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Essay Word Counter

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What Is Essay Word Counter?

An essay word counter is a simple yet powerful tool that has the ability to quickly count the number of characters and words within an essay. While the primary goal of an essay word counter is to measure characters and words, this tool allows you to determine the number of sentences and paragraphs that your essay consists of.

If you're tasked with reading your essay aloud in front of a classroom, this online word counter can help you prepare by providing you with an estimated speaking time and reading time. If you're asking yourself "How do I count the words in my essay?", plugging your essay into an online word counter will allow you to receive nearly instantaneous results.

Benefits of Using This Tool Compared to Alternatives

Online word counter tools offer the functionality you need to determine what your current essay word count is. There are several additional tools that can provide you with similar functionality, which include Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and PDF documents. Even though all of these alternatives allow users to measure the word count and character count for their essay, they lack many of the extra features that set the online tool apart from the competition.

Wordcounter vs Microsoft Word

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When you click on word count in Microsoft Word, you'll be provided with data on the lines, paragraphs, words, and other aspects of your essay. However, the word count extends to every page of the Word document. To identify the number of words and characters in a specific section, you'll need to highlight the section and select the word count option again.

Wordcounter vs Google Docs

As for Google Docs, this tool doesn't display a status bar that tells you how many words are present in the document. To receive an updated word count, you must select the "Tools" tab that's found in the "Menu" section. From here, you'll be able to select "Word Count". When compared to the online word checker tool, Google Docs doesn't include information about how many sentences are in your essay or the frequency of a specific word.

Wordcounter vs PDF Tool

When it comes to a PDF document, you'll find that these documents are similar to Google Docs in that they don't include a status bar. You're also unable to access any kind of menu that allows you to view the word count of the essay you're writing. There are two distinct options for identifying the word count in your essay. First, you can convert the PDF file into what's known as the Rich Text Format, which makes it easier for you to count the words. You could also upload the file directly into this online word counter, which will give you an accurate word total.

The primary benefit of using the online word counter tool is that there are a number of exclusive features like speaking time and reading time that can't be found in other tools like Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

Essay Length Best Practices

Whether you're writing an essay for a high school class or for graduate school, there are some best practices that can guide you through the process and help you write the best essay. The most important element of writing an essay is getting the length right. If the essay is too long, there's a good chance it isn't as succinct and direct as it should be. The essay length guidelines you should adhere to include:

High school essay

The average essay word count for a high school essay is 300-1,000 words. Most high school essays are five paragraphs long with an introductory paragraph, three total body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph.

College admission essay

This essay should be around 200-650 words long. Along with having a set word limit, these essays should include a look at your motivations and interests.

Undergraduate essay

This essay can be around 1,500-5,000 words long. The content and length depend on the college and program you're entering.

Graduate admission essay

An admission essay should be 500-1,000 words in length. Make sure you include a lengthy personal statement that details your motivations and academic achievements.

Graduate school essay

This extended essay word count is usually around 2,500-6,000 words. The assignment you receive depends on the course you're in. Most graduate-level essays are lengthy and can involve research papers.

IB extended essay

The IB extended essay word count is 4,000 words. This essay is mandatory for every student of the International Baccalaureate program and is based on independent research.

• UCAS Guide Home >
• A-Level English Literature

How to Write an A-Level English Literature Essay

Writing an A-level English Literature essay is like creating a masterpiece. It’s a skill that can make a big difference in your academic adventure. 

In this article, we will explore the world of literary analysis in an easy-to-follow way. We’ll show you how to organise your thoughts, analyse texts, and make strong arguments. 

The Basics of Crafting A-Level English Literature Essays

Understanding the Assignment: Decoding Essay Prompts

Writing begins with understanding. When faced with an essay prompt, dissect it carefully. Identify keywords and phrases to grasp what’s expected. Pay attention to verbs like “analyse,” “discuss,” or “evaluate.” These guide your approach. For instance, if asked to analyse, delve into the how and why of a literary element.

Essay Structure: Building a Solid Foundation

The structure is the backbone of a great essay. Start with a clear introduction that introduces your topic and thesis. The body paragraphs should each focus on a specific aspect, supporting your thesis. Don’t forget topic sentences—they guide readers. Finally, wrap it up with a concise conclusion that reinforces your main points.

Thesis Statements: Crafting Clear and Powerful Arguments

Your thesis is your essay’s compass. Craft a brief statement conveying your main argument. It should be specific, not vague. Use it as a roadmap for your essay, ensuring every paragraph aligns with and supports it. A strong thesis sets the tone for an impactful essay, giving your reader a clear sense of what to expect.

Exploring PEDAL for Better A-Level English Essays

Going beyond PEE to PEDAL ensures a holistic approach, hitting the additional elements crucial for A-Level success. This structure delves into close analysis, explains both the device and the quote, and concludes with a contextual link. 

Below are some examples to illustrate how PEDAL can enhance your essay:

Clearly state your main idea.

Example: “In this paragraph, we explore the central theme of love in Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet.'”

Pull relevant quotes from the text.

Example: “Citing Juliet’s line, ‘My only love sprung from my only hate,’ highlights the conflict between love and family loyalty.”

Identify a literary technique in the evidence.

Example: “Analysing the metaphor of ‘love sprung from hate,’ we unveil Shakespeare’s use of contrast to emphasise the intensity of emotions.”

Break down the meaning of the evidence.

Example: “Zooming in on the words ‘love’ and ‘hate,’ we dissect their individual meanings, emphasising the emotional complexity of the characters.”

Link to Context:

Connect your point to broader contexts.

Example: “Linking this theme to the societal norms of the Elizabethan era adds depth, revealing how Shakespeare challenges prevailing beliefs about love and family.”

Navigating the World of Literary Analysis

Breaking Down Literary Elements: Characters, Plot, and Themes

Literary analysis is about dissecting a text’s components. Characters, plot, and themes are key players. Explore how characters develop, influence the narrative, and represent broader ideas. Map out the plot’s structure—introduction, rising action, climax, and resolution. Themes, the underlying messages, offer insight into the author’s intent. Pinpointing these elements enriches your analysis.

Effective Text Analysis: Uncovering Hidden Meanings

Go beyond the surface. Effective analysis uncovers hidden layers. Consider symbolism, metaphors, and imagery. Ask questions: What does a symbol represent? How does a metaphor enhance meaning? Why was a particular image chosen? Context is crucial. Connect these literary devices to the broader narrative, revealing the author’s nuanced intentions.

Incorporating Critical Perspectives: Adding Depth to Your Essays

Elevate your analysis by considering various perspectives. Literary criticism opens new doors. Explore historical, cultural, or feminist viewpoints. Delve into how different critics interpret the text. This depth showcases a nuanced understanding, demonstrating your engagement with broader conversations in the literary realm. Incorporating these perspectives enriches your analysis, setting your essay apart.

Secrets to Compelling Essays

Structuring your ideas: creating coherent and flowing essays.

Structure is the roadmap readers follow. Start with a captivating introduction that sets the stage. Each paragraph should have a clear focus, connected by smooth transitions. Use topic sentences to guide readers through your ideas. Aim for coherence—each sentence should logically follow the previous one. This ensures your essay flows seamlessly, making it engaging and easy to follow.

Presenting Compelling Arguments: Backing Up Your Points

Compelling arguments rest on solid evidence. Support your ideas with examples from the text. Quote relevant passages to reinforce your points. Be specific—show how the evidence directly relates to your argument. Avoid generalisations. Strong arguments convince the reader of your perspective, making your essay persuasive and impactful.

The Power of Language: Writing with Clarity and Precision

Clarity is key in essay writing. Choose words carefully to convey your ideas precisely. Avoid unnecessary complexity—simple language is often more effective. Proofread to eliminate ambiguity and ensure clarity. Precision in language enhances the reader’s understanding and allows your ideas to shine. Crafting your essay with care elevates the overall quality, leaving a lasting impression.

Mastering A-level English Literature essays unlocks academic success. Armed with a solid structure, nuanced literary analysis, and compelling arguments, your essays will stand out. Transform your writing from good to exceptional. 

For personalised guidance, join Study Mind’s A-Level English Literature tutors . Elevate your understanding and excel in your literary pursuits. Enrich your learning journey today!

How long should my A-level English Literature essay be, and does word count matter?

While word count can vary, aim for quality over quantity. Typically, essays range from 1,200 to 1,500 words. Focus on expressing your ideas coherently rather than meeting a specific word count. Ensure each word contributes meaningfully to your analysis for a concise and impactful essay.

Is it acceptable to include personal opinions in my literature essay?

While it’s essential to express your viewpoint, prioritise textual evidence over personal opinions. Support your arguments with examples from the text to maintain objectivity. Balance your insights with the author’s intent, ensuring a nuanced and well-supported analysis.

Can I use quotes from literary critics in my essay, and how do I integrate them effectively?

Yes, incorporating quotes from critics can add depth. Introduce the critic’s perspective and relate it to your argument. Analyse the quote’s relevance and discuss its impact on your interpretation. This demonstrates a broader engagement with literary conversations.

How do I avoid sounding repetitive in my essay?

Vary your language and sentence structure. Instead of repeating phrases, use synonyms and explore different ways to express the same idea. Ensure each paragraph introduces new insights, contributing to the overall development of your analysis. This keeps your essay engaging and avoids monotony.

Is it necessary to memorise quotes, or can I refer to the text during exams?

While memorising key quotes is beneficial for a closed text exam, you can refer to the text during open text exams. However, it’s crucial to be selective. Memorise quotes that align with common themes and characters, allowing you to recall them quickly and use them effectively in your essay under time constraints.

How can I improve my essay writing under time pressure during exams?

Practise timed writing regularly to enhance your speed and efficiency. Prioritise planning—allocate a few minutes to outline your essay before starting. Focus on concise yet impactful analysis. Develop a systematic approach to time management to ensure each section of your essay receives adequate attention within the given timeframe.

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COMMON QUESTIONS

How many pages is 3000 words.

How many pages is 3000 words? Single spaced, 3000 words yields about 6 pages, while double spacing produces around 12 pages.

How Many Pages is 1500 Words?

How many pages is 1500 words? 1500 words is about 3 pages single spaced or 6 pages double spaced.

How Many Pages is 2500 Words?

What is the page count of 2500 words? 2500 words is about 5 pages single spaced and 10 pages double spaced.

How Many Pages is 600 Words?

How many pages will 600 words take up? The short answer is about one and one-third of page single spaced, and two and two thirds of a page double spaced.

About Word Counter

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• Knowledge Base
• College essay

How Long Should a College Essay Be? | Word Count Tips

Published on September 29, 2021 by Kirsten Courault . Revised on June 1, 2023.

Most college application portals specify a word count range for your essay, and you should stay within 10% of the upper limit. If no word count is specified, we advise keeping your essay between 400 and 600 words.

You should aim to stay under the specified limit to show you can follow directions and write concisely. However, if you write too little, it may seem like you are unwilling or unable to write a thoughtful and developed essay.

Table of contents

Word count guidelines for different application types, how to shorten your essay, how to expand your essay, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about college application essays.

Each university has a different suggested or required word count depending on which application portal it uses.

Some application portals will allow you to exceed the word count limit, but admissions officers have limited time and energy to read longer essays. Other application portals have a strict limit and will not allow you to exceed it.

For example, in the Common App , the portal will not allow you to submit more than 650 words. Some colleges using the Common App will allow you to submit less than 250 words, but this is too short for a well-developed essay.

For scholarship essays , diversity essays , and “Why this college?” essays , word count limits vary. Make sure to verify and respect each prompt’s limit.

Don’t worry too much about word count until the revision stage ; focusing on word count while writing may hinder your creativity. Once you have finished a draft, you can start shortening or expanding your essay if necessary.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

On some application portals, you can exceed the word limit, but there are good reasons to stay within it:

• To maintain the admissions officer’s attention
• To show you can follow directions
• To demonstrate you can write concisely

Here are some strategies for shortening your essay.

Stay on the main point

It’s good to use vivid imagery, but only include relevant details. Cut any sentences with tangents or unnecessary information.

My father taught me how to strategically hold the marshmallow pierced by a twig at a safe distance from the flames to make sure it didn’t get burned, ensuring a golden brown exterior.

Typically, my father is glued to his computer since he’s a software engineer at Microsoft. But that night, he was the marshmallow master. We waited together as the pillowy sugary goodness caramelized into gooey delight. Good example: Sticks to the point On our camping trip to Yosemite, my family spent time together, away from technology and routine responsibility.

My favorite part was roasting s’mores around the campfire. My father taught me how to hold the marshmallow at a safe distance from the flames, ensuring a golden brown exterior.

These college essay examples also demonstrate how you can cut your essay down to size.

Eliminate wordiness

Delete unnecessary words that clutter your essay. If a word doesn’t add value, cut it.

Here are some common examples of wordiness and how to fix them.

Use a paraphrasing tool

If you want to save time, you can make use of a paraphrasing tool . Within the tool you can select the “short” mode to rewrite your essay in less words. Just copy your text in the tool and within 1 click you’ll have shortened your essay.

If you’re significantly under the word count, you’re wasting the opportunity to show depth and authenticity in your essay. Admissions officers may see your short essay as a sign that you’re unable to write a detailed, insightful narrative about yourself.

Here are some strategies for expanding your essay.

Show detailed examples, and don’t tell generic stories

You should include detailed examples that can’t be replicated by another student. Use vivid imagery, the five senses, and specific objects to transport the reader into your story.

Reveal your feelings and insight

If your essay lacks vulnerability or self-reflection, share your feelings and the lessons you’ve learned.

Be creative with how you express your feelings; rather than simply writing “I’m happy,” use memorable images to help the reader clearly visualize your happiness. Similarly, for insight, include the follow-up actions from your lessons learned; instead of claiming “I became a hard worker,” explain what difficult tasks you accomplished as a result of what you learned.

If you want to know more about academic writing , effective communication , or parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Academic writing

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• Passive voice
• Paraphrasing

 Communication

• How to end an email
• Ms, mrs, miss
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• I hope this email finds you well
• Hope you are doing well

 Parts of speech

• Personal pronouns
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Most college application portals specify a word count range for your essay, and you should stay within 10% of the upper limit to write a developed and thoughtful essay.

You should aim to stay under the specified word count limit to show you can follow directions and write concisely. However, don’t write too little, as it may seem like you are unwilling or unable to write a detailed and insightful narrative about yourself.

If no word count is specified, we advise keeping your essay between 400 and 600 words.

If you’re struggling to reach the word count for your college essay, add vivid personal stories or share your feelings and insight to give your essay more depth and authenticity.

If your college essay goes over the word count limit , cut any sentences with tangents or irrelevant details. Delete unnecessary words that clutter your essay.

You can speed up this process by shortening and smoothing your writing with a paraphrasing tool . After that, you can use the summarizer to shorten it even more.

There is no set number of paragraphs in a college admissions essay . College admissions essays can diverge from the traditional five-paragraph essay structure that you learned in English class. Just make sure to stay under the specified word count .

Cite this Scribbr article

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Courault, K. (2023, June 01). How Long Should a College Essay Be? | Word Count Tips. Scribbr. Retrieved July 17, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/college-essay/college-essay-length/

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How Many Words Should Your Essay Have for Grading High?

How many words are in an essay?

This question bothers all students, whether in middle school or college. Two reasons:

They don’t have word count guidelines to know how long their essay should be to grade high. Or, they struggle with the word limit within a paper and wonder if they can go under the suggested length.

The essay length varies, depending on many factors: subject, purpose, and academic level. Essays are usually shorter than dissertations or research papers. The thesis is the longest one.

In this article, I’ll answer two popular questions: How long is an essay? How many paragraphs are in an essay?

Also, let’s learn how long each essay part is and if it’s okay to go beyond or under the suggested length.

How Long is an Essay, Depending on the Type?

The above rules are average. They may vary at different educational institutions. It stands to reason that elementary-level students write short essays. And their papers get longer in their middle 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th grades, etc.

Often, there’s no exact word number or page count for academic papers. Guidelines usually prescribe a supposed range: 500-850 words, 5-7 pages, and so on. When in doubt, you can ask your instructor.

How Many Paragraphs is an Essay? 6 Main Lengths

You won’t find any rule prescribing a set number of paragraphs for an essay. Five-paragraph essays are a standard, but it doesn’t mean ALL papers should follow it.

Each essay consists of three parts:

• Introduction . Often, it’s one paragraph introducing your topic and thesis to readers. When writing complex papers like dissertations, your intro section can be 2-3 paragraphs.
• Body. It’s a core section discussing the topic in detail. The number of paragraphs here depends on your paper’s type and complexity. This part is 1-4 paragraphs unless you write extended research papers.
• Conclusion. Like intros, this section is often one paragraph summarizing the essay.

Below, I’ll cover the six main lengths to show how to balance a word count in essays.

One-paragraph essays

Three-paragraph papers

Five-paragraph essays

Extended papers

Dissertation

Frequently Asked Questions:

Is essay length important.

Yes, it is. Prescribing a length, instructors understand if you can organize thoughts and arguments. An essay of 1,000 words requires more research and effort than a 350-word paper, agree? The specified length also helps you understand how complex your work should be to grade high. Longer essays teach you to write cohesive texts, choose arguments, and think critically.

Don’t write essays for the sake of count. Quality matters, so please focus on arguments, evidence, and analysis. Avoid placing too many transitions, generic words, and lengthy expressions. Make your every word and sentence count.

How many words are in an essay sample?

350 words at least.

It depends on the essay type you write. Thus, a high school essay sample will be 350 words at least. If you need a college application essay, consider personal papers of 250-650 words. Check essay samples of 800-1,000 words if you need a standard college paper. More complex works like graduate school essays or dissertations will be 3,000+ words.

How long is each part of an essay?

Stick to the 80/20 rule when calculating the length of each essay part. An essay body is the core section of academic papers: Make it 80% of the text. The remaining 20% goes to an introduction and a conclusion.

Say you write a 1,000-word essay. It means you will have 800 words in the body; 100 words go to the introduction and 100 words — for a concluding paragraph. You can go 10% below or above the prescribed limit. (Unless your instructor sets specific limitations.)

How many sentences are in an essay?

21-34 sentences for a standard 5-paragraph essay.

It depends on your essay type and the required word count. I’ll take a standard 5-paragraph college paper as an example:

You have one introductory paragraph, which is 3-5 sentences average. Other 3-5 sentences go to your conclusion. The body consists of three sections, 5-8 sentences each (1). So, here we have it: 21-34 sentences in an essay.

How many words are in an essay introduction?

Take 10-15% of the total length required. Thus, if you need to write a 1,000-word essay, your introduction will be 100-150 words.

For advanced research papers, where intros are longer than one paragraph, stick to 100-150 words per paragraph average. Such texts are usually above 3,000 words, so you’ll follow the 80/20 rule anyway.

Can I go under the suggested length?

It’s not advisable. Please do your best to meet the minimum word count given in the assignment. If the guidelines say “350-600 words,” write at least 350 words in an essay. Sometimes, a 10% deviation is acceptable, but don’t take this rule for granted. Most instructors won’t appreciate your 315-word paper if they ask you to write 350 words at least.

How to make your essay longer?

• Add more examples and evidence to the body paragraphs. 
• Explain and analyze every argument in detail. 
• Mention counterarguments if applicable.

Can I make my essay longer?

Yes, you can exceed the word limit by 10% if allowed by your course instructor. For example, if you get an assignment of 500-700 words, it’s okay to submit a 770-word essay for a review.

Important! Always ask your instructor if the 10% rule is available in their course. And exceed the word count only if you have critical information to add.

Academic writing is all about rules and instructions. Essay length isn’t an exception:

Every college paper has a prescribed, approximate word count to follow. When asking, “How long is an essay?” remember the answer will depend on several factors:

• Academic level. (Middle and high school students write short essays. Undergraduates and graduates craft longer and more complex papers.)
• Type and purpose. (Research-based essays are longer than reflective stories you write for college admission officers.)
• Instructions you get from a teacher. (Check them: The supposed essay length is often there.)

How many words are in an essay? You can answer this question now.

References:

• https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/paragraphs_and_paragraphing/paragraphing.html  
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10 Tips to Improve Your Word Count: Mastering Efficiency in Writing

Writing is an art. It’s a balance of expressing your thoughts and ideas while keeping the reader engaged. One of the critical aspects of writing is the word count. It can be a challenging task to write concisely, maintaining quality content. Here are ten tips to help you improve your word count and enhance your writing efficiency.

1. Understand Your Topic

Thorough Research: Before you start writing, invest time in researching your topic. Read articles, books, and reputable sources to gain a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. Take notes on key points, important facts, and supporting evidence that you can later include in your writing.

Organize Your Thoughts: Once you have gathered enough information, organize your thoughts by creating an outline or a mind map. This will help you structure your writing and ensure a logical flow of ideas. Identify the main points you want to cover and the supporting details that will strengthen your arguments or perspectives.

Define Your Purpose: Clarify the purpose of your writing. Are you informing, persuading, or entertaining your readers? Understanding your purpose will guide your writing style, tone, and approach. It will also help you stay focused and avoid unnecessary digressions.

Identify Your Target Audience: Consider who will be reading your work. Tailor your writing to suit their needs, knowledge level, and interests. Use language and examples that resonate with your target audience, ensuring your content is engaging and relatable.

Dive Deep into the Topic: To create value for your readers, go beyond surface-level information. Explore different angles, provide unique insights, and include relevant examples or case studies. This will make your writing more compelling and informative, giving your readers a richer understanding of the topic.

Stay Objective and Balanced: Present a balanced view by considering different perspectives and presenting both sides of an argument. Avoid bias and strive for objectivity in your writing. Support your statements with credible sources and evidence to strengthen your credibility as a writer.

By understanding your topic thoroughly, you can write more efficiently and effectively. Your research and deep understanding will ensure that your content is informative, engaging, and valuable to your readers. Remember to always credit your sources and maintain a consistent tone throughout your writing.

2. Outlining is Key

Create an Outline: Before you start writing, create a clear and comprehensive outline of your article. This serves as a roadmap, guiding you through the writing process and helping you stay organized. Outline the main sections and subtopics you want to cover, ensuring a logical flow of ideas from introduction to conclusion.

Arrange Your Ideas: Once you have your outline, arrange your ideas and supporting evidence in a coherent manner. Group related points together and ensure a smooth transition between sections. This will help you maintain clarity and make it easier for readers to follow your thought process.

Set Word Count Goals: Break down your outline into smaller sections and set word count goals for each. This will prevent you from getting overwhelmed and ensure that you allocate an appropriate amount of content to each part of your article. Setting goals also helps you track your progress and stay motivated.

Use Subheadings: Incorporate subheadings into your outline to further organize your thoughts and make your writing more reader-friendly. Subheadings act as signposts, guiding readers through different sections of your article and helping them quickly locate the information they’re interested in.

Flexibility and Adaptability: While an outline provides structure, don’t be afraid to modify it as you go along. Writing is an iterative process, and new ideas or perspectives may arise as you delve deeper into the topic. Stay open to making adjustments to your outline to accommodate new insights or better organization.

By outlining your article, you create a roadmap that streamlines the writing process. It helps you stay focused, maintain coherence, and avoid unnecessary tangents. Following your outline allows you to systematically build up your word count, ensuring a well-structured and informative piece of writing.

Remember, outlines are flexible tools that can be modified as needed. Adaptability is key to accommodating new ideas or refining your structure. With a solid outline, you’ll find it easier to write efficiently and effectively, reaching your desired word count while delivering a well-organized and engaging article.

3. The Power of Drafting

Write a Draft: When starting your article, focus on getting your ideas down on paper without worrying about the word count. Let your thoughts flow freely and write without self-censorship. This initial draft allows you to capture all your ideas and information, even if it exceeds the desired word count.

Expand on Ideas: During the drafting phase, expand on your ideas and provide detailed explanations and examples. Don’t be concerned about being concise at this stage. Instead, aim to fully develop your thoughts and arguments. This will ensure that you have enough material to work with when it comes time to trim down the word count.

Avoid Perfectionism: Resist the urge to edit and perfect your writing as you go. Instead, focus on the momentum of writing and let your thoughts flow naturally. Perfectionism can hinder your progress and slow down your writing speed. Give yourself permission to make mistakes and refine your work later.

Trim During Editing: Once you have completed your draft, set it aside for a while to gain a fresh perspective. When you return to edit, carefully review your content with the goal of reducing the word count. Remove unnecessary repetition, tighten sentences, and eliminate any tangents or digressions that may have crept into your draft. This editing phase will help you refine your article and bring it within the desired word limit.

By allowing yourself the freedom to write without constraints during the drafting phase, you can fully explore your ideas and produce a comprehensive first draft. This approach often results in a higher word count than needed, but it provides you with ample material to work with during the editing process.

Remember, editing is where you can trim down your writing and improve its clarity and conciseness. Embrace the power of drafting and editing as separate phases, giving yourself the flexibility to fully express your ideas before refining them for the final version of your article.

4. Break Down Complex Ideas

• Break Down Complex Ideas: If you find yourself struggling to increase your word count, one effective strategy is to break down complex ideas into simpler ones. Rather than trying to fill space with unnecessary fluff, focus on providing more detailed explanations, examples, and supporting evidence for each subtopic or concept.

Expand on Explanations: Take the time to thoroughly explain each concept or idea. Break it down into smaller components and provide clear and concise explanations for each part. Use analogies, metaphors, or real-life examples to help your readers grasp the concept more easily.

Provide Supporting Examples: Illustrate your points with relevant examples or case studies. These real-life instances can help clarify your ideas and make your content more relatable and engaging. The more examples you provide, the more comprehensive your writing becomes.

Add Depth to Analysis: When discussing a topic, go beyond surface-level analysis. Dive deeper into the underlying causes, implications, or connections related to the subject. This will not only increase your word count but also demonstrate a deeper understanding of the topic.

Consider Counterarguments: Explore counterarguments or alternative perspectives related to your topic. By presenting different viewpoints and discussing their merits, you can enrich your content and provide a more comprehensive analysis. This approach shows that you have considered multiple perspectives and strengthens your overall argument.

By breaking down complex ideas into simpler ones and expanding on each component, you can naturally increase your word count while enhancing the clarity and depth of your writing. Remember, the goal is not simply to fill space, but to provide valuable and comprehensive content for your readers.

However, be mindful of maintaining a balance between providing enough information and overwhelming your readers with excessive details. Always prioritize clarity and readability, ensuring that your content remains accessible to your target audience.

5. Leverage Examples and Case Studies

• Leverage Examples and Case Studies: Incorporating examples and case studies into your writing not only adds depth and credibility but also contributes to increasing the word count. Here’s how you can effectively leverage examples and case studies:

Relevance: Select examples and case studies that are directly relevant to the topic you’re discussing. Choose ones that support your main points or illustrate key concepts. This ensures that your examples enhance the quality and coherence of your content.

Provide Context: Introduce each example or case study by providing sufficient context. Explain the background, circumstances, or relevant details that make the example or case study meaningful. This helps your readers understand the relevance and importance of the chosen examples.

Describe in Detail: When presenting an example or case study, provide a detailed description. Include specific facts, details, and observations that support your argument or shed light on the topic. The more comprehensive your description, the more it contributes to the word count.

Analyze and Connect: After presenting an example or case study, analyze its significance and how it relates to your overall argument. Discuss the insights or lessons that can be derived from the example and connect it back to the main ideas of your content. This demonstrates critical thinking and adds value to your writing.

Variety and Diversity: Aim for a variety of examples and case studies to cater to different readers’ interests and perspectives. Use diverse sources, industries, or contexts to ensure your examples resonate with a wider audience. This adds richness and depth to your content.

By effectively utilizing examples and case studies, you not only enhance the quality and credibility of your writing but also naturally increase the word count. Remember to choose examples that are relevant, provide detailed descriptions, and analyze their significance to maintain the overall quality of your content. Balance the use of examples to avoid overwhelming your readers while still providing valuable insights and illustrating your points effectively.

6. Use Descriptive Language

• Use Descriptive Language: Utilizing descriptive language in your writing can significantly enhance the quality and quantity of your content. Here are some tips to incorporate descriptive language effectively:

Vivid Descriptions: Instead of using generic terms, employ specific and vivid descriptions to make your writing more engaging and visually appealing. Use adjectives and adverbs to provide detailed information about people, places, objects, or events. This creates a more immersive reading experience for your audience.

Sensory Details: Engage your readers’ senses by incorporating sensory details into your writing. Describe the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures associated with the subject you’re discussing. This not only adds depth and richness to your content but also helps your readers connect with the topic on a more personal level.

Metaphors and Similes: Use metaphors and similes to make your writing more expressive and vivid. By drawing comparisons between two unrelated things, you can evoke powerful imagery and create a deeper understanding of your subject. This technique can also help you expand on ideas and add to the word count.

Figurative Language: Employ various forms of figurative language, such as personification, hyperbole, or onomatopoeia, to make your writing more lively and memorable. These literary devices can bring your words to life, sparking the reader’s imagination and making your content more impactful.

Paint a Clear Picture: Focus on painting a clear picture in the reader’s mind. Provide enough detail to allow your audience to visualize the scene or concept you’re describing. Strike a balance between being descriptive and avoiding unnecessary repetition or verbosity.

By incorporating descriptive language into your writing, you not only enhance the quality of your content but also naturally increase the word count. This approach adds depth, engages your readers, and makes your writing more memorable. However, be mindful of maintaining a balance between descriptive language and concise communication. Ensure that your descriptions contribute to the overall understanding and impact of your content without becoming overly verbose.

7. Integrate Quotations and References

• Integrate Quotations and References: Incorporating quotes from experts or referencing reliable sources not only adds credibility to your writing but also contributes to increasing the word count. Here’s how to effectively integrate quotations and references into your content:

Select Relevant Quotes: Choose quotes that directly support or provide insight into the points you’re making. Look for quotes from reputable experts, scholars, or recognized sources that add value and authority to your content. Ensure that the quotes are relevant and enhance the overall understanding of your topic.

Attribute Correctly: Properly attribute the quotes to their respective authors or sources. Follow the appropriate citation style guidelines (such as APA, MLA, or Chicago) to ensure accurate and consistent attribution. This not only avoids plagiarism but also demonstrates your commitment to academic integrity.

Provide Context: Introduce each quote with a brief explanation or context to help readers understand its significance. Explain why you find the quote relevant or how it connects to the ideas you’re presenting. This provides a seamless transition between your own thoughts and the quoted material.

Analyze and Expand: After presenting a quote, analyze and expand upon its meaning or implications. Discuss how the quote supports or challenges your own argument, and provide your insights or interpretations. This adds depth to your writing and ensures that the quote serves a purpose beyond mere word count.

Include References: Along with integrating quotes, include references to reliable sources that support your claims or provide additional information. Cite academic journals, books, reputable websites, or other credible sources to demonstrate the breadth of research you’ve conducted. This adds credibility to your writing and expands the scope of your content.

By integrating quotes and references effectively, you enhance the credibility and depth of your writing while naturally increasing the word count. Remember to select relevant quotes, attribute them correctly, provide context, and analyze their significance. Additionally, ensure that your references are from reputable sources to maintain the quality and reliability of your content.

8. Expand on Relevant Points

• Expand on Relevant Points: If you’re struggling to meet your word count, revisiting your main points and expanding on them can be an effective strategy. Here’s how you can do it:

Elaborate and Provide Examples: Take each of your main points and delve deeper into them. Provide more detailed explanations, examples, or evidence to support your arguments. This not only adds substance to your writing but also helps you reach your desired word count.

Provide Counterarguments: Consider including counterarguments to your main points and addressing them in your writing. This demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the topic and engages readers in critical thinking. Addressing opposing viewpoints allows you to explore different perspectives and add depth to your content.

Include Supporting Research: Look for additional research or studies related to your main points. Incorporate relevant findings, statistics, or expert opinions to reinforce your arguments. This not only strengthens the credibility of your content but also increases the word count.

Explore Related Subtopics: Identify any related subtopics that you can expand upon. These could be aspects that were briefly mentioned but not thoroughly explored. Research and provide more information about these subtopics, linking them back to your main points to create a well-rounded and comprehensive article.

Offer Practical Applications or Tips: If appropriate for your topic, include practical applications or actionable tips that readers can implement based on your main points. This adds value to your content and provides readers with actionable takeaways.

By revisiting your main points and expanding on them, you can naturally increase your word count while providing more in-depth information and analysis. This approach adds substance and quality to your writing, ensuring that you meet your word count goals without sacrificing the coherence or relevance of your content.

9. Use Transitions Effectively

• Use Transitions Effectively: Transitions words and phrases not only improve the flow and coherence of your writing but also contribute to increasing your word count. Here are some ways to use transitions effectively:

Within Paragraphs: Use transitional words or phrases to connect ideas within paragraphs. Examples include “furthermore,” “in addition,” “moreover,” or “similarly.” These transitions signal the continuation or progression of your thoughts, making your writing more cohesive.

Between Paragraphs: Employ transitional phrases to smoothly transition between paragraphs. Words such as “however,” “on the other hand,” “in contrast,” or “in summary” help guide readers through your argument and provide a logical connection between different sections of your content.

Cause and Effect: Use transitional words and phrases to indicate cause-and-effect relationships. Words like “as a result,” “consequently,” “therefore,” or “due to” establish connections between actions or events. This adds depth to your analysis and expands the scope of your writing.

Comparison and Contrast: Employ transitions to compare or contrast ideas. Words such as “similarly,” “likewise,” “on the contrary,” or “in comparison” highlight similarities or differences between concepts, examples, or arguments. This demonstrates a nuanced understanding of your topic and expands your content.

Enumeration and Listing: Use transitional phrases to enumerate or list examples, points, or steps. Words like “firstly,” “secondly,” “finally,” “for example,” or “in particular” help structure your content and provide a clear organization of your ideas. This adds structure and contributes to the word count.

By using transitions effectively, you improve the coherence and readability of your writing while naturally increasing the word count. Transitions guide readers through your content, ensuring a smooth flow of ideas and a more comprehensive understanding of your topic. Remember to use transitions judiciously, ensuring that they enhance the clarity and organization of your writing without being overly repetitive or redundant.

10. Editing and Revising

The editing and revising process is a crucial step in the writing journey. It enables you to fine-tune your content, eliminate any redundant or unnecessary words, and ensure clarity and conciseness. By carefully reviewing your writing, you can strike a balance between meeting the word count requirement and maintaining the quality and engagement of your content.

Remember, writing with a word count in mind shouldn’t restrict your creativity. These tips are designed to assist you in producing high-quality and engaging content while effectively managing your word count. Embrace your creativity and use these strategies as tools to enhance your writing rather than limitations.

By combining thoughtful planning, efficient outlining, strategic expansion, and meticulous editing, you can produce exceptional content that meets your word count goals while captivating your readers. Happy writing and editing!

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Online Word Counter Tool

Automatically count how many words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs with our free online word counter. Enter your text below to get started counting words with our online tool!

Our word counter will dynamically count the number of words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and pages in the text that you submit. It will also show you various other metrics including readability, reading time, and keyword counts included in the text. Install the free Grammarly plugin to get grammar and spellchecking as well.

How to Use Our Word Counter

Using our word counter is really easy. Follow these instructions to get started.

• Enter the text that you want to count into the textbox above.
• Our tool will automatically count the number of words and characters in your text.
• That’s it! Use the word or character count wherever you need.

Note:  Text is auto-saved for the next time you return. To clear the text, just click the “Clear Text” link at the bottom.

What Word Count Statistics Do You Show?

We should a variety of statistics. You can see a summary of words, characters, paragraphs, and pages above the main text input box. The remainder of the statistics are on the right sidebar. These include:

• Words: How many total words are in your text.
• Sentences: See the number of sentences in your content.
• Paragraphs: How many paragraphs your content has.
• Characters: We should you the count of total characters with and without spaces. We also have a dedicated character counter tool .
• Pages: We show how many pages your content will take.
• Reading Level: What grade level your content can be read by.
• Reading Time: How long will your content take to read.
• Speaking Time: How long your text will take to speak.
• Keyword Density: How many keywords do you have in your content and how many times do those keywords occur.

Table of Contents

Why Word Count Is Important?

Sometimes you as a writer may be required to write within in a certain word or character limit. College essays are a classic example of where this is the case where students have to write 250-, 500-, or 1000-word essays.

Some people may write more than the expected length of the material, while others fall short of the words. Whether writers have trouble writing too few works or too many, a word counter can help.  So why do you need to worry about word count?

Keeping a strict word count not only benefits writers but the publishers and agents as well. Readers also benefit from word count limits since they can often read more efficiently and aren’t just trying to wade through a list of details. Regardless of what kind of writer you are, you should keep word count in mind as you’re writing.

What Is Word Count?

To understand how to count words, we need to know what a word actually is. A word is made of characters that are separated by punctuation marks or spaces. Emojis count as words in text processors and usually count as two characters since they take up two to four bytes of data . Adding up all the words in a document represents the “word count” and just as adding up all the characters represents the “character count”. Use our dedicated character counter to see character counts.

A word count tool such as ours or Microsoft Word can check how many words a piece of content has.

Teachers or professors sometimes set word count limits for essays or other homework. Sometimes a teacher may assign a page or paragraph limit instead and that limit is easy to translate to word count. A paragraph typically contains around 100 to 200 words while a page typically contains 250 to 500 words depending on whether it’s single or double spaced.

There are a lot of word counter tools online and included within word processors, such as Microsoft Word, but we hope you enjoy ours.

Social Media Word Counts

Various social media channels have word and character limits for the content you post to their sites. Below are the word count limits for various social media platforms.

Twitter Character Count

Twitter allows up to 280 characters in regular Tweets and 10,000 characters in DMs (Direct Messages). The ideal length of a Tweet is 71-100 Characters.

Facebook Post Character Limits

Facebook has very generous character limits of up to 63,206  characters per post.  However, the ideal length of a Facebook post is 40-80 characters.

Instagram Character Limits

The limit for an Instagram caption is 2,200 characters , but the ideal length is 138-150 characters. The maximum length of an Instagram bio is 150 characters.

Why Is Word Count Important?

Word count plays several roles for writers from helping them to engage with readers to helping them rank in search engines for content marketing.

Why Readers Care About Word Count?

Word count is an important factor for readers. You need to balance length and detail with the reader’s attention span. Readers may skim a 150 words article , but may not have consumed enough information to understand the content. However, your readers might be bored after reading through a 4,000-word white paper about a topic.

Readers can pay attention for about eight seconds at a time. In this time, some readers may skim while others may read for comprehension. One contributing factor is the reading level of your audience. Detail passages with complex words will be harder for younger, or less educated, readers to comprehend. The Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test cn be used to understand how complex your writing is. Our word counter automatically scores the readability of your writing.

Typical word counts for various documents:

• 0 to 500 words: Ad copy, essays, product descriptions
• 500 to 1,000 words: Blog articles, essays, news articles
• 1,000 to 2,000 words: Short-form news articles, medium-length blog posts, and short pieces of journalism
• 2,000 to 3,000 words: College essays, operating manuals, and longer-form blog posts
• 3,500 to 15,000 words: College dissertations, theses, and in-depth blog posts and journal articles
• 15,000 to 50,000 words: Novels, novellas , and other published books.
• 50,000 to 100,000 words: Novels

Word Count for SEO: How Word Count Helps SEO Rankings

As mentioned earlier, word count is essential for readers, but it’s also important for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Google and other search engines favor more in-depth articles where writers go into details about whatever topic they’re writing about. Google views these articles as “authoritative.” Word count matters for SEO just as much as for readers.

What Word Count Is Sufficient for SEO?

For FAQ articles , a word count of at least 500 words . For reviews and editorial content , we recommend at least 1,500 words .

Search engines are pretty good at identifying “fluff” in articles, so don’t just add a bunch of irrelevant text to an article just to boost its word count for SEO. Instead, focus on writing well-written, in-depth content about your blog topic so that readers stick around. This will not only keep readers on your website but might make them come back again if they can trust the content that you’ve written.

Standard SEO Word and Character Counts

Title tag length.

Title tags can be any length, but Google will only show 600px in their search results which is equivalent to about 60 characters. Use our title tag checker to check your length.

Meta description length

Meta descriptions can be any length, but Google meta descriptions tend to be truncated at ~155–160 characters. Keep your meta descriptions to about 50–160 characters to keep it topical and relevant.

Is the Word Counter Really Free?

Yes. We are free for users because we are ad-supported.

What Is a Live Word Counter Online?

Our live word counter calculates the number of words, characters, sentences, and more automatically while you type. No buttons or any other user interaction is needed.

Will You See the Number of Characters With and Without the Spaces?

Yes, you will see counts of characters with and without spaces. Just check out the statistics on the right side.

Does the Online Word Counter Check for Plagiarism and Grammar?

Our online word counter works with any browser grammar and plagiarism plugin, such as Grammarly or ProWritingAid , so that you can check for grammar mistakes and plagiarism in real time.

Who Can Use Our Word Counter Tool for Word Counting?

Anyone needing to count words or characters can use our tool. This includes bloggers, social media influencers, content writers, journalists, students, and more.

What Can You Count?

You can count any type of content that has words including: docs, web pages, essays, emails, text documents, and social media posts.

Common Word and Character Counts

• Average Word Length: The average English word is 5 letters long.
• Average Sentence Length: Sentences on average have 15-20 words which means sentences typically have 75-100 letters (without spaces) and 90-120 characters.
• Average Paragraph Length: Paragraphs are typically 5-8 sentences long which means they have on average of 600 characters and 100 words.

Whatever your purpose is when writing – to entertain, to persuade, or to inform – consider the word count of your article. Also, you will have a better chance at ranking in various search engines. So go ahead, count your words with our free word counter above.

Word Count Statistics

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3 Easy-to-Use Tools to Count Your Words

by Joe Bunting | 38 comments

So you need to get a word count for the latest chapter of your novel or an essay assignment for school ? Don't worry, here are three easy-to-use tools to count your words.

Need to get a word count on your latest writing project? Here are three tools that can help.

Why Count Words?

If you're an experienced writer, this might already be obvious to you. However, if you're new to writing, you need to know that keeping track of your word count is a central habit of a writer.

You count words for two main reasons.

1. Because Publishers Count Words

In school, writing assignments are usually measured by page length (e.g. please turn in a three-page essay on Jane Austen's use of satire in Emma by Friday ).

However, measuring by page-length is inaccurate and, in many cases, unhelpful. Font, spacing, and formatting changes can alter the number of pages, and if you're writing a newspaper, magazine, or book, the pages will be in a variety of different sizes anyway. Measuring by word count, on the other hand, is consistent.

Furthermore, publishers often pay on a per-word basis, and so it makes sense for professional writers to keep track of how many words they write.

But what if you're not a professional writer? Why should you count words then?

2. Counting Words Can Motivate You

Many famous writers have kept daily word count goals. Ernest Hemingway is reported to have written 500 words per day. Stephen King writes 2,000 words per day, even on holidays. Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope wrote 3,000 words per day.

Setting a daily word count goal can inspire you.

One of the best known word count goals is  NaNoWriMo (or National Novel Writing Month). Every November, thousands of writers challenge themselves to write 50,000 words in a month (that's 1,667 words per day, by the way).

Another resource for writers is my friend Jeff Goins' 500 Words a Day Challenge , which is a 31-day writing challenge that over a thousand writers have participated in.

3 Tools to Count Words

How do you keep an accurate word count?

1. Count Words With Microsoft Word

The most-widely used word processor makes it easy to count your words.

On Windows , there are two ways to see the word count. On the Review tab, just next to Spelling and Grammar Check, and on the home ribbon beside the page number.

On Mac , you can find the word count under Tools -> Word Count.

2. Take Word Counts to the Next Level With Scrivener

While Microsoft Word is a decent word processor for writing essays and articles, if you're writing a novel or book, you need a more powerful tool.

Scrivener  is a perfect tool for finding your word count because it not only keeps your word count visible, it allows you to track your daily word count and the word count for your entire project. You can learn more about Scrivener on our review here .

In Scrivener, you can set the project targets to your daily word count and track your progress. Also, notice the word count visible at the bottom of the application.

3. A Fast, Online Word Counter

If you don't have access to either of these tools, you can find, free online word counters. One of the best, in my opinion, is  WordCounter.net .

Word Counter is a free, online word count tool.

Challenge Yourself to Write 1,000 Words Today

These tools can change your life.

How would your life be different if you challenged yourself to write 1,000 words a day? ( Share that challenge on Twitter )

Even if you took the weekends off, in just a month, you would have 22,000 words. In six months, you would have written 132,000 words, easily enough for a long novel. After the first year, you could have written  two  books.

It starts by taking just a few seconds to track your words.

Do you have a daily word count goal? What is it?

Write 1,000 words today. Keep track using one of the tools above.

When you're finished, share your best 250 words in the comments section below . And if you share, please be sure to give feedback on a few practices by other writers.

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

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I participated In NaNoWriMo myself. My novel concluded before I reached the word count but it was still a great experience. I’ll have to post my practice later when I have time. (WOOT FIRST COMMENT)

Nice, Miriam. That’s a huge accomplishment. Also, way to get in first! 🙂

The following is EXACTLY 250 words:

I never lied before I worked here. It started with little comments, like telling a caller the boss, Robert, wasn’t in, when he was on a personal call. Next I found myself assuring a caller that our Director of Marketing had sent out the requested materials the previous Friday, when in fact Hannah had returned from lunch drunk, passed out in the lobby, and we called her husband and told him to take her home.

People tell you, “The watched pot never boils”, meaning some things happen so imperceptibly, that if you dedicate yourself to watching for the smallest advance, you’ll never see it. The lesson, I suppose, is that it won’t do any good to watch a process too closely, as there is nothing to see.

I wonder if maybe people are getting this lesson backwards. If something can happen slowly and nearly undetectably to the naked eye, then shouldn’t we watch it very, very vigilantly, to catch it before it boils over? That’s how the lying exploded. Over time Robert and Hannah escalated their expectations of us, that we say any damn thing they wanted us to say, to get them out of their chronic bungling.

That is how, today, I found myself insisting to that nice man, Tom Contreras, that Robert could not meet with him. I gave him my best “trust me, would I lie to you” smile, and convinced him he had made a grievous error, and his appointment had been for the prior day.

This is so true. After a while and after being asked to do it over and over, we are able to block even the slightest twinge of guilt. I like your line: …trust me, would I lie to you. Nice piece.

Thank you 😉

Wow this is so good, Avril. I loved the way you combine story with psychological observation so deftly. And I really like the way you bring us into the lives of these characters so completely in just a few paragraphs. Great job!

Thank you for the compliment and encouragement Joe.

Wow this is really good Avril. I love the way it sounds when I read it. Great job!

Thank you Miriam. The feedback from you and Joe today is especially helpful as I hone in on my “voice.”

It is only 811 words. Hope that’s enough. Thanks for yet another great prompt.

2012 Pacific Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz, California, is a tri-era promenade: pre-earthquake, early post-quake, and now. Something to note as you look up and down the stretches of the Pacific Garden Mall. Parts of each era remain and shoulder up, intermingled and interwoven, in a strange dichotomy of style and sensibilities, palpable to six senses – senses that must include “feel.” Before the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, old family businesses struggled against a fluctuating economy and decay – Leask’s, Ford’s, the stately Cooper House, the Hihn Building – only to disappear into quake rubble and oblivion. From the earthquake ruins, the silent overgrown lots have slowly and painfully risen, Phoenix-like, to house modern replicas and buildings, saved from demolition, clothed in new paint, giving concrete testament to the power of Mother Nature’s onslaught.

It looks somewhat new, somewhat tidy, with new business owners, full of dreams, bringing new energy, unaware of the strange angles. It’s all here, the very Gen X storefronts of The Gap, Border’s, Starbuck’s, Cinema 9 and the upper-storied upper-classed condos to old fringe establishments – Logo’s, The Avenue Bar, Book Shop Santa Cruz – and the eminent Santa Cruz elder statesmen – Del Williams, The Del Mar Theater, The Palomar Hotel, Annieglass. The sun has slipped below the rooflines of the Cooper House across the street, giving the street a bluish cast, and the wind swirls, scuttling the dry leaves of late summer and wafting in the briny smell of the sea.

From my vantage perched high on a coffee shop stool, I pull on my sweater and watch and reflect. While much has changed in the last twenty-four years, much remains the same in this funny, strangely odd little place on Planet Earth. The city fathers have looked to upscale the look of this funky street, yet the fringe folks looking for attention or a handout – homeless street people, mentally ill who have slipped through the cracks, angry young people, savvy panhandlers – remain entrenched, some living in alleyways, doorways, and the lush underbrush of this tourist mecca by night and by day claiming a butt-sized patch of sidewalk. With hats and instrument cases open wide, ragged street musicians, some phenomenally talented troupes of drummers from some other cultures and guitar players belting protest songs, stake out street corners and make this city inhale and exhale. I remember the tiny ancient fiddler who played off-key, who died last year, and I wonder about the strange man in the pink tutu and tights, with matching umbrella, who, in scuffed ballet shoes, shuffled up and down the sidewalk in slow motion, his gaze unwavering, daring you to look away first.

Fast forward to today. September 2014. Border’s is no longer. Forever 21, in eight-foot letters, is now emblazoned on the storefront. Del Williams Jewelry is but a memory. They were always able to locate the elusive replacement for broken treasures. Other business, too, are no longer a presence on the Garden Mall promenade. The economy has taken its toll here and everywhere. Starbuck’s and Peet’s, along with some local coffee beaneries, have customers bulging from their sticky doors, while the protesters of conditions and wages sport signs outside. The pan-handlers still hassle the diners who shovel in ethnic foods served in sidewalk cafes. The street musicians remain, despite the white-washed façade put on the buildings rimming the street, and they produce some of the best music you’ll hear. Life vibrates through the tree-named streets that surround the Garden Mall – Cedar, Walnut, Laurel – despite the few empty lots of weeds as tall as a man dotted here and there. Life vibrates and hums. The young people gather and spill into surf shops that tout the best wetsuits, the most chic attire. Cinema 9 has eleven screens, and on opening nights lines run around the corner and past the ATM machines for Bay Federal Credit Union. Yes, life’s heart still beats here.

A few feet from my perch sits a young woman, maybe 19 or so, a street person, asking passersby for spare change. Her voice is harsh, and she barks a “fuck you” to a man who spat some words at her. Hunched against the late afternoon chill and the taunt tossed from his retreating lips, she leans against the building and sucks in a sigh, herself complicit in his response. She knows it.

When she arrived here, she was undoubtedly full of dreams, as all those absent business owners must have been, too. Once optimism must have burned in her eager heart, as she made plans for a future here. Perhaps it still does, but it has burrowed itself deep inside, for time on the streets changes people, even the young ones. She’s alone, and, as night begins to fall in a strange town, I wonder if she feels the bony edges of fear.

I stuff my notebook in my bag, curl my hands around the steaming paper, and wander into the crowd.

Gosh Diane, this piece so effectively evokes that funky seaside town (I know, I’ve been there). This is nicely nuanced, you’ve drawn the personality of the neighborhood, how it looks and how it feels at street level. I’m familiar with the denizens already. I mean this ad a compliment, that it reminds me of one of my faves, Cannery Row by Steinbeck. Oh and the guy in the tutu, he’s from Fairfax.

Thank you, Avril, for reading my too many words and your kind words. Sorry. I didn’t read the instructions thoroughly. I am so happy that you know this little burg and recognize some of the landmarks. Fairfax? Really? We would always look for him when we fofund ourselves at the Garden Mall. Too funny. Again, thank you for reading.

Thank you, Avril, for taking the time to read my way-too-many-word piece and for your kind words. Next time I will read the instructions more carefully. I’m happy you recognized some of the landmarks of this little burg. It’s an interesting place, a place that engages all the senses. Fairfax? Really? My husband and I used to look for him every time we found ourselves on the Garden Mall. Again, thank you.

This place is not so much about the rules Diane, but about the encouragement to write. Writing more is always a good thing if you are on a roll! We’re glad you shared.

Very well done! Your description of the town, the people, the changes, everything create a living, moving video in my mind. I feel as if i’ve just been there myself. Adelaide

Thank you, Adelaide. I’m happy you were able to visit here for a little while. It’s a special place.

You’re a very good writer, Diane. The description here is perfect. I bet you had a lot of fun writing this!

I did have fun writing it, Joe, but it brought back a lot of unfun memories. Thank you for your encouraging words and for this wonderful site.

Wow amazing Diane. I could feel and see everything you described. Based off of this I feel that you’re going to be a great writer. Keep up the great work!

Thank you so much for your kind words, Miriam, and for taking the time to read the piece.

You made me feel as if I’d like to go there and experience it for myself. Vivid descriptions and emotions draw you in.

PI glazed my fingers over the peeling yellow with time flower wallpaper. My footsteps echoed though the enpty halls as the dust lifted from the ground. Silence filled the air one I would find at an funeral,quiet from neglect as if it was hiding a burning hatred for what I had did.

Rain slid down the clouded window pane and the pit pat in the roof sent a eiree chill down your spine. Memories followed my though the house as I breathed in the rich earthy smell of mothballs. Those memories wandered next to me hoping for me to look at them just to catch a fleeting look, toopen up the vault which I had buried them in.

This once was my childhood home where I spent long days and cold nights curled up asleep on my bed with dreams leading me into a false sense of security.

I took one last look around and shut the chipping word door. I sprinkled the last of the gasonle and struck a match, soon the house set fire, the flames licking the night sky as the stars twinkled in the inky blackness as the fire crackled from the heat.

I sat back a blank expression on my face.

“That’s finally done.” I said. I started walking with the embers glowing brightly behind me casting shadows.

Now I know that is part of a good story. Nice twist to start off visiting the childhood home, then burn it down.

This needs some cleaning up for spelling and grammar (for a practice this is fine though), but I loved the way you evoked sensual details as the character paces through the house. There’s a lot going on here, and like Avril said, this seems like a small piece of a promising story. Well done!

Nice job Chloee. I’m intrigued as to where this will go next. Keep up the good work!

It holds my interest as to why she sets fire to her childhood home? What bad memories are hidden there? Like Joe pointed out. it needs careful editing for mistakes. Adelaide

Alright. So a few practices ago I posted about Angela.(the post “You Need to Ask this Question Every Time You Sit Down To Write” specifically) This is a continuation of that post. Here is my 250 words.

Groggy, disoriented, confused, I slowly awoke to my surroundings. The first thing that I became aware of was the pounding pain pushing through my skull. Questions like: Where am I? What happened? Why can’t I move? Rose in my mind.

I opened my eyes to closer examine my surroundings. The ceiling was bare cement and seemed to animate cold to the very marrow of my bones. I tried to move my head to look at the walls but found it fixed in place. Panic slowly began to rise within me like a poison. Slowly I began to remember what happened until it came back in a rush. My apartment, escape, Andrew, the emerald. Where is the emerald! Came my panicked thought.

Frantically I looked around the room with my eyes but came upon nothing. Calm down Angela think this through. No need to lose control. I thought about that night. Where had the emerald been then? In my desk… until I put it on. My eyes drifted to my chest in hopes of seeing it there. It was gone.

My alarm began to rise again as did my scolding thoughts. Angela you idiot! You should’ve left the emerald in its holding spot but no you had to be noble and put it on. Just then the door opened.

“Ah you’re awake.” Came Andrew’s voice. He walked to a chair somewhere behind me and, by the sound of it, took out a pen and paper. “Now to business. Where is the emerald?”

I didn’t know what I was going to write about when I began, but I was in our local diner so I began about a waitress. I don’t know if I did a 1,000 words because I write on a yellow pad and haven’t transcribed it all yet. This is as much as I’ve typed so far, about 350 words.

Edna knew her customers. She had been waitressing at the Loganville diner for 20 years, and she had served many of the customers for the same 20 years. They had grown old together. Some had died during those years; some had been born.

When Bob died Edna had taken stock of her situation: two children married, one grandchild and another expected, living miles away, an old house paid for, a small pension from Bob’s union, a moderate savings account, the interest of which she and Bob never touched.

“Let it grow,” Bob had said. When I’m gone you will need the interest to supplement my pension.”

Edna could have used the interest now, but Bob’s voice came back to her in those few weeks right after he died. “Let it grow.” So, she did and got a job at the diner.

“I never waitressed before,” she had told Fonda, the owner, “but I’m strong and a hard worker.

“Well…”

Edna almost heard the wheels spinning in his head as Fonda Metatakis thought it over. “Can you operate a cash register? They’re all computerized now.”

“I can use a computer, and I’m a quick learner.”

“Well… O.K. Part time to start, one to five in the afternoons at first, then maybe later full time.”

Edna suspected he gave her the job because Bob had died. Everyone in town knew it. Bob was always talking to people whether he knew them or not. and, if he didn’t, he soon did. Fonda probably thought she needed the money. She did, but it wasn’t until after she had asked for the job did she really know why. She would use this money for living expenses, as little as possible, and add the rest to her savings as a legacy for her grandchildren.

It was something she used to fantasize about when she was a child–a legacy left by some unknown relative or stranger because she had done a good deed. For a time she had gone out of her way to help strangers even if they really didn’t need it.

“Thank you Dear, but I can carry this package. It was kind of you to offer.”

It hadn’t been easy, but now and then her help had been accepted. she made sure to tell them her name and to get theirs. For years she had checked the obituaries regularly. Adelaide

I’m starting to think of all the other little stories she has been a part of over the years and what happens next. I enjoyed reading it Adelaide

Thank you, Ann. Adelaide

I like Edna. I wish I knew what was going to happen with her legacy she’d built up. A very interesting teaser, Adelaide.

As I read this I could picture the diner the regulars went to in my home town… Everyone knew everyone and came to tell stories and have coffee and breakfast. It would be interesting to see what some of the stories Edna had heard over the many years she had worked there.

When I get in the zone, I write 1,000 words in two hours. Most of the time, i’m procrastinating, so it’s usually 250 a day.

I use the tool http://wordcounttools.com and it works like a charm. Would you please help readers to revise the article and put it in?

If somebody is looking for reliable and new service for counting, I would suggest countwordsfree.com as the one to be look at. Stop words exclusion and original text pre-processing as well as possibility to load and save the text from/into file makes this portal universal and quite useful for writers and seo specialists.

image finding Pasteur here, away from my wall…………………………………

Pills and pigs – here’s my excerpt. 27 minutes to free-write 1067 words.

“Okay, there is this new pill out,” he said, “barely fresh from clinical trials. It’s a calming pick-me-upper. It works I’m told very well for people like you, although I don’t know anyone personally yet. You will be the first. And there are a few side effects. Want to be a guinea pig?

Well, sure, why not. What did I have to lose for a month’s free supply? The possibility of becoming an actual pig? Yep, that’s what the bottle says. But, hey, who are they fooling, how does a human become an animal? Besides, the results, they were glowing to say the least.

One day later. So I took the first pill – pink and round – upon rising as prescribed. By noon I seemed to have more energy than usual. I took a 3 mile walk on my lunch break. Feeling good! I had a bit more of an appetite that night, but I figured I must have walked off a gazillion calories at noon, so I could afford an extra serving of buttered cornbread with my five-meat chili.

One week later. Wow, I’m cruising in high gear There’s no end to my energy. I rise, take a pink pill – have a little burp. Did I tell you they make me burp? They do, but no problem, I cover my mouth. Today however, the burp tasted good. Like the fried chicken I had last night. I tried to burp again, but couldn’t. But I definitely had fried chicken on my mind when I went to work.

I’m ready. Let’s do this!!!

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What is Word Counter?

Word Counter is an easy to use online tool that can help you quickly and accurately count the number of words in your text. Suppose you're a student working on a paper, a writer crafting a novel, or a professional preparing a presentation. In that case, we can help ensure you stay within your word limit and keep your text understandable to the audience you are focusing on. You will see the number of characters and words increase or decrease as you type, delete, and edit them.

WordCounter has a simple and intuitive interface that allows you to paste your text and instantly calculates the number of words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, reading time, reading level, and any other metric to help you achieve your goals. Understanding the text word count holds significance. As a case in point, an author must meet a specific word range for an article, report, story, book, or any writing piece.

In addition to basic word counting, it offers advanced features such as keyword density analysis, readability scores like Reading Level , and the ability to compare texts side-by-side. These tools can help you improve the clarity and effectiveness of your writing and ensure you are communicating your ideas clearly and concisely.

Disclaimer: We try to make our tools as accurate as possible, but we cannot guarantee it will always be so.

Recent Posts

How to find word count in powerpoint.

Go to File -> Info -> Show all properties and you will see the "Words" property with the word count.

How to count words in PDF document?

Different tools will offer different or no ways to count words in a PDF document.

How to find the word count on Google Slides?

Google Slides does not have a built-in tool to count words. Alternative ways to count the words are possible but require more effort from you as a user.

How to see word count in OneNote?

OneNote does not word count natively, but you can get it to word count with the Word Count Add-In.

How many words can you make out of Police?

Cope, Clip, Cole, Coil, and Pile are a few of the 48 words that can be made out of the word Police.

All the real time features WordCounter currently offers

Features coming soon

Features we're working to make available to you

• Character Counter
• Words Per Page
• Word Unscrambler
• 5 Letter Words

Word Counter

A brief overview of word counter.

As the users’ demand for writing and editing develops day by day, counting words and characters, checking sentences, detecting grammar mistakes, and plagiarism cannot be done manually. As a result, the need for an online tool that helps writers as well as editors to utilize the above tasks is the major premise for creating the useful free tool, Word Counter.

Frankly speaking, Word Counter is a free online tool that can calculate how many words are in a paragraph and even the total word count for an essay, book, or novel.  

The Word Counter’s main functions

To meet the users’ demands from basic to advanced, Word Counter is featured with some main functions:

- Word count.

- Character count.

- Sentences.

- Paragraphs.

- Reading Level: Reading Time & Speaking time.

- Keywords density.

How to make use of Word Counter’s functions:

1. word count.

To calculate the number of words in a document, this function was created to find out the accurate indicator that helps the author/writer reach the specific requirement of length in their document.

• Difference between Word Count and Character Count:

Word count is the number of words contained in the text or documents. 

Character count is the number of characters in the text or document, including special characters like dots, commas, semi-commas, and blank spaces.

The number of words is always fewer or at least equal to the number of characters.

For example, in the word "hello," there is only one word, but the number of characters is up to five.

• How to use Word Count:

To calculate the number of words in a document, you simply place your cursor into the text box and start typing. You'll immediately see the number of words change (increase or decrease) when you do the typing, deleting, and editing. On the other hand, you can also copy and paste text from the document into the mentioned box above. Afterward, the number of words will appear quickly.  

2. Character Count  

Knowing the number of characters in a text is very important. For example, if a writer has to write an article, report, story, book, or essay that meets the specific requirements of length, this function will help them to make sure its character count doesn’t go beyond the limit.

• How to use Character Count:

Similar to the instruction of using Word Count, you may calculate the number of characters in a text by directly typing into the text box or doing a copy-paste of the available paragraph instead. Then, the Character Count function will indicate the number of characters in the document.   

3. Sentences  

This function was created and developed to satisfy the need to count the number of sentences in a paragraph, essay, report, or book.

• How to use Sentences in Word Counter:

To use the Sentence’s function, the writer just copy-paste the paragraph/essay/report... into the text box. No matter how long the text is, the tool can indicate the number of sentences quickly and accurately.  

4. Paragraphs  

Besides the number of words, characters, and sentences, the number of paragraphs in an essay, report, or book is considered an important piece of information that writers need to know.

This free function will help you to find out how many paragraphs are in your document.  

• How to use Paragraphs in Word Counter:

To utilize this function, you simply put the document into the textbox. Subsequently, the number of paragraphs will appear quickly and precisely.   

5. Pages  

In the printing industry, the demand for knowing the number of pages is a key factor before printing and publishing a document. With this function, you can easily estimate the exact number of pages in your document with the following simple instruction:

• How to use Pages in Word Counter:

Simply copy-paste your document into the content box, The number of pages will be shown in real-time, along with spelling and grammar checking.

6. Reading Level: Reading Time and Speaking Time  

• The importance of Reading Level’s usage:

Have you ever wondered how long a speech lasts? How long does it take to finish an interesting book? This words per minute (WPM) calculator can assist you in converting the number of words and the amount of time needed to read or speak them. You will be able to estimate how many words a small speech has as well as how long it takes you to read a text with a thousand words if you do this.

• How to use this function:

Foremost, select the Reading speed or Speaking speed. There are three modes for each function: Slow, Average, and Fast. The tool will calculate the time needed to accomplish the document based on your chosen mode.   

7. Keywords Densit

There is a fact that the frequency of keywords appearing in your text on the web page can affect the page's ranking.

The percentage of times a keyword appears is referred to as "Keyword Density."

That means using a keyword or phrase too many times will make the search engines undervalue your site. However, repeating it at a too low frequency can’t bring the desired effect.

The Keywords Densit function in Word Counter can help you accurately indicate how many times keywords appear on a website or a post.  

In a nutshell, you can use Word Counter to track your text length to meet specific requirements like the number of characters, words, sentences, paragraphs, and grammar check as well . If you are looking for a useful and free online tool to help you handle the above tasks, Word Counter is definitely a good choice.

Start typing your document to get a list of most used keywords

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The Best College Essay Length: How Long Should It Be?

College Essays

Figuring out your college essay can be one of the most difficult parts of applying to college. Even once you've read the prompt and picked a topic, you might wonder: if you write too much or too little, will you blow your chance of admission? How long should a college essay be?

Whether you're a terse writer or a loquacious one, we can advise you on college essay length. In this guide, we'll cover what the standard college essay length is, how much word limits matter, and what to do if you aren't sure how long a specific essay should be.

How Long Is a College Essay? First, Check the Word Limit

You might be used to turning in your writing assignments on a page-limit basis (for example, a 10-page paper). While some colleges provide page limits for their college essays, most use a word limit instead. This makes sure there's a standard length for all the essays that a college receives, regardless of formatting or font.

In the simplest terms, your college essay should be pretty close to, but not exceeding, the word limit in length. Think within 50 words as the lower bound, with the word limit as the upper bound. So for a 500-word limit essay, try to get somewhere between 450-500 words. If they give you a range, stay within that range.

College essay prompts usually provide the word limit right in the prompt or in the instructions.

For example, the University of Illinois says :

"You'll answer two to three prompts as part of your application. The questions you'll answer will depend on whether you're applying to a major or to our undeclared program , and if you've selected a second choice . Each response should be approximately 150 words."

As exemplified by the University of Illinois, the shortest word limits for college essays are usually around 150 words (less than half a single-spaced page). Rarely will you see a word limit higher than around 650 words (over one single-spaced page). College essays are usually pretty short: between 150 and 650 words. Admissions officers have to read a lot of them, after all!

Weigh your words carefully, because they are limited!

How Flexible Is the Word Limit?

But how flexible is the word limit? What if your poignant anecdote is just 10 words too long—or 100 too short?

Can I Go Over the Word Limit?

If you are attaching a document and you need one or two extra words, you can probably get away with exceeding the word limit by such a small amount. Some colleges will actually tell you that exceeding the word limit by 1-2 words is fine. However, I advise against exceeding the word limit unless it's explicitly allowed for a few reasons:

First, you might not be able to. If you have to copy-paste it into a text box, your essay might get cut off and you'll have to trim it down anyway.

If you exceed the word limit in a noticeable way, the admissions counselor may just stop reading your essay past that point. This is not good for you.

Following directions is actually a very important part of the college application process. You need to follow directions to get your letters of recommendation, upload your essays, send supplemental materials, get your test scores sent, and so on and so forth. So it's just a good general rule to follow whatever instructions you've been given by the institution. Better safe than sorry!

Can I Go Under the Word Limit?

If you can truly get your point across well beneath the word limit, it's probably fine. Brevity is not necessarily a bad thing in writing just so long as you are clear, cogent, and communicate what you want to.

However, most college essays have pretty tight word limits anyways. So if you're writing 300 words for an essay with a 500-word limit, ask yourself: is there anything more you could say to elaborate on or support your points? Consult with a parent, friend, or teacher on where you could elaborate with more detail or expand your points.

Also, if the college gives you a word range, you absolutely need to at least hit the bottom end of the range. So if you get a range from the institution, like 400-500 words, you need to write at least 400 words. If you write less, it will come across like you have nothing to say, which is not an impression you want to give.

What If There Is No Word Limit?

Some colleges don't give you a word limit for one or more of your essay prompts. This can be a little stressful, but the prompts generally fall into a few categories:

Writing Sample

Some colleges don't provide a hard-and-fast word limit because they want a writing sample from one of your classes. In this case, a word limit would be very limiting to you in terms of which assignments you could select from.

For an example of this kind of prompt, check out essay Option B at Amherst :

"Submit a graded paper from your junior or senior year that best represents your writing skills and analytical abilities. We are particularly interested in your ability to construct a tightly reasoned, persuasive argument that calls upon literary, sociological or historical evidence. You should NOT submit a laboratory report, journal entry, creative writing sample or in-class essay."

While there is usually no word limit per se, colleges sometimes provide a general page guideline for writing samples. In the FAQ for Option B , Amherst clarifies, "There is no hard-and-fast rule for official page limit. Typically, we anticipate a paper of 4-5 pages will provide adequate length to demonstrate your analytical abilities. Somewhat longer papers can also be submitted, but in most cases should not exceed 8-10 pages."

So even though there's no word limit, they'd like somewhere in the 4-10 pages range. High school students are not usually writing papers that are longer than 10 pages anyways, so that isn't very limiting.

Implicit Length Guideline

Sometimes, while there's no word (or even page) limit, there's still an implicit length guideline. What do I mean by this?

See, for example, this Western Washington University prompt :

“Describe one or more activities you have been involved in that have been particularly meaningful. What does your involvement say about the communities, identities or causes that are important to you?”

While there’s no page or word limit listed here, further down on page the ‘essay tips’ section explains that “ most essay responses are about 500 words, ” though “this is only a recommendation, not a firm limit.” This gives you an idea of what’s reasonable. A little longer or shorter than 500 words would be appropriate here. That’s what I mean by an “implicit” word limit—there is a reasonable length you could go to within the boundaries of the prompt.

But what's the proper coffee-to-paragraph ratio?

Treasure Hunt

There is also the classic "treasure hunt" prompt. No, it's not a prompt about a treasure hunt. It's a prompt where there are no length guidelines given, but if you hunt around on the rest of the website you can find length guidelines.

For example, the University of Chicago provides seven "Extended Essay" prompts . You must write an essay in response to one prompt of your choosing, but nowhere on the page is there any guidance about word count or page limit.

However, many colleges provide additional details about their expectations for application materials, including essays, on FAQ pages, which is true of the University of Chicago. On the school’s admissions Frequently Asked Questions page , they provide the following length guidelines for the supplemental essays: 

“We suggest that you note any word limits for Coalition or Common Application essays; however, there are no strict word limits on the UChicago Supplement essays. For the extended essay (where you choose one of several prompts), we suggest that you aim for around 650 words. While we won't, as a rule, stop reading after 650 words, we're only human and cannot promise that an overly wordy essay will hold our attention indefinitely. For the “Why UChicago?” essay, we suggest about 250-500 words. The ideas in your writing matter more than the exact number of words you use!”

So there you go! You want to be (loosely) in the realm of 650 for the extended essay, and 250-500 words for the “Why UChicago?” essay.

Help! There Really Is No Guidance on Length

If you really can't find any length guidelines anywhere on the admissions website and you're at a loss, I advise calling the admissions office. They may not be able to give you an exact number (in fact, they probably won't), but they will probably at least be able to tell you how long most of the essays they see are. (And keep you from writing a panicked, 20-page dissertation about your relationship with your dog).

In general, 500 words or so is pretty safe for a college essay. It's a fairly standard word limit length, in fact. (And if you're wondering, that's about a page and a half double-spaced.) 500 words is long enough to develop a basic idea while still getting a point across quickly—important when admissions counselors have thousands of essays to read!

"See? It says 500 words right there in tiny font!"

The Final Word: How Long Should a College Essay Be?

The best college essay length is usually pretty straightforward: you want to be right under or at the provided word limit. If you go substantially past the word limit, you risk having your essay cut off by an online application form or having the admissions officer just not finish it. And if you're too far under the word limit, you may not be elaborating enough.

What if there is no word limit? Then how long should a college essay be? In general, around 500 words is a pretty safe approximate word amount for a college essay—it's one of the most common word limits, after all!

Here's guidance for special cases and hunting down word limits:

If it's a writing sample of your graded academic work, the length either doesn't matter or there should be some loose page guidelines.

There also may be implicit length guidelines. For example, if a prompt says to write three paragraphs, you'll know that writing six sentences is definitely too short, and two single-spaced pages is definitely too long.

You might not be able to find length guidelines in the prompt, but you could still hunt them up elsewhere on the website. Try checking FAQs or googling your chosen school name with "admissions essay word limit."

If there really is no word limit, you can call the school to try to get some guidance.

With this advice, you can be sure you've got the right college essay length on lockdown!

Hey, writing about yourself can even be fun!

What's Next?

Need to ask a teacher or friend for help with your essay? See our do's and dont's to getting college essay advice .

If you're lacking in essay inspiration, see our guide to brainstorming college essay ideas . And here's our guide to starting out your essay perfectly!

Looking for college essay examples? See 11 places to find college essay examples and 145 essay examples with analysis !

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Ellen has extensive education mentorship experience and is deeply committed to helping students succeed in all areas of life. She received a BA from Harvard in Folklore and Mythology and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University.

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• Our Research

How much do I need to write to get top marks at A level?

January 2018

Earlier this month we looked at the relationship between the length of candidates' essays and the grade they were awarded in a GCSE English literature exam .

In this Data Byte we extend that research by investigating the same relationship, but in an A level English literature exam.

What does the chart show?

The chart shows the association between the approximate word count of candidates' responses per question and the number of marks awarded on the exam overall. The purple line shows how the average number of marks (out of 60) varied with the amount of writing. The purple shaded area is the 95% confidence interval around the average. The horizontal lines indicate the grade boundaries on the exam.

The data are from an Advanced GCE unit exam sat in June 2016. The lowest grade achievable in the exam above a U was grade E. The duration of the exam was 2 hours, and in this time candidates were required to supply two essay responses, each of which could be awarded a maximum of 30 marks. The word counts were collected by computer processing digital images of a sample of 5010 handwritten scripts. The total word count was halved to give the estimated word count per essay.

Why is the chart interesting?

The chart is similar to that obtained from the analysis of GCSE answers. Again there is a clear relationship between how much candidates wrote and the grade they were awarded. The strength of the relationship is consistent with that in the GCSE data (the correlation between word count and marks is 0.46 for the GCSE data and 0.47 for the A level data).

In the GCSE exam, candidates wrote at around 13 words per minute on average, equating to roughly 800 words per hour. In the A level exam the average student wrote at just over 1,000 words per hour. This difference is to be expected as only the strongest candidates at GCSE, who tend to write more, will go on to take A level. Additionally, A level candidates will be two years older and have more experience in writing exams.

As with the GCSE analysis, quantity does not trump quality. The curve flattens off at around 1,300 words per essay, and so writing more than this isn't consistently associated with getting higher marks.

There are examples of candidates achieving full marks with fairly succinct answers, and of very long responses resulting in a low grade. For example, inspection of several individual scripts revealed cases where candidates had achieved an A* with two essays that were each just over three pages long. At the other end of the spectrum, one candidate filled the entire length of their 11 page standard answer booklet, and four further extension booklets (each allowing four pages of writing) but ended up being awarded grade E.

Although these results are consistent with our previous research, this work is based on only two exams and so we should be cautious in drawing conclusions beyond these studies.

Further information

Our first Data Byte on the GCSE exam - How much do I need to write to get top marks at GCSE?

Further background to the work and details of the methods used to collect and analyse the data can be found in:

Benton, T. (2017). How much do I need to write to get top marks? Research Matters: A Cambridge Assessment Publication, 24, 37-40.

Research Matters

Research Matters is our free biannual publication which allows us to share our assessment research, in a range of fields, with the wider assessment community.

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• Writing Tips

The Word Limit in Academic Writing (and How to Stick to It)

3-minute read

• 24th September 2016

Even the phrase “word limit” can cause panic among students . For some it’s the challenge of writing enough, while others find it hard to stick within the limit given. In either case, it can lead to spending more time worrying about the length of your paper than the content!

But why do college papers come with set word limits? And what should you do to ensure you don’t write too much or too little?

Why Have a Word Limit?

There are two main reasons that academic papers usually come with a word limit:

• Fairness It’s impossible to grade two papers of vastly different lengths (e.g., 20,000 compared to 2,000 words) on the same scale. The word limit makes sure that everyone taking the same class knows what is expected of them.
• Communication Skills As well as testing your knowledge, college papers are about communicating clearly and concisely. Setting a word limit forces you to consider what you’re saying more carefully, helping you to develop your writing skills.

Sticking to the word limit is, therefore, part of being a good academic, since being a long way over or under could suggest you’ve misjudged the scope of the essay topic or that you’re having trouble communicating your ideas.

How to Stick to the Word Limit

Although many colleges give you roughly 10% leeway on the word limit, you should aim for your finished paper to be as close to the suggested word count as possible. If you find yourself writing too much, you can reduce the word count by:

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• Editing out repetition, redundant words and padding phrases
• Cutting down long or unnecessary quotations
• Reducing the number of examples or case studies used (if you’ve included several)
• Using the active voice instead of the passive voice

More generally, you should re-read your work and eliminate anything that isn’t directly related to the question you’re answering. As well as helping you stick to the word limit, this will make your work more focused, which could boost your grades.

How to Increase Your Word Count

If you’re struggling to write enough, the temptation might be to add padding phrases like “in my opinion” or long block quotations until you hit the minimum word count. But this will simply detract from the clarity of your writing.

Instead, the answer is usually to go back over your work and look for things that could be improved with a little additional attention. This might involve:

• Addressing anything from your essay question that you’ve overlooked
• Adding illustrative examples to support a point
• Considering different sources and views on the same issue
• Using short quotations as evidence for your arguments

Moreover, whether you’ve written too much or too little, getting someone else to read your work and offer feedback is a fantastic idea (especially if you ask a professional for help). This will help you to identify areas that could be expanded or cut in the next draft, so eventually you should be able to get your essay to the required length.

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AS and A-level English Literature A

• Specification
• Planning resources
• Teaching resources
• Assessment resources
• Introduction
• Specification at a glance
• 3.1 Love through the ages
• 4.1 Love through the ages
• 4.2 Texts in shared contexts

4.3 Independent critical study: texts across time

• Scheme of assessment
• Non-exam assessment administration (A-level only)
• General administration

In Texts across time, students write a comparative critical study of two texts.

This specification is committed to the notion of autonomous personal reading and Texts across time provides a challenging and wide-ranging opportunity for independent study. Possible themes for the comparison are indicated below, but this is not a set list and students are free to develop their own interests from their own wider and independent reading.

Texts chosen for study must maximise opportunities for writing about comparative similarity and difference and must allow access to a range of critical views and interpretations, including over time . Students should take an autonomous approach to the application and evaluation of a range of critical views.

The title 'Independent critical study' highlights the important idea that, within a literature course, students should have the opportunity to work independently. Although one common text could, if required, be taught to a whole cohort, at least one text should be studied independently by each student. Texts should always be chosen with your guidance and support. Students should also individually negotiate their own task.

In Texts across time, students write a comparative critical study of two texts on a theme of their choice. Possible themes include, but are not limited to:

• the struggle for identity
• crime and punishment
• minds under stress
• nostalgia and the past
• satire and dystopia
• war and conflict
• representations of race and ethnicity
• representations of sexuality
• representations of women
• representations of men
• representations of social class and culture.

The spirit of this component is for independent study, with schools and colleges submitting work on a range of texts and tasks. Schools and colleges are encouraged to check the appropriateness of texts and tasks with their non-exam assessment adviser, especially where there may be some uncertainty on the approach being taken, either by the school or college as a whole or by individual students.

• The word count is 2,500 words.
• Tasks should be designed to ensure that students address all assessment objectives in their essay response.
• An appropriate academic bibliography (not included within the 2,500 word count) must be included.
• An appropriately academic form of referencing must be used.

The following conditions apply to the texts chosen:

• one text must have been written pre-1900
• two different authors must be studied
• set texts listed for the A-level exam components cannot be used for non-exam assessment, even if they will not be used in the exam
• the essay is comparative and connective so equal attention must be paid to both texts
• a poetry text could be either one longer narrative poem or a single authored collection of shorter poems. If using a collection of poetry, students must have studied the whole text and select at least two poems to write about in detail as examples of the wider collection
• single authored collections of short stories are permissible. If using a collection of short stories, students must have studied the whole text and select at least two stories to write about in detail as examples of the wider collection
• texts chosen for study may include texts in translation that have been influential and significant in the development of literature in English. The translated text should be treated as the original writer's own words for assessment purposes. Therefore, schools and colleges should ensure that they use a version recognised by academia as being a high quality translation which supports the original author's writing appropriately.

Recommended texts

Texts listed in the A-level core set text and comparative set text lists in Sections 4.1 and 4.2 cannot be studied for non-exam assessment. Texts chosen for study may include texts in translation that have been influential and significant in the development of literature in English.

Possible pre-1900 texts include, but are not limited to:

NEA prohibited texts

Students cannot use the following texts for non-exam assessment as they appear on the exam set text lists.

Examples of choices of non-exam assessment texts and possible connections

Compare and contrast the presentation of British attitudes to race and ethnicity in The Moonstone and in Zadie Smith’s White Teeth in the light of this view.

In what ways do you think the Gothic settings of these texts help the writers to shape their presentation of heroines in peril?

Compare and contrast the presentation of Sue Trinder in Fingersmith with Marian Halcombe in The Woman in White in the light of this view.

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How Long Should Your College Essay Be? What Is the Ideal Length?

What’s covered: , personal statement length vs. supplemental essay length, are college essay word limits hard, what if a college essay word count isn’t given, what if you need to submit a graded paper, where to get your essays edited.

Students often spend hours agonizing over the best topics for their college essays. While it’s natural to wonder whether your personal statement is original or compelling enough, there’s one aspect of the process that shouldn’t cause you undue stress—how many words should a college essay be? Fortunately, with a little research, you can uncover the ideal college essay length for all your applications.

Unlike high school assignments, which typically have a strict page requirement, most colleges provide a word limit or word range for their application essays. This practice helps ensure that essays are the same length regardless of font or formatting. A good guideline is that students should strive to get as close as possible to the upper limit of the word range without exceeding it. Keep reading to learn more about best practices for college essay length.

How many words should a college essay be? Personal statements are generally 500-650 words. For example, the Common Application , which can be used to apply to more than 800 colleges, requires an essay ranging from 250-650 words . Similarly, the Coalition Application , which has 150 member schools, features an essay with a recommended length of 500-650 words.

650 words is the most common limit for your personal statement, but some schools may ask students to write more or less. For example, ApplyTexas , a platform used to apply to Texas public universities and other select colleges, requests essays with requirements that vary by school. For example, students applying to UT Austin will need to submit an essay of 500-700 words, along with three short-answer questions of 250-300 words each.

On the other hand, the University of California (UC) application includes a Personal Insight section with eight prompts . Students are asked to respond to any four of these prompts, with each response topping out at 350 words.

Additionally, some schools request a few supplemental essays, which are typically shorter than a personal statement. These questions are designed to gain more information about a student’s interests and abilities, and may include topics like your reasons for wanting to attend their school, your desired major, or your favorite activity.

Most schools require 1-3 supplemental essays, though some may require more or none at all (see our list of top colleges without supplemental essays ). These essays tend to be around 250 words, but some may be just as long as your main essay. For example, Cornell requires applicants to write a second supplemental essay (of 650 words max) that is specific to the program they’re applying to. The exception to this is the Cornell College of Engineering, for which applicants are required to compose two supplemental essays of 250 words max each.

For best results, keep your essays within the word range provided. While you don’t have to hit the count exactly, you should aim to stay within a 10% difference of the upper limit—without including fluff or filler. For example, if the school requests 500 words, try to ensure that your essay is between 450 and 500 words.

For the Common App, try to stay within 550-650 words, even though the given range is 250-650. Any submission shorter than 500 words will make it look as though you simply didn’t care enough to give your best effort. An essay shorter than 500 words won’t be long enough to truly share who you are and what matters to you.

Exceeding the word count isn’t an option—the application portal cuts off anything over the maximum number of allowed words. This is something you want to be particularly careful of if you’re drafting your essay in a Word or Google document and pasting it into the application.

Although most schools provide applicants with a specific word count, some offer more general guidelines. For example, a college may ask for a particular number of pages or paragraphs.

If you aren’t given a word count, try to adhere to the best practices and conventions of writing. Avoid writing especially short or overly long paragraphs—250 words per paragraph is generally a safe upper limit. If you’re asked to write a certain number of pages, single- or double-spaced, stick to a standard font and font size (like 12-point Times New Roman).

In the event that the college doesn’t offer any guidelines at all, aim for an essay length of around 500 words.

While essays are the most commonly requested writing sample, some colleges ask for additional pieces of content. For example, Princeton University requires students to submit a previously graded paper for evaluation .

Princeton offers guidelines that cover length, but if another school requests an old paper and doesn’t offer length requirements, a paper ranging from 3-5 pages should yield the best results. The goal is to select a paper long enough to showcase your writing skills and unique voice, but short enough that the admissions officer doesn’t get bored reading it.

Is your essay effective while staying within the required word count? It’s hard to evaluate your own writing, especially after rereading it numerous times. CollegeVine’s free Peer Essay Review provides an opportunity to have your essay reviewed by a fellow student, for free. Similarly, you can help other students by reviewing their essays—this is a great way to refine your own writing skills.

Expert advice is also available. CollegeVine’s advisors are prepared to help you perfect your personal statement and submit a successful application to your top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

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What are the six different essay lengths?

This is the second of three chapters about Essays . To complete this reader, read each chapter carefully and then unlock and complete our materials to check your understanding.   

– Discuss why essays might vary in length

– Outline the six major lengths of academic essay

– Provide defining features for each essay length

Chapter 1: What is an academic essay?

Chapter 2: What are the six different essay lengths?

Chapter 3: What are the seven different types of academic essay?

Before you begin reading...

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• skills practices, tasks and assignments

The length of essay you’re assigned will likely depend on where you are exactly in your academic course. Generally, assignments at the start of a bachelor’s degree will be shorter than those required in a student’s final years, just like master’s  and doctoral-level essays will continue to increase in both length and difficulty.

1. The One-Paragraph Essay

Generally about 150 to 250 words in length, the one-paragraph essay may be assigned by academic tutors simply in order to practise the basic concepts of paragraph writing, or it may also be used for specific purposes such as to practise summarising an article that’s been read in class or to write an extended definition of a concept. Additionally, one-paragraph essays may also be used as a diagnostic to quickly determine the level of a student’s writing. Unlike other essay lengths, for the one-paragraph essay, you’ll need to include at least some introductory, body and conclusive elements within the same paragraph.    

2. The Three-Paragraph Essay

Usually around 500 words in length, the three-paragraph essay is generally used to introduce students to the concept that all essays should maintain an introduction , body section and conclusion if the writer wishes to produce cohesive and a logical writing. The introduction and conclusion will be the first and last paragraphs and tend to be a little shorter in length, while the central body paragraph will contain the essay’s content or argument. A simple table explaining the balance of content in a three-paragraph essay has been provided below:

3. The Five-Paragraph Essay

Around 1,000 words in length, the five-paragraph essay is generally set by tutors who are content that their students understand the introduction-body-conclusion essay  structure and wish to allow more freedom to expand the ideas and arguments presented by the writer in the body section of the essay. This length of essay still only dedicates one paragraph to the introduction and conclusion , but allows three paragraphs to be dedicated to the exploration of the theme in the essay’s body. At this length, certain essay types such as cause and effect essays or compare and contrast essays may now be utilised. The following is a simple diagram of the balance of paragraph lengths in a five-paragraph essay.

4. The Extended Essay

The extended essay is the most common type of essay that’s assigned during a bachelor’s or master’s degree , and it may be of any length – although it’s unusual for such essays to be above 5,000 words. The most common lengths for an extended essay are 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000 words, with a word count allowance of plus or minus 10%. Such essay types will most certainly require research and referencing skills , and may also begin to follow more complex structures such as are found in dissertations and theses rather than simply following the introduction-body-conclusion structure of shorter essays.

5. The Dissertation

Generally assigned as the final project for both bachelor’s   and master’s degree , the typical length of an academic dissertation is 10,000 or 15,000 words. Unlike shorter essay types , dissertations have more complex structures and are almost always based around primary research (original research that the writer has conducted themselves). The following table demonstrates some of the key parts of a dissertation as well as the rough word count  percentages for each section:

6. The Thesis

Finally, the thesis is the longest academic essay type and the one that’s reserved for doctorate students studying PhDs. Generally between 40,000 and 60,000 words in length, the doctorate thesis may contain all the elements of a dissertation but in much more detail and with more careful investigation. Such essays  are almost certainly original and are based on primary research , with a larger focus on the accuracy of the literature review , data collection and data analysis . Many students will never encounter this essay type. 

Once you can recognise which essay length you’ve been assigned, the next question covered in Chapter 3 is about determining the type of essay you have to write. This is because each essay type will require particular styles, structures, foci and language.

To reference this reader:

Academic Marker (2022) Essays . Available at: https://academicmarker.com/academic-guidance/assignments/essays/ (Accessed: Date Month Year).

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Once you’ve completed all three chapters about essays , you might also wish to download our beginner, intermediate and advanced worksheets to test your progress or print for your students. These professional PDF worksheets can be easily accessed for only a few Academic Marks .

Our essays academic reader (including all four chapters about this topic) can be accessed here at the click of a button.

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Revealed: The ideal length of an A level English essay

The sweet spot when an A-level English literature essay is neither too short - or too long - has been uncovered by researchers.

Writing more than 1,300 words in the A-level English literature exam does not necessarily lead to higher marks, a study by Cambridge Assessment has found .

The finding comes after an earlier study into the ideal length of a GCSE English Literature essay, which discovered that the mark awarded flattened off beyond 700 words.

“As with the GCSE analysis, quantity does not trump quality. The curve flattens off at around 1,300 words per essay, and so writing more than this isn’t consistently associated with getting higher marks,” researcher Tom Benton said.

Perfect English

The researchers analysied data from the OCR A-Level English literature exam, which was sat in June 2016.

One student achieved an A* with two essays that were only three pages long, while another candidate filled the 11-page answer booklet and four further extension booklets - but ended up with a grade E.

The researchers also calculated the writing speed of candidates - finding that on average pupils wrote about 1,000 words per hour in an exam, or 17 words per minute.

This compares to the GCSE candidates who wrote at a rate of round 13 words per minute, churning out 800 words in an hour. The researchers said that the difference reflects the fact that A-level candidates tend to be two years older and have more experience in writing exams.

The study will be discussed further on Twitter on Thursday 1 February between 4.30pm and 5.30pm at #CamEdLive.

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Word Counter

Whether you're a student, blogger, or professional writer, our word count page is an essential tool for getting the job done. Say goodbye to counting words manually and hello to a more efficient and accurate way of tracking your progress.

0 Words, 0 Characters

Characters: 0

Sentences: 0

Paragraphs: 0

Speaking Time: 0 minutes

Reading Time: 0 minutes

Top Keywords

Instructions.

Enter some text to get started.

Sentence case capitalize the first character of a sentence.

Lower case convert all characters to lower case.

Upper case convert all characters to upper case.

Capitalized case capitalize the first character of each word.

Alternating case alternate the case of each character.

Title case capitalize the first character of each word and make the rest of the word lower case.

Inverse case convert all characters to lower case and then alternate the case of each character.

What is a Word Counter?

A word counter is a tool or software that counts the number of words in a given text. Word counters are commonly used by writers, students, bloggers, journalists, and anyone who works with written content.

People use word counters for various reasons, including:

• Meeting word count requirements: In many cases, writers or students may need to meet a specific word count requirement for their work, such as an essay or an article. A word counter can help them ensure that they have written the required number of words.
• Tracking productivity: Word counters can help writers and content creators keep track of their productivity by tracking the number of words they write or edit each day.
• Improving writing skills: Using a word counter can help writers identify common writing habits or patterns, such as using too many words or repeating certain phrases too often. This can help them improve their writing skills and develop better writing habits.
• Checking for plagiarism: Some word counters can also check for plagiarism by comparing the text to other sources on the internet.
• Overall, a word counter is a simple yet useful tool for anyone who works with written content and wants to improve their productivity and writing skills.

What is a Sentence Counter?

A Sentence counter is a tool or software that counts the number of Sentences in a given text. Sentence counters are commonly used by writers, students, bloggers, journalists, and anyone who works with written content.

How Many Pages is?

This chart provides you with roughly the amount of words you need to cover a page. These examples are for 12 size font with either single or double spaced lines.

How many pages is 250 words?

How many pages is 300 words? As a general rule, 250 words is around ½ page – if you’re using single spacing, that is. Double-spaced, this word count is more likely to come to 1 entire A4 page. You can, however, vary the length significantly by changing the settings in your document to use wider spacing, margins that are wider or narrower than the standard 1 inch, or a font larger or smaller than 12pt Arial or Times New Roman. You may also prefer to visualize 250 words as a type of text: think email, cover letter, a synopsis of a paper, a very short blog post, or a lengthy answer to an FAQ.

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By Shawn McCreesh

Follow the latest news from the Republican National Convention .

J.D. Vance, Donald J. Trump’s choice for vice president, has not lived an unexamined life. Here are 27 things to know about him, drawn from his best-selling 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” and the many other things he has said or written since.

1. His name was not always James David Vance. At birth, it was James Donald Bowman. It changed to James David Hamel after his mother remarried, and then it changed one more time.

2. He longed for a role model. His father left when he was 6. “It was the saddest I had ever felt,” he wrote in his memoir. “Of all the things I hated about my childhood,” he wrote, “nothing compared to the revolving door of father figures.”

3. He had a fraught relationship with his mother, who was married five times. One of the most harrowing scenes in the book occurs when he’s a young child, in a car with his mother, who often lapsed into cycles of abuse. She sped up to “what seemed like a hundred miles per hour and told me that she was going to crash the car and kill us both,” he writes. After she slowed down, so she could reach in the back of the car to beat him, he leaped out of the car and escaped to the house of a neighbor, who called the police.

4. He was raised by blue-dog Democrats. He spent much of his childhood with his grandfather and grandmother — papaw and mamaw, in his hillbilly patois. He described his mamaw’s “affinity for Bill Clinton” and wrote about how his papaw swayed from the Democrats only once, to vote for Ronald Reagan. “The people who raised me,” he said in one interview, “were classic blue-dog Democrats, union Democrats, right? They loved their country, they were socially conservative.”

5. As a teenager, he loved Black Sabbath, Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin. But then his biological father, who was deeply religious, re-entered his life. “When we first reconnected, he made it clear that he didn’t care for my taste in classic rock, especially Led Zeppelin,” he wrote. “He just advised that I listened to Christian rock instead.”

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The Impact of Nursing Informatics Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Topic and Rationale

Ai impact on staffing and turnover, nursing informatics skills used for the assignment, pros and cons of ai in addressing staffing issues, conclusion and future.

For the healthcare sector, nursing informatics is vital. It helps to reduce the level of stress and chance of mistakes and align better information exchange. Moreover, using the newest approaches, it is possible to address the most nagging issues and find solutions to them. Thus, nurse understaffing, shortage, and turnover are the main problems of the modern healthcare sector. Moreover, the problem will become more significant in the future because of the aging population, burnout, and violence in healthcare (Haddad & Toney-Butler, 2022). Understaffing negatively impacts patients’ outcomes, meaning that there is a higher risk of missed treatments if understaffing exists (Metcalf et al., 2018). Lack of nurses might also be associated with higher mortality rates in units (Glette et al., 2017). For this reason, it is vital to find a potent solution that might help to address the negative tendency and eliminate it. AI is viewed as one of the possible tools to address turnover and reduce it (Burky, 2022). Technology can help automate most processes within healthcare, such as planning, reducing the time needed to hire, and improving retention rates (Burky, 2022). In such a way, the information provided above proves the relevance of the selected topic and its significance. The nursing shortage is linked to increased costs, lower nursing and client satisfaction, and retention (Haddad & Toney-Butler, 2022). The higher workload resulting from the decreased number of specialists leads to a higher chance of a mistake. For this reason, it is vital to understand how AI can be used to address the issue.

In general, it is expected that the implementation of AI will help to attain positive outcomes and successfully manage the problem of understaffing and turnover. For instance, using AI platforms, such as Works, it is possible to achieve several significant improvements in the staffing process (Burky, 2022). The program uses specific algorithms to analyze the needs for employees and shifts and offers numerous options to fill existing and future gaps (Burky, 2022). As a result, it is possible to expect enhanced interaction with potential candidates, their selection, hiring, and retaining. The hospitals will have a pool of potential candidates who can be used when a certain vacancy emerges (Bukry, 2022). It will be a significant step towards resolving the problem of understaffing and nursing shortage. Moreover, the timely staffing process initiated based on data provided by AI will help decrease the implicit cost of turnover. The reduced risks of adverse outcomes will help to save costs needed for their management and address patients’ dissatisfaction. Additionally, AI applications might analyze numerous employees’ applications and ensure the right candidates are selected for the right vacancies. It will help to create a positive and effective environment with higher engagement rates and reduced turnover intentions (Xiao et al., 2021). Finally, AI can optimize scheduling and time management, reducing stress and work overload.

At the same time, it is vital to consider potentially negative impacts. Reliance on technology reduces personal interaction, which might impact the atmosphere within a collective and cooperation between individuals (Chrisos, 2019). Moreover, AI lacks an understanding of the corporate culture, meaning that current accomplishments and interactions might be disregarded. It might impact the effectiveness of various leadership styles and cultural incorporation.

When working on the offered assignment, it was vital to use nursing informatics skills. To create the basis for the discussion, it was vital to perform an Internet search for credible data that can support the major arguments used in the paper. Moreover, nursing informatics implies an enhanced understanding of how knowledge can be extracted from the selected sources. Information from the selected peer-reviewed articles was employed to support the major assumptions and prove the importance of AI in healthcare. It required the ability to investigate the discovered source, find the main ideas, and rephrase them or quote when necessary. At the same time, it is inappropriate to cite other investigators’ ideas as it will not expand the existing body of knowledge. It means that they were integrated into the body of the paper to ensure the current research is relevant and offers fresh ideas. It also required the correct analysis of the level of evidence and facts related to practice to understand the latest tendencies and how they are essential for practice. It requires looking for other sources, comparing them, and performing an Internet search to guarantee the correctness and credibility of conclusions formulated in the course of research. Furthermore, the project required knowledge of innovation in technologies such as AI, their major peculiarities and how they are used to look for possible applications, and how they can improve the work of the healthcare sector. Finally, the assignment was performed by using critical and analytical skills necessary for constructing the argument by using available resources and evidence.

However, when discussing the role of AI in addressing the problem of staffing, it is vital to consider both advantages and disadvantages that might be associated with integrating the solution. As stated previously, using innovations in healthcare leads to enhanced results and reduced burnout, which is attained due to several factors. First, improved planning and scheduling lead to lower pressure and workload, which is vital for outcomes. Second, timely staffing and hiring procedures contribute to better unit functioning, planning, and further evolution, which is also one of the evident pros of the proposed solution. In such a way, the positive alterations mentioned above lead to reduced burnout and turnover rates and help medical units to function effectively. At the same time, as with any technology, AI has some specific drawbacks that should also be considered while implementing it. First, AI applications cannot consider the existing organizational culture and the behavioral patterns peculiar to teams within a particular unit. It means that there is a high risk of deteriorated relations within a collective because of the lack of human factors and subjective attachments. Moreover, AI might fail to consider existing leadership issues and models while planning and making decisions about staffing (Chrisos, 2019). It might create the basis for problematic followership and the inability to align effective interaction between leaders and subordinates. In such a way, most disadvantages associated with the use of AI to address staffing issues are linked to the lack of personal aspects (Chrisos, 2019). It means that managers should be ready to perform additional measures to support high motivation levels among nurses and ensure they have positive relations with each other.

Altogether, it is possible to admit that the healthcare sector experiences numerous challenges nowadays. Understaffing, burnout and high turnover rates are one of the most topical issues that impact the quality of care and patient outcomes. For this reason, their addressing and resolution are the primary tasks of specialists working within the sector. Under these conditions, nursing informatics can be viewed as an integral component of the sphere’s future. The examples provided above show that existing technologies can help to promote the positive change required at the moment. AI can help to address staffing issues in several ways. Platforms such as Works might process information about employees, their skills, and their experiences to ensure a hospital has a pool of specialists needed to fill existing gaps. Moreover, Ai is effective in planning and scheduling, which will reduce stress and burnout among nurses. As a result, technologies will save time for caring and building relations, which is essential for interpersonal relations. That is why it is vital to recommend focusing on technologies as the method to boost effectiveness within healthcare. Leaders should facilitate innovation integration as it is the way to minimize the number of mistakes because of the human factor and create the basis for future improvement. As one of the most promising technologies, AI should be broadly used in nursing due to its ability to address staffing and turnover issues. Resolving these problems will help to improve the quality of patient care and contribute to better outcomes. In conclusion, further investigation of how AI and technologies can be used in nursing is necessary. It will help perform tasks requiring analysis of big amounts of data and providing accurate solutions.

Burky, A. (2022). From finding the right candidates to keeping them, how hospitals are using AI to address workforce needs . Fierce Healthcare. Web.

Chrisos, M. (2019). What are the positive and negative impacts of automation in HR? TechFunnel. Web.

Glette, M.K., Aase, K., & Wiig, S. (2017). The relationship between understaffing of nurses and patient safety in hospitals—A literature review with thematic analysis . Open Journal of Nursing, 7 , 1387-1429. Web.

Haddad, L., & Toney-Butler, T. (2022). Nursing shortage . StatPearls. Web.

Metcalf, A., Wang, Y., & Habermann, M. (2018). Hospital unit understaffing and missed treatments: Primary evidence . Management Decision , 56 (10), 2273-2286. Web.

Xiao, Y., Dong, M., Shi, C., Zeng, W., Shao, Z., Xie, H., & Li, G. (2021). Person–environment fit and medical professionals’ job satisfaction, turnover intention, and professional efficacy: A cross-sectional study in Shanghai . PloS one , 16 (4), e0250693. Web.

• A Doctor of Nursing Practice Project and Its Components
• Psychological Safety in Healthcare Setting
• Southwest Airlines' Under-Staffing and Competition
• Leadership in Nursing: Staff Shortage Issue
• Addressing Constraints in the Healthcare Setting
• Nursing Leadership Style and Talents Required
• Core Competency Exemplified in Clinical Experience
• The American Association of Critical Care Nurses' Role
• Neuman Systems Model in Nursing
• The Importance of a Nursing Home
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, July 17). The Impact of Nursing Informatics. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-impact-of-nursing-informatics/

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IvyPanda . 2024. "The Impact of Nursing Informatics." July 17, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-impact-of-nursing-informatics/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Impact of Nursing Informatics." July 17, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-impact-of-nursing-informatics/.

Bibliography

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• Resume and Cover Letter
• 27 Great Resume Summary...

27 Great Resume Summary Examples to Get Hired

20 min read · Updated on June 03, 2024

Your resume summary is the first impression you make on potential employers, so it's crucial to get it right

When it comes to job applications, your resume is often the first point of contact with prospective employers. It's essential to make a good impression right from the start and that's where your resume summary comes in. Your summary is a brief statement at the top of your resume that highlights your skills , experiences , and achievements , making it a key part of your job application.

In this article, you'll learn how to write the ultimate resume summary that will grab the attention of recruiters and hiring managers. You'll discover what makes a good summary and what to avoid, as well as how to sell yourself effectively to potential employers.

You may be wondering: what exactly is a resume summary and how do I write one? We'll answer these questions and provide examples of professional summaries for various industries.

By the end of this article, you'll have a comprehensive understanding of what it takes to create a standout resume summary that will help you to land your dream job.

What is a resume summary?

To understand a resume summary, it's important to understand the challenge that good summaries are designed to overcome. Employers who are looking for new hires often need to compare many dozens or even hundreds of resumes to find the best candidates for the job. Few hiring personnel have the time needed to thoroughly examine every single resume that they receive.

Instead, employers typically spend no more than five or six seconds scanning any given resume. If a resume manages to capture their interest in those few seconds, they'll take the time to read it in greater detail. 

However, if your resume doesn't grab their attention, it's likely to be rejected without any further examination. So, the challenge is to find a way to quickly earn the reader's interest and inspire them to read the rest of the document.

That's where your resume summary comes into play. As you'll see from our resume summary examples, a good summary is the resume equivalent of a salesperson's elevator pitch. 

This brief statement should highlight your experience and job title, one or two key skills, and a couple of your most prominent achievements. When your summary is crafted well, it will provide the employer with a quick overview of your potential value as a new hire.

Once you've written your summary, you should place it right after your contact information and resume headline , so that it's the first thing employers see. If you've done your job properly, that summary will be compelling enough to make the reader want to learn more about the type of value you can bring to the job.

How should you start a resume summary?

After your headline, you should include a brief opening statement that summarizes who you are. This statement should be concise and compelling, and it should clearly communicate your unique value proposition. Here are some examples of strong opening statements:

Innovative Marketing Manager with over five years of experience in developing and executing successful campaigns for Fortune 500 companies

Results-driven Sales Executive with a proven track record of exceeding revenue targets and building strong client relationships

Skilled Customer Service Representative with expertise in problem-solving, conflict resolution, and communication

Tips for writing a resume summary

To make sure you get your summary spot on, follow our top tips:

Be specific

When writing a resume summary, it's essential to be specific and quantify your achievements wherever possible. Instead of saying, "Experienced marketing professional," try saying, "Experienced marketing professional with expertise in managing successful social media campaigns, resulting in increases of up to 30% in website traffic."

This provides concrete evidence of your skills and demonstrates your value to potential employers.

Reflect on your career

When it comes to writing a strong resume summary, you should engage in some self-reflection. Before putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), take some time to think about your key skills, experiences, and achievements. This will help you to identify the most important information to include in your summary. Review your past roles, responsibilities, and accomplishments, and think about how they relate to the job you're applying for. Ask yourself:

What have I achieved in my career?

What skills have I developed?

What makes me stand out from other applicants?

Identify your key skills

One of the most important things to include in your resume summary is your key skills. These are the abilities that set you apart from other candidates and demonstrate your value to potential employers. Begin by making a list of your top skills, then prioritize them based on relevance to the job you're applying for.

Highlight your relevant experiences

Next, think about relevant experiences that you can include in your summary. This includes any previous jobs or internships, volunteer work, or extracurricular activities that have given you valuable experience. Consider what you've learned and achieved in each role and how that relates to the job you're applying for.

You should focus on what is most relevant to your target job. Here are some examples:

Proven ability to increase sales revenue by 20% year on year

Expertise in project management and team leadership

Proficient in Adobe Creative Cloud and Microsoft 365

Confident working with a diverse range of clients and stakeholders

Keep it concise

Remember, your resume summary should be concise and to the point. Stick to the most important information and avoid filler words or irrelevant details. A good rule of thumb is to keep your summary to 3-5 sentences.

Use action verbs

When describing your experiences and achievements, use strong action verbs and adverbs to convey a sense of accomplishment and momentum. For example, instead of saying, "Responsible for managing social media accounts," say, "Successfully manages social media accounts."

Quantify your achievements

Wherever possible, use numbers and statistics to quantify your achievements. This provides concrete evidence of your skills and demonstrates your value to potential employers. For example, instead of saying, "Helped to increase sales," say, "Helped to increase sales by 20% in the first year."

Tailor it to the job

Make sure your resume summary is tailored to the job you're applying for. This means highlighting the skills and experiences that are most relevant to the role. Look at the job description and identify the key requirements, and then make sure your summary addresses these points.

Professional resume summary examples

Since there's nothing quite like seeing an example of a great summary, we've compiled twenty-seven great resume summary examples that you can use as inspirational templates for your own perfect resume . Below, you'll find summary examples for a variety of different job roles, including:

Customer Service Representative

Sales Representative

Marketing Manager

Project Manager

Software Developer

Human Resources Manager

Graphic Designer

Registered Nurse

Financial Analyst

Administrative Assistant

Data Entry Clerk 

Business Analyst

Operations Manager 

Mental Health Counselor

High School Teacher

Event Manager

Digital Marketing Manager

Content Marketer

SEO Specialist

Bank Teller

Software Support Specialist

Data Scientist

Dental Assistant

1.     Customer Service Representative resume summary example

"Highly motivated Customer Service Representative with 5 years of experience in delivering service excellence. Skilled in conflict resolution and problem-solving, resulting in a 95% customer satisfaction rate. Proven ability to multitask in fast-paced environments while maintaining accuracy and attention to detail."

Why it works : This summary highlights the candidate's experience and skills while also showcasing their relevant achievements in ensuring customer satisfaction. It mentions how much experience they have and calls out a measurable success.

2.     Sales Representative resume summary example

"Dynamic Sales Representative with a track record of exceeding sales quotas by 20%+. Proficient in consultative sales techniques and relationship building. Exceptional communication and negotiation skills with the ability to close deals."

Why it works : This summary provides a quantifiable achievement to show the candidate's success in their previous sales roles while also highlighting their key skills in relationship building and communication.

3.     Marketing Manager resume summary example

"Strategic Marketing Manager with 7+ years of experience in developing and executing successful marketing campaigns across multiple channels. Skilled in market research and analysis, campaign optimization, and team leadership. Proven track record of driving revenue growth and increasing brand awareness."

Why it works : This summary emphasizes the candidate's experience and leadership skills while also showcasing their ability to drive results through successful marketing campaigns. The candidate has also demonstrated their ability to grow revenues and raise brand awareness.

4.     Project Manager resume summary example

"Accomplished Project Manager, with confidence in leading cross-functional teams and managing project timelines, budgets, and resources. Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to build relationships with stakeholders. Proven track record of delivering projects on time and within budget."

Why it works : This summary highlights the candidate's extensive project management experience and emphasizes their ability to successfully deliver projects while working with multiple stakeholders.

5.     Software Developer resume summary example

"Innovative Software Developer with 5+ years of experience in designing, developing, and implementing complex software applications. Skilled in programming languages including Java, Python, and C++. Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively in Agile environments to deliver high-quality code on time."

Why it works : This job seeker has taken the time to highlight some of the technical skills they possess, while emphasizing their ability to work in Agile environments. They also call attention to the fact that they can take a software development project from design to implementation.

6.     Human Resources Manager resume summary example

"Experienced Human Resources Manager specializing in talent acquisition, employee relations, and performance management. Skilled in developing and implementing HR policies and procedures that align with business objectives and values. Proven track record of building and managing high-performing teams."

Why it works : This summary highlights the candidate's experience in various HR functions and emphasizes their ability to build and manage teams. It also shows that they can perform managerial functions like developing policies and procedures.

7.     Graphic Designer resume summary example

"Creative Graphic Designer with particular expertise in developing and executing visually stunning designs for print and digital media. Proficient in Adobe Creative Cloud, with a focus on typography and layout. Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously."

Why it works : This summary works well because it showcases their technical skills and experience while also emphasizing creativity and an ability to work collaboratively.

8.     Registered Nurse resume summary example

"Compassionate Registered Nurse with over 10 years' experience in providing high-quality patient care. Skilled at patient assessment, medication administration, and treatment plan development. Strong communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to build rapport with patients and their families."

Why it works : This summary emphasizes the candidate's clinical and patient care experience and highlights their key nursing and interpersonal skills.

9.     Financial Analyst resume summary example

“Detail-oriented Financial Analyst with a strong background in financial modeling, data analysis, and forecasting. Combines advanced Excel skills with the ability to create and manage financial reports. Able to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams.”

Why it works : This summary showcases the applicant's specific skills and experience in financial analysis and highlights their proficiency in Excel, a crucial tool for the role.

10.  Administrative Assistant resume summary example

“Skilled Administrative Assistant with 8 years of experience in administrative support and office administration. Resilient, detail-oriented, and able to work under extreme pressure in a team environment. Excellent interpersonal, client management, and interdepartmental liaison skills. Committed to successful management of multiple simultaneous projects, strict adherence to deadline requirements, and accurate maintenance of schedules, meeting obligations, and records.”

Why it works : An Administrative Assistant wears many hats and experiences many challenges. This resume summary covers a lot of ground to demonstrate that the candidate understands those obstacles and knows how to overcome them.

11.  Data Entry Clerk resume summary example

“Task-driven and results-oriented professional with more than 10 years of experience in data entry, project coordination, and customer service. Uses interpersonal skills including effective communication to build rapport and positive relations with customers, gather vital information, and ensure rapid and accurate entry of data into designated software programs.”

Why it works : This resume summary is effective because it gets right to the heart of the job: dealing with customers and entering data into databases. The candidate also emphasizes their results-focused mindset, project skills, and key soft skills.

12.  Business Analyst resume summary example

“Results-driven Business Analyst with a proven record in expanding profitability by 55% in the retail industry.  Confident carrying out data-focused analysis that provides key insights and recommendations for growth strategies. Strong interpersonal and team building skills, innovative approach to problem-solving , and resolute commitment to efficiency and productivity.”

Why it works : Business analysis is all about using data and research to deliver key insights that result in improved operations and greater business success. This summary hits all the right notes as it focuses on key skills, a solutions-oriented mindset, and notable achievements that reflect real value for employers.

13.  Operations Manager resume summary example

“Results-oriented Operations Manager with more than 10 years of supervisory experience in high-level operational environments. Adept at coordinating both large and small teams, outside consultants, and mid-level management personnel. Successfully introduced Lean manufacturing principles that reduced costs by 32% via waste elimination and process revitalization.”

Why it works : This candidate's summary emphasizes key skills that the employer wants to see in any managerial candidate, while also showcasing their knowledge of best operational practices and a commitment to cost reduction.

14.  Mental Health Counselor resume summary example

“Compassionate Mental Health Counselor with more than a decade of experience addressing mental health issues and behavioral concerns. Proven success in both individual and group counseling environments, assisting clients in gaining insight and understanding of their unique conditions. Specialized focus on working with young adults and families, with an emphasis on addressing substance abuse root causes and other social factors involved in mental health.”

Why it works : This resume summary is notable for citing important skills like empathy and compassion. It also focuses attention on the candidate's experience in dealing with common mental health concerns and hints at their preferred approach to assisting patients.

15.  High School Teacher resume summary example

“Dynamic high school teacher with 12 years of experience developing approved curricula for more than 500 students in grades 9-12. Proven track record of helping students to achieve a 98% passing rate in both Western Civilization and World History instruction. Actively engaged in every aspect of education, at the district, local, and parent-teacher level.”

Why it works : This candidate's resume summary highlights their vast experience, while illustrating their success in ensuring that their students learn what they need to know to pass the class. They also demonstrate their commitment to the educational process by highlighting their involvement in every area of education.

16.  Accountant resume summary example

“Diligent and detail-oriented CPA with seven years of experience in accounting, process improvement, and problem-solving. Skilled at identifying inefficiencies and using reporting to offer insights that can guide employers to better practices and greater profitability. At XYZ Corp., identified labor usage inefficiency that motivated management to introduce new scheduling that eliminated $300,000 in labor waste.”

Why it works : In addition to highlighting a wide range of valuable skills, this candidate also focused on a quantifiable achievement that illustrates real value. This type of summary would certainly capture a hiring manager's attention and make them want to read more!

17.  Event Manager resume summary example

“Resilient and creative Event Manager with 6 years of corporate experience. Detail-oriented perfectionist with experience in project management, team leadership, and customer relations. Successfully organized and executed more than 40 major business conferences, hosting thousands of guests. Major clients have included three Fortune 500 firms with multi-million-dollar event budgets.

Why it works : As Event Managers go, this one has certainly made the rounds. That summary of achievements highlights their ability to manage even large-scale events, dealing with every aspect of the project. How could a serious hiring manager not want to learn more about this candidate?

18.  IT Manager resume summary example

“Dedicated IT Manager with significant experience in an innovative and growing tech firm. Skilled leader with experience in systems analysis, database architecture, problem-solving, and troubleshooting. Superior client satisfaction rate of more than 99%. Created and implemented IT troubleshooting process that reduced internal client service time by 30%.”

Why it works : This IT professional focuses attention on their key leadership skills , while also mentioning the hard skills that any hiring manager is likely to be looking for. There's also a nice nod to their history of satisfying clients, as well as a notable and measurable achievement.

19.  Product Designer resume summary example

“Innovative Design Engineer with 5 years of experience in the development of products and packages. Skilled in market research, brand development and alignment, and design elements. Led team of seventeen Designers in the creation of industrial products that yielded $20 million in sales in the first month after launch.”

Why it works : This resume summary uses some important keywords, action verbs, and descriptive language to describe the candidate's key skills and experiences. It also cites an impressive product design achievement, along with real numbers that showcase value.

20.  Content Marketer resume summary example

“Creative marketing professional with 7 years' experience as a Content Marketer. Skilled writer who understands how written communication empowers business growth and expansion. Expertise in development of compelling content that drives activities across multiple media channels. Adaptable , detail-oriented, and focused on a brand-building approach to content strategy that drives real results. Developed a cross-platform content strategy that boosted sales conversion rates by 37%.

Why it works : This Content Marketer focuses on their key skills and keen insights into how content impacts business profitability. They even included a measurable result that demonstrates their focus on adding value to their employer's bottom line.

21.  SEO Specialist resume summary example

“Results-focused SEO expert with 6 years of experience in keyword mastery, the promotion of sustainable content, and growing organic website search engine rankings. Proven track record of SEO success, using content development and link outreach to expand website traffic activity from 10,000 daily visitors to more than 2,000,000 per year.”

Why it works : Many hiring managers may not fully understand SEO, but they will understand the need to get more eyes on their digital content. This candidate speaks to that need by focusing on website rankings, content, and overall web traffic - while including a quantifiable achievement that demonstrates their ability to make things happen.

22.  Copywriter resume summary example

“Website Copywriter with 5 years of experience in developing content that creates real conversions. Cross-channel expertise including website content, advertising, newsletters, press releases, email, and podcast / video scripts. Proven track record of increasing social traffic by 36% and driving a 22% boost in landing page conversions.”

Why it works : This candidate's summary is focused not only on the type of things they write, but how those content pieces directly contribute to the company's online presence and sales conversion rate. This illustrates the writer's understanding of how their work aligns with their employer's business needs and goals.

23.  Bank Teller resume summary example

“Empathetic and personable Bank Teller with more than 4 years of experience in client interactions at First Bank. Detail-oriented customer management approach, focused on superior customer experiences and client retention. Strict adherence to bank policy, including safety deposit guidelines, customer account security, and due diligence. Efficiently and effectively processed more than 200 client account interactions each day.”

Why it works : For a Bank Teller, much of the role's value lies in the employee's ability to serve as the face of the branch. This summary is effective because it showcases the Teller's knowledge of bank procedures, while also highlighting their commitment to creating an excellent customer experience.

24.  Software Support Specialist resume summary example

“Problem-solving Software Support Specialist with 8 years of experience in customer-facing user assistance. Provided key problem resolution services for hundreds of customers, with a focus on maximizing their satisfaction with the company to increase loyalty and retention. Experienced in both customer and B2B interactions, with a specialized talent for explaining technical problems in language that is easily understood by the average layperson.”

Why it works : This resume summary focuses not only on the candidate's specialized skills in solving computer issues, but also highlights their ability to simplify their explanations to customers.

25.  Data Scientist resume summary example

“Committed Data Scientist focused on analytical insights that can drive company growth and development. More than eight years of experience providing data-driven analysis to Fortune 500 executives, based on comprehensive statistical models and detailed historical data patterns. Successfully provided insights and recommendations used to increase company profits by 32% over a two-year period.”

Why it works : Data science may not seem like the most exciting field, but hiring managers are always on the hunt for candidates who understand why data matters. This candidate's focus on providing insights that can translate into real value for the employer is something that is likely to earn a hiring manager's interest.

26.  Dental Assistant resume summary example

“Dental Assistant with 5 years of experience with patient preparation, processing, and administrative support. Keen attention to detail and a commitment to dental health and aesthetics. Skilled in dental impressions, hands-on assistance during procedures, x-rays, and record maintenance. Fully committed to developing rapport with patients that creates a welcoming environment and a joyful experience.”

Why it works : This candidate's resume summary not only highlights key Dental Assistant requirements, but also conveys their personal approach to teamwork and patient care.

27.  Architect resume summary example

“Creative Architect experienced in high-end architectural design and development oversight. Ten years of proven success in creating sustainable designs that earn rave reviews and commendations from clients. Skilled in adapting to new challenges and working under pressure to achieve every client's vision. Consistently produces designs and project plans that come in on time and under budget, at 10%-30% less cost than industry competitors.”

Why it works : In this summary, the candidate highlights key skills that employers will want to see, while also emphasizing quantifiable results that demonstrate competitive value for the employer. They also showcase their ability to not only design architectural structures but to do so with a conscious awareness of critical factors like budgetary concerns, deadlines, sustainability and market competition.

Bonus: how to write a resume summary if you have no experience

Of course, it's also important to know how to write a resume summary if you have no experience. Here's a quick resume summary example that you can adapt if you are just entering the job market:

“Recent Marketing graduate, seeking an entry-level position to kickstart a career in the field. Demonstrated strong leadership and teamwork skills gained through involvement in various extracurricular activities, including volunteering at local events and leading group projects. Proficient in Microsoft 365 and Adobe Creative Cloud. Passionate about using marketing strategies to create engaging content and drive brand awareness.”

Why it works: This summary works because it highlights the candidate's relevant hard and soft skills and qualifications, even though they don't have direct career experience. The use of action words such as "demonstrated" and "proficient" shows the candidate's confidence in their abilities, which can be attractive to potential employers, showcasing the candidate's potential for success in an entry-level marketing role.

Key takeaways

A well-written resume summary can make a significant impact on a job application. A good summary should highlight relevant skills and experiences, use clear and concise language, and avoid unnecessary information. Feel free to customize any of the resume summary examples we've provided to help ensure that your resume captures the attention of potential employers.

We know it can be difficult to condense a whole career full of skills and achievements into a paragraph of only a few sentences. If you're unsure about the document you've crafted, why not send it for a free resume review by our team of expert resume writers? 

Recommended reading:

Ask Amanda: How Are a Resume Objective and a Resume Summary Different?

How to Write a Standout Career Summary

Business Acumen: What It Is and How You Can Showcase It On Your Resume

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How to Create a Resume With No Education

Why You Lose When You Lie on Your Resume: Learning From Mina Chang

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