Make an Essay Appear Longer Than It Is

Being asked to write an essay on a subject you do or don't know much about can be tough, so finding the right words to fill out the essay could feel like you're grasping at straws to try to build something, anything, that vaguely resembles an essay. When all seems lost, this guide should help you out.

Steps

Essay Help

Doc:Essay Length Chart,Expanded Essay

Make an Essay Appear Longer

  1. Be sensible and be informed. Quantity will never replace quality in the knowing eyes of any teacher. It is always better to write a short but excellent paper than one that is long because it has been filled with fluff and nonsense. Keep that in mind before trying out these methods! In addition, some of the methods listed on this page may be considered to be cheating or intellectual laziness by your institution, and could get you in trouble with your teacher or professor. In some schools, colleges and universities, this could be enough to have you removed, even permanently. Know the rules applicable to your institution and heed them.
    • It is not advisable to use all of the steps suggested below. It will shriek "obvious attempt at padding out" and you'll get a fail. If your paper ends up being too long (a possibility if you overdo things), then remove some of the steps. Indeed, if you have the opposite problem of writing too much, check you haven't done any of the things suggested here!
    • Realize that if you can read this, so can your teacher or professor.
    • Trying many of these (the font size and margin ones, especially) in a university or college course will most likely result in a fail.

Formatting options

  1. Format your heading. In the upper right hand corner, type your name, the date, the assignment name, the class, and your educator's last name. Give each element its own line.
  2. Format your title. Once you choose your essay title, write it at the top of the page. Choose a big font size––you can even make it bold and underlined. It helps if you choose a fancy big font. If your title is long, break it in the middle so it takes up two lines instead of one. However, be careful, because if it is too large it will be obvious that you are trying to make the essay seem larger.
  3. Make use of line breaks. Every time you have to hit the return key, hit it twice. Since it is likely that your paper is spaced, you'll be getting two extra lines––two less lines that you have to write! This can be done after the heading, after the title, and between each paragraph.
  4. Pay attention to font and font size. Your educator will most likely make you use the Times New Roman font at 12pt. If you're only turning in a hard copy, make it 12.5 (or 12.3) pt instead. Of course, overriding their preference is at great risk to your results. Also, do a find/replace (COMMAND+F) and replace all periods and commas with a 14 pt font. It's not noticeable while reading, but it does make the paper appear longer.
    • If you're allowed to use it, use Lucida Sans Typewriter. This is a big font at 12pt. If you need a simpler font, use Arial, Euphemia UCAS or Courier New, which are almost as large. Try not to use "light fonts" , such as Gill Sans light, as they will make your essay shorter.
  5. Use line spacing. In Word 2007 and 2010, select all the text in your paper, then click Home → Paragraph → and find the little icon that looks like it's stretching out the text. You can customize line spacing to be anything you want. 2.25 doesn't look obviously different from 2.0.
  6. Play with the margins. Change the margins of the paper just enough so that it's not too obvious. The margin at the bottom of the page is usually easiest to manipulate.
  7. Focus on character spacing. This one is a little less common, so it works well. Click on Format → Font, go to Character Spacing, and choose expanded spacing. This makes the spacing in between letters a little larger and is not very noticeable.
  8. Bold important words and phrases. Bolding takes up more space. After you type up your paper make some of it bold. Only highlight some of the text, such as a specific point and don't make it too obvious.
    • Be careful here, as some educators do not want anything in the paper underlined or bolded.
  9. Make use of footers. These can move your bottom margins up, which means less on a page, so you have to write less.
    • Add info like the page number and your name at the bottom, which adds functionality and you can bring the bottom margin up to put less on a page. Do not have the words right at the bottom, have a line or two after them to give some space and give you a reason to move the margin up.
    • Make sure not to have your name twice on the first page.

Text and content options

  1. Make use of topic and concluding sentences. Restate your opinion in a sentence at the end of each paragraph. Don't use the same sentence word for word, but restating your first sentence at the end of the paragraph can have the effect of making your essay sound considered, professional and well-thought through, in addition to making it longer. However, it can also irritate a details-oriented marker who notes the habit being repeated throughout. Use at your own risk!
  2. Avoid using any contractions. Use as few contractions as possible. Instead of "it's" use "it is". In academic writing, this has the benefit of making your paper sound more formal. If you're in high school, it will provide good practice for upper level papers, where you're not allowed to use contractions anyway, so it's good training.
  3. Spell out all numbers lower than ten. You should always spell out the numbers below ten anyway (instead of using 1, 2, 3 etc). As this is a requirement in formal writing, not only will it make your essay a little longer, it will also make your essay look a little better.
  4. Minimize pronouns. Instead of saying "we went swimming" try using "my brother, my sister and I went swimming". Be careful here, though, as this has the tendency to make your essay very wordy very quickly and it may detract from the quality and readability if overused
  5. Make use of a lot of quotations. Instead of just giving a snippet, include the entire quotation before you proceed to explain it. Be sure to find a way to connect it back to your original thesis, though, as not doing so will have the reader commenting on the left field addition.
  6. Be a wordsmith. Instead of saying "This painting is red", say "This magnificent artwork is full of vibrant warm colors such as red, brown and mahogany". In addition to lengthening your essay, you may give off the impression that you're truly passionate about the topic, which is doubly helpful! As with other method, don't overuse this one; you don't want the paper to sound too verbose or embellished.
    • Use longer words in place of shorter words.
    • If you're having trouble thinking of ways to make your words longer, you can use your computer's synonym tool to find a longer word to lengthen the line.
  7. Use CTRL-F and make all periods and/or commas a larger font
  8. Draw out your conclusion. Conclusions don't have to be limited to one paragraph. A good technique for squeezing out another half a page or a page, depending on the length of the rest of the paper, is to add a conclusion paragraph that simply summarizes the rest of the paper. Then, add another conclusion that draws on the summary and makes a final point about your thesis.



Tips

  • Don't use abbreviations. For example, use "United States" instead of "U.S."
  • If the last sentence of a paragraph ends near the edge of the paper, add a word or two until it expands into the next line. (Adjectives are your best friend!)
  • Use lots of descriptive synonyms that make your essay look longer and better
  • Double space after every period. This is a now old-fashioned writing technique that has now been overturned but so much confusion continues to reign over it that you can be forgiven for "not knowing".
  • Break up big paragraphs into two or more smaller paragraphs. This will also make the text more readable for the teacher.
  • Make sure each paragraph has a topic sentence, supporting evidence, and a concluding/transition sentence.
  • Add things in the right hand corner such as your name, the course, the period, the teacher, the date, etc.
  • Increase the font size of periods and punctuation by one increment, which adds surprising amount of text. Don't make it too noticeable!
  • Most margins are 1". Increase them to 1.15", 1.2", or even 1.25". Use at your own risk, though. 1.25" margins are going to be more noticeable.
  • Add a long introduction and a long conclusion, but don't make either of them excessive.
  • If you are writing an essay for an American institution, consider using the British spellings of certain words, which can sometimes be longer (e.g. color vs. colour, labor vs. labour, pediatric vs. paediatric, gram vs. gramme). Be careful, though, as these may be considered spelling mistakes by some professors - and be consistent.
  • If you have been set a font size, then bring it up by 0.5 so if you had 12 then it would become 12.5. It's hardly noticeable. If it's too big then put it up by 0.3 or something. This works best when you have been given individual projects so your teacher has nothing to compare it with .
  • Add words and phases that don't make a difference, like an explanatory clause.
  • Make a cover page. It helps to add bulk and a finishing touch.
  • Add pictures, and format these inline with the text.

Warnings

  • Some of these tips are considered cheating. Instead of using the ones that are cheating, just use the ones that make your paper longer instead of making it look longer. In this instance, adjectives are your best friend so use them all. Follow the tips about contraction and such.
  • Be sure you're not violating your teacher's instructions regarding margins, font size, line spacing, etc. If these are specified (and on-the-ball teachers often will), breaking them can lead to a lower grade or immediate failure.
  • On that note, if your instructor wants to receive electronic submissions, don't bother. Reformatting your essay - or getting word counts, for that matter - is just a click away.
  • If your teacher or professor has worked as, or is still, an editor, forget these things. They will be noticed, all of them. In fact, your teacher or professor will probably notice all of these things if they were ever a student themselves.
  • A lot of these suggestions are considered cheating, especially taken as a whole, so don't try these tips excessively.
  • As said above, these tips may be considered cheating by some teachers, so do not use all the tips, only use a few of them
  • Decide whether making your essay look longer is worth the potential for problems or lack of respect from your professor. Instead of finding ways to fool your instructor, it may take less time and effort to just complete your essays in an honest and straightforward manner.

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