Have you ever finished writing your essay and use an online word counter to check the number of words in your essay? But, then you fell that you are way behind the required word count. If anyone’s been there, they’ll grasp that feeling of absolute disappointment when you’re close to the finish line yet so far.
Word counts matter as a result of they produce a level-playing field for all students. They make sure that each student is given a similar range of words to create their point.
one amongst the foremost common challenges students face is that the inability to fulfill the required word count, particularly within the case of long-form essays or analysis papers. So if you're wondering how to make your essay longer than it actually is, we'll tell you what you should and shouldn't do to hit the word count.
One of the most nerve-wracking parts of academic writing is reducing your hard-earned draft to the limit of one page, one word, or one character. This process can be even more stressful when you're under pressure to meet a deadline of just a few hours.
Simple writing is the key to clear and concise content. But good writing is a craft that cannot be mastered in a short amount of time before a deadline.
If you're short on free time, small changes to your text can free up the space you need.
Here are some simple tricks you can use to quickly wrap your text to reach the limit.
- Delete "The"
You can often omit the word “the” from your text that you are using in your word file without losing any meaning.
Example:
Original: the clarity of your writing depends on both the content and the style. (13 words, 70 characters)
Revised: the clarity of your writing depends on both content and style. (11 words, 62 characters)
- Erase “that”
Similarly, the word “that” is often overused in writing and can be deleted with ease.
Example:
Original: we found that cells that express the mutated protein migrate across the barrier faster than wild-type cells. (17 words, 108 characters)
Revised: we found cells expressing the mutated protein migrated across the barrier faster than wild-type cells. (15 words, 102 characters)
- Remove adverbs and adjectives
Adverbs modify verbs, and adjectives modify nouns. But good words don’t need modifying.
Most adverbs and adjectives weaken strong verbs and nouns, which weaken the power of your writing. Omit unnecessary adverbs and adjectives to make your writing stronger and more concise.
Example:
Original: the entire treatment lasted for four days, and the drug greatly improved the health of patients. (16 words, 96 characters)
Revised: the treatment lasted for four days, and the drug improved the health of patients. (14 words, 81 characters)
- Use shorter words
Resist the temptation to use long words where short ones will do. Instead of investigate, facilitate, or utilize, simply use study, help, or use.
Example:
Original: we investigated whether utilizing the drug would facilitate improvements in health. (11 words, 83 characters)
Revised: we studied whether using the drug would help improve health. (10 words, 60 characters)
- Trim wordy phrases
Clear out the clutter in your writing. Look for needless words you can delete and lengthy phrases you can shorten.
Example:
Original: during the course of the study, the majority of cells died in response to treatment with the drug. (18 words, 98 characters)
Revised: during the study, most cells died after treatment with the drug. (11 words, 64 characters)
- Choose active voice
Active voice uses less words than passive voice. And active voice makes your writing clearer and more compelling, helping you tell a powerful story.
Example:
Passive: the samples were collected by the researcher. (7 words, 45 characters)
Active: the researcher collected the samples. (5 words, 37 characters)
- Revise Needless Transitions
Transitions can help maintain the flow of your writing—and make your reader’s job easy. But some transitions (e.g., indeed, then, furthermore) can be deleted with ease.
Example:
Original: Indeed, we discovered that the mutated protein affected heart function. (10 words, 71 characters)
Revised: We discovered that the mutated protein affected heart function. (9 words, 63 characters)
- Eliminate conjunctions
Conjunctions (e.g., and, or, but, however) connect two independent statements that can often be rewritten as two separate sentences.
Example:
Original: patients treated with drug x had no symptoms after 3 days, and patients treated with drug y had no symptoms after 7 days. (23 words, 121 characters)
Revised: patients treated with drug x had no symptoms after 3 days. Patients treated with drug y had no symptoms after 7 days. (22 words, 117 characters)
- Rewrite running starts
Sometimes writers like to get a head start on a sentence by using phrases such as “there are,” “it is,” and “the fact that.” these phrases can be rewritten to shorten your text and make your writing more direct and concise.
Example:
Original: it has been reported that the cells migrate faster when treated with the drug. (14 words, 78 characters)
Revised: the cells migrate faster when treated with the drug. (9 words, 52 characters)
- Target paragraphs with widows and orphans
When dealing with page limits, a great trick to gaining an entire line is attacking paragraphs with “dangling words,” also known as widows or orphans.
A widow is a lone word or short group of words that appears at the bottom of a paragraph, column, or page. An orphan is a similar unwanted word or short group of words that appears at the top of a page.
Look for paragraphs with just a few words at the end and focus on how you can shorten them to gain an extra line of space.
Example:
Original: The mute protein greatly decreased cell function.
Revised: The mute protein decreased cell function.
Bottom line: cut the clutter
One of the greatest challenges in writing is cutting words. But there is a simple rule you can follow: make sure the words you use add meaning. If you can remove words without losing the importance of the statement, delete them.
Note: You can refer youtube for better understanding this concept.