How to Stick to Your Essay Word Counts

Writing essays is one of the tasks that students are forced to perform during their studies at university. An essay cannot be presented spontaneously, it must conform to certain standards, where word count and page limits are critical. Once you have chosen a topic, you need to research the arguments you will raise, sticking to the number of words allowed in the essay. Here, we will guide and share with you ways to stick to word count in essays effectively:

1. Narrowing down your topic

A good, compelling essay is one that has a specific topic. Instead of a vague, generic piece of content, choose a topic you can cover that is thorough, factual, straightforward, and engaging.

Read the assignment carefully to make sure you understand the requirements, such as:

Length of essay

Citation format used in the essay

Formatting requirements such as margin size, line spacing, font, and font size.

2. Outline your essay in advance

Make an outline for what? Why do I need to make an outline? Outlining is one of the most powerful strategies to help you stick to your word count.

It will help you speak with the right focus, without rambling, digression, and redundancy of words.

Make a brief list of the main points you will cover in your essay. You don't have to include a lot of detail – just write 1-2 sentences, even a few words, to outline each main idea or argument. Fill in the supporting ideas with examples and examples that you will use to support each main idea.

3. Keep the introduction short

The introduction will include a brief overview of the topic along with a thesis statement.

The most important part of the essay is the body. So the opening introduction doesn't need to be too long. A catchy, interesting but brief introduction is often appreciated.

The introduction should be no more than 6 sentences long. If more, you need to review, mark to shorten, or cut out completely.

4. Focus on what matters

Based on your outline, write a series of paragraphs that address each of the main ideas you want to present. Each paragraph should include a topic sentence similar to a minor thesis statement - it briefly explains the main idea you want to present in the paragraph. Following the topic sentence, you will give some convincing evidence to support that point

5. Eliminate Repetition

Write an essay with repeated words/phrases no matter what. If the test is missing, the sentences still make perfect sense, then remove them

6. Avoid using unnecessary words

Short, concise, succinct, and to the point is a well-regarded essay. If you are struggling to maintain a word limit then unnecessary words and sentences should be avoided.

Some words do not add meaning such as:

Actually, Really, Very, Basically, Just, Totally, Completely, Absolutely, Definitely, Probably, Maybe, Rather, Quite, Somewhat, Somehow.

7. Ask for Help

If you've tried all of the ideas above and your essay still exceeds the word limit, get help from a friend, teacher, or someone you trust. A new perspective will easily see inappropriate or redundant ideas, helping you.

In short, after correcting your essay, read it carefully again to spot minor errors, such as typos, formatting, or word counts...

You may have to trim content in some places and add in others.

You may also have to rearrange some of the content to make the essay more coherent.

Good luck with your thesis!