to write more meaningless words?

You should never write meaningless words. You would be much better off adding a different perspective or adding more support to your view. meaningless words will only lower your grade.

I have to write 7,000+ characters with spaces!!!! By thursday! I have 5,200 done. What should I do?

Write more… or put a ton of smiley faces in 😉

As a teacher, I’m glad to see legitimate ways for students to increase their essay word count instead of all the “tricks” students don’t think we know, but we do. Adding random words in white so it appears the word count is higher than it is doesn’t work because we know approximately how many pages the assignment should be. Best to actually do the work!

You are the exception. I have a great way to increase word count when I’m short on words. I will write a bunch of random text at the end of the essay, then change it to white so you can’t see it even though it’s there. Now the teacher thinks you have written the required word count. Brilliant! Teachers are so clueless that this works 100% of the time. Now you will never be under your word count and you don’t have to write a bunch of filler crap that isn’t needed. You can thank me later.

To add onto this, feel free to change the font size of the white text to fit in more words into less space.

There must be so many students who come to this article for the exact same reason as I did. (“hi” all you sleep-deprived people) I’m 500 words short on my essay and I need to figure out how to make it longer before tomorrow’s class. thank you for this list of ideas. I think I’ll be able to incorporate a few of them to make my essay long enough to reach the word count.

Yes, this is the exact reason I’m here, but I need to add 600 words to my essay. Why do teachers make the assignments so long when there is only a limited amount to say on the given topic?

I’m one of those looking for a way to extend an essay by 300 words when I’ve already said everything there is to say on the topic. I guess I’ll add a lot of useless quotes just to satisfy the teacher.

I think attitude has a lot to do with it. If you’re writing an essay you have little to no interest in writing, it’s much more difficult to write it and reach the word count. If it’s something you have a lot of interest in, then the issue is usually staying beneath the word count limit. One of the best ways to increase word count on essays is to take an interest in the topic. If you learn to become more curious and have an interest in things that may not at first seem to be interesting, you’ll be surprised at how much easier it is to write essays and to always reach the designated word count.

That easy to say and all, what if your teacher assigns you a topic? And what if that topic is totally boring? It’s hard to write about things that are boring and you have no interest in, so of course it’s going to be difficult to reach the word count. If you’re in school, you have to write with the teacher tells you to write, not what interests you. So your suggestion sounds good and all, but in reality we don’t have that choice.

I think the best way to increase the word count of an essay is to add more examples. This clarifies what you’re trying to say which adds value to the essay so anyone reading will understand exactly the point you want to get across. All my friends are bad at giving examples, but I am good and I’m always going over the word count while they are always under.

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. My entire essay is almost only quotes. This is the easiest way to make your essay meet word count. Just put in a lot of quotes and you’ll get there in no time.

It maybe the easiest way to increase your word count, but if your entire essay is all quotes you probably aren’t going to get a very good grade on it. Quotes should be used to support the points that you’re trying to make, but they shouldn’t be your entire essay. If you want to do well in school, you have to know the difference between these two.

This is lazy writing. It will not help you become better in the long run, and the teacher will see what you’ve done and mark down your paper. The easiest way is often not the best way to approach increasing an essay word count.

Cite every single quote in a bibliography at the bottom to make the word count huge.

This is really a skill that every teacher should teach their students. Not just assign an essay, but explain how the steps they need to take to reach a word count. It would be a great benefit to most students (I know some students are wordy and always hit their word count, but most of us don’t). I wish teachers cared enough to actually help us.

On almost any topic you care to mention volumes have been written. To imagine you have covered the topic fully and still be 500-600 words short of required count is ridiculous. The idea that the shortfall is due to the clarity of your arguments or exceptional command of language & vocabulary is laughable in most cases.

If it’s too short, it lacks content. Do more research.

The quality of your writing may suggest you are the love child of William Shakespeare and Jane Austen, but if it doesn’t cover the assignment material you won’t get the marks.

Teachers know the key points they expect to be covered on an assignment and allow a word allocation for each point, as well as marks allocation.

For example, a 1,000 word requirement may indicate a short intro and conclusion and 4 x 200 word key points.

You might be able to work out the scheme by reviewing assignments where you scored well. How many key points did you make, compared to word count?

Word count = 170.

Not everyone is born with the ability to write or enjoys writing, so sometimes it can be extremely hard to write a long essay. These tips surely did help a lot. I would also suggest learning enjoy writing more. If you like to do it, it should be easier to do.

how do you learn to like something? either you like it or you don’t.

HEy! you stole my name!!!

Any teachers out there? Why exactly do assignments have a minimum and maximum word count assigned? Is it for the students’ benefit or the teachers? I’m curious as it would seem that word count shouldn’t really matter, but that actual writing for the assignment. I waiting to hear a good answer to this question.

Word count forces students to be more concise in their writing and focus on the most important points. Minimum word counts make the student research more to find alternative supporting evidence they may have overlooked without it.

If you can’t increase your word count, you don’t know what you’re writing about well enough. There should be no issue writing about any topic up to 5000 words as long as you are familiar with the topic. If you find you don’t have enough to write about something, it’s because you haven’t taken the time to study the topic well enough.

This isn’t true. Sometimes you don’t need a lot of words to cover the topic at hand and adding more words just to increase word count does nothing but add unneeded words. Sure, you can add the words, but they are useless and don’t make the essay better. Why would anyone want to do that?

Where did you get this Bogus Idea, I’ve been trying to finish an essay and I love the topic we’re doing, but it’s almost impossible to write 2500 words on it, and according to your logic “There should be no issue writing about any topic up to 5000 words” that’s a lie.

I stumbled upon this and it’s been helpful, but are there other ways to increase word count? I still have about 500 more words to write.

Any teachers out there? Why exactly do assignments have a minimum and maximum word count assigned? Is it for the students’ benefit or the teachers? I’m curious as it would seem that word count shouldn’t really matter, but that actual writing for the assignment

As teachers, we know approximately how long an essay should be to get the points across for that particular assignment. That is why we assign a word count. If the student is well under they have not explored the topic in-depth enough and if they are well over, they are being too wordy.

Still you don’t need a word count, just let the kids try and let them be creative 😒!

But wouldn’t addressing the prompt in fewer words than assigned show that the student is smarter? Why spend 1000 words saying something that’s equally if not more so effective in 500 words?

“if they are well over, they are being too wordy.”

Now here’s something *I* don’t get. I can understand being “wordy” as something bad if it’s a student looking in a thesaurus to make every word more complicated, but I’ve done essays where I’ve covered all the points related to the topic I wanted to talk about, delivered them with examples and references where needed, and accidentally gone over the word limit to where I either have to make my essay weaker to not get points taken off OR get points taken off for being “wordy”? Why??

Hello Prince Charming! Come and Save Me from School Please! NOW!!!

The best way to increase a paper’s word count is to do more research. The more research you do, the more information you’ll have, and the more you can write on the topic.

Look, everyone has a different opinions about Word Counts, I really don’t like word counts but I do the essay anyways! So quit complaining!

Or at the bottom of your essay type a bunch of random letters like this mkfneofheoughero; then turn that to a white font.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!

you sir are a genius

well yes, genius solution, but uh— that’s cheating.

But like what if we have a page count minimum and the teacher can see if the page is full or not?

This helped a lot, thank you so much!! I don’t understand what it is with teachers and word-count. I’ve heard some teachers say, “When you become a teacher, you’ll understand why we give word counts” and I guess I do. It’s to make sure you covered all of the criteria and stuff. But If my essay word count is 800 words, and I’ve only written 300 and gotten my point across, why do I have to be marked down for it? I am in year 9 at school and I have a Geography essay due in last period today about biomes. I have gotten my point across and now I have to fluff about writing another 500 words. Thanks again, and wish me luck! 🙂

Bruh. You ain’t seen nothing yet. English 1301 has KILLED me. I’m 1500 words short….

bruh im currently 1500 words short on a 1500 word essay due tomorrow 🙁

All of you guys are complaining about essays of 2000 words or less, but I have to write a 25 000 word essay, in three weeks, which really isn’t that hard. I, for one, enjoy writing essays, but be lucky that you don’t have them of this length to write 😉

That’s not an essay it’s a book.

Actually, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone is 76,944, and that is the average length for a book so 25,000, is more like a 4 chapter fanfic…

I’ve never been a teacher but have been a university student. Personally, I get very uncomfortable when word counts aren’t given, because the fact is that the professor likely has a quiet expectation on the issue. I don’t want to try to have to hit that count by inference.

How one structures his essay depends on that word count (2000 v 3000 maybe not so much but say 1000 v 5000 is quite different). I’d like to know what kind of essay he wants.

heh, I once passed an essay online which had a minimum word count I just added random gibberish to the end in a white font to conceal it with tiny font size. try that if u really have to.

I have an idea – write a few words after each paragraph and make them white. The teacher will never know… 🙂

I think the refrigorator eat windows and the good skull

i’m 6 pages short on a compare/contrast religion paper focused around love that is due on tuesday. i have already gone over the five religions and though i need more substance (6 pages more), i don’t want to add so much that it’s just an information dump. my three options that i can see right now are: start over with a similar topic so i don’t have to just scrap everything, add more anyway, or just finish it and turn it in under the requirement but with good writing. what should i do?? do i have any other options??

use double space😂😁

i came across this because this is literally my problem now. well…

all i need is 12 more words! thats why i came to this website!

i only have 600 word for nuclear reactors i’m amazed how u guys can do 1000+ word without your brain exploding.

If i had a 2500 Word count minimum. I would die.

i love how everyone’s arguing on a blog. not complaining tho!

most of you are in college and are fussing about 1000 word essays meanwhile me still in middle school having to do 4-5 pages aka more than 1000 words

Word counts ‘work’ until students learn to hate writing, because only their word counts — not their points — matter.

UGH….. I’ve done this already and I still have 200 words to go! 🙁 It was pretty amusing to read through the comments saying someone is in Highschool or College and be like “Sucker, I’m still in Junior High”. RIP.

I had the best time reading your argument before I finished my essay thanks for the good times. 🙂

The word count at my University is a maximum word count, not a minimum. The word count is there to suggest the level of detail we’re expected to go into. For example, my last essay had a 2,500 word maximum. I could easily have written a 10,000 word dissertation or a 100 word summary. For the detail expected. I ended up with 2,464 words. If you’re writing 1,000 words for a 2,500 word essay, even if that seems OK to you, you’ve not added enough detail.

oh my god, this was SO helpful you dont understand how much this page helped me. Thank You!!!

if you have ever bean a teacher you would under stand why word counts exist jk I think text matters more than the amount of words

Im only in the 8th grade, we are righting an essay right now about the holocaust, we have to write 12 PAGES!! WHAT. i can explain it in a page or two😩

When writing a essay you got to stay on topic make sure you proofread and using correct grammar

word counts make me sad

me reading the comments in 2024 🙂 cuz i hate essay as well.

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How to Increase Word Count in Essay

One of the worst feelings you can have as a student is when you finish writing an essay, only to realize that you are well below the minimum word count. You may attempt to tackle this issue by rewriting the essay sentences or adding filler words to increase the word count. While the strategies may help you reach the word limit, they weaken your essay instead of enriching it.

Most students don’t know the best way to increase the word count in an essay while making every word count (pardon the pun). Luckily for you, we have outlined 7 smart hacks that you can use to increase word count and also highlighted some mistakes to avoid. Read on to see the tools and techniques for expanding an essay!

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Life Hacks to Increase Your Word Count in an Essay Without Sacrificing the Quality of Your Work

Identify additional sources.

The more research you do, the more fodder you get for your essay. Extra sources are easy ways of making your essay arguments stronger. You can use more than one source to substantiate your argument as long as it adds a new idea or perspective. So, find new journals, online articles, research studies, and books that will give you quality content to add to your essay.

Add examples

Including examples in an essay helps you write more clearly and put forth a strong point. Apart from that, examples increase word count. You can add examples to reinstate an argument, explain information that is not common, draw differences, or even highlight a concept. They also demonstrate a thorough understanding of the topic. Still, ensure the examples are relatable, authentic, and relevant to the topic. Don’t overwhelm your essay with too many examples.

Add supporting quotations

If you haven’t already added quotations in your essay, you can add a few from experts in the field to support your points. You can also increase the length of existing quotes by adding sentences before or after them. As add-ons to your essay, quotations offer facts that back up your main idea while increasing your word count in an essay. However, quotations should not exceed 10% of the overall length of the essay.

Use diagrams and tables

Why have a text-heavy essay when you can add illustrations to make it meatier and longer? While footnotes and bibliographies don’t add to the word count, tables and diagrams add to the count when they appear in the main body of the essay. So use relevant items to demonstrate important points and add extra information to your paper. For example, in an essay topic that involves the use of statistics, you can include a statistical table with information that would interest the reader.

Address different viewpoints

You can use this strategy to increase your word count while improving the quality of your arguments. Presenting alternative views to the one already discussed in your essay gives you a chance to explain why you believe your conclusion is superior. Addressing different viewpoints also shows that you have considered a range of different opinions while coming to your conclusion. In the end, opposing views make your paper longer and stronger.

Expand your introduction and conclusion paragraphs

Let’s say you have done most of the things suggested above, but you’re still short of a few hundred words. You can decide to expand your introduction and conclusion. The two paragraphs are typically less critical, so you can get away with padding them out a little. The hacks you can use to expand your introduction include adding anecdotes, personal experiences, and details about your motivation for exploring the topic. In the conclusion, you can add sentences that remind the reader why the essay’s argument matters.

Ask an expert for help

Sometimes, it’s difficult to objectively identify gaps in our own essays. In such cases, getting editing help from essay writing services can help you expand your word count without compromising the quality of your paper. The online writing services work with expert writers with years of experience in academic writing. A professional will identify what’s unclear, areas that need more explanation, relevant sources to add, or write your paper from scratch. CustomWritings is an all-in-one essay writing service with 18+ years of experience in the market. They deal with 80+ disciplines at all academic levels and find the best-matching writer for every student.

How Not to Increase Word Count in an Essay

Using filler and fluff words.

Adding meaningless words to fill more pages only distracts from your main point and confuses the reader. Fillers are long and complex sentences that add the word count without adding any particular value. Fluff words are unnecessary details, such as your personal opinion and flowery text. Such an essay will bore the reader. Instead, write short and clear sentences.

Playing with fonts and spacing

You may think that increasing the font size from 12 to 14 or spacing makes it longer but don’t try it. The strategy will not get you anywhere. Also, you will not get away with using the period trick, in which you replace all periods with one of a larger font size. The professor will notice, and it will not end well for you.

Quoting without context

This is another serious academic mistake. Quoting so many references out of context to increase the length of your paper is like digging yourself a hole. Too many inappropriate quotes discredit your essay since they minimize your original arguments and divert from the main idea of the essay. After spending a lot of time researching and adding irrelevant quotations, you’ll end up with lots of distracting content.

Voice and tone

Passive voice makes sentences longer, but active voice makes an essay sharper and easy to understand. Don’t change your essay to include passive voice as a way of increasing the word count because it sacrifices the quality of your writing. Also, maintain a formal tone by avoiding informal language in pursuit of longer sentences.

Mindless paraphrasing

This is another bad strategy for increasing the word count in an essay. It involves repeating the same content in different paragraphs as if the professor will not notice. Spewing similar content in different words will not help you ace your course.

Spelling out numbers

This is another age-old trick that some students still use to make an essay longer. For example, instead of writing 5,100, you spell out five thousand one hundred in words. This is not a good idea either. The golden rule says that you can spell out numbers from 1 to 10, but more significant numbers should be in numerals.

An even worse hack for expanding the word count of your essay is to plagiarize from other people’s essays or research works. It doesn’t matter if the essay topic is the same. It’s a lazy and quick way to fail a grade. So, avoid copy-pasting other people’s ideas. If you have to add a quotation, ensure you cite it correctly. Learn how to paraphrase a paragraph without plagiarizing .

Keep It Long and Relevant!

You shouldn’t add just any words to an essay to meet the required word count. A skillful writer finds interesting and correct ways of balancing essay length and essay quality. The dos and don’ts mentioned in this article will set you on your way to crafting a high-quality essay that reaches the word limit.

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📝 Essay Word Count Calculator

Essay word count calculator.

This calculator multiplies the number of pages by the average number of words per page to calculate the total word count of your essay.

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Free Online Word Counter for Essays

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How Our Word Count Checker Works

Count words or characters in your essay, paper, or any other academic text in a few clicks. Insert your text and enjoy accurate results – it’s as simple as that!

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Features of Our Word Counter Tool

StudyCrumb’s word counter is loaded with features that you will undoubtedly find pleasant. With the benefits you get, it definitely wins over any word counter tool online.

Our online word counter is an excellent option for everyone who doesn’t like distractions and extra manipulations. Just input your text and it will immediately calculate the words.

There is no need to pay – we offer a free word counter with unlimited checks. You can start using it without registration and run as many checks as required.

Our essay word counter shows the number of words, characters, and symbols without spaces. It’s a one-stop instrument if you need a detailed report.

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Take your writing to a whole new level with our editing and proofreading services. Our academic proofreaders will polish your text considering the number of words you need.

Why Choose StudyCrumb

Word Counter Online & Character Counter

Our tool goes beyond a simple text word counter. It works like a word character counter and offers multiple options. In case you have a special requirement from your professor, for example, a character limit, this tool will definitely come in handy. Likewise, you may need to find out the amount of characters without spaces. Our high-end instrument will be an all-inclusive solution. Just input the necessary part and calculate the number of symbols in your text.

Word Count Checker

It’s very important to stay on the top of your page word count. Students may think that several slips every here and there won’t cause much harm. But your school may have strict requirements to the acceptable limit for every academic work. While you are expected to write 150 words in an essay introduction, this amount won’t suffice in an introductory part of your research paper. So if you need to know how many words are in an essay or its particular section, use our tool for a quick result.

Character Count Without Spaces

Things get trickier if you need to find out the number of characters without spaces. No worries! With our character calculator at your fingertips this won’t be a problem. Our free character counter can exclude the spaces so you can enjoy accurate results. This is a perfect feature for writers, translators and students who have a very peculiar requirement. Just copy-paste any passage in an online character counter and it will handle everything in seconds.

Character Count Tool

Sometimes, the limit is measured in characters. That’s when you may need a tool that can handle character count online. We’ve got you covered! Our team saw that situation coming and did our best to provide you with this option. You can use our advanced tool to count characters in your document. And if the actual number doesn’t fit in the expected limit, you can easily modify your text in a respective field.

StudyCrumb’s Essay Word Counter: Handy Tool

We have developed this essay word counter to help students count the words and characters in their papers and academic texts. Are you writing an essay and want to make sure that your word count is precise? Or, maybe, you have a research paper or dissertation with a strict character limit requirement? Whatever your case is, our word count checker will be an irreplaceable instrument in your arsenal of writing tools. And the best part about this tool is its simplicity. Finding out how many words is this will no longer be a struggle. What’s more, you can make changes right in the editor field. You don’t have to switch between our tool and your document to meet the right limit. All results of word character count will be displayed instantly.

Count My Words in My Essay for Me!

Before you submit your newly-written paper, we advise you to count the number of words in it! StudyCrumb’s online tool can help you keep track of the number of words in your paper. It will allow you to concentrate on important topics. Now you won’t need to give yourself a headache wondering “how to check word count?” Just use StudyCrumb’s profitable tool that is always useful to keep handy. After all, knowing your word count can help to improve your work.  Hot tip: A nice way to establish a good word count is by determining whether the headings should be counted. And when headings do not count, they can be included in words in direct quotes. The quality of any essay might suffer if it is too long. Instead, aim for brief and catchy headings. And let a tool do all the counting the words for you!

Online Words Counting Generator for Different Types of Writing

Access our tool if you need counting number of words that you've written. It encourages every student to follow their word limit! This can be important for public speaking or speech preparation. Every guru at our speech writing services suggest finding balance especially when it comes to oral presentation. It is helpful if writing for advertising and academic goals is a big deal. Our tool also determines the word count limit. It is useful for writing social media headlines and Google meta descriptions.  Looking at your presentation and think “how many words is this text?” Try to count them to assess the word density. For some papers, it's common to submit up to a thousand words. But many writers end up over the limit or falling short. Knowing that you’re using count words in text for free is a great way to avoid such problems. Any argumentative essay writer will appreciate such a tool. It can become an essential metric for content writers, whether they are college students or professional authors. Calculate word length in many different ways. But keep in mind — our tool will help you determine it best. It's easy to use. So, save your time and avoid any stress. You can reuse it at any time.

Count the Words in My Essays & Papers

When composing essays and other kinds of written work, your first concern can be “how many words are in this essay?” It is important that students meet all requirements. Consequently, they should know how to count essay words accurately. Word count dendends on the depth of your project. That is why you may need professional essay help .  The first thing you should do is check what the instructor has suggested as a word count. An essay might require fewer words depending on the subject. If it turned out shorter than the assigned word count, you may want to focus on providing a high-level overview of the topic, especially if you need to write my dissertation . Longer papers can delve into more details. However, in both cases, it is important to keep an outline to guide your writing process. Next, check how many words in essay you wrote line by line. StudyCrumb’s tool lets you count the words beneath charts, graphs, and photos. Now you can use it instead of thinking “how many words is my paper?”

Why Is It so Important to Count the Words in an Essay Correctly?

Why is it so important for you to “count how many words are in my essay”? Why do you browse different sites? Looking for one to “count my essay words”? There are few answers to these questions. A critical aspect of knowing essay word limit is how you use the words. The time your audience has to read through your essay is limited. Therefore, it's important to organize your thoughts in a clear and concise way. Make a list of the key points and then spend some time on the important topics. Don't forget that StudyCrumb is essentially an academic service where you can buy essay on any subject and have all requirements met. So, using an online tool when you must know how to count how many words in an essay when writing is simply necessary. And StudyCrumb is here to help you out in whatever way you need!

Paragraph Word Count by StudyCrumb's Free Online Words Counting Tool

StudyCrumb's online tool is perfect when you want to know how many words in this paragraph! You don’t have to do anything otherworldly to use the paragraph word counter. All one should do is follow a simple instruction. This word counting program works well for longer text categories such as articles and novels. It works by dividing a text into several parts. This way you won’t have to do this yourself and wonder how many words are here. You can check the length of your text by using an online helpful tool! You can immediately check your characters and page count, as well as run a spelling check or free grammar check . A paragraph or sentence can also be counted! Remember that one can enable or disable the feature of counting spaces. Punctuation marks will be counted automatically.

Counting Words in a Sentence

Have you ever wondered how many words are in this sentence that you just wrote? StudyCrumb’s tool aims to help you just with that. Students can easily check the quality of their writing and the number of words calculator whenever they need it. Our tool can be accessed from any device, such as a computer or smartphone. It can calculate number of words in your sentences and paragraphs. So don’t waste your time! Save this page as your device’s bookmarks and check your texts when your professors demand it! It won’t cost you anything. The text you wrote would look even more beautiful. Having a handy word count scanner is consistently another latest useful feature!

Important Features of Our Word Count Estimator: Find Word Count Easily!

Every calculator for words list has a bunch of quality features. And StudyCrumb’s is not different. How do you get word count of a document with its help? It's quite straightforward. Copy and paste the desired text into a box. That’s it, that’s the total guide. Use our number of words counter online for free to determine how many pages, paragraphs, and sentences you've written. Moreover, you’ll be able to see the approximate time it would take the audience to read your text. Our words counting software provides only accurate results that one can get online. Moreover, it is 100% free! You don’t have to set up a new account, register, or post any credit card number to use our tool. Just paste your text and check its length as many times as you need. If your academic work has space for improvement or it lacks some sections, contact our thesis writing service . 

Writing Word Count With Spaces

Do you need to set up the word counter including spaces? It is one of the features our online words calculator has. Their number will be shown under the status bar below the text you paste in a box. This is a useful feature when you don’t feel like writing more content and can pass the spaces as an additional number of characters. Our word count tool online for free breaks the number of words based on the number of spaces that were used. It adds that number to the overall quantity of words in your paper. Simple math!

Word Count Without Spaces

StudyCrumb’s word calculation without spaces feature is useful. Test it if you wish to calculate word count of a document without any extra spaces. Everything is displayed under your input text box in the result section. Why would one need to check a writing word count without spaces though? It can help determine whether you should add anything to the paper or delete any content from it. After all, in this case, you won’t be able to use the “space number” excuse to nope out of writing more parts of your essay!

The Most Famous Word Counting Machine of All Time

StudyCrumb offers you one of the best word count tools and words to pages converters that can greatly assist you in writing an essay. Our website that counts words can help you with even the toughest assignments. It ensures that your essay is the correct word count. Our website to count words for free will also be useful for anyone who works in writing, academic or otherwise. It could be used to create a wide range of writing projects including in-app messages, meta descriptions, targeted content marketing, and social media threads. If you’re writing your paper, it will remind you that every word serves a purpose. Each one is placed there for a reason. Moreover, it will show you how long it would take for your audience to read your paper. So get checking right now! Be sure to use our plagiarism detector before submitting your composition.

Benefit From Our Online Essay Word Counter

StudyCrumb’s word counter for essay offers a whole pool of benefits. As our document word counter is free, it’s not the only benefit you can appreciate:

• It’s free and extremely simple to use.
• Our word calculator processes a large amount of data in a very short time.
• The tool will save much of your precious time.
• You can alter your text right in our tool.

Needless to say, while writing in Microsoft Word, Excel, or Google Documents, you can easily see word and character count. But if you are dealing with a pdf file, you should put in some extra effort. Luckily, with our paper word counter, you can solve this issue effortlessly.

Get help from academic experts!

Whether you need to write a paper or have your essay edited, our experts will handle everything quickly and efficiently.

FAQ About Essay Word Counter

Have any unanswered questions about our word frequency counter? Check out the answers below and find a flash answer.

1. Do I need to register to use the word count checker?

No, StudyCrumb’s word count checker can be used without registration. We did our best to make the process as smooth as possible. You can check count values without creating an account.

2. Does your word counter check spelling?

Sure! Our instrument works like a spell checker and word count tool. This way, you can count symbols in your document and detect spelling errors, if there are any. Our tool will underline the areas that need extra attention.

3. Does this character counter include spaces or not?

Our character counter will show the count values both with and without spaces. Once you enter your text, you will get in-depth results where you will see characters including and excluding spaces.

4. Does your word counter tool save my text?

No, StudyCrumb’s word counter tool doesn’t save your text to the database. Your privacy is our top priority. We designed a tool that doesn’t store content you enter.

5. Do spaces count as words in an essay?

Yes, they do. Our word counter for free online will show you the number of words with or without spaces in a result section below the input box. These numbers will be vastly different. It only means that spaces count as words in an essay.

6. How do you find out how many words did I write?

Our tool is powered by an AI. So, it obviously knows how to count words. It divides the entire text by spaces and then counts the resulting pieces which are the words. Then it will show you the number of words it counted in a section below, as well as this number plus the number of spaces found in your text.

7. How do I check my word count on an essay quickly?

Just use our tool if you need to count the words in a document! It has a fast mode with an intuitive interface that delivers only accurate results. It is completely free, which means that you won’t have to suffer through a trial period or set up an account in order to use it.

8. Can you count the words in my document if it’s 50 pages?

When using a words count online, you should take into consideration your text’s font and formatting. For example, a page made of Times New Roman 14 is not the same as Arial 12. That said, our tool can handle a text of >100.000 characters and >15.000 words.

Other Tools You May Like

StudyCrumb offers you more than just a word counter. We’ve designed a whole bundle of free writing tools that can improve your academic experience. Check them out below!

Automatic Word Count Reducer

Summarize any writing piece with this word count reducer in 3 steps:

• Add the passage you want to cut.
• Choose the desired number of sentences to keep in the passage.
• Click "Reduce" and enjoy the result.

Number of sentences in results:

Original ratio

100 % in your summary

Charachters

Why may you need to use an automatic online word count shortener?

The need to preserve a specific word count is called the essay's " scope " – an extent of analysis a student should not exceed in a particular assignment. In these cases, a paraphrasing generator that can remove redundant words and help you keep within the assigned word count.

• 🔢 What Is Essay Word Count?

✍️ Word Count for Various Essays

• ✂️ Tips to Shorten an Essay

🔗 References

🔢 what is essay word count & why does it matter.

As you will quickly notice at school, college, or university, every assignment contains specific instructions that cover the word count your home task should include.

Why are they important?

This is done primarily to minimize your effort and help you plan the working schedule. For instance, you will understand that you need to reserve 2 days for a 3,000 -word essay and can manage a 500 -word essay in 2 or 3 hours.

Besides, the word count sets the scope for your research; you will surely need to check fewer literary sources for a 500-word essay and visit a library a couple of times to write a large-scale 5,000-word study.

In other words, the word count of your essay task sets the limits for your study effort and gives you hints about the depth of research you need to conduct to meet the professor's requirements.

A practical guide may also help you determine the time and scope of various academic assignments . Here is a comparative table with word counts for assignments at different study levels.

✂️ Tips to Reduce Word Count in an Essay

If you're not ready to use a word count reducer and want to do everything manually, here are a couple of workable techniques for word count optimization.

• Avoid redundant beginnings . It's good practice to start a sentence with a subject. This way, you will avoid extensive "running starts," such as "as a matter of fact," "summing the presented evidence," etc. Your sentences will be simpler to read and free from redundant phrasing.
• Use active voice . Passive-voice phrases always add a couple of redundant words to a sentence. If you don't really need to disguise the doer of the action, you should use active voice only. You'll see how neat and clean your text will sound.
• Remove adjectives and adverbs . Adjectives and adverbs are frequently used in literary language, as they add vivid details and shades of meaning to notional words. However, they often create clutter in academic writing and are fully avoidable in most cases. So, you should consider removing most of them to make the text more readable and shorter.
• Don't exceed 25 words in a sentence . Academic writers are often tempted to sound more scholarly with long, overloaded sentences, including many compounds. In reality, such writing efforts rarely pay off, as they confuse the readers and disguise the core message the writer wanted to deliver. Thus, it's better to divide long sentences into several parts. Using this trick, you can avoid redundant transitions and simplify the content flow.
• One idea at a time . A logical progression of an academic text is a vital criterion of readability. Thus, you should explain relationships between variables or focus on one supporting argument at a time, avoiding a discussion of several factors in one go. This technique will improve your text's comprehension score and free readers from overly complex argumentation, causing a cognitive overload.

In all other cases – a lack of time, no desire to go through the entire text again – welcome to our word reduction tool that will make your editing job a breeze. Try our title maker and paraphraser to write and polish your essay quickly.

❓ Word Count Reducer FAQ

❓ how to count words in an essay.

It's pretty easy to control your word count in an essay. You should activate this function in your Word file, and a small tab at the bottom of your page will update you about the document's current word count as you type the essay's content. You can also click on "Statistics" in the Word menu to learn additional statistics about your text, such as the number of characters with and without spaces and the number of lines, sentences, and paragraphs you currently have.

❓ What is the word count for a college essay?

Word count is a specific number of words (or a range of words) that your professor assigns for writing. For instance, your university tutor may require students to write from 1,000 to 1,500 words in one essay. Thus, you can't compose fewer than 1,000 words (the paper should be at least 1,001 words), and you shouldn't write more than 1,500 words. A standard threshold for exceeding the assigned word count is 10% (so it's okay to submit a 1,650-word essay).

❓ How to reduce word count in an essay?

There are many techniques for word count reduction, such as cutting the articles, conjunctions, transition phrases, and running starts from the text. You may also consider changing passive-voice phrases to active voice or replacing some complex, sophisticated phrases with simpler words.

❓ What does a summarizer do?

A free text compressor available on our website can reduce the word count of your essay by removing redundant words that don't hold any vital meaning and can be removed without losing the text's quality. You can reduce the word count and combine several sentences into one automatically to achieve high-quality text reduction.

• How to reduce word count without reducing content
• How to Increase or Decrease Your Paper’s Word Count
• Summarizing - Academic Integrity at MIT
• Summarizing - University of Toronto Writing Advice
• Writer's Manual: Academic Summary - LibGuides UU

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How to Check Word Count for Your Essays in Word [For Students]

Many academic programs require you to write essays, and it's crucial to perform well because essays play a significant role in your overall assessment. Whether applying to college or completing assignments in your courses, writing strong essays is essential. You'll need to craft compelling essays throughout your academic journey, from admission essays that make you stand out to course assignments that contribute to your grades. These essays often come with a word limit that you must meet. In this article, we will guide you on how to check the word count in Word for students.

How many Words do you need in an Essay?

Throughout your academic journey, you'll be expected to write essays that vary greatly in length and complexity. From high school assignments requiring a concise 300-word response to graduate school theses that may reach 5,000 words or more, you'll find yourself adapting to a range of word limits and formats.

Here's an overview of typical word count ranges for various academic essays:

High School Essay : 300–1,000 words

College Admission Essay : 200–650 words

Undergraduate College Essay : 1,500–5,000 words

Graduate School Admission Essay : 500–1,000 words

Graduate School Essay/Thesis : 2,500–6,000 words

While these word count ranges provide a general guideline, it's essential to remember that the content's quality is more important than the quantity. Essays that meet or exceed the word limit may still fall short if they lack clarity, coherence, or depth. Conversely, a shorter essay that's well-organized and thoughtfully written can make a stronger impression.

When considering essay length, keep these factors in mind:

Purpose and Scope : Short essays usually focus on a specific topic, while longer essays require more comprehensive analysis and discussion. Determine the purpose of your essay to guide its length.

Intended Audience : Consider who will be reading your essay. Some readers may prefer detailed exploration, while others may only need a brief summary.

Format and Guidelines : Academic essays often come with specific guidelines for length. For instance, high school English essays may be around 400–600 words, while undergraduate essays in the social sciences and humanities often range from 2,500 to 3,000 words.

While the number of words can indicate an essay's scope, it's crucial to focus on structure, relevance, and engagement. Essays that are well-crafted, with a clear thesis, supporting evidence, and thoughtful analysis, are more likely to earn higher marks, regardless of the word count.

How to Check Word Count in Word for Students Writing Essay Assignments

Working on a thesis or research paper is already a challenging and intellectually demanding task, especially with specific rules and regulations regarding word counts for different academic styles. Some academic styles require you to report the number of words including or excluding certain parts of your work. Students often struggle with figuring out how to calculate word count, whether to include the abstract or combine footnotes. However, there's no need to stress over this, as Microsoft Word offers a feature to assist with this. It may be a bit tricky, but it's available. Let's take a look at a few examples.

How to Check the Word Count in Word Excluding the Abstract of the Paper:

Now, let's say your professor asks you to remove the in-text citations from your document, which are also included in the original word count. In such a case, manually going through each citation and removing them from the word count can be time-consuming. However, with some wildcards and the replace tool in Microsoft Word, this task can be done quickly.

Step 1 : Open the research paper in Microsoft Word.

Step 2 : To access the Replace feature, go to the Home tab and click on "Replace" to open the Find and Replace dialog. Alternatively, use the "CTRL + H" shortcut key.

Step 3 : In the Find and Replace dialog, click on "More > >" to view more options available.

Step 4 : In the Search options section, check the "Use wildcards" option.

Step 5 : Now, go back to the "Find what" field and enter the following:  \(*\)

Step 6 : Leave the "Replace with" field blank and then click on the "Replace All" button.

Step 7 : Microsoft Word will notify you about the number of replacements that were made. Click on "OK".

Step 8 : Once completed, exit the Find and Replace dialog box by clicking on "Close".

Step 9 : Now, you can view the word count either at the bottom left in the Status Bar or visit the Reference tab and click on "Word Count" to get a more comprehensive view of the word count of your document.

How to Check Word Count in Word Including Footnotes,Endnotes and Text Boxes in a Paper:

To ensure the inclusion of footnotes, endnotes, and text boxes in the word count, follow these steps:

Step 1 : Open your essay in Microsoft Word and navigate to the "Review" tab.

Step 2 : Click on the "Word Count" button in the reference ribbon menu.

Step 3 : The Word Count dialog box will appear, displaying all the statistics of your essay.

Step 4 : Check the "Include textboxes, footnotes, and endnotes" checkbox to ensure that the word counter considers textboxes, footnotes, and endnotes as well.

If you need to perform a simple word count for a selection, use your mouse to highlight the text you want to count, and you'll see the word count of the selected text at the bottom left in the Status Bar.

How to Check Word Count in Word Using Shortcuts

Need to quickly check your word count in Word ? There's a handy shortcut! Simply press Ctrl + Shift + G on your keyboard, and a window will pop up displaying your document's word count, character count.

As a student, it's essential to pay attention to word count, not just to ensure you meet the minimum requirement but also because some professors penalize you for exceeding it. Thanks to advanced writing tools, keeping track of word count has become quite easy. Simply glancing at the status bar gives me a glimpse of the word count, but if I ever need more detailed statistics, using a keyboard shortcut provides quick access to the word count. Then, simply press the "ESC" key to exit and continue writing. Having a word counter in your writing software provides great convenience.

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Tips to Write Essays within the Word Limit

Reducing an essay's word count while maintaining its impact can be challenging, especially when we consider that humans now officially have the attention span of a goldfish. According to a Microsoft study, we lose concentration after eight seconds—shorter than the nine-second attention span of a goldfish. Given this, communication must adapt to capture the reader's attention quickly. If you need to shorten your essay to meet a specific word limit, here are some practical techniques to help:

Start with AI Assistance

WPS AI : This AI tool can be your first step in writing or rewriting content to meet word count limits. If your essay is too long, WPS AI can suggest rewording or condensing, allowing you to maintain clarity and coherence while reducing the overall length.

Tips for Cutting Words

Reword Sentences: Look for long-winded sentences and find ways to reword them more succinctly. For example, "This means methods of communication must adapt in order for us to capture our audience’s attention" can be shortened to "Communication methods must adapt to capture our audience’s attention."

Remove Redundancy : Identify repetitive information or phrases and remove them. If you're saying the same thing in different ways, consolidate.

Eliminate Extraneous Words : Words like "very," "extremely," "actually," and others can often be removed without changing the meaning of a sentence. Similarly, phrases like "in order to" can be shortened to "to."

Focus on Active Voice : Active voice generally requires fewer words and is more direct. Rewrite passive voice sentences to make them more concise and impactful.

Use Abbreviations : In many cases, abbreviations can help reduce word count without sacrificing clarity. Common examples include "MD" for "Managing Director," "e.g." for "for example," and "SEO" for "Search Engine Optimization."

Check for Unnecessary Spacing and Hyphenation : Sometimes, words can be shortened by eliminating extra spaces or using hyphenation. For instance, "year on year" can be hyphenated to "year-on-year," reducing word count without losing meaning.

Edit Ruthlessly : Read through your essay with a critical eye. Cut out anything that doesn't add value to your argument or that deviates from the main topic. Be willing to remove content, even if you like it, if it doesn't serve the essay's purpose.

Reducing word count while maintaining content quality requires a combination of techniques. From rewording sentences to removing redundancy, many strategies can help you meet word limits without sacrificing the essay's impact. Remember that the goal is not just to meet the word count but to create an engaging, clear, and effective piece of writing. Whether using AI tools like WPS AI or manually editing your content, the key is to be concise, focused, and clear.

Write a Better Essay with WPS Office

WPS Office is a goldmine for writers and students, offering a comprehensive solution to meet all your academic writing needs. Equipped with a robust suite of tools, it provides everything from a writer's toolkit to a PDF editor, along with AI-powered features like an integrated AI writing assistant and AI proofreader. Moreover, WPS Office is seamlessly compatible with Microsoft Word, so you won't encounter any issues if you prefer working with Word documents.

Price : WPS Office is ideal for students because it's available at no cost. You get professional-grade office software without having to pay a premium.

Compatibility : It works across various devices, including computers, tablets, and smartphones. You can easily connect and switch between platforms without losing functionality.

Features : WPS Office provides a wide range of templates, including resumes, which are especially useful for students preparing for internships or job interviews after graduation.

User-Friendly Interface: The intuitive interface allows you to manage multiple files with ease. With split-screen capabilities, you can work on different documents side-by-side without any hassle.

WPS AI : This integrated AI tool is invaluable when you need help with your academic papers. Whether you're over the word limit or need to add more content, WPS AI can help you reword, summarize, or expand your text to meet the requirements.

WPS Office combines a user-friendly interface with powerful features, making it an ideal choice for students and writers. The software's compatibility with Microsoft Word ensures that you can collaborate with others or submit assignments in popular formats without any issues. Additionally, the inclusion of WPS AI means you have a handy assistant for enhancing your writing, adjusting word count, and proofreading your work.

With WPS Office, you'll have the tools you need to create, edit, and share academic content with ease. From simple essays to complex reports, this software package provides a reliable and efficient solution for all your academic writing tasks. And with a wealth of additional features, like resume templates and split-screen capabilities, it's more than just a word processor—it's a comprehensive platform designed with students and writers in mind.

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FAQs about word count in word for students

1. can word count be automatically updated in word.

Yes, you can automatically update the word count in Word. To do this:

Step 1 : Position your cursor where you'd like the word count displayed, such as in the Header or Footer.

Step 2 : Click on the Insert tab.

Step 3 : Click the "Quick Parts" icon. You can find the Quick Parts icon towards the right-hand end of the toolbar.

Step 4 : From the drop-down menu, choose Field.

Step 5 : In the Field window that opens, scroll down the list in the left-hand pane and select NumWords.

Step 6 : Click OK. It adds a field to your document that shows the word count automatically.

2. How many pages is 1000 words?

The number of pages for 1000 words varies depending on factors like font size, type, line spacing, and margins. Typically, a page with standard formatting (12-point font, double-spaced, 1-inch margins) holds around 250-300 words.

3. Does Word have a Word Count limit?

Word imposes a limit on the number of words that can be typed in a single document, determined by the operating system's file size restriction. For instance, the file size limit for a .docx file, Word's default format, is 2 gigabytes (GB). The actual word count depends on factors like font size, style, margins, and spacing. Typically, a single-spaced document with a 12-point font and standard margins accommodates around 500-600 words per page. Consequently, a 2 GB file size can store approximately 4-5 million pages of text in a text-only document.

Word Count Management Made Easy with WPS Office

As much as staying within the word count in Word for students is crucial, but it's common to either overshoot or fall short of the required limit. To help students stay on track, having tools that visibly display word count can be invaluable. WPS Office offers this functionality, with a clear and upgraded word count indicator, ensuring you always know where you stand. Also, WPS AI helps adjust your text to meet the desired word limit, offering suggestions to expand or condense your content as needed. Download WPS Office for an efficient way to manage word counts and keep your essays within the required boundaries.

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Use fields to insert word count in your document

Word can insert the word count into your document and update that information as often as you want.

Select in your document where you want the word count to appear.

Go to Insert > Quick Parts > Field .

In the Field names list, select NumWords , and then select OK .

To update the information, right-click where you added the field and then choose Update Field .

If you’d like the information to update automatically when you print, select File > Options > Display and then under Printing options select Update fields before printing .

Show word count

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