average extended essay length

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• How Long is Extended Essay? Minimum and Maximum Word Count

The International Baccalaureate Extended Essay is a challenging, independent research project that allows students to explore a topic of their choice within the context of one of the six available subject areas. This essay provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate the depth of their knowledge and understanding on an individual topic, and to develop their critical and independent thinking skills.

Extended essays are an essential part of the IB Diploma, since they allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding on a certain topic. Students must be aware of the criteria and guidelines for each subject before starting their research and writing.

• The main components of an IB Extended Essay are:
• Formulating a research question
• Gathering evidence from reliable sources
• Organizing evidence into a coherent argument
• Drawing conclusions based on facts
• Presenting the essay in a structural format

Students should also be aware of the assessment criteria which will be used to grade their work. This includes criteria such as focus and purpose, organization and structure, as well as content, referencing and accuracy.

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Overview of Requirements for Extended Essays

Writing an International Baccalaureate Extended Essay can be a daunting task. This essay is an important part of the IB Diploma Program and can have a significant impact on your overall score. To help you succeed, it’s important to understand the requirements for a successful Extended Essay.

There are certain guidelines and criteria that you must adhere to in order to successfully complete your essay. The most important guideline is the word count limit, which states that the essay should be between 1500 and 4000 words. This includes all text, headings and citations.

It is also important to structure your essay correctly. The essay should include a title page, an introduction and a conclusion, as well as two to four body sections describing and analyzing the topic you’re writing about. Each body section should contain evidence from at least two sources, such as scholarly articles, books or official websites.

When writing the essay, it is important to present your arguments clearly and concisely. Break up your text with headings that clearly identify each section. Additionally, use good grammar, short sentences and paragraphs – no longer than three to five lines.

Last but not least, make sure to cite all sources used accurately and consistently. While MLA format is generally preferred, it is also important to check with your teacher which citation style they prefer.

By following these guidelines, you can ensure that your Extended Essay meets the requirements and stands out from the crowd. Good luck!

Word Count:

An IB Extended Essay should have a minimum of 1,500 words and a maximum of 4,000 words. It is important to stay within the specified word count , as going over the limit can lead to lower grades.

When writing your extended essay, it is important to make sure that each paragraph is well structured and contains only relevant information. Each paragraph should be around 200-300 words in length, and include evidence from reliable sources.

It is also important to keep track of your word count throughout the writing process. This way you can make sure you are not exceeding the limit or leaving out any key points.

Finally, when you have finished writing, make sure to read through your essay one more time and edit it for typos, grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes. This will help to ensure that your essay is being assessed according to the correct criteria.

By following these tips, you can make sure that your IB Extended Essay meets the specified word limit and has a clear structure which allows it to be easily understood by readers.

Paragraph Length and Word Count

Writing an IB Extended Essay can be a challenging and complex task. One of the main components is the word count. It is crucial to understand why word count matters, and how long paragraphs should be in order for your essay to be successful.

Word count is necessary because it allows you to stay organized and plan out your ideas. If paragraphs are too short or too long, readers may lose focus and not understand your argument properly. Additionally, having too many short paragraphs can make your essay appear disorganized, while having too many long paragraphs can make it tedious and difficult to read.

The ideal paragraph length is around 5-7 sentences. This will help keep the reader’s attention and provide enough detail to explain your point. However, the length of each paragraph may vary depending on the content, so use your best judgement. Also, make sure that all of your paragraphs are related to the topic, focus on one main idea, and have a clear conclusion.

In conclusion, when writing an IB Extended Essay, it is important to understand why word count matters and how long paragraphs should be. Aim to have paragraphs of around 5-7 sentences, and make sure they are related to each other, focus on one main idea, and have a clear conclusion.

Research for an IB Extended Essay

Conducting research for your IB Extended Essay is a key component of the writing process. The essay should include around 8-12 sources, and they can be either primary or secondary sources. Primary sources are first-hand accounts of an event or topic, while secondary sources are accounts written by someone who is not directly involved.

When selecting sources, make sure they are credible and up to date. Consider sources such as academic journals, books, websites, newspaper articles and other reliable sources. Your sources should be balanced, so include a variety of perspectives on your topic.

When citing sources, use the citation format required by your school and the IB. Making sure to cite your sources will help you avoid plagiarism, which is a serious offense that can cost you points on your final grade.

Once you’ve found some good sources, it’s important to use them effectively. Distinguish between facts and opinions in the sources, and ensure that you are using enough evidence to support your thesis. In addition, don’t forget to cross check and verify any claims made in the sources.

Overall, the research process for an IB Extended Essay requires time and effort, but following these tips will help you find the sources that best fit your topic.

Structure of an IB Extended Essay

An IB Extended Essay requires a clear structure for it to be successful and achieve the highest grades. In order to effectively outline the structure of your extended essay, you need to understand what is expected from each component.

The standard structure for an IB Extended Essay comprises four components – introduction, body, conclusion, and bibliography. Each component is important and must be included in the essay.

Introduction

The introduction should provide an overview of the topic and the main argument or thesis statement. It should also introduce the research question and explain any background context or definitions that are relevant.

The body of your extended essay needs to be structured according to your research question. This can vary depending on the focus of your essay, but generally you will use evidence to back up your arguments and assertions throughout the body. Make sure you cite all sources you use in the text in order to avoid any issues with plagiarism.

The conclusion should summarise your findings and provide a brief explanation of the implications of the research. You should also discuss how your essay has addressed the research question and wrap up any loose ends.

Bibliography

The bibliography is the final component of your extended essay and should include full citations for all sources used in the body and conclusion. Make sure you follow the guidelines of your citation style (e.g. Harvard) when listing the sources.

By outlining the structure of your essay, you’ll ensure that it flows logically and can be easily understood by readers. This will help you make sure that your essay is effective and achieves the highest possible grade.

Time Management for IB Extended Essay Writing

Writing an IB Extended Essay can be an intimidating endeavor, but with the right planning and organization, students can effectively manage their time and produce a quality essay. Creating a timeline, setting deadlines, and following a structure are key components of writing a successful extended essay.

Setting a Timeline & Deadlines

Creating a timeline for completing your essay is critical for staying on track and meeting deadlines. Start by determining how much time you need to do the research, write, and proofread your essay. Break it down into smaller chunks of time so that you can focus on one task at a time. Set realistic deadlines that you can meet and document them somewhere you can reference them.

Staying Within the Word Limit One of the main requirements of the IB Extended Essay is that it must be within a certain word limit. This limit is between 1,500 and 4,000 words depending on the subject you choose. To ensure that you stay within the word limit, you should refer back to the limit regularly and adjust your essay accordingly.

Structuring & organizing.

Structuring your essay in advance gives you a blueprint for the essay which should help you avoid getting off track and make sure that each of the necessary components is included. A good essay should include an introduction, a body with multiple paragraphs, and a conclusion. Be mindful to use topic sentences, transitions, and other writing techniques to organize your thoughts effectively.

Proofreading & Editing

• Allow sufficient time to proofread and edit your essay.
• Reread your essay several times and make revisions as necessary.
• Make sure that your essay is organized and flows well.
• Look for typos, incorrect grammar, punctuation errors, and awkward phrasing.
• Ensure that all sources are correctly cited.

Completing an IB Extended Essay on time is possible with careful planning and organization. Establishing a timeline, setting deadlines, and organizing your work are essential steps in writing a successful extended essay.

Resources to Help Structure and Write Extended Essays

Writing an extended essay can be a daunting task. Fortunately, there are numerous resources available online to help you get started.

Using a template can be a great way to ensure that your extended essay follows the IB standards. Templates provide structure to an extended essay, making it easier for students to organize their thoughts. Many websites offer a variety of templates for extended essays, which can be edited to suit the specific requirements of your essay.

Sample Essays

An excellent way for students to learn about the structure and writing process of an extended essay is by reading sample essays. These essays can provide invaluable insight on the expectations of a quality extended essay. By reading samples written by peers, or viewing examples from international baccalaureate assessment sites, students can get an idea of what a successful extended essay looks like.

Mentorship can be invaluable when it comes to completing an extended essay. Organizations like the International Baccalaureate have advisors that can provide help and guidance on the structure of your essay. Additionally, depending on your school, you may have access to teachers or peers who have already completed the extended essay, and who can share their experiences and ideas.

Writing an extended essay can be a daunting task, but with the right resources and support, it can become a rewarding experience. By using templates, reading sample essays, and seeking mentorship, students can develop a successful extended essay that meets the IB standards.

Technical Considerations

Writing an IB Extended Essay is a task that requires precision and accuracy. It is critical to not just be aware of the requirements for your particular topic and school, but also to pay attention to technical details. This includes proofreading, formatting, and plagiarism awareness.

Proofreading

Proofreading is the process of reading and correcting errors in written work. It is important to carefully review all writing for mistakes in grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and sentence structure. It is helpful to read your essay out loud to check for awkward phrasing or run-on sentences. Additionally, it is important to have someone else look over your essay and provide feedback.

Formatting plays an essential role in any extended essay. Every school has different specifications regarding font size, alignment, layout, and page number placement. It is important to check the instructions and adhere to the approved format. Additionally, it is beneficial to double-check that all elements such as hyperlinks and images are placed properly.

Plagiarism Awareness

Plagiarism is a serious issue, and can have serious consequences if found in an IB Extended Essay. It is essential to give credit to any sources used, and ensure that all quotes are indicated with quotation marks. Additionally, it is important to paraphrase information instead of copying word-for-word. If unsure, it is best to check with your school to make sure that your essay is free from plagiarism.

By paying close attention to technical details such as proofreading, formatting, and plagiarism awareness, you can ensure that your extended essay is professional and accurate. As a result, you will be well on your way to achieving a high score!

Grading Criteria for an IB Extended Essay

When it comes to writing an IB extended essay, it is important to remember that it is not just about how much you write, but how well you write. Your extended essay will be graded based on various criteria, and your grade will depend on how well you meet these criteria.

Below are the key components of an extended essay that graders look for:

• Organization: Does the essay have a clear structure and logical flow?
• Content: Does the essay have sufficient evidence or research to support its argument?
• Style: Is the essay written in a formal and academic tone?
• Language: Is the essay free from spelling and grammar mistakes?
• Punctuation: Does the essay use punctuation correctly?
• Formatting: Is the essay formatted correctly in accordance with the requirements?

Remember that meeting these criteria is essential for passing your extended essay. In addition to being aware of the grading criteria, it is also important to make sure that you proofread your essay multiple times and cite all sources correctly to avoid plagiarism issues.

By following these tips and understanding the grading criteria, you can rest assured that your extended essay will get the grade you deserve!

Writing an IB Extended Essay can be a daunting task. You need to understand the requirements of the paper and make sure you meet the criteria in order to get a good grade. Luckily, you now have all the information you need to start writing your essay!

The most important points to remember are that an IB Extended Essay must have a minimum of 1500 and a maximum of 4000 words, must include research from at least 8 sources, must have a clear structure, and should be proofread and formatted correctly. Additionally, it’s important to make sure you manage your time well and stay within the word limit.

To help you with your essay, there are several resources available online such as templates and sample essays. By understanding the grading criteria, you’ll know exactly what you need to focus on in order to achieve a good grade.

We hope this guide has been informative in helping you write the best IB Extended Essay possible. Good luck, and don’t forget to get help if you need it

• Last Edit 11 May 2023

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Nick Radlinsky is a devoted educator, marketing specialist, and management expert with more than 15 years of experience in the education sector. After obtaining his business degree in 2016, Nick embarked on a quest to achieve his PhD, driven by his commitment to enhancing education for students worldwide. His vast experience, starting in 2008, has established him as a reputable authority in the field.

Nick's article, featured in Routledge's " Entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe: Development through Internationalization ," highlights his sharp insights and unwavering dedication to advancing the educational landscape. Inspired by his personal motto, "Make education better," Nick's mission is to streamline students' lives and foster efficient learning. His inventive ideas and leadership have contributed to the transformation of numerous educational experiences, distinguishing him as a true innovator in his field.

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Extended essay

The extended essay is an independent, self-directed piece of research, finishing with a 4,000-word paper.

One component of the International Baccalaureate® (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) core, the extended essay is mandatory for all students.

Read about the extended essay  in greater detail.

You can also read about how the IB sets deadlines for the extended essay , find examples of extended essay titles from previous DP students and learn about the world studies extended essay .

Learn more about the extended essay in a DP workshop for teachers . 

DP subject briefs

Find out about what each subject offers within the Diploma Programme (DP).

Our DP subject briefs—for both standard and higher level—contain information about core requirements, aims and assessment.

• Explore the DP subject briefs

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UChicago Extended Essays: An In-Depth Guide + Examples

Every year, UChicago provides six new extended essay prompts that are designed to highlight how you engage with complex ideas and, through that, essentially show how you fit within the UChicago community. Your job is to pierce through the seeming absurdity of the questions to showcase your intellectual vitality, curiosity, creativity, and perhaps humor. Sounds like a lot to accomplish in one essay, right? 

Right. ‘Cause it is. But don’t let that scare you off! Remember, UChicago is searching for students who will help shape its intellectual community and who can stand up to its academic rigor—this essay is one of the primary ways they refine that search. 

To clarify, we aren’t saying that what’s below is the only way to approach these essays—you should definitely feel free to explore. But if you want a little more guidance in approaching this essay, we’ve identified three possible paths (of the virtually unlimited paths available, but that might seem overwhelming) for you to take depending on your unique strengths and offerings. 

This guide will include:  

How to choose your UChicago prompt 

Intro to 3 paths forward

How to break down the question

Brainstorming

Outlining + example essays

Part 1: The Prework

Regardless of the prompt you choose, you’ll have to complete some significant pre-work before your fingers start dancing away on the keyboard. 

Remember how much reflection and planning you did for your personal statement? This essay will require a similar amount of prep (maybe more). 

Still with us? Let’s begin. :)

How to Choose Your UChicago Extended Essay Prompt

The prompts are intended to allow you to showcase your intellect and personality in unique ways. But they won’t each do so equally for all applicants. (And a quick but important note that you can choose prompts from previous years. UChicago lists them here .)

For example, take this prompt from a previous year:

Alfred Hitchcock said: “Puns are the highest form of literature.” Tell us what you find punny.

Or this recent one from 2021:

What’s so easy about pie?

The first has the potential to really highlight your word play, wit, and sense of humor. The second could display a person’s reasoning skills, perhaps persuasiveness, and creativity in making interesting, subtle connections. 

That difference points to our first key piece of advice: pick a prompt that plays to your strengths. For example, if you’ve never played with puns before, this is probably not the time to start. Or, if you feel like finding subtle and complex connections and layers of insight is a skill you’re still developing (side note that it’s a skill, not a talent—everyone can get better at it) then maybe be wary of the “pie” prompt. 

Looking at the prompts given over the years, we’ve designed three different paths you can take based on your archetypal strengths.  

The Scholar

Have you taken college level coursework in high school and know a lot about a subject? Want to apply those philosophical theories, historical perspectives, or mathematical concepts to a certain topic? Do you feel confident in flexing that academic area of expertise? Look for questions that allow you to be the expert on a subject and assert your academic prowess. (And yes, in theory any prompt could be used this way, but some are going to be easier for you to do this with than others…)

Example prompts:  

If there’s a limited amount of matter in the universe, how can Olive Garden (along with other restaurants and their concepts of food infinity) offer truly unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks? Explain this using any method of analysis you wish— physics, biology, economics, history, theology… the options, as you can tell, are endless.

What if the moon were made of cheese? Or Neptune made of soap? Pick a celestial object, reimagine its material composition, and explore the implications. Feel free to explore the realms of physics, philosophy, fantasy…the sky is the limit!

Dog and Cat. Coffee and Tea. Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye. Everyone knows there are two types of people in the world. What are they?

The Ponderer

Are you a Holmesian analyst (as in Sherlock)? Someone who likes to think in silence by yourself? Do you tend to get lost down rabbit holes of thought? Look for prompts that could be suited to showcasing your analytical skills and ability to go deep. 

Example prompts:

"There is no such thing as a new idea" - Mark Twain. Are any pieces of art, literature, philosophy, or technology truly original, or just a different combination of old ideas? Pick something, anything (besides yourself), and explain why it is, or is not, original.

What’s so odd about odd numbers?

The Storyteller  

Are you most comfortable bringing stories to life through imagery and revelation? Did you have a blast writing your personal statement, and have other interesting life stories to tell? Use this essay as an opportunity to weave some stories that reveal more of your core values and how you view and connect with the world around you.

Example Prompts:

The popular saying goes, “You are what you eat.” What food has shaped your life or worldview?

People often think of language as a connector, something that brings people together by helping them share experiences, feelings, ideas, etc. We, however, are interested in how language sets people apart. Start with the peculiarities of your own personal language—the voice you use when speaking most intimately to yourself, the vocabulary that spills out when you're startled, or special phrases and gestures that no one else seems to use or even understand—and tell us how your language makes you unique. You may want to think about subtle riffs or idiosyncrasies based on cadence, rhythm, rhyme, or (mis)pronunciation. 

Merriam Webster defines epiphany as “An intuitive grasp of reality through something usually simple and striking.” Isaac Newton had his apple tree. Scout had Boo Radley’s Porch. Cher Horowitz had her living room doorway. What was your something, both simple and striking, that sparked noteworthy realization?

Quick side note: The UChicago prompts can fall into more than one category. The three paths often criss-cross and merge. So, consider your path as a starting point–the place from which you feel most confident approaching your essay. 

Breaking Down Your Extended Essay Prompt

Now that you have a prompt in mind, it’ll save you a ton of time to analyze the prompt before you dive into any writing. 

How? Like this:

Read the question twice (or more).

Underline the key terms. 

Define your key term(s) using the examples provided in the prompt. (The prompts often give you instruction on how to interpret the key term and answer the question).

Reframe the question as an instruction to yourself. 

Here’s an example:

Read twice: "There is no such thing as a new idea" - Mark Twain. Are any pieces of art, literature, philosophy, or technology truly original, or just a different combination of old ideas? Pick something, anything (besides yourself), and explain why it is, or is not, original.

Underline key terms: "There is no such thing as a new idea" - Mark Twain. Are any pieces of art, literature, philosophy, or technology truly original , or just a different combination of old ideas? Pick something, anything (besides yourself), and explain why it is, or is not, original.

Define terms using examples from the prompt: “original”=new idea, not a combination of old ideas

Write an instruction to yourself: Argue why a selected piece of art, literature, philosophy, or technology is (or is not) original. 

Brainstorming your extended essay

As you brainstorm, write down everything (Like, literally everything. Well, fine, figuratively, but pretty close to literally.) you can think of that fits your key term(s) and definitions. 

Set your timer for 30 minutes and jot down your ideas. Once your time is up and/or you feel like you’ve emptied your idea bank, shoot to write down 10 more ideas before taking a rest. 

Important note: What you brainstorm is just your starting point. In this phase, think expansively: It’s easy to discount ideas that seem like a stretch. But in this process, get rid of that limiting censor. You might be surprised what seemingly terrible, unoriginal idea will springboard you to the unique, quirky topic you end up using. 

So where should you begin? 

Let’s play with this prompt:  

Dog and Cat. Coffee and Tea. Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye. Everyone knows there are two types of people in the world . What are they?

First , think about things that are related (or if applicable, unrelated) to your key term(s). It doesn’t have to be a perfect fit, we just want to get your wheels turning.  

There are people who… drive cars and ride bikes, run fast and run slow, love math and hate English, etc. (There are no stupid ideas when you’re brainstorming!)

Second, break down your ideas into various component parts. 

Drive→one hand vs. two hands, front in vs. back in, speeding vs. speed limit

Running→long strides vs. short strides, good technique vs. bad technique, running backwards vs. running forward.   

Hate English→hate writing vs. love having written, cursive vs. print, handwritten vs. typed

Notice how breaking down your ideas helps to broaden your scope, giving you even more topics to work with!

Last , do some test drives–provide a mini answer for one of your ideas. You might want to repeat this step with multiple topic contenders to a) see if you have enough material to work with and b) help you to conceptualize your definition further.

Typed vs. handwritten→technology vs. human connection, paper card vs. evite, speed and function vs. nostalgia and charm

At this point, if you go with handwritten vs. typed, you might realize your real topic is about human connection vs. technology. You could continue going down this rabbit hole for a loooong time. Find a stopping point that is exciting to you and that generates a wide range of ideas.  

After you’ve done substantial brainstorming, you might want to circle back to your “I love + I know ” brainstorming exercise for potential ideas on how to support your chosen topic(s)

Little Reminder: This is a general approach that must be tailored to the different questions being asked of you. As you apply these brainstorming techniques, try to think big picture: understand the question, define the terms, and then start grouping and breaking down your own ideas under those terms. 

Part 2: Writing the Uchicago Extended Essay + Examples

Once you’ve completed your prework, you’re ready to outline and write!  Remember those three paths we mentioned above? Let’s take a look at some examples + best practices for outlining those types of essays. 

The Scholar Approach

Approach: Answer the question through your knowledge of a few subjects

Answer the question in your introduction, provide some context surrounding your topic, and state your “thesis.” 

Find 3-4 different academic lenses/muscles to flex. If you are a superstar at 1 subject, feel free to go all in on that subject!

Reframe your “thesis” 

Here’s an example essay:

—Inspired by an anonymous alumna, AB'06

There are two types of people in this world: those who love La Croix, and those who hate it. In the extremely unlikely chance you’ve never heard of it, La Croix is a brand of canned sparkling water, featuring flavors such as ‘shy watermelon’, ‘tropical cardboard’, ‘a strawberry with low battery’, and ‘transported in a truck near bananas’ (No, these aren’t the actual names of flavors. But they maybe should be.). Personally, I’m a lover of La Croix, and my favorite flavor is ‘hint of hint of lime’. There’s actually a surprising amount of controversy over the carbonated beverage based on its subtle flavors, especially given its higher degree of carbonation, which has led to what many describe as a ‘tsunami of memes’. Given this, I love LaCroix not just for its barely-existent flavors, but also for what it shows us about human psychology, biology, and society. While LaCroix has become the focus of innumerable memes in recent years, the company has actually existed since 1981, and was created, funnily enough, to fill the niche that Perrier failed to, since Perrier marketed itself as a posh drink for the well-established (which could’ve started a meme war of its own had the internet existed). While La Croix received little public attention at its inception, the creation of a Facebook page for Pamplemousse LaCroix memes changed that. And then social psychology and cognitive bias took over. The bandwagon effect is defined as a phenomenon whereby the rate of uptake of beliefs, ideas, fads, and trends increases with respect to the proportion of others who have already bought in. So naturally, as the page became popular, many hopped on the bandwagon and spread the memes even further. And at the same time, people who liked Coconut LaCroix, as well as people who just don’t like carbonated water in general, began creating their own groups and spreading memes, creating in-groups and out-groups that only served to meme for their own cause. And thus, there were two kinds of people: those who memed in favor of the carbonated drink, and those who memed against it. One particular phrase that actually points to another reason some dislike carbonated beverages is “La Croix tastes like when my foot falls asleep.” Many don’t like the carbonation levels of the drink (and others like it). My friend says drinking LaCroix is “like drinking pop rocks.” This is because, unlike soda, carbonated water has no sugar or other strong flavorings, so the carbonation has to be stronger to give a more distinct taste, which is especially divisive since different people with different biological makeups perceive flavor differently. This leads to two kinds of people: those who can tolerate the increased carbonation, and those who can’t. The main reason that some can’t handle high levels of carbonation is due to the byproduct of water and CO2. When water is carbonated, it causes a chemical equilibrium in which carbonic acid is created (H2O + CO2 <=> H2CO3). This acid, combined with the taste of fizz, often overwhelms people with low pain tolerance, in the same way that some can’t handle spice and capsaicin. One particular factor that plays a role in how a person perceives the flavor of carbonation is genetic. Specifically, the CA4 gene, located on chromosome 17, which encodes for the carbonic anhydrase 4 protein, widely regarded as the protein that exists in taste buds that give us the ‘fizzy’ sensation when we drink carbonated beverages. The carbonic anhydrase 4 protein also serves a role in a number of other functions in the body, from respiration and calcification to the formation of saliva and cerebrospinal fluid. The expression of this gene is impacted by a number of factors in the human body, from variance in metabolic functions and the expression of Human Growth Hormone to certain genetic disorders, such as Retinitis pigmentosa 17, which results from a mutation of the CA4 gene. This reduces the body’s ability to maintain specific pH levels. Since the carbonic anhydrase 4 protein facilitates the reverse hydration reaction of carbonic acid, breaking down the acidic compound into water and carbonic dioxide. When the body (or parts of it) loses the ability to facilitate this reaction, it can’t break down certain acids, meaning that we are overwhelmed by the fizz sensation.  Or to put all of that another way: genetically, there are two types of people—those (with a functioning CA4 gene) who love La Croix and those (without) who don’t. While some may argue that I can’t just define people by their preference regarding a specific drink, I have yet to meet a person who has a moderate stance on the taste of LaCroix and defies the duality I’ve presented. But regardless of your stance, you can’t deny that ‘tropical cardboard’ is an objectively great name for a drink. — — — 

Analysis of Approach

Answer the question in your first paragraph, provide some context surrounding your topic, and state your “thesis.”  

The student clearly answers the question in the first line of the sentence: 

“There are two types of people in this world: those who love La Croix, and those who hate it”

He continues with made up descriptions of various La Croix flavors and concludes with his thesis:

“Given this, I love LaCroix not just for it’s barely-existent flavors, but also for what it shows us about human psychology, biology, and society”

Find 3-4 different academic lenses/muscles to flex. If you are a superstar at one subject, feel free to go all in on that 1 subject!

The student flexes his human psychology, biology, and sociological perspectives in three different paragraphs by discussing the bandwagon effect, body chemistry, and genetics. 

Reframe your “thesis”.  

At the end of the essay, the student reframes his answer to the question using multiple academic lenses: 

“Or to put all of that another way: genetically, there are two types of people—those (with a functioning CA4 gene) who love La Croix and those (without) who don’t.”

The final paragraph is a bookend of the beginning (and shows an additional value for humor):

“While some may argue that I can’t just define people by their preference regarding a specific drink, I have yet to meet a person who has a moderate stance on the taste of LaCroix and defies the duality I’ve presented. But regardless of your stance, you can’t deny that ‘tropical cardboard’ is an objectively great name for a drink.”

The Ponderer Approach

Approach: Answer the question through deep analysis

Use the first paragraph to contemplate the key term + topic using appropriate contextual information that will funnel you through to your thesis statement. 

Make 3-5 arguments supported by evidence and analysis

Reframe your “thesis” (essentially, “so what?”). 

Example Essay:

Meret Oppenheim. Object, 1936. Fur-covered cup, saucer, and spoon, cup 4-3/8 inches in diameter; saucer 9-3/8 inches in diameter; spoon 8 inches long, overall height 2-7/8" (The Museum of Modern Art) The notion of originality in art has been widely debated, with implications extending beyond the scope of the subject. Matthew Teitelbaum, director of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, has said, “At one time, all art was contemporary … it was received by an audience and played a certain role in relation to a culture or community.” Art can be groundbreaking and revolutionary, though over time, it can lose its meaning due to changes in preferences, tastes, and fashion. But with thousands of years of ancient history, could any object in the modern world be truly original? Or are creations today merely regroupings of the past and combinations of old ideas? In my opinion, because artists inevitably draw inspiration from the past, true originality does not exist, but ultimately this doesn’t matter—what is essential is that art motivates and ushers in intellectual discourse across interest groups and sparks transformation.  Enter Object by Meret Oppenheim, regarded as one of the defining representations of Surrealism for its embodiment of mundane objects challenging logic and reasoning. At first glance, Object may seem ugly, even idiotic: a teacup, saucer and spoon, evocatively wrapped in animal fur, strike a stark contrast to my vision of the pinnacle of art: e.g., the luminous landscape, thick brushstrokes, and vivid colour of Starry Night. In creating Object, Oppenheim challenges the nature of originality in art with the jarring combination of fur and everyday items. Even the 3D sculptural elements deviate from past establishments. Object does not follow the idealistic canon of proportions of Polykleitos’ Doryphoros, nor does it embrace the pop art of contemporary icons. Was this thought-provoking sculpture a satirical response, or unintentional brilliance?  Object was inspired by a luncheon with Pablo Picasso and Dora Maar, who complimented the furry brass bracelet of Oppenheim and jokingly proclaimed: “Almost anything can be covered in fur!” Oppenheim was struck with inspiration—she left the cafe immediately and created the now-iconic Object using a cup, saucer, and spoon from a nearby store.  Object is certainly not original in that it utilizes ready-made items for art creation; this concept has been exemplified by artists such as Marcel Duchamp and his famous sculpture Fountain. But ultimately, originality should not be the end goal of artists. The goal of art should be to challenge the human mind. Object certainly accomplishes this goal—the idiocy of the brown gazelle fur layered on top of the presumably ceramic/porcelain dining utensils transposes human logic.  Object creates a lasting impression, even if Object is not truly original. As the colour of the earth, the brown exterior symbolizes a return to simplicity and a sense of dullness of everyday life. More importantly, why fur? And why gazelle? This particular medium might serve as an allusion to the 1790-1890 American Fur Trade, which represents a period of economic and social significance. Though disagreements permeate art historians, some recognize fur as sexual in nature, alluding to fetishistic qualities in the fur-lined set; others believe that Object is linked to the alchemical transformation of Surrealism in the transition from smooth ceramics to a bristly fur to attain a higher state of consciousness.  Now, imagine being in an exhibition, examining this bizarre and extraordinary spectacle. The saucer, spoon, and cup are arranged in a naturalistic way, almost as an invitation for a warm cup of black tea paired with a fine assortment of chocolates on a pleasant afternoon. Yet no one in their right mind would ever drink from a cup full of fur. Fur may be pleasant to touch, but the physical discomfort and ridiculousness of wet fur filling one's mouth and throat is an appalling nightmare, simply disgusting. Abominable. Through creating Object, Oppenheim had given practical, everyday commodities transcendence, moving into a realm of irrationality and absurdity. The creation of Object speaks to the fact that originality should not be the end goal of art; art should focus on transforming the way humans see the world. Object exemplifies these characteristics in that it evokes a visceral and profound response: the absurd addition of fur challenges the logic in our everyday thinking regarding simple things around us. During Object's exhibition at the MoMa, a woman fainted "right in front of the fur-bearing cup and saucer." (Landsdale & McKelway 1936) She left no name, but the fact that an eccentric combination of everyday objects could cause such a sensation shows why Object exemplifies Surrealism's desire to revolutionize human consciousness and experience.  Despite the success of Object, the majority of Oppenheim’s artistic career was tragically overwhelmed by the focus of the world spotlight. Yet Object was something fresh—the stunning fur-wrapped set remains one of the defining icons of Modernist art cemented in the minds of enthusiasts worldwide. Today, Object is no longer the groundbreaking sensation it was in 1936. Still, it embodies the glamorous and elegant elements of the principle of art: a regrouping of old ideas and transformative creativity challenging the nature of the human mind and paving the way for future artworks that no longer obsess over the notion of originality. So now, when I sit on my comfy couch sipping a lovely afternoon tea, I will always remember the furry, thought-provoking Object and its role in creating history.  — — — 

Use the first paragraph to contemplate the key term + topic using appropriate contextual information that will funnel you through to your thesis statement.  

The student references an art historian and asks rhetorical questions to ponder the originality of art, which leads directly into his thesis: 

“…what is essential is that art motivates and ushers in intellectual discourse across interest groups and sparks transformation.”

Make 3-5 arguments supported by evidence and analysis.  

The student makes 4 main arguments and/or belief statements to then unpack using his own observations, research, and analysis:

In creating Object, Oppenheim challenges the nature of originality in art with the jarring combination of fur and everyday items. 

Belief statement/argument: But ultimately, originality should not be the end goal of artists. The goal of art should be to challenge the human mind.

Object creates a lasting impression, even if Object is not truly original

Art should focus on transforming the way humans see the world.

Reframe your “thesis” (essentially, “so what?”).

The student finds a unique spin on his answer to the prompt. Instead of directly answering the question, he states his belief that art doesn’t need to “obsess over the notion of originality.” 

The Storyteller

Approach: Weave a world that leads to complex reflection

Find 5-7 “beads” that answer the prompt’s question

These beads should be connected by the key term

Pick values and details that will bring each bead to life

Example Essay:  

People often think of language as a connector, something that brings people together by helping them share experiences, feelings, ideas, etc. We, however, are interested in how language sets people apart. Start with the peculiarities of your own personal language—the voice you use when speaking most intimately to yourself, the vocabulary that spills out when you're startled, or special phrases and gestures that no one else seems to use or even understand—and tell us how your language makes you unique. You may want to think about subtle riffs or idiosyncrasies based on cadence, rhythm, rhyme, or (mis)pronunciation.

“Khushi, do your American accent!” My friends and I are sitting in the Commons, currently filled with hungry high schoolers and agitated lunch ladies. No matter how many times I’ve been requested, the thought of the action makes me highly self-conscious. You see, having pruned my vocal cords through fusions and accents of ethnic languages for the majority of my life in India, it was permissible for me to exaggeratingly mock the “American” verbiage, characterized by its excessive use of the word ‘like’ and strange soft way of pronouncing r’s. I brush my friends off and try to change the topic. Once I’ve been made aware of how I normally speak, I tend to get quiet. My phone lights up with a call from Papa; I silence it and let it go to voicemail. I know that if I did pick up, my voice would invariably switch to my “Indian accent,” something I was not going to let my friends hear. For the most part, my British accent sounds cool to them, but my Indian accent diminishes me to a negative stereotype. When my family moved to the United Kingdom from India, not only was I exposed to “Religious Studies” and other new courses, but for the first time I also had to learn a new kind of English. And though much of Indian English and British English overlap, I still had to train my brain’s speech assisting Broca’s area, to say aubergine instead of brinjal, cuppa instead of chai, and cafeteria instead of canteen. My vocal identity crisis followed me to the United States, where I had to relearn the English language once again, this time switching aubergine for eggplant and cuppa for cup of tea, but at least cafeteria remained cafeteria. In one of my first speeches at an Model UN conference, while trying to focus on national surveillance, I was all at once reminded of my vocal differences and began stumbling over words that I didn’t know how to pronounce the “American” way. I unwittingly corrected my mistakes by saying “Arrey!” under my breath, the Hindi equivalent of “Darn.” As my American journey continued and Bangalore and London and Oakland all rolled off my tongue together, I thought to myself, which world do I speak like now? It’s a deep injustice that some accents are granted more leverage than others, British accents are ‘prim and proper’ and authoritative, while Indian accents are somehow ‘backwards’, funny, or a stereotype. As a student of culture and geopolitics, I have seen how modernism and social acceptability still trend towards Western values, a pattern that has persisted through history: markers of certain cultures provide access whilst others create barriers. Language is nothing more than another agent of socialization. In a world where we broadcast messages of “cultural awareness” and “global exposure,” it’s disturbing to see American journalists call Renée Zellweger’s accent in Bridget Jones “sophisticated” British (as opposed to her Texan drawl), while Indian journalists refer to Priyanka Chopra’s accent in Quantico as a  “sickening fusion of accents.” As the world transitions towards a society where differences are celebrated, where gender and sexual fluidity is acceptable, why is it that cultural identity is considered constant and cultural belonging, exclusive? I am a proud third culture kid, finding her place within the intersection of a Venn diagram on linguistics. I can’t (pronounced without rhyming with ant, true desi style) and won’t forego one of my identities in favor of another. Having multiple accents is neither negotiable nor remarkable. It is a benign symptom of the worlds in which I grew up in and must be seen that way. Hybrid accents are not betrayals of identity, and they are never performances nor punchlines. — — —

Find 5-7 “beads” that answer the prompt’s question.

The student seamlessly depicts multiple scenes navigating her Indian accent, experimenting with different American speaking styles, stumbling through her Model UN speech, noting the injustice of accents, and critiquing language’s role in current culture.

These beads should be connected by the thread/key term.

The prompt’s question is used as the unifying thread: how does language set you apart? 

Pick values and details that will bring each bead to life.

The student uses imagery, clear examples, and literary devices in each paragraph to tell her story. Just a handful of examples that stood out immediately were: 

“hungry high schoolers and agitated lunch ladies” 

“aubergine instead of brinjal, cuppa instead of chai, and cafeteria instead of canteen” 

“As my American journey continued and Bangalore and London and Oakland all rolled off my tongue together, I thought to myself, which world do I speak like now?”

I can’t (pronounced without rhyming with ant, true desi style) and won’t forego one of my identities in favor of another.

As a final note, notice that these approaches still allow for each essay to feel distinct—each gives us a sense of the human being who, if accepted, is going to show up at UChicago’s door.

As you can see, the UChicago essay requires a lot of preparation, self-reflection, and writing skill. It’s a daunting task, but hopefully also an exciting one: an opportunity to showcase your academic character, knowledge and creativity, and command of the English language.

Special thanks to Ali for writing this blog post

Ali is a college essay specialist with her BA in English from Stanford University and MFA from UC Irvine. She has spent thousands of hours coaching admissions essays and helping students to build their confidence in the writing process. In addition to essay coaching, she is a former professional ballerina and current co-artistic director for Maui’s contemporary dance company Adaptations Dance Theater. She is a hybrid writer-dancer who enjoys the power of storytelling.  

What are the six different essay lengths?

This is the second of three chapters about Essays . To complete this reader, read each chapter carefully and then unlock and complete our materials to check your understanding.   

– Discuss why essays might vary in length

– Outline the six major lengths of academic essay

– Provide defining features for each essay length

Chapter 1: What is an academic essay?

Chapter 2: What are the six different essay lengths?

Chapter 3: What are the seven different types of academic essay?

Before you begin reading...

• video and audio texts
• knowledge checks and quizzes
• skills practices, tasks and assignments

The length of essay you’re assigned will likely depend on where you are exactly in your academic course. Generally, assignments at the start of a bachelor’s degree will be shorter than those required in a student’s final years, just like master’s  and doctoral-level essays will continue to increase in both length and difficulty.

1. The One-Paragraph Essay

Generally about 150 to 250 words in length, the one-paragraph essay may be assigned by academic tutors simply in order to practise the basic concepts of paragraph writing, or it may also be used for specific purposes such as to practise summarising an article that’s been read in class or to write an extended definition of a concept. Additionally, one-paragraph essays may also be used as a diagnostic to quickly determine the level of a student’s writing. Unlike other essay lengths, for the one-paragraph essay, you’ll need to include at least some introductory, body and conclusive elements within the same paragraph.    

2. The Three-Paragraph Essay

Usually around 500 words in length, the three-paragraph essay is generally used to introduce students to the concept that all essays should maintain an introduction , body section and conclusion if the writer wishes to produce cohesive and a logical writing. The introduction and conclusion will be the first and last paragraphs and tend to be a little shorter in length, while the central body paragraph will contain the essay’s content or argument. A simple table explaining the balance of content in a three-paragraph essay has been provided below:

3. The Five-Paragraph Essay

Around 1,000 words in length, the five-paragraph essay is generally set by tutors who are content that their students understand the introduction-body-conclusion essay  structure and wish to allow more freedom to expand the ideas and arguments presented by the writer in the body section of the essay. This length of essay still only dedicates one paragraph to the introduction and conclusion , but allows three paragraphs to be dedicated to the exploration of the theme in the essay’s body. At this length, certain essay types such as cause and effect essays or compare and contrast essays may now be utilised. The following is a simple diagram of the balance of paragraph lengths in a five-paragraph essay.

4. The Extended Essay

The extended essay is the most common type of essay that’s assigned during a bachelor’s or master’s degree , and it may be of any length – although it’s unusual for such essays to be above 5,000 words. The most common lengths for an extended essay are 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000 words, with a word count allowance of plus or minus 10%. Such essay types will most certainly require research and referencing skills , and may also begin to follow more complex structures such as are found in dissertations and theses rather than simply following the introduction-body-conclusion structure of shorter essays.

5. The Dissertation

Generally assigned as the final project for both bachelor’s   and master’s degree , the typical length of an academic dissertation is 10,000 or 15,000 words. Unlike shorter essay types , dissertations have more complex structures and are almost always based around primary research (original research that the writer has conducted themselves). The following table demonstrates some of the key parts of a dissertation as well as the rough word count  percentages for each section:

6. The Thesis

Finally, the thesis is the longest academic essay type and the one that’s reserved for doctorate students studying PhDs. Generally between 40,000 and 60,000 words in length, the doctorate thesis may contain all the elements of a dissertation but in much more detail and with more careful investigation. Such essays  are almost certainly original and are based on primary research , with a larger focus on the accuracy of the literature review , data collection and data analysis . Many students will never encounter this essay type. 

Once you can recognise which essay length you’ve been assigned, the next question covered in Chapter 3 is about determining the type of essay you have to write. This is because each essay type will require particular styles, structures, foci and language.

To reference this reader:

Academic Marker (2022) Essays . Available at: https://academicmarker.com/academic-guidance/assignments/essays/ (Accessed: Date Month Year).

• Harvard Writing Center
• Leeds University Library
• Purdue Online Writing Lab

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Guide to the IB Extended Essay in 2024

January 24, 2024

If you’re an International Baccalaureate student getting ready to write your IB Extended Essay, you might be experiencing some very understandable trepidation. But have no fear—we’re here to help you understand what’s required of you, how to plan ahead (IB extended essay topics), and how you’ll be graded (IB extended essay rubric). Keep reading for a good dose of preparation and confidence before you begin the journey. In this article, we’ll cover:

What is the IB Extended Essay?

The ib extended essay—required content, ib extended essay topics.

IB Extended Essay—Sample Essays

IB Extended Essay Tips

Ib extended essay rubric, ib extended essay—more resources.

The IB Extended Essay is a 4,000-word paper that asks you to immerse yourself in research and academic writing. A required part of the IB program, the Extended Essay is a chance to dig deep into a topic that fascinates you.

Although it’s no small task, the IB Extended Essay is an opportunity to gain practical research and writing skills that will come in handy again in college. As you write, you’ll learn how to:

• Identify credible sources
• Formulate a research question and limit your scope of research
• Communicate ideas to an audience
• Develop a well-supported argument

The IB Extended Essay is largely an independent, self-directed project, but don’t worry—the IB program doesn’t throw you into the deep end. You do get to select a mentor (usually a teacher at your school) to help guide you through the process. As you write, you’ll be required to meet with your mentor three times. As part of your final evaluation, your mentor will interview you in a final reflection section called a viva voce . During the viva voce, your mentor will check for plagiarism and malpractice, ask you to reflect on challenges and difficulties, and prompt you to discuss what you’ve learned through the research and writing process. Your mentor will then generate a report that factors into your final grade.

Your final essay must include the following:

• Contents page
• Introduction
• Body of the essay
• References and bibliography

For this essay, it will be up to you to generate a topic; the International Baccalaureate does not provide prompts. However, your essay will need to fit within one of six provided subject areas . You’ll choose from the following list of IB Extended Essay Topics:

• Language and literature
• Language acquisition
• Individuals and societies
• Mathematics

IB Extended Essay Topics (Continued)

At a glance, the subject areas might look limited, but the topics you can choose to write about are actually wide-ranging. The “Individuals and societies” category includes social science topics like economics, history, world religions, and philosophy. And, if you’re leaning toward “Science,” you can choose from classic subjects such as biology, chemistry, and physics, or related topics like environmental systems or health science, among others.

The IB also offers a special “World Studies” option for students interested in researching global issues. This subject would allow you to center your writing on global issues such as migration, global health, cultural exchange, or climate change.

Wondering what an outstanding IB Extended Essay looks like? The International Baccalaureate provides quite a few sample student essays online . Here are five essays that earned A grades.

Language and literature: An exploration of an aspect of the narrative voice in Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita

Environmental Systems and Societies: The economic impact of the 1995 reintroduction of grey wolves to Yellowstone National Park

Psychology: To what extent do social networking sites (SNS) usage lead to experience of anxiety in adolescents?

Music: Composition techniques in the 1st movement of Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No. 2, Op. 73

Business Management: Corporate Culture at Oracle

1) Pick something you’re passionate about

As you can see from the titles above, the IB Extended Essay is a great place to delve into a niche topic that fascinates you. Since you’ll be spending many months on this essay, you’ll want to pick a topic you genuinely enjoy spending time learning about. It’s also smart to choose something you’ve already learned about in your IB classes so that you have a strong foundation of knowledge to start with. In music class, do you love pondering why music makes us feel a certain way? Maybe an essay about music theory will keep your gears turning. Do you come alive trying to solve seemingly impossible problems in physics class? Now’s your chance to put those equations into action.

Since this essay is all about your academic interests, it’s also a good idea to pick a topic that’s relevant to what you plan to study in college. Selecting a relevant topic will provide you with significant exposure to the field and will also give you something meaningful to talk about in your college admissions essays.

2) Limit your scope

What’s the meaning of life? Why do wars happen? What is time? Some questions are just way too big to answer, and your IB Extended Essay is not a good place to tackle expansive, philosophical questions. Instead, think of this essay as a place to investigate one piece of a big question. If, let’s say, you’re generally interested in what helps women reach positions of leadership in business, this is a good place to examine how one or a few companies approach this issue. Or, if you’re interested in studying what inspires surrealist painters, you’ll want to pick one or a few painters to research, likely all from the same time period. For both these topics, you’d need a whole textbook to tackle the full question, but limiting your scope will make it much easier to write a clear and cohesive 4,000 words.

On the other hand, it’s possible to narrow your focus too much. It would be impossible, for example, to write 4,000 words about a single sentence in a novel. Make sure you talk about scope early and often with your mentor. Together, you can find the perfect Goldilocks scope for your project that’s not too big and not too small.

3) Choose a good mentor

Speaking of mentors, choosing wisely will help you enormously as you embark on your IB Extended Essay. You’ll want to make sure you choose someone with existing knowledge in your research topic. Your English teacher may be able to give you great writing advice, for example, but they won’t be able to guide your research and scope if you’re writing about marine animals or modern dance.

Before you approach a teacher, make sure you have at least one topic idea (or even a few ideas) in mind so that you can make sure they’ll be a good fit to supervise your project. When you meet with them, find out what their mentorship style is like. Make sure they’ll have time to read several drafts of your essays, meet with you a few times, and give you feedback. Some IB schools will require your IB Extended Essay mentor to sign an agreement form too, so make sure you find out what paperwork is required in advance.

4) Get organized, way organized

The IB Extended Essay is not something you can crank out the night before it’s due. The essay is meant to be a substantive, in-depth, thoughtful, and thoroughly researched analysis, and Rome simply isn’t built in a day. This might be the longest paper you’ve written to date, and this project might require more research than you’ve been asked to do before. Timelines vary by school, but you’ll likely spend between eight months and a year working on your IB Extended Essay. So, how will you pull it all off? For these 8-12 months, organization will be your guiding light. We recommend you:

• Get started early. If your essay is due November of your senior year, start generating topic ideas during your junior year right after winter break.
• Create a long-view schedule for yourself. What will you accomplish each month of your process?
• Give yourself deadlines. Once you choose a mentor, suggest 2-3 draft deadline dates so that you will be held accountable throughout the writing process.
• Find a note-taking system that works for you. You’ll be reading many articles and books and it’s hard to keep track of all your sources. Create a document or spreadsheet where you keep track of the sources you’ve found and check them off as you read. As you finish reading a text, type up important quotes and a few notes explaining how it connects to your topic and to your other texts.

5)Write a messy first draft

Writing never comes out perfect the first time, even for New York Times bestselling authors and the most experienced researchers. In your first draft, give yourself permission to get all your thoughts out, no matter how unstructured or rambling they are. Call this your brainstorming draft. When you’re ready to revisit it, see what patterns emerge, what common ideas you can group together, what beginning buds of ideas you can make bloom into full-fledged analysis.

6) Communicate for an audience

When you’re used to producing writing that only your teacher reads, it can be hard to remember to write for an audience. But at the end of the day, writing is communication , and the best writing is clear and thorough communication that anyone could pick up and read. For your IB Extended Essay, you’ll want to remember that many people will be reading your final essay, and not all of them will be experts in the niche topic you choose to study. Ask yourself: how can I explain my research to an audience who doesn’t already agree with my analysis?

To communicate to an audience, you’ll want to:

• Provide lots of general background information on your topic.
• Don’t assume your reader is familiar with your sources. Introduce them as if they’re guest speakers about to walk up to a podium and deliver a lecture.
• After including quotes, facts, and figures, be sure to explain what those sources mean in your own words and how they connect to your bigger-picture argument.
• Don’t assume your arguments are self-evident. In this essay, communicating for an audience means supplying ongoing interpretation and analysis, even if it feels like you’re explaining the obvious. Your reader isn’t on your research journey with you, so your points might not be so obvious to your reader.

Although your IB Extended Essay provides a report that factors into your grade, your essay will also be assessed by external examiners the IB. Per the IB Extended Essay Rubric , essays are graded on a scale from 0 to 34 based on 5 different criteria:

• Criterion A: Focus and Method (6 points maximum)
• Criterion B: Knowledge and Understanding (6 points maximum)
• Criterion C: Critical Thinking (12 points maximum)
• Criterion D: Presentation (4 points maximum)
• Criterion E: Engagement (6 points maximum)

As you can see, Critical Thinking is the most significant rubric category. This means that the IB wants to see you arrive at your own unique analysis of your topic, drawing connections between sources and data, and making well-supported arguments. This means they want a lot of you: your ideas, your interpretations, your thoughts. Make sure you emphasize that in your essay, but of course don’t forget the other categories.

The score a student receives corresponds to a letter grade scale that is slightly different than what we’re accustomed to in the U.S. Here’s the letter grade to numerical score breakdown:

You must earn a D or higher to receive your IB Diploma. To learn more about the different criteria included in the IB Extended Essay Rubric, you can explore the IB’s full guide to the Extended Essay .

We hope you found our look at the IB extended essay rubric and IB extended essay topics to be helpful. Ready to dive into research? You may want to read our 10 Expert Tips for Improving Reading Comprehension before you hit the books.

And if you’re a high school student in the process of mapping out your pathway to college, take a look at a few other useful guides:

• IB vs AP—Which Classes are Best for College Admission?
• How to Earn College Credit in High School
• High School Course Requirements for College Admission
• SAT Score Calculator
• ACT Score Calculator 
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Christina Wood

Christina Wood holds a BA in Literature & Writing from UC San Diego, an MFA in Creative Writing from Washington University in St. Louis, and is currently a Doctoral Candidate in English at the University of Georgia, where she teaches creative writing and first-year composition courses. Christina has published fiction and nonfiction in numerous publications, including The Paris Review , McSweeney’s , Granta , Virginia Quarterly Review , The Sewanee Review , Mississippi Review , and Puerto del Sol , among others. Her story “The Astronaut” won the 2018 Shirley Jackson Award for short fiction and received a “Distinguished Stories” mention in the 2019 Best American Short Stories anthology.

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International Baccalaureate/Extended Essay Tips

• 1.1 Recommendations
• 1.2.1.1 Essay Competitions
• 1.3.1 Citing Sources
• 1.3.2 Organization
• 1.3.3 IBO Official Guide

Introduction and Getting Started!

Start Working NOW!

The Extended Essay (EE) is one of the requirements of the IB Diploma Programme. It provides students with an opportunity to conduct independent research on a topic of interest to them. It is written on a freely-chosen topic as long as there is a subject teacher in school, as the candidate must have a subject supervisor.

Recommendations

The IBO recommends that candidates spend approximately 40 hours in total on their extended essays, and if you put it off until that last weekend, your work won't be nearly as good as it can be. Talk to your IB school supervisor, as it is his or her job to set internal school deadlines (i.e. choosing a topic, formulating an outline, rough draft, final draft, etc).

Getting Started

• Firstly, find a topic you're actually interested in, or you'll never work on it.
• Don't stress. After doing all your research 4,000 words is nothing (your first draft could be 6,000-8,000 words). While the Extended Essay has the potential to make you hate your own topic (as many academic assignments do), an interest in the topic can motivate you to pull through in the end.
• Many students are appalled at the sheer number of words that this task requires. But by following the guidelines set out for you, you'll quickly realize how hard pressed you will be to contain your work to the limit.
• Make sure that your focus is somewhat specific, or that you have a specific topic in mind (instead of just a general subject area).
• Example : Your final essay title should be somewhat similar to the style used in the Internal Assessments for the 20th Century World Issues course - specific and focused with some form of cause and effect. Check the official Extended Essay guidelines for more on this - it offers sample essay titles (along with title choosing advice and essay titles to avoid) for each subject area.
• If the above example does not apply to you, perhaps ask your IB Coordinator for examples from students past. Many of them keep a record of every essay, mainly to ensure there is no plagiarism.
• Make sure you stay on top of the work.
• Look over the guidelines and the explanations.

To get a diploma, you need to complete the TOK Essay and the Extended Essay. At best, you can achieve 3 bonus points towards your IB diploma, so don't ignore your schoolwork, as your courses are worth much more. The point matrix is outlined in the "Diploma Points Matrix for the Extended Essay and TOK" grid in the IBO form. You can still get your diploma if you get a "Mediocre" on one and an "Elementary" on another. NOTE: As of May 2010, an 'Elementary' on both TOK and Extended essay is an automatic fail, but you may still pass with an 'Elementary' on either one, just not both. An 'Elementary' on either is a so called 'failing condition' which requires a minimum 28 points rather than the usual 24 to obtain your diploma.

However, you can make a very good essay, provided you allot yourself enough time to write about something you are interested in. The IBO knows that you are between 16 and 18 years old and thus does not require a perfect essay or a groundbreaking new discovery. They just want to see that you can work on and complete a big project.

Picking a Topic

You'll want to write about a topic or subject you're fairly familiar with. For instance, if you've nailed the process of writing labs, do a science investigation. It'll be just like a big lab write-up, and writing the method, materials, qualitative/quantitative observations are all part of the word count, and take up a significant amount of words.

Essay Competitions

Find out if there are competitions or scholarship opportunities in which you can enter your essay. Why not kill two birds with one stone and head off to university with a scholarship? If you don't win, at least you'll get feedback, something the IBO neglects to give.

Writing a Good Extended Essay

Everyone wants to write a good Extended Essay, but just remember that it's really not as overwhelming as it sounds. Some candidates will find their first drafts are in the 6,000 to 8,000 range, while others will reach about 2800-3500. In fact, keep in mind that 4,000 words is the maximum word count and not where you must get to. While most essays have a word count in the 3,900 range, it is perfectly acceptable to submit an essay that is 3,500 words. While there is no actual minimum word count, you would probably want to write over 3,000 words, since a short essay might imply that the topic was not investigated thoroughly enough. However, some topics - mathematics among them - may require only 2,000 words to fully investigate them.

Citing Sources

Keep legible, consistent and accurate notes that include bibliographic information. There's nothing more annoying than browsing through a 1200 page book looking for where that key quotation came from. Cite your sources in a consistent manner (either in MLA or APA format, or some other recognized format). IBO is very strict with plagiarism, so remember that the text has to be your own and do not forget to make references. You will have to sign an IBO form certifying that your EE is your own, and has no unsourced material in it, before they will even read your essay. Failure to submit an Extended Essay will result in no diploma being awarded.

Use the internet to find information but do include books in your research especially if your essay is not on the Sciences. Be skeptical in your use of the internet. Anyone can post anything, so read with a critical eye. Generally, university and academic websites are good sources to refer to. News sources are generally reliable, but be sure to stay away from "gossip" media which often contorts the truth.

Keep in mind that a general guide line used in many schools is 5 sources minimum for the IA in History, so if you are doing a History paper aim to have as close to ten sources as possible if not more for the EE.

Organization

Once you have researched your topic, you should spend a lot of time structuring and organizing your essay. Make sure your essay has a clear introduction, research question/focus (i.e. what you will be investigating), body, and conclusion. A poorly organized or unclear essay will hurt the assessment of your essay. You should also spend some time making sure that your 300-word abstract is clear and succinct in summarizing your essay. An unclear abstract will make your essay difficult to understand and will also hurt the assessment of your essay.

Although this is stated in the "General Requirements" for the Extended Essay, I feel it is necessary to repeat: if you are doing a paper in a subject not offered at your school, be very careful , especially if doing your paper in World Religions. You might want to either reconsider your choice of topic, or make sure you have several people with good credibility in that topic reading your paper. If you don't, especially in World Religions, you could end up offending your reader, and I promise you, you do not want to do that.

You can do your extended essay on any topic for which an IB class exists - i.e. something like Islamic History, which only about 100 candidates a year write about. However, you cannot do your extended essay in Theory of Knowledge, most pilot subjects and school-based syllabus subjects (check with your IB coordinator). Bear in mind that getting a good score in your extended essay, combined with your score for your Theory of Knowledge essay, may reward you with up to 3 bonus points. So aim high!

IBO Official Guide

The IBO's official guide to writing the Extended Essay can be found here: http://xmltwo.ibo.org/publications/DP/Group0/d_0_eeyyy_gui_1012_1/html/production-app3.ibo.org/publication/258/part/1/chapter/1.html

The above site is quite useful in perusing tips and hints for writing the essay, in addition to viewing the IBO standards for the essay. Note that the above link is for consideration purposes only.

"three: The Ultimate Student's Guide to Acing the Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge" by Alexander Zouev - a book full of tips and time savers for IB EE.

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How long is the IB Extended Essay? 🤔

Table of contents

• Writing Metier

The IB extended essay is designed to ensure that students learn critical learning skills and can organize their thoughts correctly. The idea is to help students build their skills and empower them to solve more complex real-life problems. However, most students tend to wonder how long the extended essay should be and what is the actual minimum word count. SO! let’s figure out how many words is an extended essay.

Does the extended essay have to be exactly 4000 words?

An extended essay needs to be a maximum of 4000 words. While there is no prescribed minimum word count for the extended essay, it is ideally recommended that you write at least 3000 words. Anything short of that gives the impression that you didn’t examine the topic in as much detail as you should have, which comes off as negative. So you need to explore the IB EE topic thoroughly and focus on delving as deep as you can into the details following the essay length.

⏭ ORDER ⏮ custom extended essay

For your ease, one page is approximately 250-275 words, so for 4000 words, IB EE’s page limit will be around 14-15 pages of content. If you want to write a good IB extended essay , make sure to follow the main parts as we will explain in the next section.

Section-wise breakdown a.k.a Structure

Here is a section-wise breakdown of the extended essay word count per section according to the IB EE guidelines and best-scored papers. This will help you structure the academic essay well. SPOILER alert, we will not count the title page and references page.

Introduction

This is where you set the tone for the entire essay making the examiner aware about what exactly they are going to know about in the essay. Not just that, but you also spike their interest here. So you need to make sure that this is very well planned because it is surely the first impression. The introduction part of an extended essay should be around 250 words approximately. You need to use this extended essay word count to ensure that you add value to what you are writing and make it as interesting as possible. Another hint from our IB writers is that you need to make sure that it is as intriguing as possible. IB loves it.

Methodology

This is the section where you write about how and where you got all the information that you used for this essay. Not only do you need to highlight what these sources are, but you also need to talk about why you are using them. Alongside that, you need to hint to their limitations and weaknesses as well. These sources need to be authentic for your research to add much value as possible to the research.

Furthermore, it would be best if you also highlighted the tools that you will be using in this research for purposes of analysis. The approximate word count for the methodology section of IB EE needs to be around 350 words.

This is the main body part of the research where you analyze everything and discuss it too. You also use all the tools in this section . In this part, you analyze most of the parts and shed light on all the extra research you have done. The idea is to answer the research question as clearly as you can in this part. It sets the context for the work you are doing. If you are doing some financial analysis too, then this is the part where you need to highlight all of that.

In case you do not want to fail the extended essay , make sure to work on this part as it will be under the main focus of a supervisor and IBO.

Remember that this is the section that helps you get the major chunk of the marks, so make sure to make this the most well-researched and well-written part of the essay. The approximate word count for the main body section of the extended essay needs to be around 2800 words. With this kind of expansive word limit, you can go into as much detail as you want and can expand too.

This is the part where you close the essay and coherently analyze your thoughts, putting them all in flow. The idea is to summarize the main points and answer the research question concisely. Give several useful insights in this part. Also, highlight the shortcomings of your research. Finally, show what our research is and what you tried to answer here. This section should add a lot of value to your research. The approximate word count for the conclusion section of the International Baccalaureate extended essay is 600 words.

Bibliography and Appendices

The bibliography section can be around three to four pages; the same goes for the appendices section. However, these sections don’t add to the word count. The same goes for the title page. So that is not something you should be worried about.

How many paragraphs is 4000 words?

It is common for such essays to have between 20 and 40 paragraphs. Keep in mind that it is essential to maintain a clear structure and logical flow, and to divide the content into manageable sections, as this can impact the assessment of your essay’s coherence and organization.

Also, considering that Extended Essays require in-depth exploration of a subject, you should focus not just on the quantity but also on the quality of the content in your paragraphs. Each paragraph should ideally deal with one main idea or argument and provide sufficient evidence and analysis. Make sure that your paragraphs are balanced, and not too long or too short. This will help you in ensuring that your essay is engaging, meets extended essay guidelines, and the criteria set by the International Baccalaureate Organization.

Now you know how many pages is each part of an extended essay

Now that you know all about the IB extended essay minimum and maximum word count, according to the latest IB extended essay criteria . Therefore, you can start with your planning. Given that you have ample words to play around with, you need to make sure you use them in the best way possible following the IB Diploma Programme assessment criteria.

Try to make your extended essay as expansive and as analytical as possible. Moreover, be prepared to leave enough time to write your IB EE , as it will give you time to complete your research accordingly. This will help you secure a good grade, as you know, it’s a crucial part of the whole IB diploma score.

Good luck with your extended essay writing. My main suggestion is not to go over the upper limit word count, and all will be cool 😉

If you need assistance writing your IB extended essay, feel free to contact our team or press the link below. Our IB experts are ready to assist you with your extended essay or any other type of IB assignment.

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Vasyl Kafidoff is a co-founder and CEO at WritingMetier. He is interested in education and how modern technology makes it more accessible. He wants to bring awareness about new learning possibilities as an educational specialist. When Vasy is not working, he’s found behind a drum kit.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, the best college essay length: how long should it be.

College Essays

Figuring out your college essay can be one of the most difficult parts of applying to college. Even once you've read the prompt and picked a topic, you might wonder: if you write too much or too little, will you blow your chance of admission? How long should a college essay be?

Whether you're a terse writer or a loquacious one, we can advise you on college essay length. In this guide, we'll cover what the standard college essay length is, how much word limits matter, and what to do if you aren't sure how long a specific essay should be.

How Long Is a College Essay? First, Check the Word Limit

You might be used to turning in your writing assignments on a page-limit basis (for example, a 10-page paper). While some colleges provide page limits for their college essays, most use a word limit instead. This makes sure there's a standard length for all the essays that a college receives, regardless of formatting or font.

In the simplest terms, your college essay should be pretty close to, but not exceeding, the word limit in length. Think within 50 words as the lower bound, with the word limit as the upper bound. So for a 500-word limit essay, try to get somewhere between 450-500 words. If they give you a range, stay within that range.

College essay prompts usually provide the word limit right in the prompt or in the instructions.

For example, the University of Illinois says :

"You'll answer two to three prompts as part of your application. The questions you'll answer will depend on whether you're applying to a major or to our undeclared program , and if you've selected a second choice . Each response should be approximately 150 words."

As exemplified by the University of Illinois, the shortest word limits for college essays are usually around 150 words (less than half a single-spaced page). Rarely will you see a word limit higher than around 650 words (over one single-spaced page). College essays are usually pretty short: between 150 and 650 words. Admissions officers have to read a lot of them, after all!

Weigh your words carefully, because they are limited!

How Flexible Is the Word Limit?

But how flexible is the word limit? What if your poignant anecdote is just 10 words too long—or 100 too short?

Can I Go Over the Word Limit?

If you are attaching a document and you need one or two extra words, you can probably get away with exceeding the word limit by such a small amount. Some colleges will actually tell you that exceeding the word limit by 1-2 words is fine. However, I advise against exceeding the word limit unless it's explicitly allowed for a few reasons:

First, you might not be able to. If you have to copy-paste it into a text box, your essay might get cut off and you'll have to trim it down anyway.

If you exceed the word limit in a noticeable way, the admissions counselor may just stop reading your essay past that point. This is not good for you.

Following directions is actually a very important part of the college application process. You need to follow directions to get your letters of recommendation, upload your essays, send supplemental materials, get your test scores sent, and so on and so forth. So it's just a good general rule to follow whatever instructions you've been given by the institution. Better safe than sorry!

Can I Go Under the Word Limit?

If you can truly get your point across well beneath the word limit, it's probably fine. Brevity is not necessarily a bad thing in writing just so long as you are clear, cogent, and communicate what you want to.

However, most college essays have pretty tight word limits anyways. So if you're writing 300 words for an essay with a 500-word limit, ask yourself: is there anything more you could say to elaborate on or support your points? Consult with a parent, friend, or teacher on where you could elaborate with more detail or expand your points.

Also, if the college gives you a word range, you absolutely need to at least hit the bottom end of the range. So if you get a range from the institution, like 400-500 words, you need to write at least 400 words. If you write less, it will come across like you have nothing to say, which is not an impression you want to give.

What If There Is No Word Limit?

Some colleges don't give you a word limit for one or more of your essay prompts. This can be a little stressful, but the prompts generally fall into a few categories:

Writing Sample

Some colleges don't provide a hard-and-fast word limit because they want a writing sample from one of your classes. In this case, a word limit would be very limiting to you in terms of which assignments you could select from.

For an example of this kind of prompt, check out essay Option B at Amherst :

"Submit a graded paper from your junior or senior year that best represents your writing skills and analytical abilities. We are particularly interested in your ability to construct a tightly reasoned, persuasive argument that calls upon literary, sociological or historical evidence. You should NOT submit a laboratory report, journal entry, creative writing sample or in-class essay."

While there is usually no word limit per se, colleges sometimes provide a general page guideline for writing samples. In the FAQ for Option B , Amherst clarifies, "There is no hard-and-fast rule for official page limit. Typically, we anticipate a paper of 4-5 pages will provide adequate length to demonstrate your analytical abilities. Somewhat longer papers can also be submitted, but in most cases should not exceed 8-10 pages."

So even though there's no word limit, they'd like somewhere in the 4-10 pages range. High school students are not usually writing papers that are longer than 10 pages anyways, so that isn't very limiting.

Implicit Length Guideline

Sometimes, while there's no word (or even page) limit, there's still an implicit length guideline. What do I mean by this?

See, for example, this Western Washington University prompt :

“Describe one or more activities you have been involved in that have been particularly meaningful. What does your involvement say about the communities, identities or causes that are important to you?”

While there’s no page or word limit listed here, further down on page the ‘essay tips’ section explains that “ most essay responses are about 500 words, ” though “this is only a recommendation, not a firm limit.” This gives you an idea of what’s reasonable. A little longer or shorter than 500 words would be appropriate here. That’s what I mean by an “implicit” word limit—there is a reasonable length you could go to within the boundaries of the prompt.

But what's the proper coffee-to-paragraph ratio?

Treasure Hunt

There is also the classic "treasure hunt" prompt. No, it's not a prompt about a treasure hunt. It's a prompt where there are no length guidelines given, but if you hunt around on the rest of the website you can find length guidelines.

For example, the University of Chicago provides seven "Extended Essay" prompts . You must write an essay in response to one prompt of your choosing, but nowhere on the page is there any guidance about word count or page limit.

However, many colleges provide additional details about their expectations for application materials, including essays, on FAQ pages, which is true of the University of Chicago. On the school’s admissions Frequently Asked Questions page , they provide the following length guidelines for the supplemental essays: 

“We suggest that you note any word limits for Coalition or Common Application essays; however, there are no strict word limits on the UChicago Supplement essays. For the extended essay (where you choose one of several prompts), we suggest that you aim for around 650 words. While we won't, as a rule, stop reading after 650 words, we're only human and cannot promise that an overly wordy essay will hold our attention indefinitely. For the “Why UChicago?” essay, we suggest about 250-500 words. The ideas in your writing matter more than the exact number of words you use!”

So there you go! You want to be (loosely) in the realm of 650 for the extended essay, and 250-500 words for the “Why UChicago?” essay.

Help! There Really Is No Guidance on Length

If you really can't find any length guidelines anywhere on the admissions website and you're at a loss, I advise calling the admissions office. They may not be able to give you an exact number (in fact, they probably won't), but they will probably at least be able to tell you how long most of the essays they see are. (And keep you from writing a panicked, 20-page dissertation about your relationship with your dog).

In general, 500 words or so is pretty safe for a college essay. It's a fairly standard word limit length, in fact. (And if you're wondering, that's about a page and a half double-spaced.) 500 words is long enough to develop a basic idea while still getting a point across quickly—important when admissions counselors have thousands of essays to read!

"See? It says 500 words right there in tiny font!"

The Final Word: How Long Should a College Essay Be?

The best college essay length is usually pretty straightforward: you want to be right under or at the provided word limit. If you go substantially past the word limit, you risk having your essay cut off by an online application form or having the admissions officer just not finish it. And if you're too far under the word limit, you may not be elaborating enough.

What if there is no word limit? Then how long should a college essay be? In general, around 500 words is a pretty safe approximate word amount for a college essay—it's one of the most common word limits, after all!

Here's guidance for special cases and hunting down word limits:

If it's a writing sample of your graded academic work, the length either doesn't matter or there should be some loose page guidelines.

There also may be implicit length guidelines. For example, if a prompt says to write three paragraphs, you'll know that writing six sentences is definitely too short, and two single-spaced pages is definitely too long.

You might not be able to find length guidelines in the prompt, but you could still hunt them up elsewhere on the website. Try checking FAQs or googling your chosen school name with "admissions essay word limit."

If there really is no word limit, you can call the school to try to get some guidance.

With this advice, you can be sure you've got the right college essay length on lockdown!

Hey, writing about yourself can even be fun!

What's Next?

Need to ask a teacher or friend for help with your essay? See our do's and dont's to getting college essay advice .

If you're lacking in essay inspiration, see our guide to brainstorming college essay ideas . And here's our guide to starting out your essay perfectly!

Looking for college essay examples? See 11 places to find college essay examples and 145 essay examples with analysis !

Ellen has extensive education mentorship experience and is deeply committed to helping students succeed in all areas of life. She received a BA from Harvard in Folklore and Mythology and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University.

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What is the IB Extended Essay?

What’s covered:, overview of the ib program, what is the extended essay (ee), what is the extended essay supervisor, when is the extended essay due.

• How is The Extended Essay Scored?

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB or IBDP) is a curriculum with examinations and assessments to test students’ knowledge. Understanding IB as a curriculum is imperative to learning more about the extended essay (EE), the research paper required to earn the diploma. 

IB is scored out of a total of 45 attainable points, with 42 being from six subjects, each worth a maximum of seven points. Those seven points are attained from a combination of internal and external assessments and numerous papers for each subject. The remaining three points come from what IB calls its “core,” which is the extended essay, theory of knowledge, and CAS (creativity, activity, and service). Passing the core is essential to receiving the diploma, even if you have a good score without the extra three points. 

The extended essay is a mandatory component of the core, but it’s more like a practical approach to undergraduate-level research papers, giving students a chance to research any of the six subjects they’ve selected in their IB journey to a greater degree. 

Students spend the first few weeks of their IB curriculum choosing a subject to write their EE on. For the sake of examples, let’s break down the EE in the perspective of a student who had chosen Chemistry HL (Higher Level). 

You’d start by choosing a topic to analyze for your EE. Topics should focus on a very specific application of knowledge, making the paper as detailed as possible. For example, a topic could be “The effects of sugar-free gum on the pH of saliva in the mouth.” The idea is to create a specific topic that allows you to not only stand out from other IB candidates, but to also help you explore something you’d personally want to invest time into. Your topic is also your title for the EE.

After creating a descriptive focal point for your EE, the next step is collecting data and carrying out the scientific process of forming a hypothesis just like any other research paper. Collecting data that is irrelevant to your experiment/research and goes unused is actually harmful to the scoring of your EE, so make sure you stay on track of what you need and don’t. 

After collecting data, compiling into the 4000 word essay is difficult but can be an enjoyable process if you let it be. Finding creative ways to present your findings using graphs and media can be not only great ways to earn extra points but also teach you more about how to create a quality research paper. After all, the point of the EE is to prepare you for college-level research paper writing. Make sure to structure the essay in a way where the body of the essay constitutes the majority, discussing and referencing back to a research question and your data throughout the paper.

For a better understanding of the timeline for your EE, refer to the following:

Note that this isn’t the only usable timeline, just an example, as there isn’t a due date set by the IB Board themselves. 

You’ll receive support and guidance from an appointed EE supervisor. This person is usually a teacher for the subject you’ve selected. In the case of our previous example, it’d be your chemistry teacher. There are also mandatory reflection sessions, where students log their progress in their work and prove gradual completion of their EE over time. 

Consistent checking for plagiarism is also done by the supervisor. The final session is called a viva voce and it’s an interview that will be recorded and sent to the IB Board for inspection. Your viva voce is considered when grading your EE. Your supervisor is someone you’ll be in constant, back and forth communication with, so choosing an advisor you know wants the best for you is important.

The EE doesn’t come with an externally set due date from the Board. Instead, the school creates and sets it for students. It’s important to understand that IB takes and considers the school’s due date, so make sure to adhere to it. Failing to meet your school’s due date could result in an instant fail from the board. As for a school’s selection for the date, it varies, but you can use the timeline above and make sure to adjust relative to a planned due date and you’ll be fine! 

No matter the date, make sure to start as early as possible because IB consists of difficult and long tasks other than the EE, like theory of knowledge and even occasional internal exams. Starting early relieves you of stress in the long-term, and will definitely prove to be beneficial!

How is the Extended Essay Scored?

IB is scored out of a total of 34 points, with there being five letter grades attributed to a boundary. The following table details the boundaries as of 2021, but new boundaries may be released, so it’s important to refer to the IB board or your school for updates.

With the EE comes CAS and theory of knowledge, the other components of the core. Scoring well in the core’s three points is important to getting the diploma and passing IB as well, the following table details the scoring procedure for the core of IB. 

While IB scores are important to receive the diploma, it’s good to know your actual scores don’t determine your chances of college admissions as much as you might think. It’s actually more important to take the IB classes pertaining to your future major, and show work ethic by signing up for difficult courses. For more insight into college admissions and your chances, use CollegeVine’s admissions calculator !

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• How long is an essay? Guidelines for different types of essay

How Long is an Essay? Guidelines for Different Types of Essay

Published on January 28, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on July 23, 2023.

The length of an academic essay varies depending on your level and subject of study, departmental guidelines, and specific course requirements. In general, an essay is a shorter piece of writing than a research paper  or thesis .

In most cases, your assignment will include clear guidelines on the number of words or pages you are expected to write. Often this will be a range rather than an exact number (for example, 2500–3000 words, or 10–12 pages). If you’re not sure, always check with your instructor.

In this article you’ll find some general guidelines for the length of different types of essay. But keep in mind that quality is more important than quantity – focus on making a strong argument or analysis, not on hitting a specific word count.

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Table of contents

Essay length guidelines, how long is each part of an essay, using length as a guide to topic and complexity, can i go under the suggested length, can i go over the suggested length, other interesting articles, prevent plagiarism. run a free check..

In an academic essay, the main body should always take up the most space. This is where you make your arguments, give your evidence, and develop your ideas.

The introduction should be proportional to the essay’s length. In an essay under 3000 words, the introduction is usually just one paragraph. In longer and more complex essays, you might need to lay out the background and introduce your argument over two or three paragraphs.

The conclusion of an essay is often a single paragraph, even in longer essays. It doesn’t have to summarize every step of your essay, but should tie together your main points in a concise, convincing way.

The suggested word count doesn’t only tell you how long your essay should be – it also helps you work out how much information and complexity you can fit into the given space. This should guide the development of your thesis statement , which identifies the main topic of your essay and sets the boundaries of your overall argument.

A short essay will need a focused, specific topic and a clear, straightforward line of argument. A longer essay should still be focused, but it might call for a broader approach to the topic or a more complex, ambitious argument.

As you make an outline of your essay , make sure you have a clear idea of how much evidence, detail and argumentation will be needed to support your thesis. If you find that you don’t have enough ideas to fill out the word count, or that you need more space to make a convincing case, then consider revising your thesis to be more general or more specific.

The length of the essay also influences how much time you will need to spend on editing and proofreading .

You should always aim to meet the minimum length given in your assignment. If you are struggling to reach the word count:

• Add more evidence and examples to each paragraph to clarify or strengthen your points.
• Make sure you have fully explained or analyzed each example, and try to develop your points in more detail.
• Address a different aspect of your topic in a new paragraph. This might involve revising your thesis statement to make a more ambitious argument.
• Don’t use filler. Adding unnecessary words or complicated sentences will make your essay weaker and your argument less clear.
• Don’t fixate on an exact number. Your marker probably won’t care about 50 or 100 words – it’s more important that your argument is convincing and adequately developed for an essay of the suggested length.

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In some cases, you are allowed to exceed the upper word limit by 10% – so for an assignment of 2500–3000 words, you could write an absolute maximum of 3300 words. However, the rules depend on your course and institution, so always check with your instructor if you’re unsure.

Only exceed the word count if it’s really necessary to complete your argument. Longer essays take longer to grade, so avoid annoying your marker with extra work! If you are struggling to edit down:

• Check that every paragraph is relevant to your argument, and cut out irrelevant or out-of-place information.
• Make sure each paragraph focuses on one point and doesn’t meander.
• Cut out filler words and make sure each sentence is clear, concise, and related to the paragraph’s point.
• Don’t cut anything that is necessary to the logic of your argument. If you remove a paragraph, make sure to revise your transitions and fit all your points together.
• Don’t sacrifice the introduction or conclusion . These paragraphs are crucial to an effective essay –make sure you leave enough space to thoroughly introduce your topic and decisively wrap up your argument.

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How Long Is an Essay? The Ultimate Essay Length Guide

It’s safe to say that most students struggle with the word limit within an essay. Sometimes, it’s hard to find ideas for a text and meet the word requirement for every part of the paper. With so many factors influencing essay length, it’s easy to get confused.

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Luckily, our custom-writing team has your back. In this article, our custom-writing experts will answer all your questions regarding essay length. We will also help you write papers with an ideal number of words!

📜 Is Essay Length Important?

📏 essay parts: recommended length.

• 🤔 How to Make Essays Shorter or Longer
• 📑 Essay Length & Formatting
• ❓ Different Academic Levels FAQ
• 📚 Essay Length: Different Types
• ⭐ Other Aspects
• 📝 Essay Examples

🔍 References

Often, the phrase “word limit” causes panic among students. After all, if an essay is too long or too short, your grade will be lowered. However, in reality, there’s nothing to worry about. When it comes to words, limitations are beneficial for both the students and the professors.

Let’s see what exactly it means.

Many people believe that the longer an essay is, the better. However, according to Frontiers, research shows that it’s a bias that couldn’t be further from the truth. A perfect-length paper is one that allows students to express their ideas and showcase their knowledge fully while keeping it clean and simple.

What Influences Essay Length

Various factors determine the length of an essay. Here are the most important ones:

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Let’s start with the essentials. Usually, assignment length is given as a number of words rather than pages. Unless your supervisor or instructor mentions any specific limitations, it’s acceptable to be 10% below or above the word limit.

It’s also worth knowing the 80/20 rule . According to it, the body should constitute 80% of the text, while the intro and the conclusion take up the remaining 20%.

Keep reading to learn more about the recommended length of each essay part. The main numbers are shown in the table below:

How Long Should an Introduction Be?

An introduction is the first section and the face of your essay. For that reason, it needs to be compelling and well-thought-out. Usually, it consists of 3 to 5 sentences or 50 to 80 words .

An introduction must have a hook, some background information, and a thesis statement. While the attention grabber and the thesis are usually brief, you may need 2 to 3 sentences for the background. To avoid going overboard, try to stay on topic and don’t add any filler.

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How Long Is a Body Paragraph in an Essay?

The length of a body paragraph may vary. Sometimes, it can be limited to a single sentence. In other cases, it may take up a whole page. Usually, it’s recommended to have between 80 and 200 words (5-8 sentences) per body paragraph.

Since the paper’s body contains the most information, it’s necessary to explain and support your ideas properly. That’s why it’s no big deal if your body paragraphs go slightly over the word limit.

How Many Body Paragraphs Should Be in an Essay?

Like the word count, the number of paragraphs is determined by the type of paper and its topic. The minimum is 1. Generally, however, the body consists of 3-5 paragraphs , 1 for each argument.

To improve your paper’s structure, ensure that there are as many paragraphs as there are points in your thesis statement. Each one should have a purpose and support your arguments. If there’s any fluff, it’s better to get rid of it.

How Long Should a Conclusion Be?

Like the introduction, the conclusion consists of 50-80 words . It’s essential to keep it simple and only mention the central ideas. A weak concluding sentence may affect the reader’s understanding of the topic and spoil the overall impression of your paper.

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🤔 How to Make Essays Shorter or Longer: Best Tips

Undoubtedly the essay’s content is more important than the number of words you use. But there are times when students go more than 10-15% below or over the limit. Is there a solution to this problem?

Yes, there is! In this section, we will share the most useful tips to help you stay on point with your paper’s word count.

How to Make Essays Longer

Since having enough words is essential for a good grade, we’ve collected the best tips that can help you lengthen your essay without teachers noticing:

• Use relevant quotations.  You don’t need to litter your essay with citations, but using them whenever appropriate is a great idea. For instance, if you’re working on a book analysis, referencing a couple of direct quotes from the source text will make your essay more credible and increase the word count.
• Give examples.  Go through the claims in your paper and provide additional evidence where possible. It will make your essay longer and more informative.
• Use transitional expressions.  Adding transition words and phrases is a natural way of increasing the number of words. It will also improve your essay’s readability. 
• Add more references.  Providing references is always a good idea when writing a formal essay. That way, you will increase the number of words and make your paper more credible.
• Work on your descriptions.  If you struggle to develop new ideas, go over what you’ve already written and consider adding some descriptive words. It’s a great idea for creative essays to include more imagery. 

How to Shorten an Essay

Another struggle of academic writing is cutting down the number of words in your essay to meet a set limit. We are here to tell you that it’s not that hard. Writing straightforwardly and keeping your sentences short is a key to concise content. Here are several strategies you may use to tighten a lengthy essay:

• Choose the active voice.  It takes up less space than passive voice. Using it also makes your writing more professional and compelling.
• Remove needless transitions.  Transitions can indeed maintain the flow of the paper. But some transitional phrases can be easily removed.
• Get rid of unnecessary adverbs and adjectives.  Some students tend to overuse adjectives and adverbs. It adds wordiness to their writing.
• Avoid running starts.  Some students like to start their sentences with long phrases like: “there are,” “it is believed,” or “the fact that.” Getting rid of them makes texts much more concise.
• Delete “that.”  In most cases, the word “that” can often be easily removed from texts.

Another cool trick is to use our summarizing tool as essay shortener. Try it out!

📑 How Long Is an Essay Depending on Formatting?

As we mentioned earlier, the essay’s length is usually limited by the number of words. But sometimes, a teacher may ask you to write a specific number of pages. This is trickier because the amount of text you can place on the page depends on the formatting. By using the font size and spacing properly, it’s possible to make the paper visually longer or shorter. Let’s discuss it in more detail.

Essay Spacing: How Does It Affect the Length?

• Adjusting the spacing between lines.  Try to make the changes as slight as possible. For instance, if you were asked to double-space the paper, use 2.1 or 2.2 spacing instead. Another option is to slightly extend spaces between paragraphs.
• Extending the margin size.  You can increase the right and bottom margins by a quarter to make very subtle changes in length. For example, if the margins are 1 inch , you can set them at 1.25 inches instead. 
• Increasing the spacing between characters.  It is less noticeable than the line spacing. Still, try not to overdo it and keep the numbers between 1.2 and 1.5 . 
• Adjusting the footer.  Add a footer with page numbers to stretch the bottom margin even further.
• Lengthening the header.  You can extend your header by adding your name, e-mail address, or other relevant information. Another option is double-spacing it.

Length of an Essay: Font and Size

• Using the right type of font.  If your instructor didn’t specify which font you should use, go for the bigger ones. We suggest Arial, Bangla Sangam MN, Cambria, or Quicksand. They will make your text look longer without being too on the nose.  
• Using a bigger font size.  This is another technique that can come in handy. However, be careful and don’t increase your font by more than 0.1-0.5 pt.  
• Increasing the size of periods and commas.   This is one of the less noticeable tricks you can use. For instance, if your paper’s font is 12 pt. , increase it to 14 pt. only for punctuation marks. Italicizing periods and commas will also add several lines of length to your essay. 

What to Do if There Are No Length Guidelines

Sometimes a teacher sets no word limit for a written work. What to do in that case? Well, first, you can ask your professor to confirm if they have simply forgotten to mention it. But if that’s not the case, here are a couple of helpful solutions:

• Think of the paragraph number.  Sometimes, you may be given the number of paragraphs instead of words. In that case, you can decide on the number of words depending on how many paragraphs you have. 
• Think about the topic’s complexity.  The length of your paper is also directly dependent on the theme. If the topic is simple, 4-5 paragraphs will be enough. A more complex issue may require an in-depth explanation, so your essay can be 6-8 paragraphs long.

❓ Essay Length for Different Academic Levels FAQ

The length of the elementary school essay is usually short. Usually, a paper needs to have around 3-5 paragraphs, with 4-5 sentences per paragraph. Primary school essays can be 1-2 paragraphs long.

The word limit for a middle school essay is usually between 300 to 1000 words. The most common essay length is 500 words, which is about 5 paragraphs. However, it may differ from school to school.

The length of the high school essay may differ depending on the school and the complexity of the task itself. Usually, however, a paper can be between 300 to 1000 words long.

The length of the undergraduate college essay often falls within the range of 1500 to 2100 words. It translates into roughly 5-7 pages. 5 pages is the most common essay length at this level.

When it comes to the graduate school admission essay, the word limit is usually between 500 and 1000 words. It’s possible to go slightly over or below the set limit; however, it’s best to stick to the requirements as close as possible.

📚 How Long Should an Essay Be: Different Types

Now, let’s talk about different types of essays. How long should they be? Keep reading to learn about the length of college essays, short and extended ones, scholarship essays, and research papers.

How Long Is a College Essay?

When it comes to a college essay, it’s more important to stick to the word limit than with any other paper. Some teachers may refuse to read it unless it meets all the requirements.

The shortest limit for a college essay is about 250 words which is the shortest length of a Common App personal statement. It’s also rare to see a good college essay with over 650 words . So, an average piece usually has between 150 and 650 words ; you can go over or below the limit by 50.

How Long Is a Paragraph in College Essays?

A college essay usually consists of 4-5 paragraphs . One paragraph takes about 1/3 of the page, which is roughly 5 sentences . Each sentence corresponds with one of the following components:

• Topic sentence.
• Explanation.
• Transitions.

College Essay Length Requirements: Top 5 Schools

To understand the requirements for a college application essay even better, take a look at the table below. It showcases the top 5 schools and their length criteria for personal statements. Keep it in mind when writing your college essay:

How Long Is a Short Essay?

A short essay is usually 500 words long. Using 12pt Times New Roman font with standard margins and double spacing should result in about 2 pages of text.

Extended Essay Length

An extended essay is different from a short or a standard one. It requires extensive research and thorough explanation. That’s why the upper limit for this kind of essay is 4000 words . In this case, a typical essay length is 3500 words or 18 paragraphs .

Scholarship Essay Length

Generally, scholarship papers have a limit of 500 words , which is 1 page in length. Most scholarship programs provide additional requirements that indicate the minimum number of words or pages. If there are no set limitations, you can stick to the limit.

How Long Is a Research Paper?

Typically, a research paper is between 4000 and 6000 words long. Sometimes, there are shorter papers, which have around 2000 words, or in-depth ones with over 10000 words.

⭐ Other Aspects of Essay Length

When it comes to essay length, many different aspects come into play. Here, we’ve gathered all the essential information regarding an essay’s number of pages, paragraphs, words, and references.

How Many Paragraphs Are in an Essay?

Sometimes, it is more convenient to count paragraphs rather than words. Let’s now figure out how many paragraphs are in essays of different lengths. You may also check out the examples to see what such an essay looks like:

How to Count Paragraphs in an Essay Based on Word Count

You can also count the number of body paragraphs for your essay using the formula below:

Number of body paragraphs (average) = (TWC – TWC*0.16)/100

• TWC – total word count
• 0.16 – an average percentage of total word count for introduction and conclusion
• 100 – an average number of words per paragraph

How Many Pages Are in an Essay?

The number of pages in your essay may vary from subject to subject. But it’s still possible to determine the number of pages based on word count. Check out the numbers below to see the conversions with bonus examples:

You can also use a specialized calculator such as Word Counter to determine a number of pages in your essay.

What Does an Essay Look Like when Typed?

You might be wondering: what do essays of different lengths look like when typed? Well, here’s the table where you can find out the metrics for single- and double-spaced papers.

How Many Pages Are in a Handwritten Essay?

In case you need to turn in a handwritten paper, you should check out the table below.

Counting Words in a Handwritten Essay

If you don’t have enough time to count the words in your handwritten essay one by one, here’s what you can do:

• Count how many words there are in one line. Take the first and last lines and a line in the middle of a page. Let’s say there are 15, 14, and 15 words in them. Then, the average number of words per line is 15.
• Next, count how many lines there are on one page. Let’s say there are 17 lines on a page.
• Take the number of words per line and multiply it by the number of lines per page. In our case, we multiply 15 by 17. So, there are 255 words per page on average.
• Finally, multiply the number of words per page by the number of pages. If your essay has 3 pages, it is approximately 765 words long.

How Long Does it Take to Write an Essay?

It is crucial to know how long writing will take you, especially if you are working on an exam essay or just short on time. Note that you need to consider the time for typing and researching necessary to complete a piece. Research time may vary. Usually, it’s 1-2 hours for 200-250 words .

Below, we’ve gathered the average writing time for average and slower writing speed:

And here are the results in pages:

How Many References Does an Essay Need?

Another essential part of any composition is the reference list. Different academic levels require different references. You’ll find out how many of them should be in your paper in the table below!

📝 Essay Examples: Different Length

Finally, we’ve gathered some excellent sample essays of different lengths. Make sure to check them out!

We also recommend you check out our free essay samples sorted by pages:

• 1-Page Essay Examples
• 2-Page Essay Examples
• 3-Page Essay Examples
• 4-Page Essay Examples
• 5-Page Essay Examples
• 10-Page Essay Examples
• 20-Page Essay Examples
• 30-Page Essay Examples
• 40-Page Essay Examples
• 50-Page Essay Examples

Now you know all about essay length, word limits, and ways to lengthen or shorten your text. If you know other interesting tricks, make sure to share them in a comment! Good luck with your writing assignments!

You may also like:

• How to Write a Process Analysis Essay: Examples & Outline
• How to Write a Precis: Definition, Guide, & Examples 
• How to Write a Critical Analysis Essay: Examples & Guide
• How to Write a Narrative Essay Outline: Template & Examples
• How to Write a Formal Essay: Format, Rules, & Example
• Word Limits and Assignment Length: Massey University
• The Paragraph in the College Essay: California State University, Long Beach
• Introductions & Conclusions: The University of Arizona Global Campus
• How Long Should a Paragraph Be?: Daily Writing Tips
• Paragraphing (Length Consistency): Purdue University
• Hitting the Target Word Count in Your College Admission Essay: Dummies.com
• How Long Should Your College Essay Be? What is the Ideal Length?: College Vine
• Writing Personal Statements Online: Issues of Length and Form: Penn State University
• Pen Admissions: Essays: University of Pennsylvania
• Essay Questions: University of Michigan
• Essay Structure: Harvard University
• Components of a Good Essay: University of Evansville
• Write Your Essay: UNSW Sydney
• College Writing: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 21 Helpful and Easy Tips to Make an Essay Longer: Seventeen
• How to Make a College Paper Longer: ThoughtCo
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How Long Does It Take To Write An Extended Essay? (Answered)

by  Antony W

September 3, 2022

An extended essay is an individual assignment that requires you to conduct research on a topic of your interest and present your findings in at most 4,000 words.  But how long does it take to write an extended essay?

You’ll have 40 hours of writing for an extended essay. IB distributes these hours throughout the year, so you have ample time in between to research and write. The most important thing to do is to start early, as you can’t afford to fall a victim last minute rush.

The most important thing when it comes to writing an IB EE fast is to ensure you pick a topic that you’re interested in, you have knowledge about, and you can explore within the scope of the assignment.

How Many Hours Does It Take to Write an IB Extended Essay?

How many hours does it take to write an extended essay.

IB teachers know that extended essays are quit involving.

You have to pick a topic, develop a research question, conduct independent research, and put together all your findings in a 4,000 words long essay .

Owing to the series of steps involved and the complexity of the writing process, IB gives you up to a year to write just one extended essay throughout the course.

To be clear, you don’t have to spend an entire year working on the IB extended essay. You can get it done in as few as 14 days.

One of the ways to write the EE fast is to  hire our extended essay writers   to help you streamline the writing process. Our team consists of professionals with over 5 years of experience in writing extended essays and related assignments.

Another option is to write the extended essay yourself.

If you’re fast enough, or you want to give more priority to your extended essay before going to another assignment, you can complete the research and writing in 5 days give or take.

If you’re slow, or you take breaks in between researching and writing the first draft, you can write the extended essay in 10 to 15 days.

How You Can Tackle an IB Extended Essay

The best way to complete an IB Extended Essay in time is to break the assignment into small manageable elements while keeping the stated deadline in mind.

The strategy applies whether you take 5 days or 10 months to complete and submit your EE.

• Stage 1: Pick a topic depending on the subject and then gather relevant primary and secondary sources.
• Stage 2: Write an annotated bibliography   for the EE ,  making sure your description for each source is relevant, accurate, and concise
• Stage 3: Take a day break, then come back and create a research proposal   for the project
• Stage 4: Create an outline and make some notes from your sources to make your essay easy to write once you start writing your EE
• Stage 5: Now write your IB Extended Essay .  Make sure you start writing early so you gave enough time to revise and submit the assignment before time.

Factors that Determine How Long It Takes to Write an Extended Essay

The following are the factors that determine how long it will take you to work on your IB Extended Essay from start to finish.

1. Choice of Subject

Some subjects are easy to cover. Others are more involving in terms of research, experiments, and writing.

For example, an extended essay in History takes less time to complete compared to Chemistry Extended Essay .

2. Complexity of Your Chosen Topic

It’s hard to know how complex a topic is by just looking at it. You have to read the extended essay prompt to know exactly what the assignment requires.

Additionally, it’s important to spend some time researching the topic to understand how complex it is.

By knowing how complex your selected topic is, it will be easier for you to determine how much time you’re likely to spend researching and writing the extended essay.

3. Deadline Assigned to the Assignment

The EE General Timeline states that you have 10 months to research and write your extended essay. So start working on early to avoid the last minute rush.

Write the first 1,500 words immediately after the third EE reflection session with your supervisor, and 3,000 words benchmarked after the fifth meeting.

You’ll have about 1,000 words left, which you should complete before the sixth meeting with your supervisor.

Tips for Writing an IB Extended Essay Fast 

1. choose the right topic.

Skip this step if your teacher has already given you a topic to work on. If they haven’t choose an interesting topic that meets the following criteria:

• Choose a specific topic. It should not be too broad or too narrow. And it shouldn’t be obvious or already discussed
• It should be a topic you can cover in 4,000 words
• The topic should have enough information from primary and secondary sources and allow you to demonstrate your thoughts in a way that brings out originality

2. Start Early

Start working on your IB Extended Essay soon after your supervisor approves your research proposal.

Do your research before the first locked reflection session and start benchmarking your first 1,500 words long before your fourth meeting your supervisor.

3. Don’t Exceed the Word Count 

An IB Extended Essay should not exceed 4,000 words.

This doesn’t include words on the Title Page, Table of Content, Bibliography and Appendices.

Now you know how long it takes to write an IB Extended Essay, it should be easy for you to prepare early and write the assignment very well.

About the author 

Antony W is a professional writer and coach at Help for Assessment. He spends countless hours every day researching and writing great content filled with expert advice on how to write engaging essays, research papers, and assignments.

Ideal College Application Essay Length

Can you go over the Common App length limit? How long should your essay be?

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The 2019-20 version of the  Common Application has an essay length limit of 650 words and a minimum length of 250 words. This limit has remained unchanged for the past several years. Learn how important this word limit is and how to make the most of your 650 words.

Key Takeaways: Common Application Essay Length

• Your Common Application essay must be between 250 words and 650 words.
• Don't assume shorter is better. A college requires an essay because they want to learn more about you.
• Never go over the limit. Show that you can follow instructions and that you know how to edit.

How Strict Is the Limit?

Many wonder whether they can go over the limit, even if only by a few words. What if you feel that you need more space to communicate all of your ideas clearly?

650 words is not a lot of space in which to convey your personality, passions, and writing ability to the people in admissions offices—and the title and any explanatory notes are also included in this limit. The holistic admissions processes of most schools prove that colleges really do want to get to know the person behind your test scores and grades . Since the essay is one of the best places for showcasing who you are, is it worth it to go over?

Most experts recommend adhering to the limit. The Common Application will even prompt its applicants if they exceed the word count to prevent them from going over. Most admissions officers have stated that, while they will read all essays in their entirety, they are less inclined to feel that essays over 650 accomplish what they set out to do. In short: any of the prompts can and should be answered in 650 words or fewer.

Choosing the Right Length

If everything from 250 to 650 words is fair game, what length is best? Some counselors advise students to keep their essays on the shorter end, but not all colleges place the most value in succinctness.

The personal essay is the most powerful tool at your disposal for showing readers your personality without meeting them. If you've chosen a focus that reveals something meaningful about you, you're probably going to need more than 250 words to create a thoughtful, introspective, and effective essay. However, it isn't essential to hit the 650 mark, either.

From the Admissions Desk

"There is no need to meet the full word count [650] if the essay captures what the student would like to share. Visually, you want to make sure the essay looks complete and robust. As a general rule, I would suggest the essay be between 500-650 words."

–Valerie Marchand Welsh Director of College Counseling, The Baldwin School Former Associate Dean of Admissions, University of Pennsylvania

Each of the Common App essay prompts creates different writing challenges, but no matter which option you choose, your essay should be detailed and analytical, and it should provide a window into some important dimension of your interests, values, or personality. Ask yourself: Will the admissions officers know me better after reading my essay? Chances are, an essay in the 500- to 650-word range will accomplish this task better than a shorter essay

In general, the length of an essay does not determine its effectiveness. If you have answered the prompt in its entirety and feel proud of your work, there is no need to stress about any particular word count. Do not pad your essay with filler content and tautologies to stretch it out, and on the flip side, don't leave important sections out in the interest of keeping the essay brief.

Why You Shouldn't Go Over the Essay Length Limit

Some colleges will allow you to exceed the limit set by the Common Application, but you should avoid writing more than 650 words in all cases for the following reasons:

• College students adhere to guidelines : If a professor assigns a five-page paper, they don't want a 10-page paper and you don't have 55 minutes to take 50-minute exams. The message that you send to a college when you write a powerful essay in 650 words or fewer, even when they accept longer submissions, is that you can succeed under any conditions.
• Essays that are too long can leave a negative impression: Essays over 650 may make you appear over-confident. The word counts have been established by experts for a reason and writing more than you are allowed might make it seem like you think what you have to say is more important than other applicants, who have to follow the rules. Avoid seeming self-important by stopping yourself from going overboard.
• Good writers know how to edit and cut : Any college writing professor would tell you that most essays become stronger when they are trimmed. There are almost always words, sentences, and even entire paragraphs that don't contribute to an essay and can be omitted. As you revise any essay you write, ask yourself which parts help you to make your point and which get in the way—everything else can go. Use these 9 style tips to tighten up your language.

College admissions officers will read essays that are too long but may consider them to be rambling, unfocused, or poorly-edited. Remember that your essay is one of many and your readers will wonder why yours is longer when it doesn't need to be.

• The Length Requirements for the Common Application Essay in 2020-21
• How Long Should Your Common Application Short Answer Essay Be?
• The 2021-22 Common Application Essay Prompts
• Common Application Essay on a Meaningful Place
• Private School Application Essay Tips
• Common Application Short Answer Tips
• "Grandpa's Rubik's Cube"—Sample Common Application Essay, Option #4
• Common Supplemental Essay Mistakes
• 2020-21 Common Application Essay Option 4—Solving a Problem
• Tips for Writing a Winning College Application Essay
• Common Application Essay, Option 1: Share Your Story
• 5 Tips for a College Admissions Essay on an Important Issue
• Addressing Diversity in a College Application Essay
• Common Application Essay Option 2 Tips: Learning from Failure
• Should an Application Essay Be Single-Spaced or Double-Spaced?
• How to Write a Great College Application Essay Title

Frequently Asked Questions

Applications, what is your minimum gpa or required sat or act score.

There is no minimum GPA or required test score. At UChicago, the admissions committee considers a candidate’s entire application—academic and extracurricular records, essays, letters of recommendation, and optional testing—and there’s no one piece of information that alone determines whether or not you would be a good fit for the College. You can learn more about this contextual review process  here .

I was unable to take the SAT or ACT due to a test date cancellation. Can I still apply to UChicago?

UChicago is test-optional, which means that we do not require students to share results of the SAT or ACT if you have been unable to test or prefer not to share your scores. This policy is open to all applicants, including domestic first-year applicants, international applicants, and transfer students. Further information about our test-optional policy can be found here .

Do you grant credit for AP and IB scores? For college-level classes taken in high school?

Yes! We accept scores of 5 on most Advanced Placement (AP) exams and of 7 on certain International Baccalaureate (IB) Higher-Level examinations for credit; other scores may be accepted in particular subjects. Learn more about accelerated course credit  here .

While UChicago is unable to grant transfer credit to first-year students for college-level coursework taken prior to matriculation, we understand that taking college level courses while enrolled in high school gives students strong experience with rigorous work that prepares you well for the UChicago experience. UChicago also offers placement and accreditation tests to entering students in select subjects to assure that students are able to start courses at a level that best suits their prior experience in a given subject.

Do you require SAT Subject Tests?

No. Regardless of what other test scores you may be submitting, SAT Subject Tests scores are entirely optional, and not sending Subject Test scores will not hurt your application.

Do you look at the essay section of the SAT or ACT?

If you choose to submit your SAT or ACT scores, UChicago does not require the optional essay portion of the SAT or ACT. If submitted, the essay score will not be an essential part of the application review.

I've taken the SAT or ACT more than once. Should I send all my test scores?

We superscore test scores, meaning that only your best testing results—your highest sub-scores and the best result of the two testing options, if you've taken both the SAT and ACT— will be considered in the review of your application. Lower test scores submitted will not be used in the review of your application. If you have chosen to submit SAT or ACT test scores, we recommend that you send us all of your test scores.

Because standardized test scores are optional portions of your admissions process, does that mean I shouldn’t take the SAT or ACT?

The SAT, ACT, and other standard measures can continue to be an important part of the University of Chicago’s contextual admission process for students electing to send scores and are a required part of the application process at many other highly selective schools. These tests can provide valuable information about a student which we and other colleges will consider alongside the other elements in a student’s application. We encourage students to take standardized tests, like the SAT and ACT, and to share your scores with us if you think that they are reflective of your ability and potential. Given that many of our peers do require testing, we anticipate that the vast majority of students will continue to take tests and may still submit their test scores to UChicago.

I don’t plan on submitting an ACT or SAT. What else should I submit?

We welcome any student, regardless of testing choices, to submit additional materials that they feel best highlight their skills, talents, and potential contributions to UChicago. Students may submit supplemental materials through their UChicago Account. These materials may include, but are not limited to, creative writing projects; highlights from music/dance/visual art/theater performances; school capstone projects such as the AP Capstone, the IB Extended Essay, or the equivalent; research project abstracts; business plans; or other work of note. Students may also elect to submit results of AP exams, SAT Subject Tests, or other supplemental testing on an optional and self-reported basis.

Is there a score cut off at which I should opt out of submitting my ACT or SAT?

We review applications contextually, which means there is never a score “cutoff” that would determine the fate of a student’s application. For many applicants, an SAT or ACT score can reflect their academic preparedness in a broader context. Students who feel this describes them are invited to submit these standardized scores. However, some domestic applicants may feel that an SAT or ACT score does not fully reflect their academic preparedness or potential. If this is the case, students may select UChicago's test-optional method of application, and not supply SAT or ACT scores with their application. We welcome any student regardless of testing plan to submit additional material that they feel best highlights their skills, talents, and potential contributions to UChicago.

If I had SAT or ACT scores sent before applying, can my application be reviewed without considering these scores?

Yes, if you previously had SAT or ACT scores sent before applying, you can indicate in your application that you wish to have your application considered without SAT or ACT scores.

What counts as an academic achievement of note in considering what to include in my application?

We read every application within the context of a student’s school, environment, and opportunities.  If you feel there is something that best highlights your skills, talents, and potential contributions to UChicago—and you have not already included it in your application—please share it with us!

Does UChicago not see a value in standardized testing?

Your transcript shows your academic record in the context of your school, but, since one school can be very different from another, it is useful to see evidence of academic achievement that exists outside of the context of your school. This is why some colleges ask applicants to submit an SAT or ACT score.

For many applicants, an SAT or ACT score can reflect their academic preparedness in this broader context. If you feel your SAT or ACT reflects your academic preparedness well, then please feel free to send this with your application. Some domestic applicants may feel that an SAT or ACT score does not fully reflect their academic preparedness or potential. If this is the case for you, you may select UChicago's test-optional method of application, and not supply SAT or ACT scores with your application.

We allow students to decide for themselves what optional information best represents their college readiness so that they can submit their strongest possible application. We want students to know: the application does not define them, they define the application.

Do you superscore test scores?

Yes, we superscore both the SAT and ACT, meaning that if you take either test multiple times, we will take your highest individual sub-section scores and combine them to give you the highest overall score possible.

Do you accept scores from the "old" SAT?

Starting in March 2016, the College Board offered a new, redesigned version of the SAT. We will continue to accept scores from the old version of the SAT for the five years that the scores remain valid and will superscore within both the old exam and the new, but will not superscore between the two versions.

Can I self-report my test scores or my transcript?

Both domestic and international applicants who choose to submit SAT or ACT scores may share either official or self-reported SAT or ACT scores. These students will not be required to submit official score reports unless they are admitted and choose to enroll. Students are able to self-report test scores through the Coalition or Common Application or may share a transcript that includes test scores.

Applicants who attend a high school in the United States may also self-submit high school transcripts and will be required to submit an official transcript if they are admitted and choose to enroll. International students should submit an official copy of their high school transcript.

What types of supplemental materials may I submit?

The most effective supplements share a representative sample of work that is important to the applicant. One to two minutes of a recorded work, two or three high-quality prints of a work of art, the best paragraph or page of a creatively written work, or an abstract of original research are recommended. If you do not believe that a traditional essay format can meaningfully share who you are, you can also submit an Alternative Project as an additional material. Alternative Projects may be multimedia works (videos, photo essays, art work, poetry, etc.) that applicants believe will introduce and represent themselves to admissions counselors.

What types of recommendation letters are required?

We require two letters of recommendation from two teachers of any academic subjects. If someone who is not a teacher can provide a different perspective on your work or personality, they are welcome to send in a supplemental recommendation in addition to your two teacher recommendations. Pick the teachers who know you best; they don't need to be in subjects related to your intended major.

May I submit supplemental letters of recommendation?

You may submit one additional letter of recommendation. The writer should know you personally and have worked closely with you in some capacity; this could include a coach, religious leader, group adviser, or employer, to name a few.

Is there a word limit or suggested word limit to your essay responses?

We suggest that you note any word limits for Coalition or Common Application essays; however, there are no strict word limits on the UChicago Supplement essays. For the extended essay (where you choose one of several prompts), we suggest that you aim for around 650 words. While we won't, as a rule, stop reading after 650 words, we're only human and cannot promise that an overly wordy essay will hold our attention indefinitely. For the “Why UChicago?” essay, we suggest about 250-500 words. The ideas in your writing matter more than the exact number of words you use!

How do I make sure that UChicago has received all of my required application documents?

A little while after the application deadline has passed, you will be able to check to see which application materials we have received and processed by logging in to your  UChicago Account . Given the large volume of material submitted every year, there will be a reasonable amount of processing time between when you submit your documents and when they will appear in your Account. If anything is missing, we will give you ample time to submit or resubmit it.

May I submit supplemental materials in the arts, music, or my own original research?

Yes. The most effective supplements share a representative sample of work that is important to the applicant. One to two minutes of a recorded work, two or three high-quality prints of a work of art, the best paragraph or page of a creatively written work, or an abstract of original research are recommended. In addition, if you do not believe that a traditional essay format can meaningfully share who you are, you can submit an Alternative Project. The projects that can be submitted are multimedia (videos, photo essays, art work, poetry, etc.) that they believe introduces them to their admissions counselor and the UChicago community.

Can I participate in an interview as part of my application?

If you would like to add your voice to your application, you have the option to submit a two-minute video introduction, as an alternative to an interview. Your recording does not need to be extensively rehearsed or polished, and the video does not need to be edited. UChicago no longer offers on-campus or alumni interviews as part of the application process.

Is a video introduction required? Is it recommended?

The video introduction is not required but is recommended. A video introduction is one more way for us to get to know you and hear your voice (literally!), but it is up to the applicant whether or not to include one. Students who choose not to submit a video introduction will not be penalized in any way. Applicants can upload their video introduction to their UChicago Account under “Portfolio” with the title “Optional Video Profile.” You may upload your video to your UChicago Account at any time, but we recommend uploading by November 6 th  for Early Action and Early Decision I or January 8 th  for Regular Decision/Early Decision II.

Does my video need to be produced/edited/scripted?

The option of submitting a video gives students which wish to do so a different medium for developing their voice and ideas. In reviewing recommended video profiles, the focus will be on the content of the video rather than on production quality. Students who submit a video are encouraged to film in a quiet space that limits outside distractions (background noise, music, pet or sibling interference, etc.). While it’s okay to rehearse your message a bit so that you feel confident and ready, it’s helpful for us to hear these spoken in your normal, conversational voice—memorizing a “script” or reading from prepared notes is not necessary and might detract from a sense of your genuine voice.

Do you offer financial aid?

Yes. UChicago meets the full-demonstrated financial need of every admitted student through a need-based financial aid package that includes no loan expectation. Each financial aid package is tailored to the student and family’s particular financial profile; we require a few forms and documents in order to offer students an appropriate package. Although domestic applicants may apply for financial aid at any time, we recommend that they apply for aid when they apply for admission in order to receive an aid decision in a timely manner. UChicago does not charge an application fee to students who indicate that they intend to apply for financial aid. Learn more about applying for UChicago’s financial aid .

Do you offer merit awards or special scholarships?

Exemplary students are selected to receive University merit scholarships on the basis of outstanding academic achievement, extracurricular achievement, demonstrated leadership, and commitment to their communities. Merit awards are determined by committee on the basis of the application for admission without consideration of financial need. These awards range by amount from $5,000-$10,000 and can be awarded for four years of undergraduate study or as funding for summer opportunities. We also offer scholarships for first-generation college students, the children of police and firefighters, and the children of Chicago Public Schools educators. Each student admitted to the College will be automatically considered for merit scholarships; applicants do not need to fill out an additional application, with the exception of the Police and Fire Scholarship .

Special Circumstances

I had bad grades or a special circumstance that affected my performance in high school. does this mean i won’t get in.

No one’s record is perfect, and we understand that sometimes students’ transcripts have grades that are not indicative of their academic capabilities when they apply to college. If you have made significant strides in your academic performance, or outside circumstances have caused bumps along the way, please make sure that comes across in your application. The Additional Information portion of the application is a great place to discuss this. We truly embrace a contextual approach to reading applications, and this approach means seeing applicants as multi-faceted individuals rather than one-dimensional students.

I am taking the November SAT or October ACT as an Early Action or Early Decision I applicant, or the January SAT or February ACT as a Regular Decision or Early Decision II applicant. Will you consider these scores?

While we would, of course, like to receive your scores before the appropriate deadline, we will accept October ACT and November SAT scores for Early Action and Early Decision I, December SAT and ACT scores for Early Decision II, and January SAT and February ACT scores for Regular Decision.

I am interested in participating in a varsity sport. How may I contact a coach?

Contact information for our varsity coaches, as well as a survey for students interested in participating in varsity athletics, may be found  here .

Does the University of Chicago grant second bachelor’s degrees?

We do not offer second bachelor’s degrees. Please visit the website of the  Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies  for information on post-baccalaureate coursework and non-degree-program coursework.

May I apply to UChicago for entry in the Winter or Spring Quarters?

Entering students may only begin study at UChicago in the Autumn Quarter.

My school experience was disrupted or changed significantly during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Will this negatively impact my application to UChicago?

We understand that schools around the world made the difficult choice to close or engage in remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we know many students may have experienced different grading systems or an inability to engage in school in their typical way in the Spring of 2020. UChicago always reviews applicants in the context of their school’s environment and grading practices, and will continue to give full consideration to all applicants regardless of the method of grading or assessment your school selected. We also know that many students experienced a disruption to their typical level of involvement in extracurricular activities. Rest assured that these circumstances, which we know were outside of any student’s control, will not negatively impact your application to UChicago or other colleges.

I am not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, but have been living in the United States for some time or am in the process of obtaining a green card but have not yet received one. Am I considered an international student?

Yes, for application and financial aid purposes you will be considered an international applicant until you receive a green card. For further help and questions as they arise during this process, contact us at  [email protected] .

Visiting Campus

I understand that many colleges are currently closed to visitors. how can i learn more about uchicago without a physical visit to campus.

We offer a variety of virtual opportunities to learn more about UChicago's academic, extracurricular, and admissions processes here .

UChicago will consider requests to take a one-year gap year from incoming first-year students before June 15. To be eligible for consideration, interested students should accept their offer of admission and place an enrollment deposit (or have a deposit fee waiver in place). Students must then apply for a gap year through their regional admissions counselor and will receive written confirmation from the Dean of Admissions if approved. Gap year requests should include a plan for a full year of structured programming, work, community involvement, or other exploration that could not be completed while enrolled in school. Students taking gap years will be asked to sign an agreement outlining expectations for conduct during their gap year. Second or two-year gap year requests are rarely approved except under unavoidable or well-defined national policies (typically including obligatory national/military service or other similar commitments).

How Long Should An Essay Be? 6 Different Essay Lengths

• December 20, 2023

The length of an essay can vary greatly depending on the type of essay being written and the purpose for which it is being written. While there is no strict rule on how long an essay should be, some general guidelines can help you determine the appropriate length for your essay. In this article, we will discuss 6 different essay lengths and provide tips on how to write a strong essay at each length.

What is an Academic Essay?

Before we dive into the different lengths of essays, it’s important to understand what an academic essay is. An academic essay is a piece of writing that presents and defends an argument or point of view on a specific topic. It is commonly used in higher education as a way for students to demonstrate their understanding and critical thinking skills.

An academic essay should be well-researched, well-structured, and well-written. It should also follow a specific formatting style, such as MLA or APA, and include citations and a bibliography. The length of an academic essay can vary depending on the type and purpose of the essay.

6 Different Essay Lengths

1. the one-paragraph essay.

The one-paragraph essay, typically 150 to 250 words, acts as a learning exercise for students to grasp the basics of paragraph writing.

Academic tutors may assign it for various purposes, such as summarizing an article or giving an extended concept definition.

Furthermore, one-paragraph essays can be a diagnostic tool to evaluate a student’s writing proficiency.

This type of essay incorporates introductory, body, and concluding elements within a single paragraph.

2. The Three-Paragraph Essay

The three-paragraph essay is commonly used to introduce students to essay structure. It typically consists of around 500 words.

The essay includes an introduction, body section, and conclusion. The purpose is to teach students how to write cohesively and logically.

The introduction and conclusion, which are usually shorter, serve as the first and last paragraphs of the essay.

The central body paragraph contains the content or argument of the essay.

3. The Five-Paragraph Essay

Tutors often assign a five-paragraph essay to assess students’ grasp of essay structure.

The body section benefits from the added flexibility to expand ideas, typically spanning approximately 1,000 words.

This type of essay dedicates one paragraph each to the introduction and conclusion while allotting three paragraphs to explore the essay’s theme.

This length allows essay types like cause-and-effect or compare-and-contrast essays to be effectively utilized.

A simple diagram can illustrate the allocation of paragraph lengths in a five-paragraph essay.

4. The Extended Essay

The extended essay is commonly assigned for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.

It can vary in length but typically does not exceed 5,000 words.

Common word lengths for an extended essay are 1,500, 3,000, and 5,000 words, with a 10% allowance.

These essays require research and referencing skills and may follow more complex structures like dissertations and theses.

They are not limited to the traditional introduction-body-conclusion structure of shorter essays.

5. The Dissertation

Dissertations are usually assigned as the final project for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.

The typical length of an academic dissertation is around 10,000 to 15,000 words.

Unlike shorter essay types, dissertations have more complex structures.

Dissertations are almost always based on primary research, which means conducting original research.

Dissertations require the author to conduct research rather than rely solely on existing sources.

6. The Thesis

The thesis is the longest type of academic essay, typically written by doctoral students studying for a PhD.

It is considerably longer, ranging from 40,000 to 60,000 words, compared to other types of essays.

While similar to a dissertation, a thesis delves into greater detail and involves more extensive research.

These are typically based on primary research, emphasizing the accuracy of the literature review, data collection, and data analysis.

Not all students will come across this essay type during their academic journey.

However, it requires an immense amount of time and dedication to complete.

In addition to these types, essays are classified into 5 other types: High School Essays, College Admission Essays, Undergraduate College Essays, Graduate School Admission Essays, and Graduate School Essays.

Let’s have a look at the table below to understand the suggested lengths for these essays:

The length of an essay can vary depending on the type and level of education. Knowing the lengths of essays can help students effectively plan and manage their assignments. However, it’s important to remember that the length should not be the sole focus when writing an essay.

It’s equally important to focus on the quality of content and meeting the assignment’s requirements. A well-crafted essay with cohesive arguments and supported evidence is more valuable than simply meeting a specific word count. Students should prioritize developing their writing skills to effectively convey their ideas and arguments rather than solely focusing on meeting a certain length requirement.

1. How long should an essay be?

The length of an essay can vary depending on the type and level of education, ranging from 250 words for a short essay to 60,000 words for a thesis.

2. Can I exceed the recommended length for an essay?

It is generally not recommended to significantly exceed the recommended length for an essay as it may indicate a lack of conciseness and focus. However, ensuring that all necessary points and arguments are adequately addressed within the essay is important.

3. How long should each paragraph be in an essay?

The length of each paragraph can vary depending on the content and purpose of the essay. Generally, paragraphs should be at least three sentences long and focus on one main point or idea. It’s important to balance too short and too long paragraphs for cohesion and clarity in the essay.

4. How do you increase or decrease the length of an essay?

To increase the length of an essay, students can expand on their arguments and provide more evidence to support their points. They can also include additional examples, quotes, or analysis to add depth to their ideas. Students can eliminate unnecessary details or repetitions to decrease the length and ensure concise writing by avoiding filler words and phrases. However, it’s important not to compromise the quality and coherence of the essay in the process.

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How Long Should an Essay Be? (Average Essay Length)

• September 1, 2023

essayscoped

How long is an essay? Essays come in various forms and serve different purposes across academic levels and disciplines. While there are general length guidelines, the exact length of an essay depends on several factors, including the essay type, subject matter, and academic level. This article will outline general essay length guidelines for various essay types. Let’s dive in!

Essay Length Guidelines

When writing an essay, one of the initial questions that might pop up is, “How long should it be?” While the topic and the purpose play a significant role in determining the ideal length, some general guidelines can help guide you. Here’s a breakdown:

High School Essay (300–1,000 words) : High school essays often test students’ ability to make an argument, present an opinion, or summarize a topic. They provide a foundation for more extended essays in the future. The required length may vary depending on the grade level and the topic. A book report or a response to literature might be on the longer side, while a simple opinion essay might be shorter.

College Admission Essay (200–650 words): This short essay is your chance to introduce yourself to the college and provide insight into your character, aspirations, and experiences. It’s a critical component of your application. Given its personal nature, focus on making it engaging and genuine. Stay within the word limit, as admissions officers have many essays to read.

Undergraduate College Essay (1,500–5,000 words): These essays dive deeper into topics and require more research and critical thinking. They demonstrate your grasp of a subject and your analytical skills. Depending on the assignment, such as a term paper, research paper, or a final year dissertation , the length can vary considerably. Always adhere to the guidelines provided by your instructor or department.

Graduate School Admission Essay (500 words –1,000 words):  This essay shows your qualifications, experiences, and reasons for wanting to attend graduate school. It goes beyond what’s in your resume or transcript. It’s vital to balance being concise and providing sufficient details to make your case. Always address the prompt and showcase your best attributes.

Graduate School Essay (2,500–6,000 words): At this advanced level, longer essays demand in-depth research, argumentation, and a thorough understanding of the topic. They showcase your mastery over your chosen field of study. Given the complexity of topics at the graduate level, these essays might often require more words. However, always prioritize quality over quantity and ensure your arguments are cogent and well-structured.

Essay Parts: Recommended Length

How long is each part of an essay? When crafting an essay, it’s not only the overall length that matters but also how you distribute it across different sections.

Introduction

How long should an introduction be? The introduction of your essay provides background information, introduces the main idea, and generates interest. Ideally, an introduction should have about 3-5 sentences or 50-80 words . This length is enough to briefly introduce the topic, state the thesis, and hint at the main points without overwhelming the reader.

How long is a body paragraph in an essay? A body paragraph should be 5-8 sentences or around 80-200 words . This range allows you to introduce a point, back it up with evidence or examples, and then conclude or transition to the next idea.

How many body paragraphs should be in an essay? While 3-5 body paragraphs are standard for many essays, the number can vary based on the depth of the topic and the overall essay length. One paragraph should tackle a distinct point or idea, ensuring the essay remains focused and the arguments flow logically.

How long should a conclusion be? Like the introduction, the conclusion of an essay should be 3-5 sentences or 50-80 words long. This provides enough space to summarize the essay effectively without introducing new, extraneous information.

Is Essay Length Important?

Essay length is important. Adhering to recommended lengths and page limits shows the writer can present ideas concisely within constraints. Going over or under the recommended length suggests a lack of writing proficiency. However, length is not the determiner of an essay’s quality and must be balanced with thorough content.

A common misconception is that a lengthier essay inherently equates to higher quality. Yet, research from Frontiers highlights this as a mere bias. The ideal essay length lets students articulate their thoughts and display their understanding, all while maintaining clarity and simplicity.

What Influences Essay Length?

The ideal length of an essay depends on several key factors:

Topic Complexity: For simple essay topics , the key points can be explained and analyzed thoroughly in a shorter essay. More complex issues require more in-depth description and evaluation, resulting in a longer piece. A focused topic scope makes it easier to cover the subject sufficiently in a shorter essay.

Academic Discipline: Essays in the humanities, like literature and philosophy, are often on the shorter end of length guidelines. Scientific and technical writing, such as in STEM fields , requires more background information and data analysis, lengthening the essay. Reflective and creative writing pieces also tend to be shorter.

Academic Level: High school essays call for a basic analysis of concepts and themes. These can be addressed sufficiently with fewer words. Undergraduate essays require deeper critical thinking skills applied to the topic. Graduate-level essays demand extensive engagement with scholarly sources and thorough evaluation of issues. This lengthens the writing.

Type of Essay: Argumentative essays must present a well-supported case for the writer’s position, requiring more length. Research papers include substantial background information and literature reviews, lengthening the piece. Summary essays simply recap key information and can be relatively short. Response/reaction essays analyze the writer’s personal thoughts on work and tend to be shorter.

Essay Spacing: How Does It Affect the Length?

Essay length guidelines typically assume the use of double spacing. This refers to having two blank line spaces between each line of text.

Using single spacing with no blank lines greatly reduces the length of an essay in terms of pages. Single-spaced essays cram more words per page but are harder to read. Unless specifically allowed, single spacing can appear to lengthen the essay artificially.

1.5 line spacing means half a blank line between each line of text. This is halfway between single and double spacing. 1.5 spacing improves readability slightly over single spacing within a shorter page length.

Double spacing is the standard for academic essays and papers. The extra blank line between each text line improves readability and reduces eye strain. Double spacing also results in shorter page lengths than single and 1.5 spacing.

Length of an Essay: Font and Size

The font and size used when typing an essay can influence its apparent length. Standard fonts in 12pt promote readability.

Common standard fonts like Times New Roman, Arial, and Calibri in size 12pt are easily readable for essays. These fonts don’t distract from essay content. Unusual or decorative fonts can frustrate reading comprehension. They should be used unless other specifications are given.

Using a smaller font like 10pt condenses text and crams more words per page. This artificially boosts the length of the essay in terms of pages. Smaller fonts strain the reader’s eyes and are not recommended for essays.

Increasing font size above 12pt, say 14pt, increases the spacing between lines. This decreases the number of words per page, shortening the essay’s length. Larger fonts can suggest trying to meet a minimum page count. Extremely large fonts indicate too much white space and appear unprofessional.

What to Do if There Are No Length Guidelines

If the assignment lacks length guidelines, aim for the typical length based on the academic level. Also, consider the complexity of the topic and type of essay . If in doubt, ask the instructor for length expectations.

Can I go Under the Suggested Length?

For most essays, it’s acceptable to go a bit under the recommended minimum length as long as you meet certain conditions:

Do not miss the minimum length by a drastic amount. Being roughly 10% below is safer than 20-30% under.

Ensure the content is substantive. The essay should fully address the topic with adequate detail and analysis.

Prioritize quality over quantity. An essay slightly under the length that is well-written and thoughtful demonstrates good concision.

Avoid under-length essays for contests or publications with firm guidelines.

Try not to go under 200 words for college admissions essays if possible.

Can I go Over the Suggested Length?

Most essays provide a recommended maximum length or word/page limit. Here are some tips on staying within guidelines:

Do not go drastically over the limit. Attempting to squeeze a 3,500-word essay into a 1,500-word limit is unrealistic.

Slight breaches of around 10% are often acceptable if the content is substantive.

Excessive length suggests the inability to edit for concision or lack of precision in writing.

Final Thoughts on the Average Essay Length

When it comes to essay writing, length can often be perplexing, especially when different educational institutions or courses have varying requirements. The golden rule is that an essay’s length should serve its content, neither stretching a thin argument over too many words nor cramming too much information into a short piece.

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