What counts toward an essay word limit
Rules differ between schools, courses and journals, so always read the assignment brief. A common pattern is that the main text, headings and in-text citations count, while the title page, the reference list and appendices do not. Quotes usually count. This tool lets you switch each part on or off and shows how many words were left out, so you can match the rule you were given.
Options
- Leave out the title line: removes the first line of your text when the text has more than one line.
- Leave out in-text citations: removes brackets that contain a year or a page number, such as (Smith, 2020) or (Smith 2020, p. 14), and numbered references such as [1] or [2, 3]. A bracket with a year that is not a citation is removed too, so check the breakdown.
- Leave out the reference list: removes everything from a line that reads References, Reference list, Bibliography, Works cited, Sources or Literature cited to the end of the text.
Stay within the limit
Enter your target and the tool shows how many words you are over or under. Many courses allow a margin of 10 percent either way, so the tool shows that range too. Check whether your course uses that margin, and whether going over is penalised.
Words to pages
Page counts depend on font, margins and spacing. As a rough guide, a double-spaced page holds about 275 words and a single-spaced page about 550 words.
| Words | Double-spaced pages | Single-spaced pages |
|---|---|---|
| 500 | about 1.8 | about 0.9 |
| 1,000 | about 3.6 | about 1.8 |
| 1,500 | about 5.5 | about 2.7 |
| 2,000 | about 7.3 | about 3.6 |
| 2,500 | about 9.1 | about 4.5 |
| 3,000 | about 10.9 | about 5.5 |
Application essays
Application forms usually give a hard limit, for example the Common App personal essay is limited to 650 words. Online forms often count in their own way, so keep a few words in reserve and test the text in the form before you submit.
Related tools
For a quick count without options, use the word counter. See how the total changes under different rules in word count, count sentences and paragraphs, spot overused words with the word frequency counter, and check the timing of a presentation with the speaking time calculator.