How to Increase Essay’s Word Count 

Writing an essay is a process that consists of many steps like outlining, gathering information, editing, etc. However, at every step, you need to meet the requirements of your professor or teacher and your learning institution. One of the requirements that many students struggle with is word count. 

Sometimes it’s too hard to make your essay long enough to fit the instructions. You might find yourself finishing your paper, doing everything right, and still find that your word count is not enough. That’s why we have prepared a few tips for you on how to lengthen your essay and increase the word count.

Clarify and Explain

Sometimes all you need is to add a few sentences that would explain your point of view and voila! You meet the required word count. It’s an easy method that requires you to make your essay a little bit longer but avoid digging and researching more.

For example, you can add a little more details when talking about your opinion on the topic or even clarify some statements, terms, etc. It will not take much time or effort but will help you succeed.

Add More Examples and Evidence

Almost every essay needs some examples, evidence, and proof to become an academic piece. Don’t be lazy and throw in a few more when you are adding only one. You can even google some examples of a particular matter by just adding the word “examples” to your search.

Evidence that would support your opinion is not always that easy to find. But you can always search for them and add a few more to your paper.

Talk About Other Points of View

If you have a particular opinion, it’s not that hard to mention opposite ones to add more depth to your essay and increase the word count (let’s pretend that word count is not the main reason why we are doing this) without making it look like completely random facts. 

By comparing your point of view to others, you will only add more value to your work as it is always good to avoid your reader making their own minds about the topic.

Use Quotations

Not every professor is as supportive when it comes to quotes in students’ essays. However, if you feel like the quote fits well and supports the text of your essay, this is what you can do in order to hit that required word count without struggling much. 

Make sure you don’t overuse quotes as they can make your essay look like a pamphlet. But when a quote supports your claims or proves your point of view, it might be a good option for you.

Add More Transition Sentences

If your essay lacks just a few additional sentences to hit that word count, you can try to expand each of your paragraphs a little by adding transition sentences. First of all, it will improve the quality of your text flow. But what’s more important it will also expand your word count.

Transition sentences are usually used to close the paragraph and make a smooth transition to the next one with another point or fact. That’s why they are called transition sentences – pretty obvious, but anyways. So, the most commonly used transition sentences usually contain words like – however, besides, also, on another hand, in contrast, nonetheless, etc.

Review All Contractions

Contractions in academic writing can sometimes be viewed as a lack of professionalism. Moreover, they steal from your word count. And you might never know until you review your paper and use longer versions instead of short ones. 

Expand Your Conclusion

Many students tend to make the conclusions of their essays pretty short. It happens because it seems like the body paragraphs said it all so why bother making your conclusion detailed and deep. 

Of course, sometimes all you need is to restate your thesis statement in other words, and your work is done. But when you are fighting for any additional word to meet that word count requirement, making your conclusion concise is not the best move.

Review your conclusion and try to expand it with more details, a brief mention of previous examples, and proofs. It will only make your essay better. And will help you meet the requirements.

Wrapping Up

These were all of the best tips on how to make your essay longer without messing with its quality. Of course, you can always add some not really relevant information or try to rephrase your essay to make it sound fancier as well as increase the word count. However, these details are pretty obvious to any professor with experience, and chances are it will negatively affect your grade. 

Adding valuable information on the other hand will only make your essay better. This is our goal, eventually.