{"id":16119,"date":"2022-11-18T05:09:35","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T10:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lmshero.com\/?p=16119"},"modified":"2022-12-10T12:15:01","modified_gmt":"2022-12-10T17:15:01","slug":"how-many-words-should-an-essay-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lmshero.com\/how-many-words-should-an-essay-be\/","title":{"rendered":"How Many Words Should An Essay Be: Complete Essay Writing Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When writing an essay, dissertation, thesis<\/a>, college paper, or any other thing, the question of how many words is enough or required always comes to mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, most instructors give students guidelines that include the length of their essays. But what if you’re left to figure out the basics yourself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The length of an academic essay depends on factors like your level, major, course requirements, and department guidelines. This could range from 200 to 650 words, 300 to 1000 words, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, I discuss the basic length for different types of essays which can serve as a guideline for your next assignment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay length guidelines<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a table that highlights the basic word count for different types of essays. These are appropriate and acceptable requirements anywhere, even if you’re not given a guideline to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Type of essay<\/td>Essay length<\/td><\/tr>
High school essay  <\/td>High school essays are relatively short with a minimum of five paragraphs that comprises an introduction, the body, and a conclusion. That said, the basic length for a high school essay is between 300 to 1000 words.<\/strong>  <\/td><\/tr>
College admission essay  <\/td>College application essays have a strict word limit. It is basically a short essay to express your passion or interest and motivation. It is shorter than any other type of essay with a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 650 words<\/strong>.  <\/td><\/tr>
Undergraduate college essay    <\/td>College essays vary by institution, department, course requirements, and level. It could be anything from 500 words to as much as 6000<\/strong> depending on the purpose of the assignment<\/td><\/tr>
Graduate school admission essay  <\/td>Graduate school applications require a longer statement of purpose compared to college applications. Apparently, your academic achievements would be more, plus you should be able to state your motivations more coherently.   The required word count here is 500 to 1000 words<\/strong>.<\/td><\/tr>
Graduate school essay<\/td>Graduate program essays also vary by institution and discipline. But they could likely be research papers with a length of 2500 to 6000 words.<\/strong>  <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How long should an essay be?<\/h2>\n\n\n
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As mentioned earlier, academic essays vary by length. But generally, an essay shouldn’t be less than five paragraphs<\/strong>. This allows you to introduce your idea, add at least 3 paragraphs in the body, and a conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually, introductions take not more than a paragraph, but a complex assignment of more than 3000 words may require two to three paragraphs for an introduction to provide proper background and context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The body is the part of the essay with the most word count. Here you make your arguments with evidence and develop your ideas. Assuming your essay is 200 words per paragraph, a 2000-word essay would be 8 paragraphs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final section is the conclusion, usually one paragraph, but longer essays may require more than one paragraph. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your conclusion doesn’t have to be a summary of the entire essay but it should succinctly tie together the main points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How long should a paragraph be?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A paragraph is a unit of thoughts with a fully developed idea. Although there are no strict rules for the length of a paragraph, a rule of thumb is to keep it between two to six sentences at most<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that a single sentence isn’t enough to form a paragraph in academic writing. Another popular suggestion is to make each paragraph 100 to 200 words long. However, the paragraphs don’t have to be the same length.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While some believe that a short document should have short paragraphs and long paragraphs for long documents, others believe that it doesn’t matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your assignment does not have guidelines, it may be best to ask your professor for their guidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the most important thing is to communicate an idea coherently in each paragraph. Plus, your introduction should do good work of setting the context of your work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, the body should flow accordingly with a structured transition from one thought to another and the conclusion should meaningfully wrap up the ideas of the entire text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you go under the suggested length?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Writing less than the required word count is allowed as long as you’re close to the suggested length<\/strong>. For instance, if you’re able to meet 900 words for a 1000-word assignment, you’re good to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, you should always strive to hit your word count but if you’re sure you’ve done a good job, it’s fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peradventure, you’re nowhere near the suggested length, you should consider doing these:<\/p>\n\n\n\n