Essay Length
Guidelines on Length of an Essay
What should be the ideal length of the essay, that is the first question that comes in elementary and college students mind while start writing an academic essay. Actually the answer to this question is not straight forward. The length of the essay is completely based on the subject and also the educational level. High School Essay & University Level essay length is different.
There are various type of essay and their length differs from each other like argumentative essay, personal statement, scholarship essay all have different aims and their length varies according to requirements, You should also decide the length of your essay considering the course requirement and also the guidelines provided by professors. The average length of the essay basically ranges from 2500 to 3000 words that are approx.10 to 12 pages. Here are a few guidelines which will help you in determining the length of your college essay.
| Kind of Essay | Average Length (word count) | Content of The Essay |
| Essay for high school | 300 -1000 words | In the context of high school essay, You are generally asked to write an introduction, body Para and conclusion within the specific word count |
| Admissions in college | 200-650 words | In such type of essay, you are asked to demonstrate your interest in a particular subject. While writing the essay for admission in college, it is very much important for you to complete your essay in given word limit. |
| Essay length for undergraduate | 1500-5000 words | The word limit is completely based on the level, of course, department, etc. |
| Graduate school admission | 500-1000 words | It is basically a lengthy personal statement. In such type of essay, you are required to provide detail information about your motivations and achievements in the academic field. |
| Graduate school essay | 2500-6000 words | These are basically lengthy essays. |
Length of Each Section of the Essay
Main body section: While dividing the word count before writing an essay, you should keep a high percentage of word count for writing the main body section of an essay. As in the main body section of the essay, you are required to include the arguments and you need to provide evidence for supporting the same.
Among the different sections, the main body is the part of the essay which constitutes most of the word count. In this section only you are asked to explain your ideas.
Introduction section: The word count of this section is required to be proportional to the lengthiness of essay. If the essay length is 3000 words then in such a case you should write an introduction of one paragraph only. If you are writing a complex essay then you can write 2 or 3 paragraphs. In the context of the complex essays, you should write background and introduction separately.
Conclusive section of the essay: In this, you are required to highlight only a few main points. You should write a conclusion in minimum words.
Tips
If you are facing the difficulty in maintaining the word count, here are the tips which can help you
- If you are facing the difficulty in reaching the word count then in such case you can add more evidence and example.
- Student can provide more detailed examples
- You can include information about different aspects of your study in new paragraphs.
- You can include more argument