Each essay comes with its instructions. And part of the instructions is the word count. Institutions have a word limit for the purpose of fairness, testing communication skills as well as critical thinking skills. Therefore, you wouldn’t want to go way below or above the word count. An effective essay contains all the relevant information and still has the correct number of words. So what happens when you have exhausted all your discussion points but still have a few words? You can make your work easier and order an essay online. Alternatively, you can use the tips below to make your essay longer.
Benefits of Making an Essay Longer
- It helps you meet the requirements specified by the proffessor
- You won’t get any penalty for failing to reach the word count
- You might get bonus points if you make your essay longer. Why? Because the additional information will make your essay stronger.
- Meeting the word count shows the professor that you are able to follow instructions.
How Long Should An Essay Be?
The length of an essay will depend on the type of paper you write or the subject of study. The length also varies depending on the departmental guidelines, specific course requirements, and mainly the tutors’ instructions. Additionally, the level at which you are writing will influence the word count. Essays may be categorized as either long or short essays. A short essay is a paper below 1000 words. On the other hand, a long essay has more than 1000 words. With this in mind, it will be easier to know the word count depending on the type of essay.
An Example of How You Can Make Your Essay Longer by Inflating Phrases
Tips To Lengthen Your Essay
- Revisit your writing prompt
- Include statistical data
- Use multiple sources
- Review your introduction and conclusion
- Avoid using contractions
- Use direct quotation
- Make use of examples
- Clarify your statements
- Break up paragraphs
- Compare and contrast different views
- Add illustrations
Revisit Your Writing Prompt
When you find yourself unable to write an essay to the required word count, revisit your writing prompt. The writing prompt allows you to think of new ways you can present an idea in the essay. Additionally, revisiting your writing prompts allows you to ignite more creative ideas that will help you increase the word count.
Writing prompts work best when prepared to trigger your creativity at certain stages of the writing process. It would be best if you had writing prompts for your introduction, several parts of your body, and the conclusion as well. Moreover, nowadays, some of the best essay editing services allow you the opportunity of having someone else take up the burden for you.
Include Statistical Data
Statistical data can be summarised into three—numerical, categorical, and ordinal data. For example, you can say in 2021, 1 out of every 3 people suffered from h.pylori because of the water supplied by the government. Statistical data needs to be relevant to the topic and add value to the essay.
Use Multiple Sources
The word count can become difficult to meet if you are overly reliant on just a few sources. Essay experts recommend that you have as many sources as possible and then use these to find more points to add to your essay. Having multiple sources also allows you to find a better way to expound on a concept that you may find difficult to explain. Whenever using multiple sources, ensure that they all relate to the main topic. Doing this allows you to stay on track and not introduce unrelated ideas in your essay to grow the word count.
Review Your Introduction and Conclusion
Looking at the introduction might make you realize you left out important information to help the reader understand your argument. At the conclusion, confirm if all the key points have been summarised. Also, check if you’ve given the reader a solution to the problem statement addressed in your essay.
Avoid Using Contractions
A contraction is a shortened form of a word. For example, don’t, can’t, I’ve, he’ll, and I’m. To make your essay longer, avoid using such contractions. Instead, use, do not, cannot, he will, and I am.
Use Direct Quotations
The use of direct quotations is an acceptable way of boosting the word count. Direct quotes from the sources you are using take up more space when written. Using direct quotes allows you to meet the word count faster compared to when not using them.
Use Examples
Examples work well in helping you meet the word count of your essay. It would help if you found relevant examples to explain the concepts you discuss in your essay. Please find a way to word these examples such that they are easy to understand and help foster understanding of the idea you are putting across.
Clarify Your Statements
Another effective way of making your essay longer is by clarifying the statements you make. When you take the time to break down the statements you make, you increase the word count in the process. This process of clarifying ideas makes it longer but also easy to understand on the reader’s side.
Break Up Paragraphs
Sometimes you can have a long paragraph that talks about different topics. An outline requires you have one discussion topic in a paragraph. Consequently, breaking up the paragraph will allow you to have more words.
Compare and Contrast Different Views
To make an essay longer, you can consider comparing and contrasting different views of a topic. The process of drawing comparisons between two or more concepts each time you present them allows your reader to understand your essay better. In the process of drawing these comparisons and contrasting them, you boost the word count. This method is one of the most effective ways of making it longer without using filler words. Hence, doing this offers valuable information that helps the reader understand the point you are making.
Use Transitional Words
Transitional words help the reader jump from one idea to the other smoothly. The use of phrases like, because nonetheless, whatsoever, therefore, furthermore will naturally make your essay longer. Please note that you don’t have to force them into places they don’t fit or overuse them.
Add Illustrations
Illustrations can be diagrams, charts, graphs, or images. These will justify your claims better. Note that the illustrations need to be relevant to your subject matter. Also, the supporting evidence needs to be from reliable and authentic sources.
Things To Avoid While Making An Essay Longer
Playing With Fonts and Spacing
Most essays have instructions you need to follow. An essay might require you to use font size 12, Single spacing, Times New Roman. You are not allowed to increase the font size, maybe from 12 to 12.5. Similarly, you are also prohibited from increasing the line spacing. If you have been instructed to use single spacing, kindly stick to that. Playing with the fonts and spacing will make your work look like a joke. It will be so easy for the reader to disregard your work from this point.
Adding Irrelevant Information
Do not add irrelevant or unnecessary information for the sake of getting a longer essay. The goal is to have an essay where all the points relate to the thesis statement. Therefore, having irrelevant information will make your essay hard to understand. You might score low grades for this.
Using The Period Trick
It might seem like a cool trick, but you will pay for it dearly. Remember, you want an informative essay. You want your argument to be taken seriously. Using this trick will result in shoddy work.
Spelling Out Numbers
The rule is that small numbers ranging from one to ten thousand should be spelled out. So, please don’t use words like ten thousand because it is longer than 10,000. You will not only be breaking the rules, but you will also interfere with the structure of your work.
Manipulating Margins
Do not increase the margins at any point. It is best if you stick to the format provided by the tutor. The aim is to have a great essay written to the best of your ability to score good grades. Therefore, to avoid getting a low score or a penalty, follow the instructions provided.
Conclusion
A proper outline allows you to meet the word count with ease. Always take the time to draw a thorough format, which will enable you to boost the word count. Additionally, you can offer the reader more information by clarifying statements, comparing and contrasting them. All these will make your essay longer.
The natural way of extending an essay is; revisiting your essay and checking if there’s important information left out or any information that needs further clarification. This way, you’ll have more content without using filler words or tricks that’ll make you fail
No. The purpose of writing an essay is to score a good grade. If you use fluff, the teacher will disregard your work and you’ll end up getting a bad grade. Kindly stick to the information provided in the essay above.
You’ll have additional information to support your arguments and you’ll also have met the requirements specified by the teacher. So, you won’t get any penalty. Similarly, you’ll have proved to the teacher that you can stick to instructions
It will take you about 9 – 10 hours to complete a 3000-word essay. However, you can take a shorter time depending on the complexity of the paper and the time dedicated to the writing.
