How long is five pages?
About 1,250 words double-spaced in 12pt Times New Roman with one-inch margins, or around 2,500 single-spaced. Check which your brief wants before you write a word — the difference is an entire second essay.
The shape
A 1,250-word essay has room for an introduction, four or five body paragraphs and a conclusion. That is it. Every extra section you add takes space from the argument, and an essay of this length is marked on the argument.
| Section | Words | Job |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | ~150 | Context in two sentences, then the thesis in one. |
| Body paragraph 1 | ~250 | Your strongest point, with evidence. |
| Body paragraph 2 | ~250 | Second point. |
| Body paragraph 3 | ~250 | Third point. |
| Counter-argument | ~200 | The strongest objection, answered. |
| Conclusion | ~150 | What follows from the argument. No new evidence. |
How long it takes
At an ordinary composing pace of about 600 words an hour, the drafting is roughly two hours. That is the smallest part of the job. Budget the whole thing as:
- Reading and note-taking — 2 to 4 hours, depending on how many sources.
- Planning — 30 minutes. One sentence per paragraph, in order. Do not skip this.
- Drafting — 2 hours.
- Editing — 1 hour, ideally the next day.
Write the thesis first
One sentence that somebody could disagree with. If nobody could argue with it, it is a topic rather than a thesis, and the essay will describe rather than argue — which is the single most common reason a competent 1,250 words gets a middling mark.
If you are short
Do not pad. Add a counter-argument, or take the weakest paragraph and replace its general claim with a specific example. Both add words and both raise the mark; adjectives and restatement do neither, and both are obvious to read.
If you are over
Cut the introduction first — it is almost always twice as long as it needs to be. Then cut any sentence that announces what you are about to do (“In this essay I will…”) and any that summarises what you have just done. That usually recovers 150 words without touching the argument.