19th May 2018
The length of the essay is one of its most important features. This is because the length would define the level of elaboration, discussion, analysis as well as the number of references that would be needed in order to support the arguments in the essay. Hence, students need to find out how many words in a college essay.
The length of a college essay is generally prescribed by the University authorities or the College bodies. It also depends on the course period. For example, the essays that are asked to be written at the start of a course module are generally shorter than those asked towards the end. The reason is that at the start, the students do not generally have elaborate and comprehensive ideas on the topic, while towards the end they are supposed to have a more detailed knowledge base on the topic. Hence, in order to understand how many words in a college essay it becomes critical to consider the module or the course period as well.
The length of an essay or the number of words in the same would also be defined by the topic of discussion. An analytic topic would certainly require more number of words than a reflective one. The simple reason is that an analysis would have more information sources to draw from while a reflective essay would only need to be developed on the basis of subjective understandings. Therefore, as can be seen, the understanding of how many words in a college essay would depend on the topic of the essay and the discussion flow of the same.
Considering the above factors that play respective parts in determining the length of an essay, in general a college essay is not very long. The length ideally stays within the range 200 and 800 words. The average for any college essay is 600-650 words. If these limits are provided by the University or the college authorities, then it is important to abide by the same. As a rule of thumb is that +/- 10 per cent of the total word count is however allowed. That is, for a 500 word essay, 450-550 words would be allowed. So, in trying to find out the answer to how many words in a college essay, it is advised that the general length be considered to be somewhere around the 650 words.
Problems arise when the length is not generally mentioned in the essay prompt. This can confuse the students as to the number of words that they need to write to get the best grade for their essays. Even then, the standardised rule follows, that is the ideal number of words should be around 600-650 words even when there is no word count mentioned. This is the number of words that experts from various Universities generally consider for their essays.
Hence, to find out the answer to how many words in a college essay students need not worry much. By just following the University guidelines or by sticking to the standard 650 words an essay can ideally be written.
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