Need to Make Your Essay Longer Heres How

Need to Make Your Essay Longer Heres How Dont stress over it, it happens to the best of usâ€"youve been given an essay assignment and have procrastinated, leaving you with three pages of writing that should be closer to six pages. A quick Internet search for advice produces questionable suggestions, including changing your font size to 12.5 (dont do it!), adding spaces between words and paragraphs, or increasing the margin sizeâ€"all tricks that your professor has likely seen multiple times and will notice immediately.Most professors know the tricks students use to make essays look longer, such as a larger font and wider margins. Photo by jose aljovin on Unsplash.Before you start going through and doing something so drastic as adding spaces where they shouldnt be, lets look at some more natural (and therefore, less obvious) ways of adding word count to your essay. Here are five tactics that will add word count to your essay quickly and correctly.Include more transitional wordsYou should already have transitional words or ph rases at the beginning of each paragraph in your essay. If you dont, add them as part of improving the overall structure and organization of your writing. But a lot of academic writers dont realize that these transitions can work within paragraphs, as well, to add more logical structure within the paragraphs (instead of simply between them). For example, consider the following paragraph, which is 83 words in length:Example 1In order to create an essay that flows logically, you need to include transition words at the beginning of each paragraph. These transitions arent limited to only the beginning of each new paragraph and can be used throughout the rest of the paragraph to show how each sentence is connected to the one that precedes it and follows it. Including multiple transitions helps readers maintain focus on what theyre reading and helps ensure that the writer focuses on one major idea per paragraph.Now, lets look at that same paragraph with transitional words added, both at t he beginning and throughout the rest of the sentences.Example 2To begin adding additional length and in order to create an essay that flows logically, you need to include transition words at the beginning of each paragraph. However, its important to note that these transitions arent limited to only the beginning of each new paragraph and can be used throughout the rest of the paragraph to show how each sentence is connected to the one that precedes it and follows it. As a matter of fact, including multiple transitions helps readers maintain focus on what theyre reading and additionally, helps ensure that the writer focuses on one major idea per paragraph.By adding transitions throughout, I have taken a paragraph from 83 words to 101 words through a relatively simple process. If you do this to each paragraph, you can add a significant number of words without doing much extra writing. Note that if you are being graded on the succinctness of your writing, your professor might argue tha t adding so many transitions makes your writing wordy. However, a teacher with even the most stringent grading policy must take into account that transitions at the beginning of paragraphs are necessary.Here is a list of some commonly used transition words that can be used for this purpose:…when in factAbove allAccordinglyAdditionallyAdmittedlyAfter (this)AfterwardsAll else being equalAll the sameAlsoAlthoughAltogetherAnd yetAnywayAsAs (was) mentioned earlier/aboveAs (was) stated beforeAs a consequenceAs a final pointAs a matter of factAs a result (of this)As for (this)As well asAs/So long asAt any rateBe that as it mayBecause (of the fact that)Because (of this)BesidesButBy the same tokenBy the wayBy way of contrastCoincidentallyConcerning (this)ConsequentlyConsidering (this)ConverselyDespite (this)Due to (the fact that)Either wayEquallyEspeciallyEven moreEven soEven thoughEventuallyFinallyFirst of allFirst/Second/ThirdForFor example/instanceFor the purpose(s) ofFor the reason tha tFor this reasonFurthermoreGiven these pointsGranted (that)Granting (that)HenceHoweverIf soIf…thenIn a similar wayIn addition toIn any caseIn any eventIn conclusionIn contrastIn factIn order that/toIn other wordsIn particularIn spite of (this)In summaryIn that caseIn the (first/second/third) placeIn the event thatIn the hope thatIn the same wayInasmuch asIncidentallyIndeedInitiallyInstead (of)LastLikewiseLooking at (this information)More/Most importantlyMoreoverNamelyNeverthelessNextNonethelessNot only…but alsoNotablyNotwithstanding (this)On the contraryOn the other handOn the subject of (this)Once againOne example (of this is)Only ifOr at leastOr ratherOtherwiseOverallOwing to (the fact)ParticularlyPreviouslyPrimarilyProvided (that)Regarding (this)Regardless (of this)Regardless (of)Returning to the subjectSecondlySignificantlySimilarlySinceSo as toSo much (so) thatSpecificallyStillSubsequentlySummarizing (this)That being the caseThat is (to say)The fact thatThereforeThirdlyThis means (that)ThusTo concludeTo illustrateTo put (it) another wayTo repeatTo resumeTo start withTo sum upUltimatelyUnder those circumstancesUnlessWhat this means isWhatever happensWhereasWhileWith (this fact) in mindWith regards to (this)Write a reverse outlineAfter the bulk of your paper has been written, going back through and creating a reverse outline can help you find gaps in your writing that could be further developed and filled by additional information or examples. Its as simple as reading back through what youve written and creating an outline of the major ideas, topics and subtopics youve included. If youve provided an example, include that on your reverse outline, as well.Reverse outlining also helps you find paragraphs that might contain more than one major idea. When this happens, youll need to divide the paragraph into more than one paragraph and further develop the points within them, ensuring that each paragraph has a topic sentence that matches what the rest of the paragraph is about.Use expert quotesOne of the easiest ways to add to the word count of an essay is by including expert quotes. Not only do such quotes show that you have considered the thoughts and opinions of others who are well-read on the topic youre writing on, it also can add considerable length to a paper, especially if you include multiple quotes from several different sources.Using expert quotes can add considerable length to a paper, especially if you include multiple quotes from several different sources. Photo by Rita Morais on Unsplash.Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing quotes and adding them to your essay:Be sure that the quote is applicable to the topic in general, and to the paragraph youre adding it to, in specific.Include quotation marks and the proper citation for each quote. Not doing so is plagiarism.If a quote is more than three lines, put it in block quote format.Separate multiple quotes with your own writing in between, perhaps as commentary on the substance of the quote previously noted.Use multiple examples to back up your argumentIn the same sense that using expert quotes adds to your essays word count as well as the thoroughness of your research, using examples and anecdotes to expand on your hypotheses is a great way to provide proof for your argument. However, this doesnt have to be limited to one example per point youre making. Consider this: if you are writing a sociology paper about the dangers of social media use for adolescents, you should be able to find several anecdotes of how teenagers have been put in danger in various ways through their social media use. Along with these anecdotes, you can provide expert quotes (or quotes from the teenagers, themselves) to make your argument more solid and add word count to an essay thats too short.Read your writing aloudFinally, and after all of the above tactics have been used, read your essay out loud. This achieves two purposes. First, it allows you to proofread and check for any obvious mistakes that might remain after the initial first draft writing phase. Second, reading it aloud helps you to check for any areas that might not flow well (this is easier to hear than see) so you can add to them to achieve a better flow and organization to your writing.