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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 !

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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.

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Home ➔ Essay Length Questions ➔ How Long Is a Typical Essay?

How Long Is a Typical Essay?

The word count of your essay mostly depends on your educational level, subject, department, course, and tutor’s instructions. This piece of writing is normally shorter than research papers or dissertations. But how long should an essay be exactly?

Generally, the length requirements are indicated in your assignment sheet. It can be words, paragraphs, or pages given as a range (300–500 words) or a particular number (5 pages). If you are not sure about your essay’s length, the number-one tip is to clarify it with your tutor. Also, if you’re not sure how to write an essay , we have a detailed guide on that topic, just follow the link.

We will review all the factors you must consider when it comes to an essay’s length, but here’s a quick answer to questions like, “How many words in an essay or how many paragraphs does an essay have?”

An essay is five paragraphs long on average, which is around 400–700 words.

Essay Length Tips

The tips below relate to academic essays that are given as a writing assignment. Everything that concerns admissions essays will be discussed in the following section.

• Three is the minimum number of paragraphs for essays (intro, body, and conclusion).
• The most common structure for a basic paper is the five-paragraph essay.
• The length of the introduction and conclusion paragraphs is always proportionally smaller.
• Each body paragraph must cover only one central idea, which is your topic sentence.
• A double-spaced page with text written in Times New Roman (12pt) usually contains about 275 words.
• A single-spaced page can fit double the amount, which is about 550 words.

How long should each essay part be?

If it’s a short essay (400–1000 words), each paragraph usually contains 100–200 words. The introduction and conclusion should be roughly the same in length and shorter than the overall word count of the body section.

According to Jennifer Duncan from The Writing Centre (the University of Toronto at Scarborough), for a 1000-word essay, its introduction and conclusion should be 4–5 sentences each. If your word count must be bigger, the length of these sections can be several paragraphs or even pages.

You might have seen conversion tables that say, “This number of words equals this number of paragraphs.” They all are based on a fixed length for each paragraph and are not very accurate. Yes, an essay that’s 400–800 words long can be converted like that. But, when your paper is bigger than a thousand words, your paragraphs can scale along, which means their number won’t grow exponentially with the overall essay size. For instance, if a 700-word essay comprises five paragraphs, a long essay (2000 words) won’t necessarily have fifteen paragraphs.

How long should a college essay be?

Here, “college essays” imply essays written for admissions. Admissions essays are quite different from the ones you get as homework. Usually, their chief goal is to show to the board that you are a worthy applicant. All the details about such essays should be publicly available on the college’s website in the appropriate section. But, if you don’t know the word count requirement and can’t find it, you still have some options. Below is a quick answer to the “how long is a college essay” question.

An average college essay is about 500 words long.

Admissions essay length tips

• Once you open the college’s site, look for phrases like “essay questions,” “information about supplemental essays,” “application instructions,” etc.
• As a rule, admissions essays are short (250–600 words) because board officers have to go through a lot of them daily.
• Do not exceed the given range by too much: if it says 500–550 words, the maximum length would be 600.
• When exceeding the word limit, your essay may not even end up being read to the end, so be mindful.

What if there are no length guidelines?

Sometimes colleges will not indicate a length limit for their essay prompts. But, don’t worry just yet because there are several ways to deal with this situation.

1. You need to send a sample of your writing.

They might have several options for applicants. Amherst College provides you with a choice: you can either (Option A) write a response to one of the quotations from the list or (Option B) submit a graded paper that best shows your writing skills. The last option implies that you have a set of papers to choose from, so you’re limited by their word count. But usually, there’s a page that contains guidelines for paper samples.

2. You can understand how long it should be from the description.

In its essay prompt guidelines, Wellesley College doesn’t give you a range of words or pages. Instead, it says, “in two well-developed paragraphs.” That means paragraphs can be quite long but within a reasonable limit, which is about 450–500 words. So this is when you’ll need to estimate or even guess a bit.

3. You need to search for the length requirements.

It can happen that essay length guidelines are not on the same page as the prompts. However, once you google, you can find posts on forums and social networks that discuss these essay writing requirements. You can also try searching “long” or “length” within the college site by typing “site:yourcollegewebsite.com” with those words.

4. You must call the admissions office.

If word limit instructions are nowhere to be found, you should call the admissions office. Even if they don’t have an exact number, they can tell you how long an essay should be based on the ones they had received before.

Sentence length will vary based on the paper type you’re working on. In narrative essays , you have to tell a story, which means sentences can be very long (up to 50 words). But general advice would be to keep sentences shorter than 25 words. Considering that, a 500-word essay would have somewhere between 20 to 45 sentences.

In short, you do. Unfortunately, the education system is “lazy” in this regard. Even though minimum length requirements force students to stretch their writing by adding fluff and verbose phrases, if those restraints were no more, some students would abuse that and submit essays far too short. Although some educators give a small margin over or under the word count, it’s better to write within the given range.

Your introductions and conclusion are usually smaller than body paragraphs. Hence, they will contain fewer sentences. For a 300-word paper, the first and last paragraphs will be about 3–5 sentences each, and every main paragraph will consist of 5–7 sentences.

The list of references

Here, you may find additional information on the topic:

• Paragraph Length — Aims Community College
• Writing Introductions and Conclusions — the University of Toronto at Scarborough

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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.

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:

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.

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.

🤔 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!

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• 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
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How Long Should Your College Essay Be? What Is the Ideal Length?

What’s covered: , personal statement length vs. supplemental essay length, are college essay word limits hard, what if a college essay word count isn’t given, what if you need to submit a graded paper, where to get your essays edited.

Students often spend hours agonizing over the best topics for their college essays. While it’s natural to wonder whether your personal statement is original or compelling enough, there’s one aspect of the process that shouldn’t cause you undue stress—how many words should a college essay be? Fortunately, with a little research, you can uncover the ideal college essay length for all your applications.

Unlike high school assignments, which typically have a strict page requirement, most colleges provide a word limit or word range for their application essays. This practice helps ensure that essays are the same length regardless of font or formatting. A good guideline is that students should strive to get as close as possible to the upper limit of the word range without exceeding it. Keep reading to learn more about best practices for college essay length.

How many words should a college essay be? Personal statements are generally 500-650 words. For example, the Common Application , which can be used to apply to more than 800 colleges, requires an essay ranging from 250-650 words . Similarly, the Coalition Application , which has 150 member schools, features an essay with a recommended length of 500-650 words.

650 words is the most common limit for your personal statement, but some schools may ask students to write more or less. For example, ApplyTexas , a platform used to apply to Texas public universities and other select colleges, requests essays with requirements that vary by school. For example, students applying to UT Austin will need to submit an essay of 500-700 words, along with three short-answer questions of 250-300 words each.

On the other hand, the University of California (UC) application includes a Personal Insight section with eight prompts . Students are asked to respond to any four of these prompts, with each response topping out at 350 words.

Additionally, some schools request a few supplemental essays, which are typically shorter than a personal statement. These questions are designed to gain more information about a student’s interests and abilities, and may include topics like your reasons for wanting to attend their school, your desired major, or your favorite activity.

Most schools require 1-3 supplemental essays, though some may require more or none at all (see our list of top colleges without supplemental essays ). These essays tend to be around 250 words, but some may be just as long as your main essay. For example, Cornell requires applicants to write a second supplemental essay (of 650 words max) that is specific to the program they’re applying to. The exception to this is the Cornell College of Engineering, for which applicants are required to compose two supplemental essays of 250 words max each.

For best results, keep your essays within the word range provided. While you don’t have to hit the count exactly, you should aim to stay within a 10% difference of the upper limit—without including fluff or filler. For example, if the school requests 500 words, try to ensure that your essay is between 450 and 500 words.

For the Common App, try to stay within 550-650 words, even though the given range is 250-650. Any submission shorter than 500 words will make it look as though you simply didn’t care enough to give your best effort. An essay shorter than 500 words won’t be long enough to truly share who you are and what matters to you.

Exceeding the word count isn’t an option—the application portal cuts off anything over the maximum number of allowed words. This is something you want to be particularly careful of if you’re drafting your essay in a Word or Google document and pasting it into the application.

Although most schools provide applicants with a specific word count, some offer more general guidelines. For example, a college may ask for a particular number of pages or paragraphs.

If you aren’t given a word count, try to adhere to the best practices and conventions of writing. Avoid writing especially short or overly long paragraphs—250 words per paragraph is generally a safe upper limit. If you’re asked to write a certain number of pages, single- or double-spaced, stick to a standard font and font size (like 12-point Times New Roman).

In the event that the college doesn’t offer any guidelines at all, aim for an essay length of around 500 words.

While essays are the most commonly requested writing sample, some colleges ask for additional pieces of content. For example, Princeton University requires students to submit a previously graded paper for evaluation .

Princeton offers guidelines that cover length, but if another school requests an old paper and doesn’t offer length requirements, a paper ranging from 3-5 pages should yield the best results. The goal is to select a paper long enough to showcase your writing skills and unique voice, but short enough that the admissions officer doesn’t get bored reading it.

Is your essay effective while staying within the required word count? It’s hard to evaluate your own writing, especially after rereading it numerous times. CollegeVine’s free Peer Essay Review provides an opportunity to have your essay reviewed by a fellow student, for free. Similarly, you can help other students by reviewing their essays—this is a great way to refine your own writing skills.

Expert advice is also available. CollegeVine’s advisors are prepared to help you perfect your personal statement and submit a successful application to your top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

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• How to Write a College Essay Fast | Tips & Examples

How to Write a College Essay Fast | Tips & Examples

Published on November 5, 2021 by Kirsten Courault . Revised on December 8, 2023.

Table of contents

Organize: set yourself deadlines with breaks, brainstorm: your values and related stories, outline: choose a montage or narrative essay structure, write: be specific, personal, and unique, revise: content, clarity, and grammar, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about college application essays.

Whether you have hours, days, or weeks, set deadlines for yourself with built-in breaks. In general, you should divide your time accordingly:

• 10% brainstorming
• 10% outlining
• 40% writing
• 30% revising
• 10% taking breaks between stages

If you have a few hours …

If you have a few days …

If you have a week …

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

To brainstorm your topic fast, start by doing the following exercises.

Choose the stories that have the most compelling value or narrative. Make sure these stories are:

• Meaningful to you
• Specific (not a broad summary of your life)
• Unique to you (another student couldn’t replicate it)

If you have a single story that showcases how you overcame a challenge or chronicles your personal growth over time, you should use a narrative structure . This type of essay tells a story, usually in chronological order. If you have very limited time, this structure is easier.

If there’s a common theme among several of your stories, you could use a montage structure , which strings together several stories (for example, to showcase different aspects of your identity). If you have more than a few hours to work on your essay, you may want to try out this structure.

To make your essay stand out , write your story in a way that no other student can replicate. As you write, keep these tips in mind:

• Zoom in on specific moments rather than summarizing a long period of time.
• Be vulnerable and share your honest feelings and thoughts.
• Use your authentic voice and an appropriate tone .
• Keep the focus on you, not another person.
• Describe sensory details to create vivid scenes.

Make sure to build in enough time to revise your essay . Ideally, you should aim for three rounds of revision to check for content, clarity, and grammar.

If you don’t have time to fix everything, focus on making sure your writing is clear and grammatically correct. You can do this with the help of a grammar checker and paraphrasing tool . If you want to check your entire document at once, you can use an essay checker .

In your first reading, focus on content:

• Does it answer the prompt?
• Does it focus on me, not someone else?
• Does it have a clear and well-structured narrative?
• Do my stories “show, not tell”?

In your second reading, focus on clarity and flow:

• Is my essay easy to read?
• Are my word choice and tone conversational but respectful?
• Do I have a good mixture of complex and simple sentence structures?

In your third reading, focus on grammar and punctuation:

• Is my writing grammatically correct?
• If I bend language rules, is it clear that it’s intentional and not a mistake?

If you have time, get help from an essay coach or editor; they’ll have specialized knowledge of college admissions essays and be able to give objective expert feedback. Scribbr essay editors can help you revise your essay in 12 hours or less.

Meeting the word count

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. Scribbr’s essay editors can also help reduce your word count by up to 25%.

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 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

If you’ve got to write your college essay fast , don’t panic. First, set yourself deadlines: you should spend about 10% of your remaining time on brainstorming, 10% on outlining, 40% writing, 30% revising, and 10% taking breaks in between stages.

Second, brainstorm stories and values based on your essay prompt.

Third, outline your essay based on the montage or narrative essay structure .

Fourth, write specific, personal, and unique stories that would be hard for other students to replicate.

Fifth, revise your essay and make sure it’s clearly written.

Last, if possible, get feedback from an essay coach . Scribbr essay editors can help you revise your essay in 12 hours or less.

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.

When revising your college essay , first check for big-picture issues regarding your message and content. Then, check for flow, tone, style , and clarity. Finally, focus on eliminating grammar and punctuation errors .

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, December 08). How to Write a College Essay Fast | Tips & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved August 21, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/college-essay/write-essay-fast/

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How long should an essay be?

Published March 31, 2021. Updated June 5, 2022.

Essay Definition:

An essay is a focused piece of writing that expresses the writer’s opinion, analyzes a topic, makes an argument, or explains an idea or topic.

Overview of the Length of an Essay:

The required length of your essay will be dictated by your teacher or professor. An essay should present an argument that you can prove in this given length. The shorter your paper, the more focused your topic and essay should be. Do not play with formatting to make the essay appear longer or shorter. If you are too far over or under the required essay length, you might need to refocus your topic. Graduate school papers become quite a bit longer when they reach the level of theses or dissertations. The below numbers are the average lengths for academic essays written at different levels.

• High school: 500-1000 words
• College: 1200-5000 words
• Graduate school: 2500-6000 words

Worried about your writing? Submit your paper for a Chegg Writing essay check , or for an Expert Check proofreading . Both can help you find and fix potential writing issues.

The most important guidelines are the explicit ones given with the assignment. If your teacher has asked for a 7-page paper, then your essay should be seven pages long. That much is obvious.

Read the prompt or assignment carefully. For one thing, remember that teachers are happy to answer your questions but become frustrated when you ask about something that they have answered on the sheet of paper they gave you. (It’s fine to ask them to repeat something they may have said earlier.) For another, some teachers have taken to providing specific and somewhat arbitrary guidelines in an effort to combat plagiarism.

However, the assignment may not have specific rules for you to follow. If this is the case, check to see if other guidelines apply. Your class, school, or university department might have general guidelines for students that you can use.

There’s usually a bit of wiggle room in essay length; slightly shorter or longer is often okay. If you’re uncertain, ask the teacher what they will accept. With that said, keep the following guidelines in mind.

• Don’t go too much over or under the assigned length. Too short a paper fails to fulfill the terms of the assignment. Too long makes extra work for the teacher and indicates that you haven’t chosen a paper topic with the right scope.
• Don’t play with font, margins, or anything else in the formatting in an effort to make your paper seem longer. It doesn’t work. Your teacher has a stack of proper, identically formatted papers that make the smallest deviations really obvious. It also looks dishonest.
• Don’t skimp on the introduction or conclusion in order to shorten the length. These provide the necessary framework for your paper and contribute to its flow. On the other hand, don’t drag these out, either.

Fit the topic to the length and vice versa

The thesis statement for your paper should present an argument that you can prove in the given length. The shorter your paper, the more focused your topic and thesis statement should be. For example:

• A 20–25-page research paper on Hamlet could tackle the play’s presentation of masculinity.
• A 10–13-page paper might look at father-son relationships in the play.
• A 5–7-page paper might take on the competing versions of masculinity of King Hamlet and King Claudius.
• A 3–4-page paper could address the way that Fortinbras’s invasion shapes Hamlet’s self-assessment as a man.

Notice that these topics narrow as the page lengths decrease. Masculinity as a general concept is quite a broad topic, while one character’s view of himself is much more narrow.

Complexity can also inform length. A more ambitious argument will require more space to prove.

What to do if you’re under or over

That depends. Are you in the ballpark, or are you struggling with a major discrepancy in length?

In the ballpark

Questions to ask if you’re under.

• Have you fully justified your argument and explained all of your connections? Make sure that everything in your head is making it onto the page.
• Is there more you can tease out of the evidence that you use?
• Would your paper benefit from additional evidence?
• Do you adequately lead in and out of your paper with a strong introduction and conclusion?

Questions to ask if you’re over

• Have you trimmed wordy phrases and sentences?
• Do you waste time establishing things that you can assume that your reader knows?
• Do you repeat yourself needlessly?
• Do any of your paragraphs re-prove a point without nuancing it?
• Have you been efficient with your evidence? Have you included long quotations or unnecessary facts?

Way over or under

If you’re quite a bit under or over, you will likely have to adjust the argument and scope of your paper.

If you’re under, ask yourself what the next horizon of your topic is. For example, if your paper is on father-son relationships, you could expand out into Hamlet’s vision of masculinity, in which father-son relationships play a crucial role.

If you’re over, ask yourself what the strongest piece of your argument is. Can you use it to focus in more tightly? If the father-son paper needed to go in the other direction, you could narrow the scope to focus on the relationship between Hamlet and King Hamlet or between Laertes and Polonius.

Some approximations by level

The following numbers reflect trends, not rules. They give average lengths for academic essays written at different levels.

Graduate school papers become quite a bit longer when they reach the level of theses or dissertations.

Before you turn in that paper, don’t forget to cite your sources in APA format , MLA format , or a style of your choice.

Key takeaways

• Follow the instructions you’re given for the assignment.
• Don’t go too much over or under in length.
• Don’t manipulate formatting to make the essay appear longer or shorter. (It never works.)
• If you’re too far over or under, try refocusing your topic.

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How Long Is an Essay: A Guide to Reaching the Perfect Word Count

Does the Length of an Essay Matter? How Long Should Every Essay Part Be? 5 Tips on Nailing the Essay Length on the First Try FAQ Final Thoughts

So, you’re tasked with writing an essay. Chances are, you were given a simple length requirement, measured in words or, perhaps, pages. But how do you make sure your essay – and each of its parts – is neither too long nor too short?

You’ve come to the right place! Our essay writing experts have put together this guide on acing the essay length for students like you. Here’s all you need to know about the perfect word count, from why it matters to how formatting can impact it.

Does the Length of an Essay Matter?

It does! First of all, if you submit an essay 1,000 words longer than the length requirement your instructor set for you, you shouldn’t hope for the highest grade. (Yes, even if its quality is superb.) The same rings true if you submit a work that’s way shorter than required.

That said, the length your instructor puts in the task description is usually not hard-set. If it says, for example, that the preferred length is 800 words, you can still exceed it by another 80-100 words (if not stated otherwise).

But what if you don’t have a requirement at all? How many words in an essay should there be, then?

Unfortunately, the answer is… it depends. Here are the four factors that determine what would count as the perfect length for a specific paper:

• Topic . If it’s a complex one, you’ll need to take your time to convey your point of view with all the evidence required – and that means a longer text.
• Discipline . In economics and sociology, essays are typically shorter as you need to be succinct and use objective, matter-of-fact language. In humanities, however, you can take your time painting a perfect picture with metaphors and other literary devices.
• Academic level . The more advanced it is, the more sophisticated – and lengthy – your essay should be.
• Type . Persuasive, narrative, and informative essays all need a different number of words to achieve their respective goals.

How Long Should Every Essay Part Be?

Most likely, you have a general length requirement – let’s say, five pages – and that’s it. But how should you distribute that word count across the introduction, main body paragraphs, and conclusion?

A good rule of thumb is to use the 80/20 rule. According to it, the main body should take up 80% of the word count, with the other 20% dedicated to the introduction and conclusion. When navigating through these requirements, students might find themselves overwhelmed. However, with advanced tools like AI paper typer , they can streamline the writing process and ensure that their papers adhere to the prescribed structure and length guidelines effectively.

Here’s the length of a standard college essay, part by part:

• Introduction : three to five sentences, 50-80 words;
• Main body : three to five paragraphs, each five to eight sentences and 80-200 words long;
• Conclusion : three to five sentences, 50-80 words.

Pro tip : you don’t have to hit the required word count perfectly. Your assignment’s length can be up to 10% below or above the requirement (unless your instructions specify otherwise).

5 Tips on Nailing the Essay Length on the First Try

We asked our essay experts what students should know to write a perfect paper on the first go. Here are the five tips they’d like to share with you:

• Read your prompt closely . Re-read it after you do your research. Make sure you understand the assignment perfectly and cover the topic from every angle required.
• Start writing with the main body . It’s usually a lot easier to write the introduction once you have the draft of the main paragraphs.
• Consider adding new paragraphs . If you can’t reach the recommended length, return to the prompt and do some more research. You’ll probably find a new angle or argument you can use to add another paragraph to the main body.
• Make your text concise . Avoid filler phrases and sentences – express yourself using as few words as possible. If you find yourself staring at the way-too-long draft, don’t hesitate to delete whole sentences and paragraphs without mercy.
• Don’t overthink the length requirements when you’re writing . If you do, it’ll hinder your process. Sure, you shouldn’t exceed the recommended length by a thousand words. But leave worrying about the word count for the editing part!

How Long Should an Essay Be Depending on the Formatting?

Sometimes, you may receive the recommended length requirement measured in pages instead of words. While the number of words is easy to check (although different applications can return slightly different results), the number of pages can vary depending on the formatting. On top of that, a formatting style may come with its own recommended length.

So, how long are essays in different formatting styles? Let’s break down the three most common scenarios:

• APA . APA essays are typically between 1,500 and 2,500 words long. As the APA format requires double line spacing, this translates into six to ten pages.
• MLA . MLA doesn’t have a recommended essay length, so you can write even short works (under 1,000 words). MLA requires double-line spacing, so every page will roughly contain 275 words. A 1,100-word page will then be a four-page one (not including the Works Cited page).
• Chicago . The Chicago style also requires double-line spacing, meaning one page equals roughly 275 words. Don’t include the title page in the page count.

As you can see, double-line spacing means one page is about 275 words long. However, if you’re required to use the single-line spacing, count every page as 550 words!

How long is an essay, and what’s the preferred length for its parts?

As for how many words in an essay there should be, your work should meet the requirement set by your instructor (+/-10%). If you weren’t given a requirement at all, remember that there’s no clear-cut answer to the question, “How long should an essay be?” The ideal length then depends on the discipline, topic, type, and academic level.

The main body should take up at least 80% of your paper, with the introduction and conclusion constituting the rest. Both the introduction and conclusion are typically one paragraph long each, rarely exceeding five sentences and 200 words.

Do I absolutely have to reach the suggested length?

Essays a bit shorter than the suggested length (no more than 10%) are usually tolerated. However, take a close look at your assignment: if it specifies that it’s the minimum length requirement, it means you do have to reach it.

If you struggle to hit the recommended length of an essay, here are a few tips:

• Add a new paragraph to the main body describing a new argument or aspect of the topic.
• Avoid using filler words just to meet the length requirement (your instructor won’t appreciate it).
• Look for new evidence or source material that can expand your paper.

Can I exceed the suggested word count?

Unless stated otherwise, you can exceed the length requirement by no more than 10%. So, for example, if the suggested length is 2,000 words, you can submit a 2,200-word paper. However, make sure this rule on how many words in an essay you can use applies in your case by checking in with your instructor!

We advise you not to exceed the length limit unless you absolutely have to do it to drive your point home. If you struggle with it, ensure every sentence is concise, and don’t hesitate to ‘kill your darlings.’

Final Thoughts

As you can see, the question “How long is an essay?” doesn’t have a clear-cut answer. Too many variables impact the answer.

If you have a word count suggestion or limit, stick to it. You can submit a work a bit shorter or longer than the preferred length, but do it only if you must.

And if you don’t have any guidelines on how long your paper should be, check in with your school. Perhaps its website has recommendations on the standard essay length. If that doesn’t help, you can resort to searching for a standard length for an essay of the relevant type, discipline, and academic level online.

In any case, you should strive to write only as much as necessary – not more and not less. But if you struggle with it for now, you can always turn to Papertyper for AI-powered help!

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.

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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!

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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.

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How Many Words Are in a 4 Minute Long Speech?

Answer: At the normal speaking rate of 130 words per minute (wpm), a 4 minutes long speech will have about 520 words .

Speech and publication coach Daphne Gray-Grant  found that, on average, people speak at a rate of 125 to 150 wpm so a 4 minutes long speech uses between 500 and 600 words.

You can use our word counter tool to see how long on average your text will take to speak.

How Can You Measure Your Spoken Words per Minute?

To quickly know what your speaking rate is, write a 650-word essay and then get out a stopwatch. Time how long it takes you to speak all of the words in the essay.

Once you’ve finished, divide the word count (650 words) by the number of minutes in decimals (30 seconds = 0.5 minutes) and you’ll get an estimate of your words per minute speaking rate.

For example, if it takes you 4.5 minutes to speak 650 words, you would divide 650 by 4.5 to get 144 words per minute.

Word Count per Speech Length

To quickly find out how many words a typical speaking length requires, see the table below. You can quickly map word counts to typical speaking rates:

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How to Write a Good Essay in a Short Amount of Time

Last Updated: August 17, 2024 Approved

This article was co-authored by Megan Morgan, PhD . Megan Morgan is a Graduate Program Academic Advisor in the School of Public & International Affairs at the University of Georgia. She earned her PhD in English from the University of Georgia in 2015. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article received 16 testimonials and 80% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 901,575 times.

Sometimes, you need to be able to write a good essay in a short amount of time for a timed exam, such as the Advanced Placement exams in high school. At other times, you might find yourself in the uncomfortable situation of having to write an essay fast because you procrastinated or let it sneak up on you. Although an essay written at the last minute will almost never be as good as an essay you spent more time on, putting together a decent essay quickly is still feasible. With a little planning and a lot of hard work, you can write an essay that’s good (or good enough!) in just a short time.

Doing the Prep Work for Your Essay

• Be honest about your strengths and weaknesses when devising your plan. [1] X Research source For example, if you are a good researcher but not great at editing, spend less time on the research section in favor of spending more time on the revising section.
• Make sure to schedule breaks for yourself to refresh your brain and recharge yourself.
• An example of a plan for a one-day essay writing project might look like this:
• 8:00 – 9:30 – Consider an essay question and argument for the topic.
• 9:30 – 9:45 – Take a short break.
• 10:00 – 12:00 – Conduct research.
• 12:00 – 13:00 – Outline the essay.
• 13:00 – 14:00 – Take a lunch break.
• 14:00 – 19:00 – Write your essay.
• 19:00 – 20:00 – Take a dinner break.
• 20:00 – 22:30 – Revise and copy edit your essay.
• 22:30 – 23:00 – Print and prepare your essay submission. [2] X Research source

• Make sure you understand what the question is asking for! If you provide a summary when the essay prompt asked you to “analyze,” you’re unlikely to do very well.
• If you don’t have an essay topic, choose a subject that interests you and consider the essay question afterward. You are more likely to write a good essay on a topic that you’re interested in.

• If you don’t have much experience with your topic, it might be difficult to develop an argument. You can still consider your argument and then use your research to support or refute the claims you want to make.
• A good exercise to help you quickly figure out your essay question and argument is to write “I am studying (choose a topic) because I want to know (what do you want to know) in order to show (this is where your argument goes).”
• For example, “I am studying the medieval witch trials because I want to know how lawyers employed evidence in their cases in order to show that the trial process influenced modern medical techniques and legal practices.”
• Consider counter-arguments in order to strengthen your essay.

• Since you don’t have a lot of time to write, focus on one or two places where you can do research. For example, the library and internet offer many different options for sources. [4] X Research source
• Just make sure that you use reliable sources, such as peer-reviewed journals, government and university websites, and newspapers and magazines written by professionals. Don’t use personal blogs, obviously biased sources, or sources that don’t have professional credentials.
• You can draw upon information you know to speed up the research process. Simply find a (reliable!) source to support it and include it in your sources. [5] X Research source
• Doing preliminary research online can point you to sources in a library such as books and journal articles. It can also point you in the direction of web sources including newspaper article archives or other research on your topic.
• If you're reading books, "gut" the book to get through it quickly and move on to other sources. To "gut" a book, skim the introduction and conclusion to find the main arguments, and then pick a few details from the body of the book to use as evidence. [6] X Research source
• Take notes on your research sources. These will show that you’ve legitimately researched the topic while giving credit to the person who forwarded the idea. [7] X Research source This is especially important if you plan to use direct quotes and will also help you add footnotes and bibliographic information to your essay without having to look them up in the sources.

• Structure your outline as you will your essay, with an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.
• The more detail you put into your outline, the easier and more quickly you can write the essay. For example, instead of just writing a basic paragraph about the body, flesh it out into bullet points or sentences that presents argument and supporting evidence. [9] X Research source

Writing an Untimed Essay

• Nothing will keep you from finishing an essay on time like goofing off online or ending up watching eight straight hours of Cartoon Network. Turn the TV off, switch your phone to silent, and exit out of Facebook and other social media/chat sites.
• Make sure you have all your material nearby when you start to write. Getting up to fetch a book or a piece of paper or a snack will eat into your precious time.

• The most important part of your introduction is your argument or thesis statement. This tells the reader the point your trying to make in the essay.
• Write a “hook” that will grab the reader’s attention to start, then introduce the argument with a few relevant facts woven into the narrative. End by stating how you will demonstrate your points. [12] X Research source
• An example of a hook could be, “People say Napoleon had a complex because of his size, but he was actually an average height for the time in which he lived.”
• It's sometimes helpful to write the introduction after you have written the body so you know how to introduce the topic and your arguments best.
• A good rule of thumb is to not have the introduction be more the 10% of your essay. Thus, for a five page essay, you shouldn’t write more than one paragraph. [13] X Research source

• Pick two to three main points to help make your argument or thesis statement. Any fewer and you won’t have enough evidence for your argument and any more may make you not explore each point thoroughly enough.
• Keep your evidence to support the main points concise. Going off on explanatory tangents will cost you precious time.
• Support your main points with the evidence compiled during your research. Make sure to explain how the evidence supports your claims!
• If haven’t reached your word limit, pick a main point and conduct more research on it to expand on your point. [14] X Research source

• Avoid "fat" language when you write. Text that includes long prepositional phrases, passive verbs, and paragraphs that don't further your argument waste time that you could spend writing or revising your essay.

• Free-writing can also help you overcome writer’s block that results from not knowing how to say something. If you’re struggling with getting the wording of an idea just right, write it as well as you can and come back to it later.

• The essay conclusion should also be relatively short. Aim for the conclusion to be 5-10% of your essay’s total length.
• Aim to do more in your conclusion than just restate your thesis and the evidence you used. You could acknowledge the limitations of your argument, suggest a direction for future research, or expand the relevance of your topic to a wider field.
• Just as you drew in reader with good introduction, end your conclusion with a sentence that make a lasting impression on your reader. [18] X Research source

• Re-read the entire essay. Make sure that you are still arguing the same thing at the end of the essay that you are at the beginning. If not, go back and adjust your thesis.
• Make sure that your paragraphs build on one another and don’t feel haphazard. You can use transitions and strong topic sentences to help you draw connections between your paragraphs.
• Spelling and grammar are the easiest mistakes to revise, but they cost you a lot of reader goodwill if you don’t fix them. [19] X Research source

Writing a Timed Essay

• Read the prompt carefully! If the question asks you to take a position, take one. If it asks you to evaluate the events that led to the downfall of Rome, don’t just give a summary of Roman history. [20] X Research source
• Jot down an idea map. You probably won’t have time to make a formal outline. However, having an idea of the main points that you want to touch on and how they relate will help you structure the essay. If you can’t figure out how to connect your main points, that’s a sign you need to think a little bit more before you start writing.
• Figure out your argument. Once you’ve noted down some main points, figure out what you want to say about them. Even timed essays need a unified argument or thesis.

• For example, you wouldn’t want to spend the same amount of time and effort on a 3-paragraph essay question worth 20% as you would a 2-page essay question worth 60%.
• If you see a question that you feel will be more difficult for you, it could be a good idea to tackle it first. This will get the hard stuff out of the way while you’re still fresh.

• If you notice that your introductory paragraph starts with something broad or hugely general, such as “Throughout the history of time, humans have been fascinated by science,” cut it.
• Don’t put anything in a timed essay that doesn’t support your point. If you are talking about the importance of religious belief in modern society, don’t dilute your point by also referencing socialism, Hollywood, and banana farming.

• Claim. This is the main argument of the paragraph. It is probably located in your topic sentence.
• Evidence. This is the supporting detail that proves your claim.
• Explanation. This connects the evidence back to your claim and explains why the evidence proves what you say it does.
• If anything in your paragraph doesn’t fit one of these three elements, it’s a good sign you don’t need it in the paragraph.

• Does the essay actually demonstrate and support what your thesis says is the main argument? It’s not uncommon for ideas to evolve as you write. If this has happened, tweak your thesis accordingly.
• Do the paragraphs flow smoothly from one to the next? Timed essays don’t have the same standards that regular essays do, but your reader should still be able to follow your argument in a logical progression without feeling yanked around or lost.
• Do you offer a conclusion that sums up your argument? Don’t leave the essay hanging without a conclusion. Even if it’s very brief, a conclusion will help your essay feel complete.

Community Q&A

• Transition words such as "furthermore", "indeed", and "in fact" can make your flow better. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Don't fluff up your essay too much. A reader will want you to get to the point as quickly as possible. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• When starting a new paragraph, don't forget to indent. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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• ↑ https://www.savethestudent.org/extra-guides/how-to-write-a-3000-word-essay-in-a-day.html
• ↑ https://www.slate.com/articles/technology/the_browser/2011/08/slowpoke.2.html
• ↑ https://amst522.wordpress.com/2010/09/13/how-to-gut-a-book-or-the-best-advise-my-grad-school-advisor-ever-gave-me/
• ↑ https://classroom.synonym.com/write-effective-essay-fast-4252.html
• ↑ https://www.slate.com/articles/technology/the_browser/2011/08/slowpoke.html
• ↑ https://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/academic1/timed-essays-top-5-tips-for-writing-academic-essays-under-pressure/

About This Article

If you need to write a good essay in a short amount of time, try to plan your argument and avoid distractions while you're writing. Before you start your essay, decide your thesis statement or the main argument you want to make. This will help you narrow down your research and write the essay quicker. Find a quiet place to work, turn your phone off, and avoid any other distractions. Make sure you schedule short breaks to avoid burn out. If you get stuck, write whatever you can, even if you think it’s really bad or doesn’t make sense. It will be much easier to edit once you’ve gotten the words on the page. Make sure you leave a few hours to revise and spellcheck your essay. For more tips from our Teaching co-author, including how to write a timed essay, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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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...

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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).

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Free Online Words to Minutes Calculator

How long should your 5 minutes speech be? How many words should your essay be to take 5 minutes reading?

To find an answer, you need words to minutes calculator. IvyPanda Experts prepared this post, where you will find 10 free words to minutes converters, find out how to measure your speaking rate, and how long your X-minute speech has to be.

🏆 Top 10 Free Words to Minutes Converter

🎤 how long does a 4-minute speech have to be, ⏱ how to measure your speech length, 1. speech in minutes.

This is a free-to-use speech calculator to measure how long it takes to deliver your speech. To use this tool, you need to enter the word count and choose the reading speed: from slow (100 words per minute) to fast (160 words per minute). No registration is needed.

2. Words to Time

Words To Time as an ad-free text to speech calculator that will provide you with the number of minutes immediately. You can type the number of words you want to convert or paste your text and grab the result. Don’t forget to pick up the reading speed!

3. The Word Finder

This is a free speech length estimator. No sign-up, no ads, or captcha. Type the word count, choose speaking speed, and grab the result immediately. There are also available various cool apps like Font Generators, Backwards Text Converter, Time Calc, etc.

4. EdgeStudio

Edge Studio, the voice recording company, developed a free online script timer. Depending on the data available, you can put the words count, paste your text, or type the average words per line. You will get a result instantly after you click the button “Submit.” On the tab “Statistics,” you can find out stats about reading speed, word, and line count.

5. Copywritely

At this website, you can measure the time of reading your text within a couple of clicks using its words to minutes calculator. Paste your text, and at the bottom of the field, you will see the word count and the approximate speech time.

The tool is available in English, Russian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch. Also, there are available Grammar Checker, Alphabetizer, Words to Pages, and other apps that will become handy for any writing purpose.

6. Read-O-Meter

Read-O-Meter is a simple and hassle-free word to minutes calculator to estimate the reading time. All you have to do is just type or paste the text you want to calculate the speech or article length and press the button “Estimate Reading Time.”

7. TheVoice Realm

This speech length calculator was designed by the online voice casting company. To use it, you need to paste your text or the word count and find out the estimated time. The page also contains background information about the speaking speed and how many minutes in 300, 900, and more words.

To use the Words to Time Conversion tool, you need to know the word count of your text. To get the estimated speech time, you need to type the number of words and adjust reading or speaking time, and you will get an immediate result. The tool is free and contains no ads.

9. Debatrix

This is another ad-free word to minute speech calculator to find out how long your speech will take. To measure the estimated time, you need to paste the text. The online app will count the number of words and speech duration.

10. TextConverter

The website provides plenty of tools that will be useful for students, SEO specialists, and writers.

Choose the text type: speech or locution, reading rhythm, and get the estimated time for your project. The app also will count the number of words and characters.

On the website, you can also find other utilities: Text Randomizer, Upper and Lower Case converters, E-mails Extractor, Hashtags, etc. The site is available in English and Portuguese languages.

Why do we need to measure the reading or speaking time?

There can be a variety of reasons. For example, you should prepare a 5-minute speech, or your post should not exceed 10 minutes of reading.

Speaking or reading time depends on the person who is going to read the text. Below, you will find a table that will help you quickly determine the duration of the content. The table is divided into two parts. The first one gives you reference information of minutes to words conversion. The second one shows the inverse correlation.

This table provides only the estimated information. The actual speech duration depends on your speaking pace, pauses, and so on. Below you will find out what impacts and how to measure your speaking rate.

Keep reading!

In this post, we will share with you how to measure how long your speech will be. Also, you will find out what impacts your speaking pace and how to practice it.

Determine the Word Count

First things first, so let’s determine the number of words you want to turn to minutes. If you use the Microsoft Word or Open Office, you will find out the word count on the status bar at the bottom of the screen.

In Google Docs, you can click Tools>>Word Count, or use the shortcut CTRL+SHIFT+C. If you use other word processors, refer to the help system of the tool.

Determine the Speech Pace

If you don’t know how many words you speak per minute, there are a couple of options to find out it. Check them below!

Use the sample text. Here is how it works: take your sample text, start the timer, and begin reading it aloud. When the minute is up, use your word processing app to figure out how many words you read. This will be your speed of speech.

Record yourself. Another way to find out your speaking pace is to record your speech. Set a timer for a minute, read any text, or talk about any topic while recording it. Then, listen to it and count the words you spoke. You can count it manually or use the software, for example, IBM Speech to Text calculator .

What Impacts Your Speaking Rate?

The speaking rate is individual. There are many factors that influence it. Here are some of them:

• Pauses, and rhetorical devices. The more it has, the slower your speaking rate will be.
• Condition of the speaker. If you’re angry, excited, or in a hurry, you will probably speak faster than usual. On the other hand, when you are tired, it makes it harder to speak quickly.
• Urgency. Here’s the deal: in emergencies, we are more likely will speak quicker than in a calm environment.
• Mental issues. Some mental conditions may lead to a slower or faster speech rate.
• Audience and event. For example, if you are recording audio for a radio ad, you will speak faster, since you are limited by the time. Another example is when you are trying to explain the complicated term to students. More likely, you will slow down your speech. During the presentation, you can also make pauses while changing the slides or checking your notes.
• Environment. Yes, your background directly impacts your speaking pace: your dialect, family, culture, friends, and neighbors, etc.
• Words and content complexity. The long and complex words also impact your speaking pace, making it slower. The same can be said about complex content—it requires more time to deliver it to the audience. Remember about this if you are limited by time.
• Language. Depending on the language you speak, your speaking rate will vary. In 2011, the University of Lyon researchers asked volunteers to read twenty texts in their native languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, and Italian. The purpose of studies was to find out how the density of syllables impacts the rate of communication.

Here’s what they found: the Mandarin language is the slowest one, with 5.18 syllables per second. However, it has the highest information density. The fastest language is Japanese, with its 7.84 syllables per second rate. English language speaking rate is 6.19 syllables per second.

Another interesting fact about the speaking rate is the world record shattered by Steve Woodmore . He articulates 637 words in one minute!

If you are wondering about the average speaking rates, check the table below:

Source: National Center for Voice and Speech

But what about reading? Is the reading pace the same as speaking?

On average, people read 180-300 words per minute. However, speed readers can read 1000+ words per minute.

How to Practice Your Speaking Rate?

You might have met people called a motor-mouth — they speak too fast, and words seem rocket out from their mouths. Others, on the opposite, speak too slowly. You can compare them with sloths from the movie Zootopia:

Both these cases can be fun for a while. However, the too fast and too slow speech will make the listeners lose their interest.

The solution is to practice your speaking rate, making it flexible, and adapting to your audience’s needs.

Below, you will find five easy exercises that will help you to develop a flexible speaking rate:

Read children’s books aloud.

Here’s the deal: when you read stories to a child, you might notice that some passages require you to speak faster, while others must be read at a slow pace.

Read a story several times aloud to become familiar with the text and its passages. If it is possible, record yourself. Then, try reading the text and change the pace. Listen to the records to hear the differences. Think of how the speaking rate impacts the comprehension of the text.

Read scientific reports.

You may find this exercise boring, but yet it will be helpful for delivering complex things in your future speeches.

First, pick up the newspaper or magazine. For example, you can try a Science magazine website — there are plenty of interesting topics, reports, and articles to discover. After you select the report, read it silently to familiarize yourself with the material. The next step is to read it aloud (don’t forget about recording yourself!), noting which parts of the text should be read at a slow pace, and which — faster.

You can extend this exercise and image that you read the article to someone who knows nothing about this topic. Listen to the records and pay attention to the changes you made.

Read your own class speeches.

Make a series of experiments with one of your old class speeches. First, record it delivering the speech at your normal speaking pace. Check the time it took to deliver.

The next step is to mark down some passages to read at slower and others — at a faster rate. Now, read it aloud again while adhering to the marks. Listen to the records; note how changed the time and overall speech comprehension.

Listen to various speakers.

Watch the movie, listen to the news on TV, and watch the classical play. Compare the speech rates of the speakers. You will notice the rhetorical devices they use and how effective their speech is. Then, experiment with your own speech and see how it changes.

Read texts you are familiar with.

Read the text you already know at a quicker or slower pace than usual. Record yourself and play it back. Note the places where your speaking rate was effective and where it wasn’t. Then, mark these places and reread the text again, implementing these changes and recording yourself. See how your speech has changed.

These simple exercises will help you to produce effective speeches for various audiences.

There are a couple of things you need to remember when you speak:

• Fast speaking indicates urgency, passion, and emotions. If you want to stimulate and excite the attention of your listeners, speak quickly. However, you should remember that after a couple of minutes of listening to fast speech, it becomes overwhelming.
• Slow speaking, on the other hand, indicates the seriousness of your point, its importance. Use this approach to grab the attention of your audience. The slow pace also will help them to easier process the information you want to deliver. Similar to fast speaking, too slow pace in your entire speech also can overwhelm and bore your listeners.

How to Make the Speech Memorable

Pace yourself to highlight the most important parts of the speech, and your audience will memorize what you said. The key to any great speech is the retention of the audience. Check the IvyPanda expert advice to make your talks memorable :

• Tell stories. Interesting examples not only illustrate your speech but also help listeners to recall what you said. Humor and short stories from your life will also help you to grab the attention of your audience. Important notice: tell only relevant ones and don’t overuse them.
• Use pauses and breaks. Just like a novel is broken into chapters and paragraphs, pauses in your speech serve as a signal of the end of one point and transition to another.

Use simple and short sentences and phrases. Short sentences and simple language will help you to maximize the engagement and comprehension of your audience. Avoid complex words unless you are talking about specific tech terms in front of the professionals in this sphere.

• Engage your audience with questions. At the beginning of the speech, ask your audience a question or two. This method will give them a hook and grab their attention.
• Review your speech after you wrote it. Check if everything is clear. Rehearse it in various rates and note places where you need to speed up your speech and where to slow it down.

Now you know how to find out the length of your speech, have all the tools to convert words to minutes, and advice on how to practice your speaking rate. Don’t forget to check our other tools to write outstanding speeches.

Updated: Oct 25th, 2023

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Curious about how long it will take to read your text? IvyPanda's online words-to-minutes calculator instantly converts your word count into an estimated reading time. Here, you will also find tips on measuring your speaking rate and making your speech memorable.

convert words to time .

How long will it take to read a speech or presentation?

Enter the word count into the tool below (or paste in text) to see how many minutes it will take you to read. Estimates number of minutes based on a slow, average, or fast paced reading speed.

Number of words

Reading speed

Common conversions (average speed)

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Convert Words to Time

Calculate how long it will take to read a speech or presentation

Enter the word count of your speech below to see how long it will take you to read. Estimate the number of minutes based on a slow, average, or fast speaking pace.

Number of words

Reading speed, common conversions (average speed).

How Long Does It Take to Write a 1000 Word Essay?

How long does it take to research an essay?

If you’re writing an opinion piece on something you already have some knowledge about, you may not have to do any research at all. It may just be a matter of organizing your existing thoughts into a coherent essay. If you need to find out about a topic before you begin to write, you can easily get information on certain topics, whilst others will be more obscure and therefore more difficult to research. Clearly, the easier it is to find information, the faster you can write.

How good are your reading comprehension skills?

Some of us can just skim a piece and pick up all the salient points. Others will have to read with more attention, and even re-read a piece several times to extract the information we need. Having good reading and comprehension skills makes writing much faster since you’re able to “get” the facts faster and organize them better. Now you know why you had to do so many reading comprehension tests at school.

How well did you plan?

Throwing yourself headlong at a 1,000-word essay and writing till you reach the word count may seem like the easy option, but it isn’t. Planning your essay so that it begins with an introduction, highlights the most important points you want to make and then wraps everything up into a conclusion actually saves you time. Sometimes, essay instructions will tell you how to structure the piece, so read them carefully and extract any information you can use to guide your essay’s structure.

How fast do you type?

Have you ever gotten lost halfway through a sentence? You know what you wanted to say, but halfway through, the thought slips away from you. The faster you can type , the more easily you can capture thoughts before your mind moves onto the next thing and you forget what you were trying to say. Typing skills are essential in the modern world. Consider using typing games to improve your speed.

How long does it take me to write a 1,000-word essay?

Faster isn’t always better. The more in-depth your report is meant to be, the longer you should spend on it. I can usually research and write a fairly technical magazine article of 1,000 words in three hours, but do remember that I’m a professional writer. I’m fast because I write all day, every day.

The longest I’ve ever spent on a 1,000-word article was 12 hours. It was absolutely brutal! The information I needed to gather was very technical, hard to find, and even more difficult to understand, and you can’t write something until you really understand the subject matter. I also had to contact experts for their opinions, but I couldn’t even ask about their opinions until I could target them with the right questions. As a result, I actually had to write most of the article before slotting in the expert comment.

The quickest I’ve ever written a 1,000-word article is one hour. In this case, I already knew the subject matter well and didn’t have to back up every fact in the essay with references.

Reviewing your work also matters

If you’re writing for grades and want a good one, you need a really good essay. Don’t start writing it the day before you have to hand it in. Try and get your first draft down at least a day or two before you have to submit your work. Then return to it and do your editing. Read your essay aloud to yourself, since this will help you pick up any careless errors you wouldn’t otherwise spot. Check to see if your information flows logically from one point to the next and make sure that you’ve presented your information clearly.

Remember, teachers get tired. They have to read the same kind of essay over and over again when they grade. If they struggle to understand what you’re saying, you might not get as good a grade as you would if you stuck to using short sentences and relatively simple language.

Your reviewing process shouldn’t take all that long. If you don’t have to make a lot of changes, you should be able to do your final edit in under half an hour.

Take your time. Whatever you do, don’t rush. You might want your essay to be written quickly, but if it’s an important essay, taking your time will give you a better finished product. Budget your time conservatively. It’s better to find that you’ve still got time left over than to run out of time and end up dashing things off with a looming deadline.

Below are some basic guidelines if you need a rough estimate on how long it will take to write an essay. It’s important to remember that there are a plethora of mitigating factors that can increase or decrease the time it takes to write. The below numbers are using an estimate that it takes about 3 hours 20 minutes to write a 1000 word essay:

How long does it take to write a 100 word essay? It takes about 20 minutes to write a 100 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 200 word essay? It takes about 40 minutes to write a 200 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 250 word essay? It takes about 50 minutes to write a 250 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 300 word essay? It takes about 1 hour to write a 300 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 400 word essay? It takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes to write a 400 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 500 word essay? It takes about 1 hour and 40 minutes to write a 500 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 600 word essay? It takes about 2 hours to write a 600 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 700 word essay? It takes about 2 hours and 20 minutes to write a 700 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 800 word essay? It takes about 2 hours and 40 minutes to write a 800 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 900 word essay? It takes about 3 hours to write a 900 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 1,000 word essay? It takes about 3 hours and 20 minutes to write a 1,000 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 1,250 word essay? It takes about 4 hours and 10 minutes to write a 1,250 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 1,500 word essay? It takes about 5 hours to write a 1,500 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 1,750 word essay? It takes about 5 hours and 50 minutes to write a 1,750 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 2,000 word essay? It takes about 6 hours and 40 minutes to write a 2,000 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 2,500 word essay? It takes about 8 hours and 20 minutes to write a 2,500 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 3,000 word essay? It takes about 10 hours to write a 3,000 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 3,500 word essay? It takes about 11 hours and 40 minutes to write a 3,500 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 4,000 word essay? It takes about 13 hours and 20 minutes to write a 4,000 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 4,500 word essay? It takes about 15 hours to write a 4,500 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 5,000 word essay? It takes about 16 hours and 40 minutes to write a 5,000 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 6,000 word essay? It takes about 20 hours to write a 6,000 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 7,000 word essay? It takes about 23 hours and 20 minutes to write a 7,000 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 7,500 word essay? It takes about 25 hours to write a 7,500 word essay.

How long does it take to write an 8,000 word essay? It takes about 26 hours and 40 minutes to write an 8,000 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 9,000 word essay? It takes about 30 hours to write a 9,000 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 10,000 word essay? It takes about 33 hours and 20 minutes to write a 10,000 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 12,500 word essay? It takes about 41 hours and 40 minutes to write a 12,500 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 15,000 word essay? It takes about 50 hours to write a 15,000 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 20,000 word essay? It takes about 66 hours and 40 minutes to write a 20,000 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 25,000 word essay? It takes about 83 hours and 20 minutes to write a 25,000 word essay.

How long does it take to write a 50,000 word essay? It takes about 166 hours and 40 minutes to write a 50,000 word essay.

(Image courtesy of Miguel )

This isn’t accurate. I wrote my 1000 word essay in an hour, not three hours. You should change the times you have listed to reflect how long it actually takes to write. Obviously you don’t know since the mes you listed are not the same as what I can do!

Did you even read the article? The writer says that it’s based on what she writes and is just a general approximation. How long it takes you or anybody else to write an essay will obviously be different because you’re not the same as everybody else. Nobody writes at the same speed so how long it takes you to write an essay will be different for every person.

Someone doesn’t understand the meaning of “rough estimate”

Well then you must be superhuman or some shit I don’t care, I came here for a question not your butthurt comments. Also, if your so good at writing I wouldn’t have found 2 typos in 2 sentences 🙂

*you’re

If you already have all the research done and know what you want to say, then a 1000 word essay shouldn’t take more than an hour to write. In fact, it probably can be done in 30 minutes or less. The time-consuming part of an essay is the research and how long that takes depends on how much you have to do. But the actual writing of the essay shouldn’t take too long at all.

But research is part of the writing process. If a person writes a book, they don’t only count the time it took them at the typewriter writing. They count all the time it took to research the book as well. Trying to separate the two doesn’t make sense.

I think an important thing to point out here is that there’s a huge difference between writing a 1000 word essay and writing a good 1000 word essay. You can write an essay in hardly any time at all if you don’t do the proper research and don’t spend time editing what you wrote. If you’re going to write a good essay, it’s going to take more time. You should always give yourself more time than you think you’re going to need to get it done.

This applies to all writing. Writing and writing something something well will have a huge time discrepancy even if both writings are the same length. Just because you are able to finish something quickly doesn’t mean that’s the best way to do it.

Exactly! Actually, it can take hours or days to come up with the right line – or it can come in seconds. There’s no real counting in terms of the creative process.

Days to come up with the right line? 😀

It does. Sometimes, no matter how hard you look at something, you won’t be satisfied with it. It may take you days to figure it out. And then, one fine day, you suddenly stand up right in the middle of breakfast and then run upstairs and then type out the right line. Source: personal experience

I just spent 8 hours on a 500-word monologue… This comment made me feel better.

Wow, your advice is excellent it motivated me to do a lot better in my essay.

In my opinion, hours that are presented here a partially true. It may take about an hor to write 300 word essay but editing also takes some time. So on averege, I count the time to write the piece itself + time edit everything.

Research, first draft writing, editing, and rewriting are all part of the writing process. I think the time it takes to do all of them should be counted in the time it takes.

It takes way too long! Teachers should not be allowed to assign essays more than 250 words. They always complain they don’t have enough time and work too hard. It’s only because they make their students do too much work!!

This comment just makes you look lazy. 250 words is nothing. Any topic that needs to be explored will take many more words than this. If you don’t want to write, just admit it and don’t try to project that on others.

If you do your research, use annotations for resources and understand to whom and what you have to transfer than the fewer words the better. Remember that you are demonstrating deep knowledge of the topic by making it accessible to the audience without them doing the research. Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Contrary to what academia self-righteously preach, its imperative for any writing and explanation of thought to be simplified. If you cant explain it in short time/short essay you don’t understand it enough.

I disagree, I feel 250 words is way too less to explain any topic. In my opinion, the maximum word count for an essay should be 1500.

It should take long enough that you get all the points you want across in the writing, but not too long as to bore the reader. Writing should be engaging, not boring.

Nice philosophy, but completely unhelpful if you have a paper due tomorrow and limited amount of time to write. The real world doesn’t work that way.

If someone has an essay due tomorrow and they waste time reading this, then they are a bit of an idiot for giving themselves even less time to work with. If they’re leaving work to the last minute like that, then the only thing they should be doing is jumping right in and writing (or planning the essay, but that should be done much sooner).

This is so arbitrary and will depend on the individual. It’s like asking the question, “how long does it take to write a book?” For some, it will only take a couple of months while for others it will take a lifetime. it also depends on the type of writing you’re doing. Some writing is easy and quick and other writing is difficult and requires huge amounts of research.

The uphill task of writing an essay is doing thorough research. Once you have completed the research, you can deliver a 1000 word paper per hour

I completely agree with you on that one. I recently worked on a 4000 word essay, and while the research did take me three hours to conduct, I completed the essay itself in a bit less than four hours and scored a total of 32/34 points.

So happy to read that! That’s because I just realised, that that is what I needed to read. I’ve got two months to write six 2500 word essays. I’ve been procrastinating because I’m simply in fear of doing a bad job. I’ve done lots of research; made lots of notes; collected citations and written nothing. It’s time. I can do this!

I’m writing a 1600 word essay right now as I type this lol

Then show me after you have finished.

Im writing a 2500 word essay, almost done, I can’t even imagine writing a 10000 word essay in university, that sounds EXTREMELY painful 🙁

I found these estimations quite accurate, thank you.

I’m writing a narrative for my English class right this moment and the word requirements are 800-1000. I’ve only been working for two hours and I’m at 1,157. I’m nowhere near done…

your word requirements are 800-1000 and u have 1157? You’ve been done for a while I would say

Wow i have to write a 1 500 word essay in 4 days and I have about 1050 words left Dono how long thats gonna take me 😂😭😭😭

I am writing a dissertation and those estimations made me positive because just 41 hour to write 12,000 essay seems nothing. But at the moment I just finished literature review(though the hardest part yet) without editing I am already at over 35 hours of work. And that’s not even a half! But I am aiming for a good grade though…

I’ve found these estimates incredibly accurate in my years in college. I’m about to graduate next week and have one more 3500 word paper to write. We’ll see if the estimates hold true. However, the estimates (for me at least) don’t include the time it takes to edit so I usually add a little time depending on how long the essay/paper has to be.

Wow, these tips are helpful, Thank You to the creator of this website. These tips helped me a lot in my essay for school.

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How to write a 2000-word Essay: What works Best?

Writing a remarkable 2000-word essay is an overwhelming task for students. This type of essay requires an overwhelming amount of knowledge, time to write, and the ability to organize your thoughts concisely. This guide will explain everything you need to complete a 2000-word essay.

How long is a 2000-word essay?

In academic writing, a 2000-word essay is the same as four pages of a single-spaced document or eight pages double-spaced one . Double spacing means there should be blank lines between each line of text that prevent them from blurring together. Your instructor may ask you to double-space the essay to make it easier to read and to allow reviewers to make comments or suggestions about the assignment.

Each page of single-spaced content has 500-550 words, while a double-spaced page has 250-275. If you are using MLA or APA formatting style, the formatting standard for an essay should be (1) double-spaced, (2) Times New Roman font, and (3) one-inch margins all around. If you use Ariel font pages

How Many Paragraphs is a 2000 Words Essay

A 2000-word essay consists of between 7 and 9 paragraphs, each having between 3 and 5 or more full and coherent sentences. Please note that there are no proper rules on how many sentences your paragraph should have since each paragraph discusses different ideas relating to the main topic of your essay.

Some paragraphs could be shorter and others longer. Some paragraphs could be a sentence shorter, and others about half a page long. What matters more is how you structure and complete the paragraphs.

However, you should not concern yourself with the length of your paragraph that you forget what matters most: the content of the paragraphs. Communicate effectively the quality of the message to ensure you answer the topic.

Can I Write 2000 Words in Two Hours?

Writing a 2000-word article in two hours is challenging but not impossible. Typically, a good essay requires in-depth research, a clear structure for the paper, and an organization of your ideas, which requires adequate time.

However, quickly completing an essay depends on your familiarity with the topic and typing speed. Most adults have an average typing speed of 40 words per minute (WPM). However, for experienced typists, the average typing speed is about 76 words per minute. Many college students trying to finish their assignments on time usually type 60-70 words per minute.

If you are having an essay crisis and can’t seem to figure out how to write a 2000-word essay in two hours, use the following tips;

Plan your essay

Take 10 – 15 minutes to organize your thoughts by identifying your essay's main topics and ideas. Focus only on key ideas and avoid unnecessary details to save time. Then, decide how you will organize them in your paper. A great tip is to have a logical order, ensuring a link between all ideas.

Research Efficiently and effectively

All academic papers, especially long-form essays like a 2000-word essay, require in-depth research to gather supporting information for your topic. You need to dedicate a few minutes to gather sources before writing.

Write the Introduction

Use 5-10 minutes to write a compelling introduction, beginning with a hook to grab readers' attention. Then, provide some context about the topic and state your thesis statement.

Write the Body Paragraphs

Allocate 10- 15 minutes to discuss each idea supporting your main topic. If you have 5 ideas, it will take you about 50 minutes to finish writing the body of your essay.

Write Your Conclusion

Use 10-15 minutes to finalize your essay by restating your thesis statement, summarizing the main points, reminding the readers why they should care, and providing recommendations/ suggestions for the main topic.

Revise Your Essay

Use 20 minutes to review your draft to correct any mistakes you made while writing. The final draft should be free of any errors (punctuation, grammar, and spelling) and be plagiarism-free. You must also ensure that all ideas are clearly and concisely written.

Please note that writing a 2000-word essay under time constraints will likely affect the quality of your work; however, following the above tips ensures you finish a well-structured 2000-word essay quickly.

What is the Format for a 2000 Word Essay?

A 2000-word essay is an academic paper with the same format as others. This means it has an introduction, a body paragraph, and a conclusion. Your introduction and conclusion should comprise approximately 25% of the total word count of the essay, while the rest of 75% should be dedicated to the body.

Introductions

An introduction of a 2000-word essay is 5-10% of the total word count. It should be between 100 – 150 words of concisely written content. If you have no idea what to include in the introduction, the following tips will offer a starting point.

• Set the scene
• Introduce the topic or problem under discussion.
• If needed, provide definitions of complex concepts.
• An explanation of why the topic or problem matters. (provide the size or the scope of the matter).
• The purpose of the essay.
• Introduce the thesis statement, which is the central idea of the essay.
• Briefly provide the outline you will use to explain the paper's logic.

Your introduction should be a paragraph or two long since a paragraph is made of 100 words.

The Main Body

A body of a 2000-word essay will make up about 75% of the total word count. It should be divided into 5-7 paragraphs, each discussing one central idea that identifies the main topic. These paragraphs should be 150- 250 words, each supported by 2 or more references. Note that the longer the assignments, the more important it is to provide links that refer to earlier points, thus connecting ideas.

When you begin writing the body, your ideas will likely flow randomly from the mind. Since you are writing for readers with different backgrounds and viewpoints, you must organize these ideas to make it easier for them to process and understand. Use the following format to organize the body of your essay;

• Write a topic sentence that identifies the paragraph topic you will discuss.
• Supporting information , such as examples, details, and evidence, contributes to the main topic. When you provide evidence, ensure you explain why it is relevant to the topic.
• A concluding sentence also acts as a transition to the next paragraph. Provide a conclusion that reminds readers of what they have read and shows the topic's significance.

Use the above format to organize the rest of the body paragraphs. Consider writing this plan on paper and pinning it on your desk to remind yourself whenever you write an essay. 

Additionally, consider using the following writing techniques and tools to help finish your essay in under two hours.

Technique 1: The Pomodoro technique

The Pomodoro Technique. This technique involves working continuously for 25 minutes and then taking a 5-minute break. The Pomodoro technique is effective because it allows you to focus while avoiding burnout. Research shows that taking regular breaks can increase well-being and performance.

Technique 2: Write in Batches

Writing in batches is an effective method to finish a 2000-word essay in two hours. It involves dividing your essay into sections and working on them before taking a break.

Use tools such as Grammarly and Hemingway Editor to help edit your work and ensure no errors before submission.

This is the final paragraph of your essay. Like an introduction, a conclusion makes up about 5-10% of a 2000-word essay. This means that a conclusion for a 2000-word essay has approximately 100-150 words.

If you follow the above format, the total word count will 2050.

How Long Will It Take to Write a 2000 Words Essay?

Finishing a 2000-word essay will take 6-8 hours on average. However, if you are just typing the essay without doing any in-depth research, outlining the work, or adding citations and references, it will take about 50 minutes. For a handwritten essay, it takes about 1.7 hours to finish a 2000-word essay.

Please note that some students can finish a 2000-word essay in just under two hours, while others can take at least five days (2 for in-depth research, 2 for writing the essay, and one for revising and editing) to finish. All this will depend on the complexities of the topic. A complex topic will probably require more time for research, especially if getting the sources for the topic is challenging.

The assignment deadline will also influence whether someone can finish the essay quickly or not. Many students often find themselves swamped with assignments, wondering which to prioritize. If you have a 1000-word essay and another for 2200 words, prioritize the latter and focus on finishing the shorter one later.  

If you want to finish your essay quickly, avoid distractions such as social media, TV, friends, etc.

How Many References Are in a 2000 Words Essay

A 2000-word essay should have between 10 and 20 high-quality references. Please take note that these are just suggestions. Logically, there should be a source in every paragraph. Each argument supported by credible evidence must have a reference. Some factors that will determine how many references each of your paragraphs will have include:

The Type of Research

If you are conducting empirical research, you will need more references compared to doing research for a theoretical paper. This is because the latter focuses on synthesizing existing concepts.

Depth of the Research

If your 2000-word essay is about a complex topic, you must do more thorough research to locate all the evidence supporting or refuting your claims. This means your essay will have more references than one that does not need much research.

Assignment’s Requirements

Your instructors will specify the number of references to use in your essay; they might verbally communicate this in class or highlight it on the assignment prompt. Thus, it's essential to always read and understand your prompt before working on the assignment.

If there are no specifications about essay references, check with your instructor how many are appropriate for the type of essay you are writing.

Writing Time by Word Counts

The following table outlines how long it takes to complete an essay, depending on the number of words.

From the above table, it's clear that a person's typing speed will dictate whether they can finish an assignment quickly or not.

Writing Time by Page Counts

Wondering how long it takes to complete a page? The table below will let you know how long it will take to finish an essay based on page counts.

This rough estimate is based on slow, average, and fast writers.

Tips to Help You Finish a 2000 Words Essay

So, you left your 2000-word essay until the last minute and can't seem to figure out how to finish it on time? No worries. The following tips can help.

Eat a Good Breakfast

A study published in the National Library of Medicine has shown that eating a good breakfast is associated with positive outcomes for learners and professionals. Breakfast gives you energy after fasting overnight for more than 7 hours. Take some brain food fuel, such as yogurts topped with berries, to give you steady energy as you write your essay. This will prevent you from feeling hungry, which could be a distraction.

Pick Your Equipment and Workstation

When you sit down to write, everything must be within reach. So, pick a conducive environment away from distractions and collect all materials like your laptops, pens, notebooks, etc.

Set Time Management Goals

When you have an urgent assignment that is 2000 words long, time management is key to success. Good time management skills will help you finish the task quickly while avoiding distractions. You can break up your tasks into chunks and work on them individually.

Use Online Tools to Speed Up the Research Process

Research can take an awful amount of time, especially for a complex topic. So, speed up the process by using online tools like Google Scholar to find sources for your essay.

Also, check if your instructor has published a list of sources on your module's online platform. Most of them are kind enough to put them online.

Write Your Notes directly on Your Laptop.

Normally, when researching a topic, you will write ideas in a notebook and then use it later when typing on your laptop. However, since you are in a hurry, skip this step and directly type the ideas and their sources on our computer. Once you are done, you can drag and drop paragraphs in the correct order.

An essay that is 2000 words long is a common type of essay you will encounter in school. You must be well prepared by understanding what it takes to complete this type of essay. Whether you are a seasoned writer or a beginner, the above guide will be helpful when writing a 2000-word essay.

If you are struggling with writing a paper or essay that is 2000 or 2200 words long, we can help. EssayManiacs has a team of professional writers who can write such an essay in under a day or between 7 and 8 hours or less. Therefore, if you want help with your assignments , we are online and ready to help. Please place an order, and we will assign your paper to a writer within the next few minutes. In terms of cost, it should cost you around $18-25/page, depending on the urgency. Engage us for a discount.

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Do you wonder how long it takes to deliver your speech?

This website helps you convert the number of words into the time it takes to deliver your speech, online and for free. This tool is useful when preparing a speech or a presentation. The number of minutes you will take is dependent on the number of words and your speed of speech, or reading speed.

Note: This calculator provides an indication only.

Enter details below

The overview below provides an indication of the minutes for a speech (based on an average reading speed of 130 words per minute):

• Words in a 1 minute speech 130 words
• Words in a 2 minute speech 260 words
• Words in a 3 minute speech 390 words
• Words in a 4 minute speech 520 words
• Words in a 5 minute speech 650 words
• Words in a 10 minute speech 1300 words
• Words in a 15 minute speech 1950 words
• Words in a 20 minute speech 2600 words
• How long does a 500 word speech take? 3.8 minutes
• How long does a 1000 word speech take? 7.7 minutes
• How long does a 1250 word speech take? 9.6 minutes
• How long does a 1500 word speech take? 11.5 minutes
• How long does a 1750 word speech take? 13.5 minutes
• How long does a 2000 word speech take? 15.4 minutes
• How long does a 2500 word speech take? 19.2 minutes
• How long does a 5000 word speech take? 38.5 minutes

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5 takeaways from Kamala Harris’ historic acceptance speech

Domenico Montanaro

Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, arrives onstage to speak on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Thursday. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

History was made Thursday night when Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination, the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to do so.

Those historic firsts can be opportunities, and they can be challenges. Harris is not someone known for delivering big speeches, and the public’s views of her are still forming. She got the nomination, after all, without running in a primary, the first to do so in many decades.

“We must be worthy of this moment,” Harris said.

Was she? Here are five takeaways from her acceptance speech and Democrats’ convention:

1. Harris introduced herself to America.

This was, by far, the most important speech of Harris’ political career, and it was in front of the biggest audience she’s ever spoken to — not the crowd of thousands in person in the audience, but the crowd of millions watching at home and those taking it in in the coming days.

She had to connect with those who are either undecided about her or those on her side but not sold on voting. She tried to do that by inverting what former President Donald Trump does in othering certain groups of people. She tried to make her story — one of a child of immigrants from India and Jamaica — a typical and relatable American one. She’s the child of divorce, brought up working class, raised by a mother who dreamed big and taught her daughters to dream big, but also stressed critical all-American values — work hard, don’t complain and “do something,” a nice rhetorical coda to former first lady Michelle Obama’s speech two nights ago.

Overall, Harris sounded in control, shared her values, told the country where she comes from and where she wants to take it, while also contrasting herself with Trump.

2. She and Democrats inverted a lot of Republican messaging.

Harris and Democrats flipped the script in this convention on a lot of GOP attacks against them. They appealed to “common sense,” a small-c conservative value, reclaimed who and what qualifies as blue collar, stood up for veterans and redefined “freedom.”

Instead of a “radical” California liberal, Harris painted herself as a regular, blue-collar kid, who understands the needs of people and the value of hard work and discipline.

Democrats, instead of coming across as unpatriotic and unhappy with America, enthusiastically spoke of campaigning with “joy” and flooded the United Center in Chicago with flags. They had Republicans like former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., attest to their patriotism and decency, and they brought veterans to the forefront on the stage and in speeches.

“I will always honor and never disparage their service and their sacrifice,” Harris said.

Democrats haven’t always been good at commanding the message in presidential campaigns, but — so far — since Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have come on the scene, they are doing that, starting with making their opponents seem “weird” and taking it further with this convention.

And it’s all been in service of trying to reach out to the middle.

3. Harris showed she was disciplined.

One of the most important jobs of a candidate in a presidential acceptance speech is to allow people to actually visualize him or her as president.

That’s especially true for someone who hasn’t had a lot of time in front of the voters.

Agree or not with the direction Harris wants to take the country, she did that Thursday night. She looked the part, stuck to the script, didn’t ramble or meander, and mostly stuck to the facts. She laid out a vision for the future of the country, one that stands in stark contrast to what Trump wants to do.

If, with her discipline, Harris was trying to reassure Americans that she can handle the presidency, it also had to give Democrats confidence in the kind of candidate she will be for the remaining 74 days.

And she did it all without dwelling on her gender, race or ethnic identity.

4. She tried to stake a claim to the “change” mantle?

Harris has provided Democrats with enthusiasm they didn’t have before President Biden dropped out, and part of that comes from the change Harris brings. Another challenge for her Thursday night was to show she could grab firm hold of the change mantle. Change, after all, is one of the strongest motivators in politics.

Harris showed not only is she change from Trump, someone who has now been running or serving as president for almost a decade, but also from Biden. That was evident by the very different speeches they delivered this week. Biden’s was darker and more focused on defending democracy (as well as his achievements in office).

In fact, Biden mentioned democracy 10 times in his speech. Harris mentioned it, but only twice .

“Our nation with this election has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past,” Harris said, “a chance to chart a new way forward, not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans.”

Another way she showed her difference with Biden was in how she spoke about Gaza. She said she would “always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself.” But, she added, “At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives, lost; desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking.”

And she pledged that she and President Biden “are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”

It’s a different tone than the country has heard on this from the president in the past year.

That Harris might be the “change” candidate in this election is an ironic and somewhat astounding thing for a sitting vice president to pull off.

5. Democrats are walking away thrilled with how the week went, but this is still a very close race.

The week was well produced; the campaign pulled off a high-wire act seamlessly marrying the convention with a packed Harris-Walz rally in Milwaukee at the very arena where the Republican National Convention was held; and it had big stars.

But most importantly, it showcased and introduced Harris in the best light possible. And all of that has Democrats over the moon.

Still, for what a solid rollout Harris has had and all her momentum, this remains a very close race. That’s why several Democrats this week urged the crowd against irrational exuberance and reminded onlookers of the work that still needs to be done.

“Yes, Kamala and Tim are doing great now,” Michelle Obama said. “We’re loving it. They are packing arenas across the country. Folks are energized. We are feeling good. But remember, there are still so many people who are desperate for a different outcome.”

There is no doubt about that.

• Vice President Kamala Harris

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Dialing In to Fox News, Trump Offers a Rambling Rebuttal to Harris’s Speech

The network ended the live interview after 10 minutes. Beeps could be heard as the former president seemed to accidentally press the buttons on the keypad of his phone.

• Share full article

By Michael M. Grynbaum and Michael Gold

Michael Grynbaum reported from Chicago. Michael Gold reported from Tucson, Ariz.

• Aug. 23, 2024

Former President Donald J. Trump was watching television on Thursday night and he did not like what he saw.

His Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, and her allies were accusing him of groveling to dictators, imperiling democracy, and betraying American values.

So Mr. Trump picked up the telephone and called Fox News. The network patched him in to its live coverage of the Democratic convention — moments after Ms. Harris had deemed him, in her speech, “an unserious man” — and the former president proceeded to issue a meandering, stream-of-consciousness rebuttal.

Several times, the Fox anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum tried to interject to ask a question. Several times, Mr. Trump ignored them. “Mr. President, let me interrupt,” Mr. Baier pleaded at one point. Mr. Trump kept talking.

The call-in — which lasted for 10 minutes, until Fox News informed Mr. Trump that the network had run out of time — was hastily arranged. Network producers confirmed the interview less than a half-hour before Ms. Harris began her prime-time remarks.

Still, Mr. Trump did not want to wait until after the speech to weigh in. While Ms. Harris was speaking, he took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to provide real-time commentary.

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https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2024/08/nist-releases-first-3-finalized-post-quantum-encryption-standards

NIST Releases First 3 Finalized Post-Quantum Encryption Standards

• NIST has released a final set of encryption tools designed to withstand the attack of a quantum computer.
• These post-quantum encryption standards secure a wide range of electronic information, from confidential email messages to e-commerce transactions that propel the modern economy.
• NIST is encouraging computer system administrators to begin transitioning to the new standards as soon as possible.

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has finalized its principal set of encryption algorithms designed to withstand cyberattacks from a quantum computer. 

Researchers around the world are racing to build quantum computers that would operate in radically different ways from ordinary computers and could break the current encryption that provides security and privacy for just about everything we do online.  The algorithms announced today are specified in the first completed standards from NIST’s  post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standardization project , and are ready for immediate use.

The three new standards are built for the future. Quantum computing technology is developing rapidly, and some experts predict that a device with the capability to break current encryption methods could appear  within a decade , threatening the security and privacy of individuals, organizations and entire nations. 

Want to learn more about post-quantum cryptography? Check out our explainer.  

“The advancement of quantum computing plays an essential role in reaffirming America’s status as a global technological powerhouse and driving the future of our economic security,” said Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves.   “Commerce bureaus are doing their part to ensure U.S. competitiveness in quantum, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which is at the forefront of this whole-of-government effort. NIST is providing invaluable expertise to develop innovative solutions to our quantum challenges, including security measures like post-quantum cryptography that organizations can start to implement to secure our post-quantum future. As this decade-long endeavor continues, we look forward to continuing Commerce’s legacy of leadership in this vital space.”

The standards — containing the encryption algorithms’ computer code, instructions for how to implement them, and their intended uses — are  the result of an eight-year effort managed by NIST, which has a long history of developing encryption. The agency has rallied the world’s cryptography experts to conceive, submit and then evaluate cryptographic algorithms that could resist the assault of quantum computers. The nascent technology could revolutionize fields from weather forecasting to fundamental physics to drug design, but it carries threats as well. 

“Quantum computing technology could become a force for solving many of society’s most intractable problems, and the new standards represent NIST’s commitment to ensuring it will not simultaneously disrupt our security,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Laurie E. Locascio . “These finalized standards are the capstone of NIST’s efforts to safeguard our confidential electronic information.”

Encryption carries a heavy load in modern digitized society. It protects countless electronic secrets, such as the contents of email messages, medical records and photo libraries, as well as information vital to national security. Encrypted data can be sent across public computer networks because it is unreadable to all but its sender and intended recipient. 

Encryption tools rely on complex math problems that conventional computers find difficult or impossible to solve. A sufficiently capable quantum computer, though, would be able to sift through a vast number of potential solutions to these problems very quickly, thereby defeating current encryption. The algorithms NIST has standardized are based on different math problems that would stymie both conventional and quantum computers.

“These finalized standards include instructions for incorporating them into products and encryption systems,” said NIST mathematician Dustin Moody, who heads the PQC standardization project. “We encourage system administrators to start integrating them into their systems immediately, because full integration will take time.”

Moody said that these standards are the primary tools for general encryption and protecting digital signatures. 

NIST also continues to evaluate two other sets of algorithms that could one day serve as backup standards. 

One of these sets consists of three algorithms designed for general encryption but based on a different type of math problem than the general-purpose algorithm in the finalized standards. NIST plans to announce its selection of one or two of these algorithms by the end of 2024.

The second set includes a larger group of algorithms designed for digital signatures.  In order to accommodate any ideas that cryptographers may have had since the initial 2016 call for submissions , NIST asked the public for additional algorithms in 2022 and has begun a process of evaluating them. In the near future, NIST expects to announce about 15 algorithms from this group that will proceed to the next round of testing, evaluation and analysis. 

While analysis of these two additional sets of algorithms will continue, Moody said that any subsequent PQC standards will function as backups to the three that NIST announced today. 

“There is no need to wait for future standards,” he said. “Go ahead and start using these three. We need to be prepared in case of an attack that defeats the algorithms in these three standards, and we will continue working on backup plans to keep our data safe. But for most applications, these new standards are the main event.” 

More Details on the New Standards

Encryption uses math to protect sensitive electronic information, including secure websites and emails. Widely used  public-key encryption systems , which rely on math problems that computers find intractable, ensure that these websites and messages are inaccessible to unwelcome third parties. Before making the selections, NIST considered not only the security of the algorithms’ underlying math, but also the best applications for them. 

The new standards are designed for two essential tasks for which encryption is typically used: general encryption, used to protect information exchanged across a public network; and digital signatures, used for identity authentication. NIST  announced its selection of four algorithms — CRYSTALS-Kyber, CRYSTALS-Dilithium, Sphincs+ and FALCON — slated for standardization in 2022 and  released draft versions of three of these standards in 2023. The fourth draft standard based on FALCON is planned for late 2024.  

While there have been no substantive changes made to the standards since the draft versions, NIST has changed the algorithms’ names to specify the versions that appear in the three finalized standards, which are: 

• Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 203 , intended as the primary standard for general encryption. Among its advantages are comparatively small encryption keys that two parties can exchange easily, as well as its speed of operation. The standard is based on the  CRYSTALS-Kyber algorithm, which has been renamed ML-KEM, short for Module-Lattice-Based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism.
• FIPS 204 , intended as the primary standard for protecting digital signatures. The standard uses the  CRYSTALS-Dilithium algorithm, which has been renamed ML-DSA, short for Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm.
• FIPS 205 , also designed for digital signatures. The standard employs the  Sphincs+ algorithm, which has been renamed SLH-DSA, short for Stateless Hash-Based Digital Signature Algorithm. The standard is based on a different math approach than ML-DSA, and it is intended as a backup method in case ML-DSA proves vulnerable.

Similarly, when the draft FIPS 206 standard built around FALCON is released, the algorithm will be dubbed FN-DSA, short for FFT (fast-Fourier transform) over NTRU-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm.