Essay writing is among the technical academic assignments that have rules and guidelines to follow. For instance, most of the rules will state the font you need to use, the line spacing options, the number of pages, and the number of words, among other guidelines.

It can be stressful when you have the feeling that you have finished your essay, only to realize that you have not yet reached the required word count. Should this happen, what can you do to fix the issue? Remember, you may be running out of time, yet you must submit a well-written paper following all the guidelines. Keep reading as this article features ways how to lengthen an essay to attain the required word count.

Lengthen my essay: how to add more words to an essay

When determining how to increase word count for your essay, it is significant not to use unnecessary phrases to lengthen an essay but to use informative words to lengthen an essay. Also, the words you choose should relate to the topic to bring out a clear meaning. Remember, in any academic assignment, teachers don’t tolerate fluff words and will dismiss your efforts to use such words to attain the required limit. So, the following ways to lengthen an essay will help you upgrade your word count without affecting the quality or changing the meaning:

1. Check if you have missed any section

Well, before you wrote your essay, you must have created the outline first. Well, what if you missed an important section in the outline that is essential to the essay? Or you may realize you assumed some elements that you perceived unnecessary when writing the outline. So, check again, and determine if there is any missing content you need to add to your paper. Again, if you skipped writing the outline, the chances are that you might have skipped some relevant information, and this is an appropriate time to do the missed part.

2. Include more evidence and references

Sometimes when you are done crafting your essay but with a limited word count and wondering how will I lengthen my essay, take chances and start reviewing the points you included in the main body section. Get more references and evidence to support each point. Apart from helping you how to lengthen an essay with words, this technique will help strengthen your essay as it will prove to the reader that you understand how to do the research.

3. Review your paragraphs and add more ideas

Are you wondering how to lengthen your essay when you have finished writing and included every relevant section? Well, start analyzing the paragraphs as you add more content to bring out a clear meaning. If you used complex phrases, this is a perfect opportunity to clarify to the reader as you save their time for finding the meanings.

4. Recheck the introduction and the conclusion

During the writing process, the ideas start flowing in naturally. Now, if you already did the introduction part, the chances are that you might have left out some key elements. Think of varied ideas that will help the reader understand better what your argument is. Still, wondering how to pad out an essay if reviewing the introduction isn’t enough? Well, recheck the conclusion part again. Maybe you had initially summarized everything in a few sentences. You can now review and try summarizing each point you have in your paper, and this will help you lengthen your essay.

5. Let another person proofread your work

Having another person read your essay is a perfect hack to increase your word count. When someone else reads through your work before submission, they are likely to note some confusing parts and unclear phrases. Use the opportunity to add more information as you clarify to the reader.

6. Use quotations

Maybe you have already added some quotes to your paper. However, you can forget some quotes that can fit really well in given sections. Now, you need to re-read through your paper and identify such areas and add the relevant quotes, explaining further for clarity.

Examples of phrases to lengthen an essay and words to lengthen an essay

While some phrases can make your paper fluffy, some add value and word count to your paper. Such phrases include: in other words, that is to say, to that end, furthermore, similarly, among other transitions and phrases to explain a point

Also, when contrasting statements, you can use words like however, in comparison, having said that, among other related phrases.

Conclusion

Writing an essay and ending up with less word count is common among many students. After reading through this article, I hope you can now determine ways to lengthen an essay without affecting the quality.