Word Count in a Term Paper

After the question, "When's it due?" students will inevitably ask, "How long should this paper be?" There are usually three options:

1. A specific number of words or pages required, and stated on the assignment page or announced by the instructor;
2. A specified range of words, as in "between 1000 and 1500", or "between 8 and 10 pages," as announced by the instructor; or
3. No specified number or range.

The first option is pretty straightforward. Estimate the number of words in your introduction and conclusion, subtract that from the total, and there you have the number of words you need for the body of your paper. Going a bit over the limit will probably not be a problem; going under may well be a problem, and especially won't look good if other students have completed (or exceeded) the required number.

Going a lot over the limit may not be good either. An extra long paper may just cause extra work for the instructor or marker, and your efforts to impress may backfire. If you feel you need more words than the specified number, check with the instructor first.

He or she may agree to it, or may make suggestions on ways you can cut it back down to size.

You may not have narrowed your topic down enough, for example, or you may have chosen to deal with a topic in more depth than the course would require.

Option 2 requires a bit more thought because it's less clear what to "aim" for when a range is given. You can choose to make it easy on yourself and go for the low end of the scale, but this can backfire if most others choose the opposite end of the scale.

A "good" but short paper won't measure up against a classmate's superb, longer paper. However, choosing the higher limit just to impress the instructor isn't a great idea if it means stuffing 500 extra words into a "true" 1,000-worder.  A verbose, long paper won't measure up against a classmate's concise, shorter one.

So, faced with that stressful choice, what do you do? Consider the following:

1. Know your own style. If you tend to be a "minimalist" kind of writer, writing only the bare necessities with a minimum of rambling anecdotes and examples, then consider keeping to the shorter limit. Forcing yourself to pad the paper with extra words will most likely be unsuccessful. On the other hand, if you do tend to write "too much" (even with a properly narrowed topic), then aim towards the higher end. It may be easier for you to edit and chop back down to that goal if necessary.
The copyright of the article Word Count in a Term Paper in Academic Writing is owned by Kathy Bell. Permission to republish Word Count in a Term Paper in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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