How Short Is Too Short for an Essay – 2024 Guide

Short essays are a part of high school and college assignments. However, because students are still learning, they don’t understand the meaning of short essays. There is a limit of words for what is called short and what is long.

In addition to this, the word limit varies on the writing methods. For example, if you are writing a research paper, the limits are different. Similarly, short essays for high schoolers are different from those in college.

So if things are getting too difficult for you, you can always ask for professionals. There are professional writers who know the best about the word count and what to include in the writing. For example, wr1ter.com. There you will find professional writers who know about the best writing techniques.

All you need to do is to go to their website and choose your academic level, the deadline and the number of pages you want. This will give you the price that you need to pay. Pay the fees and you will get your essay on time.

But you need to tell them the number of pages you want. So let’s discuss it further.

Essay lengths

The length of an essay varies on the type of essay and the school’s demands. Sometimes, your school has specific criteria. So if the teacher is telling you to write 500 words, you need to do so. There will be guidelines to follow and things will be easier for you.

So here are some basic guidelines;

1. The average word count for high school essays is 300 to 1000 words. So if you have to write a short essay, it should not be less than 300 words.
2. The word count range for a college admission essay is 200 to 650 words.
3. For undergraduate college essays, the word count should be between 1500 to 5000 words.
4. As for the graduate school admission essay, it should be 500 to 1000 words.

These are the basic criteria for short essays. However, apart from the word count, you should also follow the writing format. You have to write short but you need to make sure that you cover every detail that must be in there.

Writing format for short essays

If you are writing a short essay, it does not mean that you need to pay attention only to the words. Despite being short, the essay must include all the important and essential details. Here is the format that you need to follow;

1. The first thing that you need to do is to select your topic and the material available for it.
2. If there is sufficient material available on the topic and it is of your interest.
3. You should start writing from the introduction of the topic.
4. The second paragraph should include important details. You can write two to three paragraphs for details on the topic.
5. The last paragraph should conclude the whole topic. In short words, you should write a very short summary of what you have written in the whole passage.

Things you need to do

Once you get the assignment, you should start working on it.

1 – Do some research

If your teacher has assigned topics, it will be easier for you to look for materials on them. However, if you are supposed to find the topic yourself, you need to work on it first. So you will first look for the topics that might seem interesting. You can search for your subject and look for the topics related to it.

Once you finalize your topic, you need to research the articles and research done on it. It would be better if you find the latest research studies. The latest, the better.

2 – Brainstorming

You need to brainstorm the ideas that you want to write about. There will be a lot of data available on the web. However, you cannot write everything about your topic. Therefore, you need to plan out some headings. You won’t label the paragraphs in a short essay but you need to make paragraphs according to the topics.

You will start by introducing your topic and then? Your body paragraphs should make complete sense. Therefore, you need to brainstorm the ideas that you want to discuss.

3 – Start writing

Now you have done your research work, you have your topic and the relevant material. Now you have to start writing. Because you have all the material ready, writing won’t be difficult now.

4 – Proofreading

After writing your short essay, you need to proofread it to make sure that there are no mistakes. The paragraphs must be in accordance with each other. In addition to this, you might have made some spelling or grammatical mistakes. Therefore, it is important that you do proofreading and check for all the possible mistakes.

After proofreading and rechecking, you need to submit your essay.

Some tips for you

For writing a good short essay, you need to follow these tips.

Choose topic wisely

You should not only choose a topic that seems good for research purposes. The topic should be something of your interest. If you are not interested in the topic, you won’t be able to give your best. On the other hand, if you are interested in the topic, you will be able to find its best parts. Therefore, if the topic is of your interest, you will be able to do better research.

Avoid distractions

While you are working on your writing, make sure to sit in a proper study space. A better working environment can yield better results. Therefore, if you are sitting in a proper space, you will be able to concentrate better. However, if you are writing while watching TV, you will be distracted by it. Thus, you will have breaks during your writing and it will be evident in the topic. The paragraphs won’t be in coordination with each other. Therefore, pay attention to these things too.