average number of words in a 5 paragraph essay

• U.S. Locations
• UMGC Europe
• Learn Online
• Find Answers
• 855-655-8682
• Current Students

UMGC Effective Writing Center Secrets of the Five-Paragraph Essay

Explore more of umgc.

• Writing Resources

This form of writing goes by different names. Maybe you've heard some of them before: "The Basic Essay," "The Academic Response Essay," "The 1-3-1 Essay." Regardless of what you've heard, the name you should remember is "The Easy Essay."

Once you are shown how this works--and it only takes a few minutes--you will have in your hands the secret to writing well on almost any academic assignment. Here is how it goes.

Secret #1—The Magic of Three

Three has always been a magic number for humans, from fairy tales like "The Three Little Pigs" to sayings like “third time’s a charm.” Three seems to be an ideal number for us--including the academic essay. So whenever you are given a topic to write about, a good place to begin is with a list of three. Here are some examples (three of them, of course):

Topic : What are the essential characteristics of a good parent? Think in threes and you might come up with:

• unconditional love 

Certainly, there are more characteristics of good parents you could name, but for our essay, we will work in threes.

Here's a topic that deals with a controversial issue:

Topic : Should women in the military be given frontline combat duties?

• The first reason that women should be assigned to combat is equality. 
• The second reason is their great teamwork. 
• The third reason is their courage.

As you see, regardless of the topic, we can list three points about it. And if you wonder about the repetition of words and structure when stating the three points, in this case, repetition is a good thing. Words that seem redundant when close together in an outline will be separated by the actual paragraphs of your essay. So in the essay instead of seeming redundant they will be welcome as signals to the reader of your essay’s main parts.

Finally, when the topic is an academic one, your first goal is the same: create a list of three.

Topic: Why do so many students fail to complete their college degree?

• First, students often...
• Second, many students cannot...
• Finally, students find that...

Regardless of the reasons you might come up with to finish these sentences, the formula is still the same.

Secret #2: The Thesis Formula

Now with your list of three, you can write the sentence that every essay must have—the thesis, sometimes called the "controlling idea," "overall point," or "position statement." In other words, it is the main idea of the essay that you will try to support, illustrate, or corroborate.

Here’s a simple formula for a thesis: The topic + your position on the topic = your thesis.

Let’s apply this formula to one of our examples:

Topic: Essential characteristics of a good parent Your Position: patience, respect, love Thesis: The essential characteristics of a good parent are patience, respect, and love.

As you see, all we did was combine the topic with our position/opinion on it into a single sentence to produce the thesis: The essential characteristics of a good parent are patience, respect, and love.

In this case, we chose to list three main points as part of our thesis. Sometimes that’s a good strategy. However, you can summarize them if you wish, as in this example:

Topic: Women in combat duty in the military Your Position: They deserve it Thesis: Women deserve to be assigned combat duty in the military.

This type of thesis is shorter and easier to write because it provides the overall position or opinion without forcing you to list the support for it in the thesis, which can get awkward and take away from your strong position statement. The three reasons women deserve to be assigned combat duties--equality, teamwork, courage--will be the subjects of your three body paragraphs and do not need to be mentioned until the body paragraph in which they appear.

Secret #3: The 1-3-1 Outline

With your thesis and list of three main points, you can quickly draw a basic outline of the paragraphs of your essay. You’ll then see why this is often called the 1-3-1 essay.

• Supporting Evidence for Claim 1    
• Supporting Evidence for Claim 2
• Supporting Evidence for Claim 3

The five-paragraph essay consists of one introduction paragraph (with the thesis at its end), three body paragraphs (each beginning with one of three main points) and one last paragraph—the conclusion. 1-3-1.

Once you have this outline, you have the basic template for most academic writing. Most of all, you have an organized way to approach virtually any topic you are assigned.

Our helpful admissions advisors can help you choose an academic program to fit your career goals, estimate your transfer credits, and develop a plan for your education costs that fits your budget. If you’re a current UMGC student, please visit the Help Center .

Personal Information

Contact information, additional information.

By submitting this form, you acknowledge that you intend to sign this form electronically and that your electronic signature is the equivalent of a handwritten signature, with all the same legal and binding effect. You are giving your express written consent without obligation for UMGC to contact you regarding our educational programs and services using e-mail, phone, or text, including automated technology for calls and/or texts to the mobile number(s) provided. For more details, including how to opt out, read our privacy policy or contact an admissions advisor .

Please wait, your form is being submitted.

By using our website you agree to our use of cookies. Learn more about how we use cookies by reading our  Privacy Policy .

Essay Word Counter

Start typing to get a list of keywords that are most used

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.

Getting writing help is so easy with us

Choose the type, level, urgency, and length to start off

How Many Words Is a Five Paragraph Essay - Writing Guide for Standardized Tests

Academia is rich in standardized tests, and each of those has specific rules to follow. As a student, you have to be aware of relevant standards to meet and be ready for extra researching in case something about the assignment is unclear.

So, the fundamental features that may influence your writing strategy while preparing a certain school project are:

• Structure and format
• The vocabulary you use
• Grammar constructions you apply
• The way you cite the sources
• Formatting the list of references
• The style of your title page (if any), etc.

This way, depending on the type of your assignment, those elements can be omitted or changed.

No one would be surprised if we say that an essay is the most common paper for students to prepare. And, in this guide, we will dwell on the basics of that assignment and discuss a five-paragraph essay and its length, in particular. Why so? Because to come up even with such simple writing, one needs to understand how to organize it and what to include in its parts.

What about the format, citations, structure, and language of your 5-paragraph paper? Here, you should consider each of those elements in the context of the type, purpose, and subject matter of the essay assigned. For instance, the main idea is to convince the reader. Then, you are to apply different means of reasonable and persuasive communication. Or, if there is an argument in focus, you have to look for a reliable piece of evidence for supporting your central message.

Sometimes, students think that the five paragraph essay is easy writing and become satisfied just by having their text divided into those 5 sections. And, that is why your grade can be dramatically lowered. Yes, everyone should learn how to write that specific essay and meet its purpose as well as expectations of academia. But, failing to meet the basics is what also counts during the assessment. Assignment with only five paragraphs has quite a rigid structure, and its length is just what you need to consider first. Knowing how many words is a five-paragraph essay simplifies the writing process a lot because you can:

• Organize your thoughts better
• Make the writing well-balanced
• Find out how much time you need for writing
• Be confident about meeting the length standards

But, is there an answer to that question of how many words you should write? We know that any essay is better to be not too long and not too short, but here, we will try to find a precise solution. Many things matter when you work on an academic essay . Hence, it is useful for one to take them into consideration while working on a 5-paragraph assignment.

First, you must understand that usually, the standards related to the number of words or pages in your writing aren't strict. Even when you are told how long your paper is meant to be, minor fluctuations (up to 10 percent of the required length) are tolerated by almost every professor. But let us consider this issue in more detail.

5 Paragraph Essay Word Count

A lot depends on the instructions provided by your professor - it is the guidance you should look through in search of the answer to that main question. Still, we can reflect on how many words in a 5 paragraph essay is a minimum. Typically, five-paragraph writing consists of:

• An introduction
• Three sections of a body paragraph
• A conclusion

Your first (intro) paragraph also has particular features and consists of:

• An attention-getter that will interest the readers in your subject
• Your thesis statement with an idea to support throughout the writing process
• Three sentences dedicated to the introduction of the arguments.

Thus, it makes five sentences, and for the rest of the paragraphs, you will also have five sentences in each as a minimum. Now, it makes five paragraphs times five sentences each - twenty-five . Then, it is recommended for your sentences to be no longer than ten words unless it is necessary. But here, stay vigilant because using too short ones is not appropriate for academic writing either. That means those ten words is a reasonable average length. Now, twenty-five sentences times ten words makes 250 words or a double-spaced page. But that is only the minimum size, and you ought to look carefully in your professor's requirements for the answer or any specifications. If those of your high school or college professor don't provide important guidelines, we recommend asking your instructor directly and be confident about following appropriate standards.

There are many tutorials on essay writing , including our post, that can answer the question "how many words should a typical 5 paragraph essay be." However, variations in length can be significant. If you are writing an extended essay, it can be up to ten pages long, and it is unlikely for such a lengthy paper to have only five sections. But, you are to follow the structure. For instance, each argument may be represented by two or three paragraphs, or there may be more than just three arguments to consider. A lot also depends on the type of essay and writing prompt you are working on.

We strongly recommend you revise an essay that is shorter than 250 words unless such a length is required by your professor. To lengthen your assignment, reread the writing and each body paragraph of it. May be, there are some unanswered questions, discussing which will add some words to your text. Sometimes, it is hard to come up with five paragraphs of classical structure within such a short format. Thus, we would like to emphasize it once more. The absolute minimum size for a five-paragraph essay is 250 words or one double-spaced page, typed in standard 12 points font.

Keep in mind that if you have any questions, it is always better to clarify them with your professor before starting the actual writing. If you need professional support, you can also contact our agents and request an expert who will provide you with a relevant custom assignment . On WiseEssays.com , we can meet any requirements of yours! If you doubt how many words should your 5 paragraph essay be, entrust that issue to us. We are ready to offer you the best academic assistance on the web and guarantee the result you need.

Subscribe to get free samples

Christopher

More than 176 testimonials from clients make up a 9.6 / 10 rate of success , making our organization one of the best in the industry.

"I don't usually like asking for help, but I've got myself into a bit of a tight situation because I got a job to afford living like I want. You're always my safety plan when I realize that I can't do something on time. Your writers constantly get me A and B+."

"Was in doubt whether I should order my thesis here, but you guys have really surprised me! Overlooked some formatting imperfections because I'd defended it successfully! Thanks!"

"Thank you for my A! Still can't believe it! Will get your help again cuz have a tight schedule at work."

"I am so grateful to you people! I hate math but I have it as my compulsory freshmen year class. If it weren't for you, I would've failed it long ago, but you always help me out flawlessly!"

"Yes, yes, yes! 6 hours and you are done! I got b+ and I am happy!"

"Thank you!!! Last research paper you completed for me was just perfect. I could never please my tutor with papers I wrote but you helped to change it. You provide a very well written original paper."

The Ultimate Guide to the 5-Paragraph Essay

PeopleImages / Getty Images

• M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
• B.A., History, Armstrong State University

A five-paragraph essay is a prose composition that follows a prescribed format of an introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph, and is typically taught during primary English education and applied on standardized testing throughout schooling.

Learning to write a high-quality five-paragraph essay is an essential skill for students in early English classes as it allows them to express certain ideas, claims, or concepts in an organized manner, complete with evidence that supports each of these notions. Later, though, students may decide to stray from the standard five-paragraph format and venture into writing an  exploratory essay  instead.

Still, teaching students to organize essays into the five-paragraph format is an easy way to introduce them to writing literary criticism, which will be tested time and again throughout their primary, secondary, and further education.

Writing a Good Introduction

The introduction is the first paragraph in your essay, and it should accomplish a few specific goals: capture the reader's interest, introduce the topic, and make a claim or express an opinion in a thesis statement.

It's a good idea to start your essay with a hook (fascinating statement) to pique the reader's interest, though this can also be accomplished by using descriptive words, an anecdote, an intriguing question, or an interesting fact. Students can practice with creative writing prompts to get some ideas for interesting ways to start an essay.

The next few sentences should explain your first statement, and prepare the reader for your thesis statement, which is typically the last sentence in the introduction. Your  thesis sentence  should provide your specific assertion and convey a clear point of view, which is typically divided into three distinct arguments that support this assertation, which will each serve as central themes for the body paragraphs.

Writing Body Paragraphs

The body of the essay will include three body paragraphs in a five-paragraph essay format, each limited to one main idea that supports your thesis.

To correctly write each of these three body paragraphs, you should state your supporting idea, your topic sentence, then back it up with two or three sentences of evidence. Use examples that validate the claim before concluding the paragraph and using transition words to lead to the paragraph that follows — meaning that all of your body paragraphs should follow the pattern of "statement, supporting ideas, transition statement."

Words to use as you transition from one paragraph to another include: moreover, in fact, on the whole, furthermore, as a result, simply put, for this reason, similarly, likewise, it follows that, naturally, by comparison, surely, and yet.

Writing a Conclusion

The final paragraph will summarize your main points and re-assert your main claim (from your thesis sentence). It should point out your main points, but should not repeat specific examples, and should, as always, leave a lasting impression on the reader.

The first sentence of the conclusion, therefore, should be used to restate the supporting claims argued in the body paragraphs as they relate to the thesis statement, then the next few sentences should be used to explain how the essay's main points can lead outward, perhaps to further thought on the topic. Ending the conclusion with a question, anecdote, or final pondering is a great way to leave a lasting impact.

Once you complete the first draft of your essay, it's a good idea to re-visit the thesis statement in your first paragraph. Read your essay to see if it flows well, and you might find that the supporting paragraphs are strong, but they don't address the exact focus of your thesis. Simply re-write your thesis sentence to fit your body and summary more exactly, and adjust the conclusion to wrap it all up nicely.

Practice Writing a Five-Paragraph Essay

Students can use the following steps to write a standard essay on any given topic. First, choose a topic, or ask your students to choose their topic, then allow them to form a basic five-paragraph by following these steps:

• Decide on your  basic thesis , your idea of a topic to discuss.
• Decide on three pieces of supporting evidence you will use to prove your thesis.
• Write an introductory paragraph, including your thesis and evidence (in order of strength).
• Write your first body paragraph, starting with restating your thesis and focusing on your first piece of supporting evidence.
• End your first paragraph with a transitional sentence that leads to the next body paragraph.
• Write paragraph two of the body focussing on your second piece of evidence. Once again make the connection between your thesis and this piece of evidence.
• End your second paragraph with a transitional sentence that leads to paragraph number three.
• Repeat step 6 using your third piece of evidence.
• Begin your concluding paragraph by restating your thesis. Include the three points you've used to prove your thesis.
• End with a punch, a question, an anecdote, or an entertaining thought that will stay with the reader.

Once a student can master these 10 simple steps, writing a basic five-paragraph essay will be a piece of cake, so long as the student does so correctly and includes enough supporting information in each paragraph that all relate to the same centralized main idea, the thesis of the essay.

Limitations of the Five-Paragraph Essay

The five-paragraph essay is merely a starting point for students hoping to express their ideas in academic writing; there are some other forms and styles of writing that students should use to express their vocabulary in the written form.

According to Tory Young's "Studying English Literature: A Practical Guide":

"Although school students in the U.S. are examined on their ability to write a  five-paragraph essay , its  raison d'être  is purportedly to give practice in basic writing skills that will lead to future success in more varied forms. Detractors feel, however, that writing to rule in this way is more likely to discourage imaginative writing and thinking than enable it. . . . The five-paragraph essay is less aware of its  audience  and sets out only to present information, an account or a kind of story rather than explicitly to persuade the reader."

Students should instead be asked to write other forms, such as journal entries, blog posts, reviews of goods or services, multi-paragraph research papers, and freeform expository writing around a central theme. Although five-paragraph essays are the golden rule when writing for standardized tests, experimentation with expression should be encouraged throughout primary schooling to bolster students' abilities to utilize the English language fully.

• How To Write an Essay
• How to Write a Great Essay for the TOEFL or TOEIC
• Write an Attention-Grabbing Opening Sentence for an Essay
• How to Write and Format an MBA Essay
• How to Structure an Essay
• How to Help Your 4th Grader Write a Biography
• Definition and Examples of Body Paragraphs in Composition
• What Is Expository Writing?
• What an Essay Is and How to Write One
• Paragraph Writing
• 3 Changes That Will Take Your Essay From Good To Great
• An Introduction to Academic Writing
• Tips on How to Write an Argumentative Essay
• The Five Steps of Writing an Essay
• How to Write a Solid Thesis Statement
• The Introductory Paragraph: Start Your Paper Off Right

Have a language expert improve your writing

Check your paper for plagiarism in 10 minutes, generate your apa citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• College essay

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

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

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

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

Table of contents

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

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

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

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

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

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

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

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

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

Here are some strategies for shortening your essay.

Stay on the main point

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

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

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

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

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

Eliminate wordiness

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

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

Use a paraphrasing tool

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

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

Here are some strategies for expanding your essay.

Show detailed examples, and don’t tell generic stories

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

Reveal your feelings and insight

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

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

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

Academic writing

• Writing process
• Transition words
• Passive voice
• Paraphrasing

 Communication

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

 Parts of speech

• Personal pronouns
• Conjunctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Courault, K. (2023, June 01). How Long Should a College Essay Be? | Word Count Tips. Scribbr. Retrieved April 9, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/college-essay/college-essay-length/

Is this article helpful?

Kirsten Courault

Other students also liked, college essay format & structure | example outlines, how to revise your college admissions essay | examples, how to apply for college | timeline, templates & checklist, unlimited academic ai-proofreading.

✔ Document error-free in 5minutes ✔ Unlimited document corrections ✔ Specialized in correcting academic texts

How Long is an Essay

How Long is an Essay?

High school essays typically range from 300-1000 words, focusing on a 5-paragraph structure. College admission essays are brief, 200-650 words, showcasing personal interests. Undergraduate essays vary, spanning 1500-5000 words, depending on course and institution specifics. Graduate admissions require more detailed essays of 500-1000 words, while graduate-level essays often extend from 2500-6000 words, reflecting deeper research and analysis.

The question of how long should an essay be– whether you are a pro or not–should come from something OTHER than your liking 💯. 

Sure, you can always follow your heart whenever you want to put your sentiments and purpose into words. It is, however, another truth that there is an external factor that always determines how effective you are as an essayist: the WORD COUNT.

Let us not all lie. No matter how good or bad we are at writing things, word count always matters. This factor may come into play when it becomes one of the criteria for judging one’s written output or a measure of someone’s writing prowess if it is made out of a career. Thus, one thing is for sure: even if it sucks, we always consider how long should an essay be.

But just like any other factor influencing good writing, managing an ideal word count for essays can be quite a breeze. All you have to do is pan out your purpose, know your audience, and be strategic in monitoring your word count. All of the know-how, and many others, will be discussed thoroughly in this blog, so stick around to see the magic!

How Long is an Essay Considering the Factors that I Have to Follow?

Factors everywhere. A good result cannot be determined well and objectively without these factors. Sure enough, good writing, while considering its word count, can be a walk in the park if one considers the following factors that regulate an ideal (or sometimes, required) word count.

Academic essay varies depending on multiple factors. Asking the “WHY” on something provides you with a clear way how you can finish it. In writing, this “why,” which represents your intention or purpose, gives you an outline of how you may navigate the entire process– and manage your word count as well.

Once you have set your writing goals before the writing process, you can prepare the right information that you will inject into the sections of your manuscript, as well as an approach (more than two is fine; do not be shy!) that will serve as your structure. Writers have different purposes– dictated or not, explicit or implicit, thus producing different preferences for word count.

One may have many demands in its purpose, making the word count a bit overboard. Some do not demand that much, translating to a permissible count. One thing is for sure, though: purpose drives your writing journey, so whether you measure your essay length or not, it must be clearly stated on the paper!

When we say that your feelings matter so much in your writing, that has to be minimized considerably because maintaining word count and determining how many words should an essay be sometimes depends on the people who read and use it.

A specific group of people always know what they want in a writing piece– either they like it long and extensive or short yet succinct. With this reality (arguing about it will not give you good marks) in mind, you have to be a sucker for their preferences.

The good thing about this, though, is you already have some ideas on how you will create your piece (versus thinking about it from scratch), and your horizons will widen since you will craft a piece that reflects other people’s liking. A little note when considering the audience as one of your considerations for word count is that they are already giving you a favor.

Nature of the Writing Task

Along with the wish to maintain an average essay word count, you must know WHAT you are writing about. Mostly common among academic institutions, the nature of a writing task may come off as explicit through the name itself (is it a traditional expository essay? A narrative report? A critical essay?) or implicit through the specifications of the task (Should there be an outline to adhere in the task? Should one use a specific structure or approach to the creation of a text?).

Determining how many words should there be in an essay will largely depend on what you are writing about, and the elements and features of these various tasks may shorten or lengthen the word count.

In Studyfy, however, you can see these factors come into play and create a concoction of a text like no other. With a tailor-fit custom essay writing service that offers a variety of academic, business, and personalized research papers that vary in word count depending on your purpose, you can yield personal success in your sheer convenience. 

How Long is an Essay in High School?

In high school, essays typically vary in length based on the assignment type, ranging from 500 to 1500 words for narratives, 800 to 1500 words for expository essays, 500 to 1000 words for reflective essays, and 600 to 1200 words for process essays. Always follow your teacher's guidelines.

High school is the period in education where students’ lower and higher-order thinking skills (LOTS/HOTS) are put into practice, and essays and other related written tasks are manifestations of their learning of these skills.

Although there is a tendency for students to ask someone “to write an essay for me ” because of being overwhelmed with too much information, writing an essay in high school is the best starting point for students to practice writing and presenting information by counting what is important and relevant.

The following is the list of common essay types and their ideal word count:

Narrative Essays

Its primary purpose is to narrate a specific event or describe a scenario using quotations, vivid descriptions, and imagery to convey the situation in writing accurately. Although adjectives, literary devices, and other strategies for vivid conveyance may mean a considerable amount of words to be injected into the piece, the essay length of a narrative text may range from 500-1500 words. 

Expository Essays

Typically following the traditional and rigid 5-paragraph format, these essays present information about a topic or clarify a particular concept, phenomenon, or entity. While some sources may put the count range from 300-1000 words, the extensiveness of this essay type may enlarge the range from 800-1500 words.

Reflective Essays

Also known as reflection entries, these essays are beneficial for developing students’ metacognitive skills, as they are expected to recall personal thoughts and experiences about a certain topic. A typical reflective essay falls within the range of 500-1000 words, depending on how downright or deep your reflection is. 

Process Essay

These kinds of essays are pretty common in Science courses, such as Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. Sometimes, coupled with a diagram or chart, a process essay explains how a certain practice, concept, or phenomenon happens step-by-step.

While some process essays may be words because some steps have to be elaborated for clarity, most are straightforward and do not need to be intricate since they are practical and mass-oriented. Because of this, process essays range from 600-1200 words.

Struggling with the Write An Essay

Get your assignments done by real pros. Save your precious time and boost your marks with ease.

How Long is an Essay in College? Ideal Essay Length and Word Count

In college, essay lengths vary widely. Admission essays are typically 200-650 words, undergraduate essays range from 1500-5000 words, graduate admission essays are around 500-1000 words, and graduate-level essays can span 2500-6000 words. Always adhere to your assignment's specific word count guidelines.

To say that the essays in college get a lot more difficult than in high school, well– it is more complicated than that. Now that you are expected to have harnessed the necessary skills to process and interpret certain information, you now have to deal with types of writing tasks that are often extensive and time-consuming, to say the least.

Admission Essay

Impressing the admissions committee with a personalized essay is the number one goal, and guess what: You do not need a long string of words to do that. How long should essays be without using too many words in a college acceptance letter?

An admission college essay can be as short as a word count of 200-650 words, while graduate admission letters are more detailed with 500-1000 words. A quick tip: Show your personality and make an impact by clinching them with a few yet powerful or attention-catching quips. 

Critical Review Essay

Critiquing a text, film, book, or any other body of literature may require every bit of your research effort and HOTS. You have to dissect the subject into components and make sense of these components while making sure that you find gaps, associations, and relevance to a particular “lens” that helps a seemingly oblivious observation to become apparent.

It is thus safe to say that your word count may go bonkers, with an ideal range of 1500 to 3000 words, depending on the structure of your paper and the approach to criticism.

Persuasive Academic Essay

A persuasive college essay may land you a good harnessing of marketing and sales skills. This essay enables you to take a stand and advocate something for your audience to do the same thing by presenting credible and evidence-based claims and arguments.

A unique thing about persuasive college essays is that they use the technique called “Call to Action” to magically turn readers’ attention to your claim realistically and feasibly. Considering the elements that must be included in this essay, an 800-1500 word count is preferred.

Comparative Analysis Essay

Comparing and contrasting two ideas, phenomena, or concepts may take a while to provide total comprehensibility. Since the points of comparison may exceed the usual threshold, the word count may also swell up. Still dependent on the elements being compared in this analysis essay, the ideal word count is 1800-3000 words.

This writing task encapsulates the various documentation, research, and analysis of a specific case or scenario, most preferably something peculiar or novel. When creating a case study, it is somewhat impossible to be concise in describing the locale of the scenario.

You have to exhaust your vocabulary and presentation skills to convey the case into analysis effectively. With that being said, its ideal word count is 2000 to 3500 words, depending on the case’s complexity.

College Essays: Help is Near

College writeups can be difficult to do, and to pay for an essay may take a bit of shame and courage. However, the feeling of shame will change to relief if you know that a custom writing service that serves personal writing style and needs like Studyfy gets everything covered.

All of the specifications you need to be in the write-up, plus the necessary information that is pivotal to the success of your paper, will be yours if you sign up for a Studyfy service!

Did you like our article?

For more help, tap into our pool of professional writers and get expert essay writing services!

FAQs: How Long Should An Essay Be?

How long is a typical essay if you will be using the ibc format.

IBC format, for starters, is the basic “Introduction-Body-Conclusion” format conventionally used for essays. Just like the IMRAD format in research papers, this format is standardized and widely accepted in academic institutions and other fields.

To determine the typical word count of an essay following this format, you must understand the weight of relevance each section holds. For instance, it is typical for an introduction to weigh less than the body, which should habituate the most significant information in the essay.

The same goes for conclusion. If the IBC format follows a 20-60-20 ratio and you aim for a 150-word minimum count per section, the entire count can be 750 words minimum.

How long are essays in college, considering that it will be a lot more difficult to write one?

Difficulty may translate to a longer word count, and we understand if it has been kept as a notion in your experience as a current or future college student. If you keenly noticed the type of essays presented at the collegiate level, the minimum word count is 250 (for admission essays) while the maximum is 3500 (mostly common among case studies).

Regularly, however, typical essay writing tasks range from 800-1000 words, especially if you are talking about concept, term, or research papers that are being done at the end of a unit of work or as a terminal course requirement.

Whether an undergraduate college essay, research paper, graduate school essays, or any type of academic writing, it's important to adhere to a specific word count and word limit. As college essays tend to be lengthy, an additional challenge is to incorporate all relevant information in a clear and succinct way.

Maximize your chances of admission with our expert admission essay writing service . Take action today to secure your academic future!

‍ How many words should an essay have if I wanted to fill an entire page?

Although this question is a bit practical and unhinged at the same time, we are also guilty about this, as we seldom check the word count of our paper when we finish a page. From our experience, you can fit 500-700 words in a page, but the count still depends on the font size, spacing, justification, and other formatting elements of your document. 

How long is an essay supposed to be in one paragraph?

The answer is invariable since we have to consider lots of factors about the purpose and nature of the writing task. From a general approximation, however, an essay paragraph can be within a hundred words. Exceeding it may render it lengthy and too tiring to read.

How many words should a high school essay be if no one provided an outline to adhere to?

When there is no explicit instruction about the word count of a high school essay task, you might find the 150-word minimum rule per section handy, in consonance with the 20-60-20 rule discussed briefly in the first question (although this is widely used if you are following the IBC format). You may adjust the minimum word limit depending on the difficulty or nature of the task.

How Many Words Should Your Essay Have for Grading High?

How many words are in an essay?

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

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

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

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

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

How Long is an Essay, Depending on the Type?

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

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

How Many Paragraphs is an Essay? 6 Main Lengths

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

Each essay consists of three parts:

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

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

One-paragraph essays

Three-paragraph papers, five-paragraph essays, extended papers, dissertation, frequently asked questions:, is essay length important.

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

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

How many words are in an essay sample?

350 words at least.

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

How long is each part of an essay?

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

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

How many sentences are in an essay?

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

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

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

How many words are in an essay introduction?

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

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

Can I go under the suggested length?

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

How to make your essay longer?

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

Can I make my essay longer?

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

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

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

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

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

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

References:

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

Recent Posts

• Writing the “Why Should Abortion Be Made Legal” Essay: Sample and Tips
• 3 Examples of Enduring Issue Essays to Write Yours Like a Pro
• Writing Essay on Friendship: 3 Samples to Get Inspired
• How to Structure a Leadership Essay (Samples to Consider)
• What Is Nursing Essay, and How to Write It Like a Pro

• Link to facebook
• Link to linkedin
• Link to twitter
• Link to youtube
• Writing Tips

How Many Paragraphs Should an Essay Have?

• 6-minute read
• 19th May 2023

You have an essay to write. You’ve researched the topic and crafted a strong thesis statement . Now it’s time to open the laptop and start tapping away on the keyboard. You know the required word count, but you’re unsure of one thing: How many paragraphs should you have in the essay? Gee, it would’ve been nice if your professor had specified that, huh?

No worries, friend, because in this post, we’ll provide a guide to how many paragraphs an essay should have . Generally, the number of paragraphs will depend on how many words and how many supporting details you need (more on that later). We’ll also explore the concept of paragraphs if you’re wondering what they’re all about. And remember, paragraphs serve a purpose. You can’t submit an essay without using them!

What Is a Paragraph?

You likely know what a paragraph is, but can you define it properly in plain English? Don’t feel bad if that question made you shake your head. Off the top of our heads, many of us can’t explain what a paragraph is .

A paragraph comprises at least five sentences about a particular topic. A paragraph must begin with a well-crafted topic sentence , which is then followed by ideas that support that sentence. To move the essay forward, the paragraph should flow well, and the sentences should be relevant.

Why Are Paragraphs Important?

Paragraphs expand on points you make about a topic, painting a vivid picture for the reader. Paragraphs break down information into chunks, which are easier to read than one giant, uninterrupted body of text. If your essay doesn’t use paragraphs, it likely won’t earn a good grade!

 How Many Paragraphs Are in an Essay?

As mentioned, the number of paragraphs will depend on the word count and the quantity of supporting ideas required. However, if you have to write at least 1,000 words, you should aim for at least five paragraphs. Every essay should have an introduction and a conclusion. The reader needs to get a basic introduction to the topic and understand your thesis statement. They must also see key takeaway points at the end of the essay.

As a rule, a five-paragraph essay would look like this:

• Introduction (with thesis statement)
• Main idea 1 (with supporting details)
• Main idea 2 (with supporting details)
• Main idea 3 (with supporting details)

Your supporting details should include material (such as quotations or facts) from credible sources when writing the main idea paragraphs.

If you think your essay could benefit from having more than five paragraphs, add them! Just make sure they’re relevant to the topic.

Professors don’t care so much about the number of paragraphs; they want you to satisfy the minimum word requirement. Assignment rubrics rarely state the number of required paragraphs. It will be up to you to decide how many to write, and we urge you to research the assigned topic before writing the essay. Your main ideas from the research will generate most of the paragraphs.

When Should I Start a New Paragraph?

Surprisingly, some students aren’t aware that they should break up some of the paragraphs in their essays . You need to start new paragraphs to keep your reader engaged.

As well as starting a new paragraph after the introduction and another for the conclusion, you should do so when you’re introducing a new idea or presenting contrasting information.

Find this useful?

Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.

Starting a paragraph often involves using transitional words or phrases to signal to the reader that you’re presenting a new idea. Failing to use these cues may cause confusion for the reader and undermine your essay’s coherence.

Let’s consider examples of transitional words and phrases in action in a conclusion. Note that the essay is about too much mobile device screen time and that transitional words and phrases can occur later in a paragraph too:

Thanks to “In conclusion” and “Additionally,” the reader clearly knows that they are now in the conclusion stage. They can also follow the logic and development of the essay more easily.

How Do I Know Whether I Have Enough Paragraphs?

While no magic number exists for how many paragraphs you need, you should know when you have enough to satisfy the requirements of the assignment. It helps if you can answer yes to the following questions:

• Does my essay have both an introduction and a conclusion?
• Have I provided enough main ideas with supporting details, including quotes and cited information?
• Does my essay develop the thesis statement?
• Does my essay adequately inform the reader about the topic?
• Have I provided at least one takeaway for the reader?

 Conclusion

Professors aren’t necessarily looking for a specific number of paragraphs in an essay; it’s the word count that matters. You should see the word count as a guide for a suitable number of paragraphs. As a rule, five paragraphs should suffice for a 1,000-word essay. As long as you have an introduction and a conclusion and provide enough supporting details for the main ideas in your body paragraphs, you should be good to go.

Remember to start a new paragraph when introducing new ideas or presenting contrasting information. Your reader needs to be able to follow the essay throughout, and a single, unbroken block of text would be difficult to read. Transitional words and phrases help start new paragraphs, so don’t forget to use them!

As with any writing, we always recommend proofreading your essay after you’ve finished it. This step will help to detect typos, extra spacing, and grammatical errors. A second pair of eyes is always useful, so we recommend asking our proofreading experts to review your essay . They’ll correct your grammar, ensure perfect spelling, and offer suggestions to improve your essay. You can even submit a 500-word document for free!

1. What is a paragraph and what is its purpose?

A paragraph is a group of sentences that expand on a single idea. The purpose of a paragraph is to introduce an idea and then develop it with supporting details.

2. What are the benefits of paragraphs?

Paragraphs make your essay easy to read by providing structure and flow. They let you transition from one idea to another. New paragraphs allow you to tell your reader that you’ve covered one point and are moving on to the next.

3. How many paragraphs does a typical essay have?

An essay of at least 1,000 words usually has five paragraphs. It’s best to use the required word count as a guide to the number of paragraphs you’ll need.

Share this article:

Post A New Comment

Got content that needs a quick turnaround? Let us polish your work. Explore our editorial business services.

3-minute read

What Is a Content Editor?

Are you interested in learning more about the role of a content editor and the...

4-minute read

The Benefits of Using an Online Proofreading Service

Proofreading is important to ensure your writing is clear and concise for your readers. Whether...

2-minute read

6 Online AI Presentation Maker Tools

Creating presentations can be time-consuming and frustrating. Trying to construct a visually appealing and informative...

What Is Market Research?

No matter your industry, conducting market research helps you keep up to date with shifting...

8 Press Release Distribution Services for Your Business

In a world where you need to stand out, press releases are key to being...

How to Get a Patent

In the United States, the US Patent and Trademarks Office issues patents. In the United...

Make sure your writing is the best it can be with our expert English proofreading and editing.

What are the six different essay lengths?

This is the second of three chapters about Essays . To complete this reader, read each chapter carefully and then unlock and complete our materials to check your understanding.   

– Discuss why essays might vary in length

– Outline the six major lengths of academic essay

– Provide defining features for each essay length

Chapter 1: What is an academic essay?

Chapter 2: What are the six different essay lengths?

Chapter 3: What are the seven different types of academic essay?

Before you begin reading...

• video and audio texts
• knowledge checks and quizzes
• skills practices, tasks and assignments

The length of essay you’re assigned will likely depend on where you are exactly in your academic course. Generally, assignments at the start of a bachelor’s degree will be shorter than those required in a student’s final years, just like master’s  and doctoral-level essays will continue to increase in both length and difficulty.

1. The One-Paragraph Essay

Generally about 150 to 250 words in length, the one-paragraph essay may be assigned by academic tutors simply in order to practise the basic concepts of paragraph writing, or it may also be used for specific purposes such as to practise summarising an article that’s been read in class or to write an extended definition of a concept. Additionally, one-paragraph essays may also be used as a diagnostic to quickly determine the level of a student’s writing. Unlike other essay lengths, for the one-paragraph essay, you’ll need to include at least some introductory, body and conclusive elements within the same paragraph.    

2. The Three-Paragraph Essay

Usually around 500 words in length, the three-paragraph essay is generally used to introduce students to the concept that all essays should maintain an introduction , body section and conclusion if the writer wishes to produce cohesive and a logical writing. The introduction and conclusion will be the first and last paragraphs and tend to be a little shorter in length, while the central body paragraph will contain the essay’s content or argument. A simple table explaining the balance of content in a three-paragraph essay has been provided below:

3. The Five-Paragraph Essay

Around 1,000 words in length, the five-paragraph essay is generally set by tutors who are content that their students understand the introduction-body-conclusion essay  structure and wish to allow more freedom to expand the ideas and arguments presented by the writer in the body section of the essay. This length of essay still only dedicates one paragraph to the introduction and conclusion , but allows three paragraphs to be dedicated to the exploration of the theme in the essay’s body. At this length, certain essay types such as cause and effect essays or compare and contrast essays may now be utilised. The following is a simple diagram of the balance of paragraph lengths in a five-paragraph essay.

4. The Extended Essay

The extended essay is the most common type of essay that’s assigned during a bachelor’s or master’s degree , and it may be of any length – although it’s unusual for such essays to be above 5,000 words. The most common lengths for an extended essay are 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000 words, with a word count allowance of plus or minus 10%. Such essay types will most certainly require research and referencing skills , and may also begin to follow more complex structures such as are found in dissertations and theses rather than simply following the introduction-body-conclusion structure of shorter essays.

5. The Dissertation

Generally assigned as the final project for both bachelor’s   and master’s degree , the typical length of an academic dissertation is 10,000 or 15,000 words. Unlike shorter essay types , dissertations have more complex structures and are almost always based around primary research (original research that the writer has conducted themselves). The following table demonstrates some of the key parts of a dissertation as well as the rough word count  percentages for each section:

6. The Thesis

Finally, the thesis is the longest academic essay type and the one that’s reserved for doctorate students studying PhDs. Generally between 40,000 and 60,000 words in length, the doctorate thesis may contain all the elements of a dissertation but in much more detail and with more careful investigation. Such essays  are almost certainly original and are based on primary research , with a larger focus on the accuracy of the literature review , data collection and data analysis . Many students will never encounter this essay type. 

Once you can recognise which essay length you’ve been assigned, the next question covered in Chapter 3 is about determining the type of essay you have to write. This is because each essay type will require particular styles, structures, foci and language.

To reference this reader:

Academic Marker (2022) Essays . Available at: https://academicmarker.com/academic-guidance/assignments/essays/ (Accessed: Date Month Year).

• Harvard Writing Center
• Leeds University Library
• Purdue Online Writing Lab

Downloadables

Once you’ve completed all three chapters about essays , you might also wish to download our beginner, intermediate and advanced worksheets to test your progress or print for your students. These professional PDF worksheets can be easily accessed for only a few Academic Marks .

Our essays academic reader (including all four chapters about this topic) can be accessed here at the click of a button.

Gain unlimited access to our essays  beginner worksheet, with activities and answer keys designed to check a basic understanding of this reader’s chapters.

To check a confident understanding of this reader’s chapters, click on the button below to download our  essays   intermediate worksheet with activities and answer keys.

Our essays  advanced worksheet with activities and answer keys has been created to check a sophisticated understanding of this reader’s chapters. 

To save yourself 5 Marks , click on the button below to gain unlimited access to all of our essays chapters and worksheets. The All-in-1 Pack includes every chapter in this reader, as well as our beginner, intermediate and advanced worksheets in one handy PDF.

Click on the button below to gain unlimited access to our essays  teacher’s PowerPoint, which should include everything you’d need to successfully introduce this topic.

Collect Academic Marks

• 15 Marks for joining
• 3 Marks for daily e-learning
• 10-20 for feedback and testimonials
• 10-50 for referring others

Structuring the Five-Paragraph Essay: Home

• Examples of Five-Paragraph Essays

"Five-Paragraph Essays"

Structuring the five-paragraph essay.

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Begins with a sentence that captures the reader’s attention

1) You may want to use an interesting example, a surprising statistic, or a challenging question.

B. Gives background information on the topic.

C. Includes the THESIS STATEMENT which:

1) States the main ideas of the essay and includes:

b. Viewpoint (what you plan to say about the topic)

2) Is more general than supporting data

3) May mention the main point of each of the body paragraphs

II. BODY PARAGRAPH #1

A. Begins with a topic sentence that:

1) States the main point of the paragraph

2) Relates to the THESIS STATEMENT

B. After the topic sentence, you need to fill the paragraph with well-organized details, facts, and examples.

C. Paragraph may end with a transition.

III. BODY PARAGRAPH #2

IV. BODY PARAGRAPH #3

3) States the main point of the paragraph

4) Relates to the THESIS STATEMENT

V. CONCLUSION

A. Echoes the THESIS STATEMENT but does not repeat it.

B. Poses a question for the future, suggests some action to be taken, or warns of a consequence.

C. Includes a detail or example from the INTRODUCTION to “tie up” the essay.

D. Ends with a strong image – or a humorous or surprising statement.

Proofread with SWAPS

Proofreading with SWAPS

S entence Structure:

• Be sure that every sentence in paragraph supports the topic sentence.
• Avoid run-on sentences.
• Avoid sentence fragments.

W ord Usage:

• Be sure you have used the correct words (homophones)          eg: there/they’re/their or to/too/two
• Avoid slang words
• Avoid pronoun overuse

A greement:

• Be sure that subjects and verbs agree in number (singular/plural)
• Keep verb tense consistent (present, past, future)

P unctuation:

• Be sure that all sentences have ending punctuation.
• Use commas after items in lists except for the last item.
• Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction.

S pelling & Capitalization:

• Check for spelling errors (manually or with a computer program)
• Begin each sentence with a capital letter.
• Check homophones.
• Capitalize proper nouns.
• Be sure apostrophes are used in contractions and possessives

Downloadable Worksheet: Choosing and Narrowing Your Topic

• Worksheet - Choosing and Narrowing Your Research Topic

What is a Thesis Statement?

The final sentence in your Introduction paragraph should be your  Thesis Statement. 

Begin your paragraph wi th a single, clear and concise sentence stating the Topic  of your essay; then, g ive your reader a roadmap for the main points you will use to support your thesis . Include the limits of your argument.  End by summing up your  essay’s main idea or argument with your Thesis Statement .

More help with Thesis Statements is available on  this page from Rasmussen College Library . 

SAMPLE INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPHS with HIGHLIGHTED THESIS STATEMENT

 All countries are unique. Obviously, countries are different from one another in location, size, language, government, climate, and lifestyle. Some countries, however, share some surprising similarities. In this case, Brazil and the United States come to mind. Some may think that these two nations have very little in common because they are in different hemispheres. On the contrary, the two countries share many similarities.

• Next: Examples of Five-Paragraph Essays >>
• Last Updated: Dec 11, 2023 3:53 PM
• URL: https://monroecollege.libguides.com/5_Par_Essay
• Research Guides |
• Databases |

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, the best college essay length: how long should it be.

College Essays

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

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

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

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

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

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

For example, the University of Illinois says :

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

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

Weigh your words carefully, because they are limited!

How Flexible Is the Word Limit?

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

Can I Go Over the Word Limit?

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

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

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

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

Can I Go Under the Word Limit?

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

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

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

What If There Is No Word Limit?

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

Writing Sample

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

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

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

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

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

Implicit Length Guideline

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

See, for example, this Western Washington University prompt :

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

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

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

Treasure Hunt

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

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

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

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

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

Help! There Really Is No Guidance on Length

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hey, writing about yourself can even be fun!

What's Next?

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

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

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

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

Student and Parent Forum

Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com , allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. Ask questions; get answers.

Ask a Question Below

Have any questions about this article or other topics? Ask below and we'll reply!

Improve With Our Famous Guides

• For All Students

The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points

How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 800 on Each SAT Section:

Score 800 on SAT Math

Score 800 on SAT Reading

Score 800 on SAT Writing

Series: How to Get to 600 on Each SAT Section:

Score 600 on SAT Math

Score 600 on SAT Reading

Score 600 on SAT Writing

Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests

What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For?

15 Strategies to Improve Your SAT Essay

The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points

How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 36 on Each ACT Section:

36 on ACT English

36 on ACT Math

36 on ACT Reading

36 on ACT Science

Series: How to Get to 24 on Each ACT Section:

24 on ACT English

24 on ACT Math

24 on ACT Reading

24 on ACT Science

What ACT target score should you be aiming for?

ACT Vocabulary You Must Know

ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score

How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League

How to Get a Perfect 4.0 GPA

How to Write an Amazing College Essay

What Exactly Are Colleges Looking For?

Is the ACT easier than the SAT? A Comprehensive Guide

Should you retake your SAT or ACT?

When should you take the SAT or ACT?

Stay Informed

Get the latest articles and test prep tips!

Looking for Graduate School Test Prep?

Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here:

GRE Online Prep Blog

GMAT Online Prep Blog

TOEFL Online Prep Blog

Holly R. "I am absolutely overjoyed and cannot thank you enough for helping me!”

How Long Is an Essay? The Ultimate Essay Length Guide

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

Our specialists will write a custom essay specially for you!

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

📜 Is Essay Length Important?

📏 essay parts: recommended length.

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

🔍 References

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

Let’s see what exactly it means.

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

What Influences Essay Length

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

Just in 1 hour! We will write you a plagiarism-free paper in hardly more than 1 hour

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

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

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

How Long Should an Introduction Be?

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

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

Receive a plagiarism-free paper tailored to your instructions. Cut 20% off your first order!

How Long Is a Body Paragraph in an Essay?

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

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

How Many Body Paragraphs Should Be in an Essay?

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

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

How Long Should a Conclusion Be?

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

Get an originally-written paper according to your instructions!

🤔 How to Make Essays Shorter or Longer: Best Tips

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

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

How to Make Essays Longer

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

• Use relevant quotations.  You don’t need to litter your essay with citations, but using them whenever appropriate is a great idea. For instance, if you’re working on a book analysis, referencing a couple of direct quotes from the source text will make your essay more credible and increase the word count.
• Give examples.  Go through the claims in your paper and provide additional evidence where possible. It will make your essay longer and more informative.
• Use transitional expressions.  Adding transition words and phrases is a natural way of increasing the number of words. It will also improve your essay’s readability. 
• Add more references.  Providing references is always a good idea when writing a formal essay. That way, you will increase the number of words and make your paper more credible.
• Work on your descriptions.  If you struggle to develop new ideas, go over what you’ve already written and consider adding some descriptive words. It’s a great idea for creative essays to include more imagery. 

How to Shorten an Essay

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

• Choose the active voice.  It takes up less space than passive voice. Using it also makes your writing more professional and compelling.
• Remove needless transitions.  Transitions can indeed maintain the flow of the paper. But some transitional phrases can be easily removed.
• Get rid of unnecessary adverbs and adjectives.  Some students tend to overuse adjectives and adverbs. It adds wordiness to their writing.
• Avoid running starts.  Some students like to start their sentences with long phrases like: “there are,” “it is believed,” or “the fact that.” Getting rid of them makes texts much more concise.
• Delete “that.”  In most cases, the word “that” can often be easily removed from texts.

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

📑 How Long Is an Essay Depending on Formatting?

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

Essay Spacing: How Does It Affect the Length?

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

Length of an Essay: Font and Size

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

What to Do if There Are No Length Guidelines

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

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

❓ Essay Length for Different Academic Levels FAQ

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

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

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

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

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

📚 How Long Should an Essay Be: Different Types

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

How Long Is a College Essay?

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

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

How Long Is a Paragraph in College Essays?

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

• Topic sentence.
• Explanation.
• Transitions.

College Essay Length Requirements: Top 5 Schools

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

How Long Is a Short Essay?

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

Extended Essay Length

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

Scholarship Essay Length

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

How Long Is a Research Paper?

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

⭐ Other Aspects of Essay Length

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

How Many Paragraphs Are in an Essay?

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

How to Count Paragraphs in an Essay Based on Word Count

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

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

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

How Many Pages Are in an Essay?

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

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

What Does an Essay Look Like when Typed?

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

How Many Pages Are in a Handwritten Essay?

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

Counting Words in a Handwritten Essay

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

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

How Long Does it Take to Write an Essay?

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

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

And here are the results in pages:

How Many References Does an Essay Need?

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

📝 Essay Examples: Different Length

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

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

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

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

You may also like:

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

Do you dream of being successfully admitted to college? Well, you probably know that admission is a long process that includes many challenging steps. One of them is a recommendation letter: a document written on your behalf that describes your characteristics as a student. If done well, such a letter...

Almost everyone feels insecure when they start working on their first resume. Suddenly there are lots of questions that need to be answered. What should I write? How should I write it? What should I include in my resume to make it more appealing? If you’re looking for answers to...

What’s the first thing we do when facing the unknown? We Google it, of course! Google is fundamental to our experience of the Internet. According to the statistics, more than 100 000 people press “search” on Google every second! At first glance, the process is straightforward. You type in what...

Ever heard of a smart egg tray? Welcome to 2024! Today, there are gadgets for everything, and the variety of intelligent devices available increases every day. Some of them can improve your life. Others seem a bit useless. Will a smart egg tray actually add value to your life, or...

Dorms become like a second home to many students during their university experience. And while dorm life can mean making new friends and having exciting adventures, adjusting to new routines is not always easy. Since most students who come to the dorms have no prior experience living outside their parents’...

Imagine you’ve just written a paper. You’re going to proofread it, right? But is proofreading enough to ensure the absence of any factual errors or unfounded conclusions? Can you say with 100% certainty that you cited every reference correctly? If you want to learn how to fact-check like a pro,...

Every year, millions of U.S. students decide which university they want to attend. Around 20% of students rely on college rankings to make their final decision. Over the last two decades, such rankings have significantly grown in popularity. But are these lists reliable? Which criteria can be trusted? And which...

Have you ever seen someone else’s success and thought to yourself: “Why can’t I do the same?” What was your thought process like? Perhaps you believed you lacked some innate quality. Or did you think you could have achieved the same thing if you had put in enough effort? The difference in these attitudes is defined by two distinct mindsets—growth or fixed. You will read all about them in this article by Custom-Writing.org. You’ll also...

Are you interested in having a side hustle? If you have a hobby you are passionate about, look no further. A hobby-based side hustle is a great way to spend time doing something you love, a great source of income, and a way to boost your resume! In this article by Custom-Writing.org, you will find: a list of 7 inexpensive hobbies available to anyone; ways to monetize them; their benefits for...

In 2024, online education remains one of the most searched terms. Not only can you undertake short courses, but it is now commonplace to get Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees online. Is this the right fit for you? Keep reading to find out! In this article, our custom writing team will:...

What is the number one reason for becoming a volunteer? You may already know that charitable organizations help people in need and allow everyone to make a difference. However, there are some material benefits as well. Volunteer experience can boost your career prospects: it increases your chances of getting into...

Are you excited about grammar? Have you ever read the dictionary for fun? Do you become enthralled by your textbooks? Whether you are a language nerd or not, crossword puzzles are here to help. In this article, you will find dozens of exciting puzzle resources to support your learning. You...

How Many Words in a Paragraph?

What does a paragraph usually consist of?

A paragraph usually deals with a single idea. In general, you’ll have an introductory sentence expressing that idea, and several supporting sentences to round it off. Paragraphs are usually about 100 – 200 words long, but there are more exceptions to this rule-of-thumb than you’d expect.

Commercial Writing

Commercial writing breaks all the rules. Whether or not you find it irritating, your task is to hold your readers’ attention and get them to read what you’ve written. The average person doesn’t like to see solid blocks of text. It looks like it’s going to be difficult to get through, and nobody likes to work harder than they have to.

“White Space” is a great way to make your information look easier to master, and one of the best ways to create “white space” is through using paragraphs. For commercial writing, it’s best to keep sentences short and punchy, and the same goes for paragraphs.

People don’t usually like to see paragraphs that are more than three or four lines long. How many words is that? Again, although it’s not helpful, the answer is “It depends…” Font styles and font size will affect paragraph length – at least from a psychological perspective.

For example, this is a blog post, and I want to keep the reader engaged. The longest paragraph under this heading is only 61 words long. This is the shortest one so far, and it only uses 37 words.

I want to get your attention!

The above paragraph is only six words long, and you can count the words in this one if you like.

To make things easy for your reader, you’ll switch paragraphs every time you switch speakers, for example:

“I don’t know how long a paragraph should be,” said Mary, “but I hope to find out by reading this article.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” John replied, “but don’t let that limit your creativity!”

“Really? Can I bend the rules?”

“The rules are really more like guidelines.”

“Cool!”

As you can see, I was able to stop identifying the speakers as soon as the conversation began to flow because John and Mary each had paragraphs to themselves. Neither of them said anything that was even close to 100 words, but it’s still easy to see who said what. Mary’s final paragraph was one word long.

Academic Writing

In academic writing, paragraphs will usually consist of the “standard” 100 – 200 words (Burns, 2002). You will begin the paragraph with an idea and then explain it in the light of currently accepted knowledge (Phillips, 2014) with references. Bear in mind that your tutor will want to see some original thought, but will expect it to be motivated according to your reading (Williams et al, 1994). Smith (2004) supports this concept and confirms that academic writing requires longer paragraphs than those generally found in commercial writing or even story-telling. 200 words is really a bit long for any paragraph and since this one is just over 100 words, you’ll soon see why this should be the case (Me, 2015).

Whew! That was a marathon to read, wasn’t it?

How many words per paragraph? It’s really up to you!

As a takeaway, I’d like to suggest that there are absolutely no hard-and-fast rules as to how many words a paragraph should be.

Making them too short, can look a little odd.

This is an excellent example.

But it can work in some cases.

On the other hand, having really long paragraphs might work for you, but not for your reader. A lot of text without “white space” is hard on the eyes, and the brain. I’ve seen blog posts and web pages with absolutely no paragraphs to speak of. Did I want to read them? Not really. It was too difficult to separate the ideas from one another and there just didn’t seem to be a good enough reason to read them if I could find the same information split up into bite-sized chunks that were easier to digest. So, whatever you do, don’t forget the importance of paragraphs – and keep them a bit shorter than this one, unless you’re trying to baffle the reader.

By the way, the above paragraph is “only” 122 words (656 characters) long. Do you see what I mean when I say that longer isn’t always better? I’m ready to bet that you do.

(Photo courtesy of Enokson )

So, if I have a 10 paragraph assignment, I can just write ten words with a period after each and I will have it completed?

Yes, if you want to fail the assignment. While technically you could do this, it’s not in the spirit of what the teacher wanted when making the assignment (but you already knew that).

This will mostly depend on the writer. Paragraphs will also differ in size due to information being written about and the type of writing being done. I don’t think anyone can say how many words will be in any given paragraph before it’s written. Even with the same topic and directions, two writers will have different results.

I would not suggest trying to do this. While you may think it’s funny or clever, it’s highly doubtful that your teacher or professor will see it the same way.

Is that the paragraph sign in the photo in this article? I’ve never seen it look like that before. The one I know sort of looks like a “P”

Yes, that is the paragraph sign used in Europe.

Does anyone know what the “paragraph sign” is called? Is there a proper English word for it or does everyone just call it a paragraph sign?

The paragraph symbol is called a pilcrow. The symbol in the illustration at the head of this article is the section symbol (or silcrow, informally).

Does it really matter how many words are in a paragraph?

Of course it matters. You can’t just write 1 word paragraphs. You should try to write paragraphs that have 100 to 200 words for most of them. This will make it easier for people to read them.

Great guideline to use. This will always be a question that will be asked by writers and I think it is difficult to answer due to the fact that you need to know what information you want in it.

No! Just write as many words as you want for each paragraph. Don’t conform to any rules and express your own thoughts and words. Rebel!

Don’t listen to @artstudent — the comment is nothing more than a troll. The number of words in a paragraph does matter, and although it is fine to rebel, you need to rebel once you have learned how to write your graphs properly. Trying to rebuild before you know how to do that only make you look like a fool.

This would seem to be such an easy question to answer, but the answer is 1 word to hundreds of words. I wish there were a more definite answer like 50 or 100 so I could just use that. Why does all aspects of writing have to be so difficult?

Language would be so much more boring if everything was defined like that. What makes English so beautiful is that it isn’t rigid with rules. It makes it fun!

Who decides what the average number of words in a paragraph is? I know you said that there are usually 100 to 200 words in a paragraph, but who has decided that this is the general amount? Did someone just wake up one day and say that a paragraph should have 100 to 200 words and it? Where has there been some specific research done that indicates that most paragraphs fall within this range?

It’s easy to determine a general number of words in a paragraph. All that needs to be done is take a large data set and then crunch the numbers. If you look at hundreds of thousands of paragraphs you’ll soon see a trend of how many words are in an average paragraph. Sure, there will be some with a lot less and some with a lot more, but in general an average number will appear. That’s 100 to 200 words per paragraph.

SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<3 (: This is exactly what I was looking for to help me out with my essay.

It’s always great to hear our tools are helpful. Glad it helped with your essay!

I like to write long paragraphs. I think that too many people try to break long paragraphs into a number of shorter ones far too often. There is just something special about reading a long paragraph that conveys the essence of the story. People shouldn’t try to make their paragraphs too short. Long paragraphs are just so wonderful.

Long paragraphs are difficult to read. That’s why you rarely see them in magazines and newspapers (or online) . A huge wall of text is never inviting. If you like long paragraphs, there is nothing wrong with that, but you need to be aware that fewer people will actually read what you write.

I like to write short paragraphs. I think that too many people try to combine short paragraphs into a number of longer ones far too often. There is just something special about reading a short paragraph that conveys the essence of the story. People shouldn’t try to make their paragraphs too long. Short paragraphs are just so wonderful.

Hi wondering how many words are in a paragraph with a 8 sentences

That would depend on how many words are in each sentence which can vary greatly. Most sentences have about 6 words, so a guestimate would be 48 words. If you stick the paragraph into https://wordcounter.net/ it will tell you exactly how many words are in the paragraph.

Usually, 150-180 depending on the length of your sentences. Admin said 48, but 6 word-sentences are not commonly used if you are doing an academic paper (analysis, informative, argumentative essay) rather than freelance writing for creativity or leisure. the smallest sentence in an essay I’m writing is 10 words. And there are not many of those. The rest average between 12-30 words. If you are in high school (I am a HS senior), I suggest using a more academic vocabulary that will make your sentences fuller. But, only make them longer if it is necessary and meaningful, not to reach a word count. That’s when sentences become run-ons and you lose points. If you are in Jr High, get used to being thorough yet concise. Not too verbose! Just a good medium. You’ll find a balance as you grow as a writer and form your own style. I know this is late lol, but I hope that helps 🙂

Some people count proper names (e.g. New York, Thomas Alva Edison), proverbs (A stitch in time saves nine), idioms (make ends meet), titles (Little House on the Prairie), and similes (as hardworking as an ant) as one single word. Is it correct?

Our tool does not do this — they would all be counted as individual words.

Sometimes two.

Three at times.

Four is also possible.

Five is good for some.

Does anyone truly care about this? I mean, who cares how many words are in a paragraph? Name me one person who would care about this? And if you can, you have named someone who needs to reevaluate what they care about in life.

I care. I have an assignment to write a paragraph and I wanted to get a general idea of how long that should be. You think I need to reevaluate my life because i want to do well in school?

In general life, one might now care; however, in college the professor care and you will be graded for it.

I know this was posted four years ago now, but I felt like saying something to this comment. I’m going to quote the famous Obi-wan from Star Wars 2: “You need to go home and rethink YOUR life”. I think that your comment is a little too extreme- there are many good people in this world who care about doing your best in everything- even the seeming insignificant things. For example, how many words are in a paragraph. If you’re looking to argue against something in such a strongly negative way, why don’t you please kindly do it against something that is actually worth speaking out against? Is it worth saying something rude and insulting just for fun? Obviously, to you it might be, but I’m sure many people would agree with me that it isn’t.

I think an important point that hasn’t been mentioned in the comments is that a paragraph should be about a single idea. That means that the number of words in a paragraph will depend on how long you spend on that single idea. If you have a lot to say about that single idea, the paragraph will be long. If you don’t have a lot to say about that idea, the paragraph will be short. I don’t think you should be concentrating on how many words are in the paragraph as much as are you still on the same topic within the paragraph.

I see so many students who don’t understand this and break up a single idea into several paragraphs. Then there are other students to take several ideas and lump them all into the same paragraph. If you can understand the concept of a single idea for a paragraph, it will solve a lot of your problem.

You can’t write well without understanding the structure of a paragraph. I see so many students try to squeeze a number of different ideas into a single paragraph and this immediately tells me they don’t understand what it’s for and how it’s used.

I don’t understand why so many people worry about things like this. If you’re trying to write well, the number of words for each paragraph should naturally take place. Trying to force a specific number of words into each paragraph will ruin your writing.

I always just used the rule that a paragraph should have 3-5 sentences

I am a sixth grader. Do the same rules apply for all grades? I usually write about 250 words in each paragraph, ending up writing about 5 paragraphs.

Helpful article.

It’s a general rule of thumb, not a one that can’t be broken. So much depends on the context of what’s being written. It’s a good number to shoot for, but there are a lot of reasons to deviate from it depending on what you’re writing.

wow, my aim is more than 50 words in a paragraph and I am in grade 6!

You should shoot for three to five sentences in a paragraph and six to 10 words per sentence, so a paragraph should have 18 to 50 words.

Those are some pretty short paragraphs. I would find it difficult to express all the information in such a short paragraph for most of my writing. There are times when they can be this short, but I would say most should be a lot longer.

This is something that everyone who is commenting on seems to be overanalyzing. Don’t try to constrict yourself into a certain number of words per paragraph. If you write well, paragraphs will naturally come about and be the number of words they need to be. If you try to cram too many words into them to make them longer or cut out a bunch of words to make them shorter, in all likelihood the paragraphs won’t seem natural. Write the best thing you can in the paragraph should naturally flow.

This is fine unless the assignment has a word and paragraph limit. I have an assignment that requires 8 paragraphs and 1000 words. It seems crazy for a teacher to be this specific for a paper, but she does stuff like this all the time.

What ?! I had a 7 paragraph essay and I ended up writing 2159 words. Imagine writing 8 paragraphs !

Adversity is said to build character. The lower the bar is set the lower the standard score will be. Seems advantageous for a teacher to raise the bar therby increasing challenge and outcome of students. The teacher had in fact simplified your sssignment with clarity not pickiness.

Hahah, you made me die because of laughing. An assignment I have to write requires 3000 words, but paragraphs are not limited.

Very true. Also using Microsoft Word we can keep track of how many words we used once we finish adding more or less.

I just finished writing an essay. The shortest paragraph had 98 words and the longest had 367 words. It doesn’t seem that this is accurate at all.

Rules, not guidelines! Remember what they said at the beginning? It depends!

Think of a paragraph as a women’s skirt. Make sure its long enough to cover everything but make it short enough to be interesting! 😉

LOL, that’s a good one.

Who the hell downvoted dat?!?!?!?

Anyone who isn’t a misogynist

This is so perfect! I don’t know how anyone would go through their day without this cool joke!

This made me giggle lol!!😂😂🤣🤣😂😂

An older Catholic Priest once told me that this was the advice given to him by another Priest with respect to writing sermons. 🙂

“A good sermon is short enough to keep the attention and long enough to cover the material.”

69 likes as well….

lol, I’m dead. u ain’t never!!!😅😂🤣

The original definition of a paragraph is ONE OR MORE SENTENCES. I had a boss onece who had a bug up her backside about not allowing one sentence paragraphs in documents. She used to say it was grammatically incorrect, and then used to complain our documents were too wordy and long. She was 100% wrong. Grammar has to do with spelling and punctuation, and the sentence was perfectly spelled and punctuated. Usage and style have to do with form and structure. Anyone who says it is never done is wrong. God, the disciples and King James are going to be angry when someone rewrites the Bible. Shortest paragraph and verse in the King James Bible is in the New Testament: “Jesus Wept.” Two words. One Sentence. One paragraph. One sentence paragraphs are done, they are used. They have been used in very important religious books, historical books and literature. There is nothing wrong with them stylistically. If a one sentence paragraph conveys the idea, mood, emotion or purpose intended by the author, there is nothing wrong with using it. The pace and metering of what you read can be as important as the words.

Thanks for the information. I will keep an eye open to the bible verses to find this paragraphs. God bless you.

How many paragraphs are thousand and fifty words

Like some people were saying, it should come naturally and flow. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a certain amount of words or sentences. As long as the paragraph is based on the same idea or topic, it will not matter the number of words or sentences.

Writing essays is a new concept for me and now that I’ve started college It will be very challenging. Thanks to this information I will be able to keep the essay simple and easy for the audience to “grasp it”.

Thank you very much!

Writing is amazing generally

this information was so helpful don’t listen to fortnite

I think everyone should just be a skirt especially verbally lovely

thank you so much this helped me with my homework.

This might potentially be the most self aware web page I’ve ever been on.

So, I’m writing one paragraph that have to have 350 words in it. How many sentences is there supposed to be to get to 350 words in one paragraph.

I’m a middle school student and write a 8 paragraph essay in around 3000 words. Is that long?

that is very short

How many words in 177 syllables

I am a bit concerned that the single and pervasive focus on readability, which is ease of reading by simplicity of language and brevity of text, has the cumulative effect of reducing an individual’s reading comprehension and diminishing their overall capacity for handling texts of even moderate complexity. The mind is not a static instrument; it is continually changing in response to the challenges, of lack of challenges presented to it by one’s habitual environment. When virtually all written text which a person is likely to encounter on a daily basis has been tailored to be simple and easy to read and comprehend, the mind is on a downward trajectory of diminishing capacity. I would guess that the majority of texts which a person reads day-to-day are either above or below their own level, and fewer texts match the reader’s level exactly. The mantra of readability ensures that a non-academic reader is practically guaranteed to be reading consistently below their level. No doubt, our fluid and efficient minds will accommodate the lessened challenge and effort with reduced capacity.

Popular Posts

• The Top 10 Most Difficult-to-Spot Writing Mistakes
• 4 Simple Tips for Great Writing
• Avoiding Wordiness: 330 Examples & What to Use Instead
• The Oxford Comma: The Splice of Life
• Who vs. Whom
• Affect vs. Effect
• How to Take Notes: The 10-Step Guide to Note-Taking (Infographic)
• CMOS vs. AP – Recent Changes & Comparison (Updated 1. Nov. 2021)
• The Daily Word Counts of 19 Famous Writers
• The Ideal Length of Everything You Write Online ( Infographic)

Recent Comments

• Trilby on Avoiding Wordiness: 330 Examples & What to Use Instead
• Trilby on Words Everyone Seems to Hate
• Julie Retallack on Words Everyone Seems to Hate
• Cat on Who vs. Whom
• Cat on The Oxford Comma: The Splice of Life

Session expired

Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page.

• EssayBasics.com
• Pay For Essay
• Write My Essay
• Homework Writing Help
• Essay Editing Service
• Thesis Writing Help
• Write My College Essay
• Do My Essay
• Term Paper Writing Service
• Coursework Writing Service
• Write My Research Paper
• Assignment Writing Help
• Essay Writing Help
• Call Now! (USA) Login Order now
• EssayBasics.com Call Now! (USA) Order now
• Writing Guides

Writing Lengthy Essays: How Long Does It Take To Write A 5 paper Essay?

Table of Contents

How Long Does It Take To Write A 5 paper Essay

A 5-page paper may appear long to a high school student, but it’s relatively short for college. College papers typically range from 5 to 7 pages, with more extended end-of-module compositions reaching up to 10 pages. Although this is a departure from the typical 5-paragraph material, it is unnecessary to be concerned about it. It just takes some time and effort to get used to. This post will answer two of the most critical questions: ‘How long does it take to write a 5 paper essay?’ and How to write it correctly?

What Is A 5-Page Essay?

A five-page essay is an academic assignment that usually consists of between 1250 and 1500 words. A five-page essay can be shorter or longer than five pages based on the needs of the style, text size, and spacing.

An essay five pages long typically has a structure comparable to an essay five paragraphs long but has significantly more depth and intricacy. It usually includes an introductory paragraph, numerous paragraphs comprising the body, and a closing paragraph. The introduction should contain preliminary material and a thesis statement stating the paper’s central argument. Each paragraph in the essay’s body should concentrate on a specific point in the argument or piece of evidence that backs up the thesis.

Use transitional words and sentences to link your paragraphs and make your 5-page essay flow smoothly. The conclusion should restate the thesis in a new and fascinating way and summarize the main elements of the essay.

When writing an essay five pages long, it is essential to conduct research and use reputable sources to back up the thesis. These may include scholarly publications, books, or even websites verified as trustworthy. In addition to this, it is essential to correctly credit your sources by employing a well-known citation format, such as the APA or MLA format.

Generally, a 5-page essay is far longer and more in-depth than a 5-paragraph essay, necessitating more time spent on study, investigation, and thought than its shorter counterpart.

Which Subjects does a 5-paper Essay Typically Address?

The range of subjects that can be discussed in an essay five pages long is contingent on several elements, including the essay’s goal, the requisite level of complexity, the breadth of the subject matter, and the requirements for its formatting. In most cases, an essay that is five pages long is considered a comparatively brief essay that really can cover a wide variety of subject areas. The following is a list of potential subjects that could be discussed in an essay that is five pages long:

• Examining a piece of written literature, such as a novel or a collection of poems.
• An argumentative essay about a contentious subject, such as regulating firearms or imposing the death sentence.
• A critique of a recent film or piece of literature.
• A look at the differences and similarities between multiple electronic devices.
• An essay that investigates a specific historical topic from a variety of angles.
• Exposure to a pressing societal problem, such as the changing environment or the unequal distribution of wealth.
• A first-person account or introspective contemplation on a significant event or past experience.
• A description of some scientific idea or theory, like evolution or relativity
• A debate about the benefits and drawbacks of a specific technical innovation, such as renewable energy or artificial intelligence
• An examination of a recent occurrence or piece of news, such as the COVID-19 outbreak or a significant political change.

It is important to remember that a properly formatted and properly cited five-page essay must have well-organized paragraphs, a concise and compelling thesis statement, and adequate citations if necessary. Choose a subject that not only piques your interest but also is one that you are comfortable writing about, and make sure you consider the structure of your essay before you begin writing it.

How Long Does It Take To Write A 5 Paper Essay?

Several factors, such as your writing process, style of writing, amount of time spent researching the concept, essay topic/given topic, font type, number of body paragraphs, how much information you are required to cover (does it require extensive research or is it more of a widely known idea that minimal research is unnecessary), research materials, rereading, and editing, can affect the amount of time it takes to write a five-page essay or any specific page count you are aiming for.

It is optional how much time is required, but if you can provide a decent account of details with a firm conclusion that effectively responds to the issue you are addressing, that is the key aspect.

Average Time to Write a 5 Paper Essay

If we assume that each page has approximately 500 words, then the minimum number of words for a paper that is five pages long is 2,500. From the experience of Essay Basics’ expert writers, we can tell you that it takes approximately four to eight days to compose about two thousand five hundred words effectively. You should write between 625 and 313 words daily to spread it out over eight days.

Writing your paper over a longer time, rather than all at once, is an intelligent option whether or not you need to include a lot of material. This almost always means that your document will have more outstanding quality.

Students enrolled in academic programs at a variety of higher educational institutions across the world may, on occasion, be assigned to prepare papers that are five pages in length. Although these five-page papers are shorter than projects and theses, they take significant focus and consideration. Students who think a five-page essay needs to be longer to warrant serious consideration may find it difficult to generate high-quality work.

A rough estimate of the number of words in a typical 5-page document should be made before calculating how many hours it takes to compose such an essay. Yet, both estimations were arrived at considering a convoluted variety of elements.

Variables That Influence the Number of Words in a 5 Paper Essay

The number of words in an essay five pages long can be affected by various factors. Here are some examples:

The Size and Style of the Font

The amount of text displayed on a page depends on font size and style. More words can be fit onto a page when choosing a smaller font size, such as 10 or 11, as opposed to a bigger font size, such as 14 or 16.

The amount of space left around each word on a page can also be affected by the width of the margins. Compared to broader margins, narrower ones allow more words to be written on each page.

The quantity of words that can be written on a page is also affected by the spacing that is used between lines and paragraphs. You can fit more text on a page using single spacing for lines and paragraphs instead of double.

Your chosen topic can also affect the text required for a 5-page paper. There are times when more words are needed to describe a subject adequately; for instance, when explaining a complicated topic in detail.

Modality of Prose

In an essay five pages long, your writing style can also affect the number of words you use. If you write long sentences or use more complex language, you may need more words to clarify the same thoughts as someone who writes more concisely.

How Many Words Does A 5 Paper Essay Have?

As established above, the word count of a 5-page paper can be determined by various factors. Before, we mentioned that approximately five hundred words are contained on one page. On the other hand, the length of the words that result from the various permutations of these factors will vary. For instance, on A4 paper, if you use Times New Roman, point size 12, single spacing, and write in no more than five-sentence paragraphs, you’ll get to somewhere around 570 words. Hence, there are a total of 2850 words.

However, an average 5-page essay, written in 12-point type, with conventional margins and double spacing, has around 1250 words (1 inch).

It is essential to emphasize that the focus should not be on obtaining a particular word count but on efficiently and succinctly communicating the relevant information to the reader.

Factors Affecting the Time Taken To Write a 5 Paper Essay

Many factors can influence the time required to prepare a five-page essay.

The Characteristics of the Essay

Even if no academic field or course could be considered simple, some classes are undeniably more challenging or time-consuming than others. Physics, engineering, and mathematics homework can be significantly more complex than a literature or English class summary or essay. Compared to any of the former, the latter can be finished in minutes or even a few hours, but any of the former can take many days or hours to complete effectively.

In addition, academic papers frequently come with a set of stringent formal rules that the student is expected to follow. For instance, many academic papers call for the student to incorporate citations throughout the main body of the document as well as references after the article. This suggests that a student confronted with such circumstances must perform extensive research to locate relevant sources that may be cited in their paper. This kind of research may take longer than needed for a paper that doesn’t need citations or references.

Similarly, the instructor may request that the student use one of the many available style guidelines (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and others). Each of these manuals features its own set of guidelines for various areas of the writing process (punctuation, quotation, capitalization, citation, referencing, etc.). When these guidelines are followed, the amount of time required to produce a five-page paper can vary.

The Author’s Level of Experience and Skill

It differs from person to person whether or not they are capable of stringing words together in a way that is coherent both chronologically and logically. Some students have put much effort into enhancing their writing skills and becoming wordsmiths. Yet, other students typically need help putting together a single paragraph.

A five-page paper is a fun challenge for individuals who have mastered the English language (or their chosen writing medium), and it should take some time once the research is done. Another nightmarish experience for the other group will take them several days to recover from (some will eventually outsource their assignments to any of the proficient students at a cost).

The Author’s Proficiency in Time Management

Every student needs to make time, in addition to their academic work, for the many other aspects of their lives that also require their attention. This implies that a student must be very good at managing their time to achieve academic excellence while also effectively dealing with other aspects of life, such as their family, religion, work, etc. This is necessary for a student to be able to achieve academic excellence.

Creating a timetable for your day-to-day tasks and adhering to it as closely as possible is an excellent approach to maximizing your available time. This will ensure that conflicts between time spent on academic work and activities outside of academics are kept to a minimum. If, after developing a timetable for yourself, you find that time management is still challenging, you must seek the guidance of experts in the field. The Internet and books on time management will also be of great use.

The Format of the Writing

The format here refers to whether or not the 5-page document can be handwritten in a notebook or typed. Even though there may be some cases in which students are permitted to submit handwritten papers, the standard practice at the post-graduate level requires all papers that are meant to be submitted to be typed. Nonetheless, students may occasionally be permitted to submit handwritten papers. Since an exercise book (with, for example, foolscap pages) and a conventional typing sheet (such as A4) are not the same sizes, the amount of time it takes to write a five-page paper will differ depending on which you use.

Submission Deadline

It is common practice for teachers at all academic levels, including professors and other lecturers, to provide students with firm due dates for specific assignments, such as a five-page paper. Most students require additional time to complete their papers when the deadline is extended further. This is especially true for papers with complex subjects to comprehend and deal with. A document composed in a hurry and under pressure to meet a short deadline could not be of the highest possible quality.

Tips To Enhance the Quality of Your 5 Paper Essay

• Develop a plan for effective management of your time.
• Cultivate a genuine interest in the subject matter.
• Carry out an in-depth investigation.
• Observe each one of the formal directions.
• Stay productive.
• Create a framework for the article to follow.
• Review, rewrite and improve.

So, How Long Does It Take To Write A 5 Paper Essay?

In conclusion, due to the subject’s intricacy, it is impossible to estimate the amount of time necessary to write a five-page paper when considering the aspects discussed thus far. This intricacy is why most institutions and teachers will provide explicit guidelines for students regarding font size, space, citation/reference format, etc.

Nonetheless, every student genuinely invested in their education should aim to finish a 5-page paper in 48-72 hours. With a generous due date, you can take your time perfecting the work through multiple rounds of revisions before finally sending it in.

Finally, if you’re feeling overwhelmed when writing, stop and regroup. Therefore, be cautious about relying only on credible, trustworthy sources. Getting started on your paper immediately is the best approach to getting it done quickly. If at all possible, aim for a daily word count of at least 300. To keep your brief paper manageable, it’s important to remember that the initial draft is just that: a draft.

Alternatives to Writing a 5 Paper Essay

If you need help to complete a 5-page essay on time, using a reliable and trustworthy essay writing service can be a great solution. Essay Basics is one of the best cheap essay writing services available, offering professional essay writing assistance at an affordable price.

How Much Does a 5-Page Essay Cost At The Best Cheap Essay Writing Service ?

The price of a 5-page paper fluctuates based on several elements, such as the level of difficulty of the topic, the urgency of the deadline, and the number of sources needed. On the other hand, a 5-page essay at Essay Basics would cost you between $60 and $70. The fee guarantees you’ll get an essay written well, edited well, and proofread thoroughly. This fee is flexible and may vary according to the specific requirements of your essays. Therefore, place your order well in advance for your 5-paper essay to avail the best price and an attractive discount.

We are committed to offering you reasonable prices for all kinds of essays. If you seek, ‘ How much is a 5-paragraph essay ? ’ Then contact us today.

The best cheap essay writing service offered by Essay Basics is an excellent choice if you need more time to sit down and write a five-page paper. Essay Basics have professional writers and around-the-clock help, so you can rest assured that your paper will be produced from and will not contain any plagiarized material. Take your time; place your order now to ensure you receive the required assistance.

• school Campus Bookshelves
• menu_book Bookshelves
• perm_media Learning Objects
• login Login
• how_to_reg Request Instructor Account
• hub Instructor Commons
• Download Page (PDF)
• Download Full Book (PDF)
• Periodic Table
• Physics Constants
• Scientific Calculator
• Reference & Cite
• Tools expand_more
• Readability

selected template will load here

This action is not available.

5.2: 5 Paragraph Essay Discussion

• Last updated
• Save as PDF
• Page ID 87138

I want you to discuss the merits and downfalls of the Five Paragraph Essay, as you see them being, now that you have read the proceeding document.  Please consider all of the following in your response:

• instances where you have used it before and whether it was useful or detrimental to your writing abilities.
• the viability of such a structured style at the college/university level (for all assignments) versus high school.
• the two terms I referenced at the close of the proceeding document: audience and purpose…what importance should they play in the formation of quality writing?
• whether you believe you will use the Five Paragraph essay, or elements of it, in this course and where they would likely come into play.

Lastly, please post your response and reply to at least two other posts as well .

• 5 Paragraph Essay Discussion. Authored by : Jason Brown. Provided by : Herkimer College. Project : AtD OER Course. License : CC BY: Attribution

How Many Words per Page?

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

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

General Requirements

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

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

Calculating Words per Page

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

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

How Many Words are in a Speech?

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

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

Word Counts for Publishing

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

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

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

Common Novel: Word Counts per Page

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

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

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

How to Write Essay Titles and Headers

Don’t overlook the title and section headers when putting together your next writing assignment. Follow these pointers for keeping your writing organized and effective.

101 Standout Argumentative Essay Topic Ideas

Need a topic for your upcoming argumentative essay? We've got 100 helpful prompts to help you get kickstarted on your next writing assignment.

Writing a Standout College Admissions Essay

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