There is no doubt that quite often it is really hard for a student to meet an essay’s required word count and it can frequently be a struggle. This problem appears especially when a student makes an attempt to juggle multiple exams or papers. Many students resort to such tricks like trying to make their font bigger to some extent or increase margin size. Before you ask yourself “How to make my paper longer?”, remember that these tricks are not that smart and easy, even though they do increase the number of pages. As a result, if you are thinking about writing a longer essay that is a high-quality one, proceed with reading the following suggestions with regard to the question “how to make my paper longer, in spite of the fact that the deadline is approaching?” It shouldn’t be an unpleasant process when it comes to making an essay meet minimum page counts, because you can add not only length, but also depth and clarity.
Here you can find a few tips regarding how to write a smarter and longer essay
-
Looking Back at Your Rubric/Prompt/etc.
It’s a well-known fact that you must’ve been provided with a comprehensive rubric or prompt for an essay. Consequently, it’s high time that you read it thoroughly one more time.
Take into consideration the following:
- Have you managed to answer all the questions that are written in the prompt?
- Have you provided all necessary supporting evidence in order to back up claims that you made?
- Make sure that you don’t leave out any relevant information that might be rather useful in increasing the understanding of the readers of your argument.
- Check out once more whether you have met all the requirements for the paper.
- Going Back Through Your Introduction and Conclusion
Undoubtedly, ideas can evolve while you are writing a paper. Was the introduction the first thing you decided to write? If your answer to this question is “yes”, proceed with going back and rereading the first paragraph. It might even be that you have not included some essential information that can assist the audience in getting the point of your argument. Concerning conclusion, have you made sure that the main points are summarized within the essay and your reader is provided with a solution?
-
Having Someone Proofread Your Piece of Writing
Despite the fact that you might be short on time, bear in mind that it is of a great importance that your friend, parent, or sibling reads your paper. After that, ask the person who has proofread your essay whether he/she finds any point confusing. Then, revise the unclear parts and add in more necessary information so that readers are provided with further clarity.
-
Using Quotations
Probably you have already included some of the quotes in your essay. Indubitably, quotations are considered to be one of the greatest ways of enhancing your argument. Apart from that, they can drive up a word count of the paper. However, don’t use them just for the sake of increasing the number of the words. If you realize that you’re short on words, then read through all your source materials again, so that you can see whether you haven’t missed valuable quotes. What is more, you’d better do some additional research in order to see if it is possible to add any other relevant sources and provide your readers with more useful evidence toward your arguments. Of course, too long quotes aren’t always better, yet if they help the audience to understand your point of view deeper, you can definitely resort to lengthening some of the quotations that you have already included.
-
Reviewing Your Outline
Was an outline the first thing you made before you began to start writing your essay? In fact, you should go back and revise the initial outline so that you are able to make sure you’ve mentioned and discussed all the intended points. If you see that there is a significant piece of your argument left out, then take advantage of the possibility of increasing page count and making for a better essay.
-
Including More Transitional Phrases
Graders prefer looking for different traditional words that link sentences to each other. They are like “even though”, “on the other hand”, and “therefore”. The important steps are reading through your paper and making sure that the sentences flow in a smooth way into each other. In case they don’t, add in a few transitional phrases similar to the ones that are listed above. As a result, your writing will become easier to read. In addition, you’ll get closer to the required page number in the process.
-
Reading Your Paper Out Loud
In spite of the fact that this tip might sound quite silly, but reading your paper out loud means that you can find in a more successful way any syntactical or grammatical issues. The next step is about rephrasing sentences to fix those mistakes. It is worth mentioning that by doing this, you might eventually realize that the paper length increases a bit. Truly speaking, reading out loud might also help you in making sure that all sufficient details are included within a particular paragraph.
-
Taking a Break from Your Essay
If you see that you cannot come up with something really worth writing down and stare at your computer for hours, take a break. You might devote your time to something else that can help you to relax, like eating a snack, going for a walk, or talking to your best friend on the phone. Consequently, you’ll be able to return to your piece of writing with a fresh perspective. Hopefully, new ideas might appear.
-
Asking Your Instructor for Help
Most professors and teachers are eager to look over the papers of students if they ask them for this. There is no doubt that your instructor will offer several valuable tips on better answering the prompt. Thus, this may at the same time increase the word count of the essay.
-
Using various examples for backing up your argument
If you’ve decided to use one anecdote or source in order to explain a given point, try to find one more source so that additional evidence is provided for the reader.
