Excessive essay length, like falling below the word count, may have negative implications. Therefore, it’s crucial to cut your work down before turning it in to ensure that you receive the high marks you deserve. 

Unfortunately, a lot of students are unsure of how to shorten an essay without destroying it. Continue reading for advice on how to shorten a paper to prevent problems with your tutor. 

How to make an essay shorter

Like many students, I once struggled with the question of how to shorten my essay. My devotion to the paper frequently made it difficult for me to cut out extraneous details, which put me in a difficult situation. 

I eventually came upon some incredible strategies that allowed me to reduce the word count while maintaining the paper’s meaning. Some of the approaches on how to shorten an essay include:

1. Using contraptions

Although contraptions do not drastically reduce your word count, they are a great way to maneuver instances where you are slightly above the word count. However, be wary of using contraptions if your tutor has warned against their use in the paper. 

2. Reduce the use of adverbs in your paper

Adverbs are descriptive phrases that frequently finish in -ly. These phrases are frequently used to emphasize a certain trait or to contrast two activities. Thankfully, these words are unnecessary in academic writing, allowing you to keep the necessary parts of your paper. 

For instance, the sentence: 

The government is quite slow in admitting that the rights of disabled persons are largely abused (16 words)

Can be truncated to 

The government is reluctant to admit the gross abuse of disabled persons (12 words)

By replacing the adverbs in the sentence. 

3. Doing away with the fluff

Due to habits, we have formed over our writing experiences, we frequently use more words in our articles than are necessary. These superfluous phrases may bloat your essay, leaving less area for important ideas. 

Ideally, ask colleagues and subject-matter experts for advice on how to omit this filler or use an editing tool to streamline your document to the most important points.

4. Use active voice

The differences between using active voice and passive voice are well-known to writers. Since the passive voice tends to contain more words, you can change it to make sure you stay under the allowed word limit. 

For instance, the sentence:

Necessary services are being provided by the government (8 words)

Could be converted to a shorter size by using active voice: 

The government provides necessary services

5. Eliminate unnecessary information

When going about shortening your essay, we recommend that you prepare a reverse outline and compare it against your initial outline. These outlines will allow you to identify the repeated ideas and unnecessary information within your essay. 

This will help you to merge similar paragraphs and to eliminate redundant ideas within your essay. weigh each argument made in your paper and remove weaker arguments, leaving the strong claims that define your essay. 

6. Reducing the explanations in your essay

Reducing the amount of time you spend explaining topics in your essay is another excellent way shorten an essay. Some concepts could be represented by a wide variety of justifications in an effort to bolster the validity of your assertions or emphasize the gravity of an issue. 

When condensing your paper, remove any unnecessary justifications and leave no more than two examples in each instance. 

7. Use a shortening tool

There are a few writing methods you can use to condense your work without losing the intended message. Before using other techniques, such as omitting superfluous explanations, we advise you to start by running your essay through these engines to make it shorter. 

Final take

Shortening your essay should not give you a hassle. You should find these tips on how to shorten essays useful for streamlining your work without losing sight of its main points. To ensure a seamless experience with your studies, feel free to ask our specialists for advice anytime you encounter any academic difficulties.

Unfortunately, writing an informative essay can be difficult for students, much like writing other types of academic papers. This manual will emphasize the informative essay outline, its aim, and other essential details that you need to produce a top-notch essay.

What is the purpose of an informative essay

An informative essay, as its name suggests, aims to share pertinent facts on a subject to help the reader grasp the subject at hand. Informative essays are not intended to express your thoughts or sway the reader’s perspective, in contrast to other types of academic writing.

With this in mind, your informative paper must include all relevant information about a topic and only reliable facts.

How to write an informative essay

Your writing experience will depend on the strategy you use to compose your informative essay. You can easily become confused about how to approach your informative essay given the large amount of information to read and the difficult challenge of developing a thesis.

When writing an informative essay, some procedures to take include:

1. Conducting extensive research

The first step to writing an informative essay is to familiarize yourself with the topic under discussion. Without sufficient research on the subject, writing your paper will inevitably produce an unsatisfactory essay. Ideally, allot enough time to discuss papers related to your issue.

By doing this, you’ll be able to gain a wider view on the subject and compile all the pertinent information about it. Also, as you go, note down ideas and their references so that you can easily find the materials you utilized to structure your paper.

2. Create an outline

After conducting your research, organize the concepts you have gathered into related groups and then break them down into pertinent subtopics. By doing this, you’ll be able to assess how effectively your ideas can be communicated for a paper’s arguments to flow naturally.

The main advantage of developing an outline is that it will help you stay on topic with your arguments and steer clear of any competing viewpoints that can divert attention from your essential points.

3. Come up with a thesis statement

After creating your outline, you’ll be familiar with your work and be able to quickly sum up its main point. When drafting the thesis statement for an informative essay, condense the essay into a line that clearly reflects your aim in writing the paper.

The thesis statement should include your key phrase and should occur in your introduction before moving on to your first body paragraph.

4. Writing and editing your paper

Write your essay, paying close attention to how you move from one main idea to the next. It’s also crucial to edit your paper in accordance with your professor’s instructions to get the best grade possible.

How many paragraphs in an informative essay

There is no set word limit for the informative essay. Thus, rather than limiting your work to a set number of words, you should compose an essay that covers all the relevant information about a topic.

To avoid any severe penalties, you should first confirm any restrictions your tutor imposes on your essays.

Parts of an informative essay

The informative essay is broken into three parts: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. The hook, background information about the topic, a thesis, and a transition to the first body paragraph are all included in the essay’s introduction.

Each paragraph in the body carries a main notion related to the issue, developing your ideas. A claim, supporting details, an explanation of the concepts, and a transition to the following paragraph should be included in each paragraph.

Finally, your conclusion zooms out to the paper’s main argument, assisting you in bringing the issue to a close and demonstrating the significance of your research.

Informative essay template

1. Introduction

• Hook
• Background information
• Thesis
• Transition

2. Body paragraph 1

• Claim
• Supporting evidence
• Explanation transition

3. Body paragraph 2

• Claim
• Supporting evidence
• Explanation transition

4. Conclusion

• Restatement of thesis
• Highlight key argument
• Recommendation

Here, we’ll discuss various tips regarding the college essay to help you improve your writing skills and to ensure that you secure a decent grade without much struggle. 

How long should a college essay be?

Among popular searches for students is the question: how long is a college essay? to start, the length of a college essay may be determined by the complexity of a topic, the level of study, and your faculty requirements.

Class assignments may range between 500 to 1000 words while dissertations and thesis can carry between 3000 and 10,000 words. If you are confused as to the preferred length of your paper, we recommend that you consult your tutor for guidance. 

College essay format

A college essay is broadly divided into three sections: the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. The introduction of your thesis carries the hook, which should highlight the relevance of your subject to the reader. Also, this section carries the background of your study to build toward your stance by highlighting a gap that warrants the research. finally, the introduction carries the thesis statement which helps you to transition to your first argument in the body paragraph. 

The body of your essay contains arguments in support of your thesis and the relevant evidence to support your arguments. Each paragraph should carry one idea and start with a topic sentence to avoid any confusion as to the point you intended to communicate. 

The conclusion then summarizes your key points, helping revert your reader’s attention from specific arguments to the overall ideas of your paper. 

Higher level thesis and dissertations are further chunked into additional sections which include the abstract, the literature review, a methodology, and results in addition to the introduction, body, and conclusion. 

College essay outline

The college essay often follows the five-paragraph essay format comprising an introduction paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. In case the word count is higher, you may adjust the size of each section provided that the body carries the largest number of words compared to the introduction and conclusion. 

When going about your essay, we recommend that you develop an outline to better organize arguments within your paper, avoiding deviation from your key arguments within the writing stage. The outline of your paper may appear as:

Paper title

Introduction

1.1. Background information

1.2. Thesis

Body

2.1. Paragraph 1

2.1.1. Topic sentence

2.1.2. Support

2.1.3. Conclusion

2.2. Paragraph 2

2.2.1. Topic sentence 

2.2.2. Support

2.2.3. Conclusion

2.3. Paragraph 3

2.3.1. Topic sentence 

2.3.2. Support

2.3.3. Conclusion

Conclusion

3.1. Restatement of thesis 

3.2. Highlight key argument

3.3. Recommendation

Choosing college essay topics that stand out

It is worth noting that not all topics make for a quality essay. Some topics may either be too shallow or too complex, making them unsuitable for your provided word count. although there is no list of the perfect topic for your essays, there are a few pointers that could help you select a quality essay. 

Some of the considerations to make to select a topic that stands out are:

• Ensure that your selected topic is relevant to your interests
• Ensure that your topic is within the provided scope for your paper
• Select a topic that allows you to bring about new insights into the subject
• Narrowing your topic to an idea that is feasible within the provided word count.

Some examples of quality topics for college essays include:

1. The things you’ve discovered via your successes and failures.
2. What friendship-related advice would you give your younger self? 
3. Describe a moment that altered your outlook on the world and your life forever. 
4. Contrast homeschooling versus public school. 
5. How can the decline in business trust be stopped for good? 
6. Describe the importance of tolerance in the workplace. 
7. Benefits and drawbacks of Globalization 
8. Specify the intellectual problems you want to resolve. 
9. The most valuable guidance you’ve ever received. 

From these topics, you can easily tell the key idea of the paper. this is in contrast with the College essay topics to avoid as they are often ambiguous and carry more than one idea. Also, stay clear of controversial topics and any topics that are not related to the provided essay ideas.

If you are writing your first essay or trying to improve your essay-writing skills, this tutorial will highlight eight frequent blunders students make when writing a 500-word essay. With these mistakes in mind, you should be able to compose your paper quickly and avoid the main problems that students face when writing essays. 

1. Poor topic selection

Often, your professor will give you a wide topic and ask you to distill it into a workable proposition. Unfortunately, a lot of students tend to go right into the essay, choosing a complicated topic that can’t be fully explored in the allotted words. 

Consider carefully while choosing your topic and assess the strength of your topic’s arguments to avoid making this error. Also, choose a topic that piques your interest to make writing your paper easier. 

2. Shallow research 

Even though the 500-word essay length may seem like a short word count, it’s important to include a wide range of topics in your essay to earn a respectable grade. As a result, it’s imperative that you thoroughly investigate your issue to find every perspective from which you might approach it. 

Your study enables you to address all pertinent points, resulting in an excellent paper that aids in your achievement of respectable grades. 

3. Time misappropriation

How long does it take to write 500 words? A 500-word essay can be completed in as little as an hour by some students, while it may take up to two days for others. It’s worth mentioning, though, that a 500-word essay can appear to be simple work until you start writing. 

Students frequently postpone writing their essays because they think they would be simple to complete; as a result, they don’t have enough time to do the necessary research, write, and proofread their papers. 

Start writing your paper as soon as you can after receiving the assignment, if at all possible. To finish your assignment on time, create a schedule describing how much time you will devote to each area. 

4. Inappropriate structure

The hamburger essay type is the most frequently advised structure for a 500-word essay. This format consists of an introduction, three to four body paragraphs, and a conclusion. 

However, a lot of students often use different forms, which may lead to their using up their allotted word count without covering all the necessary concepts.

5. Failure to outline

To not plan is to plan to fail. This well-known adage is most applicable to academic writing because producing a paper without an outline could present a few difficulties. 

First off, writing without an outline may cause you to lose focus on your main points and introduce other information into your essay. Additionally, a lack of an outline may result in unorganized arguments that make it difficult for your reader to understand the essential point of your arguments. 

6. Stuffing your paper with filler words

How many pages is a 500-word essay? A well-written, 500-word paper with the appropriate formatting may take up two pages. Unfortunately, many students use sly techniques to inflate the length of their papers, which lowers their grades because they don’t follow the suggested formatting guidelines. 

Students use a variety of techniques, such as changing the word spacing, enlarging the font on their papers, and cramming each phrase full of filler words. Consequently, educators consider these cheeky strategies to be faults and may blame poor editing for these problems. 

7. Rushing to complete your essay

Another error that students sometimes make is hurrying through their papers. Although this strategy could appear like a terrific way to meet deadlines, it could have unfavorable effects. 

This hurry could restrict your research, resulting in flimsy arguments and subpar performance. The best course of action is to take your time and devote as much effort as necessary to crafting each portion of your essay. 

8. Shallow editing

Many newcomers make the error of failing to revise their papers before submission. Due to this, students produce papers that are rife with mistakes, which compromises their total achievement. 

Additionally, students may check their work and exclude structural and styling flaws from their revision. Spend some time editing your paper to make sure that it follows the instructions given by your tutor.