How To Make Your Essay Longer: Our Top Tips
Struggling to hit the word count? Check out our tips on how to lengthen your essay effectively.
When trying to get through an essay or dissertation with a hefty word count, it’s easy to sit staring at your screen trying to figure the best way to fill that dreaded word count.
It can be difficult to elaborate on the point you’re making when you already feel like you’re saying everything you need to say. Luckily, we’ve got all the tips and tricks to help, from expanding arguments, varying sentence structure and enhancing your writing style.
These can make the world of difference and get you one step closer to meeting that looming word count.
Last updated: 24th January 2025
In this article:
- Understanding your essay requirements
- Expanding on your points
- Enhancing your writing style
- Reviewing and refining your essay
Understand your essay requirements
Before you even get started with your essay, it’s so important to make sure you understand all the essay requirements. Hopefully if you’re reading this retrospectively, you’ve already covered these points. If not, then think of it as a good checklist for your next essay!
Know your word count target
First things first, what are you actually aiming for? Your lecturer or teacher should be able to let you know what the word count is. Write this at the top of your essay so you always have it in your mind to refer back to.
Top tip: most essays will allow for a 10% leeway on the word count each way. So if you have a 2000 word essay due, you can always aim for 1800 if you’re really struggling. But check this with your teacher or lecturer as requirements can differ.
Analyse the essay question
A crucial way to make sure you’re on the right track with your essay is to analyse the essay question before you start.
Essay questions are usually made up of three components:
- Instruction
- Subject
- Focus or limit
The instruction is usually the first word, for example, ‘discuss’, ‘examine’, ‘analyse’. These each have subtle meanings that are important to work out:
| Instruction words | What they want you to do |
|---|---|
| Discuss | Explore the argument around this topic, look at for and against |
| Examine | Read between the lines |
| Analyse | Look at all aspects of your answer to the topic |
| Compare | Explore the similarities and differences – if the question specifies, give an answer of which is better (or preferable) |
| Prove | Think LOTS of evidence for a persuasive argument |
| Summarise | Give a concise overview without any added fluff or waffle |
The subject comes after the instruction, and is the main topic or issue that you’ll be looking at within the essay.
The focus or limit, as the name suggests, is the scope of what you need to examine in your essay. This could be a time period or demographic or event. This really helps define your structure and is key to staying on topic. Because you don’t earn any points for waffling.
Identify the key points to cover
After you’ve analysed the essay question, you should be able to pinpoint some key areas you want to focus on. Write these headings down and then you can split your word count between them.
This helps create more manageable chunks, and if you find that it’s still not enough words, some of these can be used in the introduction and conclusion. Manageable chunks of work can be a game changer if you’re trying to study and have ADHD. It can also help fend off any academic burnout by making it into smaller sections to tackle.
The instruction can help you work out the ideal structure, while the focus or limit means you’ll stay right on track without going off topic.
Expand your content strategically
If you’re at this stage, you’ve analysed your question, got your structure down, but still struggling to hit the word count, let’s check out the content of your essay.
Elaborate on your main ideas
Read through your ideas, was there anything that didn’t make the initial cut? Have you explored all potential literature to include? Have a search online of your topic to see if there’s any potential ideas you may have missed.
Another tactic is to build on the evidence you’ve collected from literature or other sources to include and discuss. So if, for example, you’re writing about 20th century dystopian fiction and you’re focusing on three main titles, are there any other titles you could cross-reference to and draw comparisons from? Any other major themes that are apparent on a wider scale? Most of the time, it’ll be an interesting and relevant context to include.
Just make sure you don’t go off on a tangent because worse than a low word count is an irrelevant essay.
Include counter arguments
Obviously if you’ve got an essay question with a ‘comparison’ instruction then chances are you’re doing this already. But for other types of questions, it’s always interesting to explore counter arguments.
This can be really interesting in a literature review to find comments or studies in response to a different study. It expands on your original citation but offers a unique perspective. Top marks if you can find responses on two different ends of the spectrum too. This gives you an opportunity to weigh in with your own conclusion based on what you’ve looked at.
If you’re finding it hard to look up responses, check the citations of the study you’re looking at.
Enhance your writing style
Once you’ve done this, it’s a good time to step back and review how you write your essays. By enhancing your writing style, it could add some extra length without too much effort.
Use descriptive language or improve examples
This can be a tricky one to pull off, but can work for creative subjects. If you can use descriptive language, then go for it. But use with caution as this can easily fall into the ‘waffle’ category.
Another way of looking at it is to gather more evidence from a text you’re studying. This gives you more opportunity to build on your arguments but also stay relevant to your topic or key area of focus. If anything, it can help make for a stronger argument.
Vary your sentence structure
By switching out one or two words to create a more formal sentence structure, you will not only sound more professional and academic, but it also increases your word count.
It can be as simple as replacing “like” to “along the lines of”, “in fact” to “as a matter of fact” and “twice” to “on two separate occasions”.
If you’ve done all of the above and are still struggling to meet your word count, look to expand on your introduction and conclusion rather than the body of the essay.
A lot of teachers and markers will give more leeway for the introduction and conclusion to be wordy than the main body of the essay, so fluffing them out a bit will get you closer to your word count in such a simple way.
Incorporate transitional phrases
A lot of the time, teachers or lecturers grading essays will look for traditional words linking sentences together, such as “therefore”, “even though” and “on the other hand”.
Read back through your work and make sure the sentences flow nicely into each other. If they don’t, add in some transitional phrases and, not only will your writing be easier to read, you’ll also be closer to the minimum word count.
You’ll be surprised how much the flow and style of your writing can help your marks. If your argument flows well, then it’s likely to be well-considered, thought through and a high scorer. As well as hitting that all-important word count.
Reviewing and refining your essay
If you’ve followed all the tips above then you’re probably at your edit stage now. Ultimately this is the part that matters about getting a good score on your essay, but did you know this is also where you can add some word count too?
Edit for clarity and conciseness
Editing is so important when you’re writing an essay. It shows that you’ve proofread your work to identify any simple mistakes like spelling or grammar. But it also shows that you’ve clearly pinpointed the most important areas to focus on, for the best possible answer to the question.
Proofreading your work by reading it aloud can be useful, you’re more likely to catch mistakes or where sentences don’t flow as well as they could. It also takes some of the longest and most intense concentration time, so don’t be afraid to split this up into chunks. Pomodoro timers and other study apps are great tools to optimise your studying.
You’ll also be able to sense where your strongest points are. So it’s here you can take note and see if you can apply the similar structure or points to areas that need improvement.
Seek feedback from others
Maybe your housemates don’t care about 15th century Russia, but they can be a great earpiece for listening out for any overly complex sentences or points you’re making. Definitely helps if you promise to wash their dishes for a week too.
If you think you need help with the points you’re covering, why not set up a small study group with your classmates? You’ll all be focusing on similar areas or at least the same subject, so they can be a great option to bounce ideas off before your submission.
Make final adjustments
At this point, you’ll probably find that you actually need to cut words down rather than build them up.
But if you’re still struggling to meet the word count, it might be worth asking if you fully understand the subject you’re writing about. Scheduling a meeting (ideally not the day before your essay submission) with your tutor, lecturer or teacher, to discuss how you’ve set up your essay could be useful. They’ll likely be able to tell you if you’re on the right track, or where points could be developed further.
While it doesn’t usually add to your word count, it’s also important to make sure you’re referencing your essay correctly. This will cost you marks if you don’t, so don’t skip it.
If you’ve managed to hit your word count and submit your essay, well done. Now why not treat yourself to something new for all your hard work. Don’t forget to use your student discount on all your favourite brands.
