Word count

NeonCookies

Quick question, lecturer has given a maximum word count of 3000 words for an end of term essay worth 70%. He gave no minimum.

I have 2,387 words, not including references and cannot think of anything else to write! To me, the essay is finished. I've been told I have a direct writing style and as a result I tend to never go vastly over word counts anyway.

But..will I get penalized for not being -10% of the word count?

As I said, he just said 'maximum', not a '3000 word essay'.

Anyone any experience?

liamygunner29

Id say try hit over 2500 and ull be fine..a few extra sentences in the intro and a conclusion and an extra quote will boost her up big shtyle

TheVoodoo

To use that over used phrase- 'Quality not quantity'

If you feel you have covered what you need to cover in 2300ish words, leave it at that. Generally lecturers want clear and concise, and if you fill it with padding and sh*te they will just get fed up and miss your main points in a jumble of 'fillers'

If you could put another paragraph in that is actually relevant, than do so, but don't put words for the sake of it.

Killer Pigeon

What if you had if the limit was, say, 2000 words and you'd written 2100 words - would you loose much marks?

dr gonzo

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

What if you had if the limit was, say, 2000 words and you'd written 2100 words - would you loose much marks?

Most lecturers say +/- 10% so in this case 200 words.

spudington16

TheVoodoo wrote: »

To use that over used phrase- 'Quality not quantity'

If you feel you have covered what you need to cover in 2300ish words, leave it at that. Generally lecturers want clear and concise, and if you fill it with padding and sh*te they will just get fed up and miss your main points in a jumble of 'fillers'

If you could put another paragraph in that is actually relevant, than do so, but don't put words for the sake of it.

This is true - no sense in waffle. But if you're considerably under the word count it could well mean you just haven't read enough material to comprehensively cover the topic. You shouldn't aim to get just over 90% of the word count; you should aim to adequately consider the question of the essay in approximately the word count given to you.

parker kent

spudington16 wrote: »

This is true - no sense in waffle. But if you're considerably under the word count it could well mean you just haven't read enough material to comprehensively cover the topic. You shouldn't aim to get just over 90% of the word count; you should aim to adequately consider the question of the essay in approximately the word count given to you.

This is pretty much what I think. I'd always have my essays finish pretty much at or just slightly under (by around 100 words) the word count.

The one thing I like to see is lecturers being strict about the word count. If they say 3000 word maximum, I'm not a fan of somebody handing in a 3,500 word or 2000 word essay and not getting docked marks.

kkumk

It also depends what subject it is for. I know for History footnotes are included in the word count, therefore that could bring you up a bit. Check out your Schools website.

NeonCookies

Thanks for your replies.

Ended up being 2650 words. When I posted originally I'd been staring at it all evening, and my head was muddled! So I left it and took a fresh look at it the following evening and added in a few points, supporting arguments etc. Very happy with it overall

Wouldn't mind, but I'm in final year and that was my last ever essay to submit. You'd think I'd be used to them by now!! Aaaah, the joys of stress.

delta_bravo

I once wrote a 3000 word essay that was meant to be 5000. Got an A- for it. There's no point in filling it with waffle to make up space. There are plenty of techniques you can use to make an essay look much longer than it is

Rosita

delta_bravo wrote: »

I once wrote a 3000 word essay that was meant to be 5000. Got an A- for it. There's no point in filling it with waffle to make up space. There are plenty of techniques you can use to make an essay look much longer than it is

This is a truly astonishing case. It sounds like the lecturer got the assignment badly misjudged if someone could adequately cover the topic in 60 per cent of the recommended word-count in a fairly sizeable assignment.

GobBass

I had a similar case when a did a 5,000 word Glaciation essay, did just over 3,600 and got a B+.

I've gotten plenty of A's but this remains the greatest moment in my UCD career.

parker kent

delta_bravo wrote: »

I once wrote a 3000 word essay that was meant to be 5000. Got an A- for it. There's no point in filling it with waffle to make up space. There are plenty of techniques you can use to make an essay look much longer than it is

Lecturer sounds like he seriously screwed up, that just shouldn't happen. Software exists to check the word count (plus the obvious method of looking for a digital copy), so "making" it look longer shouldn't work. Then the essay should simply not have been able to cover the topic adequately in that word count. He/she obviously picked a poor topic or didn't correct it properly.

That is aside from the fact there should be an immediate penalty for failing to fulfil the most basic criteria of the assignment!

Not picking on you btw, picking at the lecturer!

Rosita

How come we never get people on here who have gotten mainly Ds and the occasional C?

Rosita

parker kent wrote: »

Lecturer sounds like he seriously screwed up, that just shouldn't happen. Software exists to check the word count (plus the obvious method of looking for a digital copy), so "making" it look longer shouldn't work. Then the essay should simply not have been able to cover the topic adequately in that word count. He/she obviously picked a poor topic or didn't correct it properly.

That is aside from the fact there should be an immediate penalty for failing to fulfil the most basic criteria of the assignment!

Not picking on you btw, picking at the lecturer!

Hard to disagree. Part of the challenge shoudl be to fulfill the word count adequately and appropriately. Otherwise students who write 5k and those who write 3k are not doing the same assignment really.

delta_bravo

parker kent wrote: »

Lecturer sounds like he seriously screwed up, that just shouldn't happen. Software exists to check the word count (plus the obvious method of looking for a digital copy), so "making" it look longer shouldn't work. Then the essay should simply not have been able to cover the topic adequately in that word count. He/she obviously picked a poor topic or didn't correct it properly.

That is aside from the fact there should be an immediate penalty for failing to fulfil the most basic criteria of the assignment!

Not picking on you btw, picking at the lecturer!

There's only so much one can write about Njal's Saga It was submitted as a hard copy only.

Edit: I managed to find the essay (submitted it a few years ago). The word count is 2050. So actually the official word count for the essay would've been 3000. It is still 1000 short but probably less noticeable than if it was 2000 short.

Zephyr91

I just submitted an essay there for a history repeat...it was meant to be 3000 words but I just managed to get over 2,400...hope this doesn't affect whether I pass or fail.

passive

Rosita wrote: »

How come we never get people on here who have gotten mainly Ds and the occasional C?

Two possibilities that I can think of offhand. a) those people don't go out of their way to mention their average grades in the course of discussions about wordcount requirements. Or b) those people don't hang around the UCD forum of boards.ie discussing their writing styles and academic strategies.

Econoline Van

GobBass wrote: »

I had a similar case when a did a 5,000 word Glaciation essay, did just over 3,600 and got a B+.

I've gotten plenty of A's but this remains the greatest moment in my UCD career.

I think I wrote even less than that for that subject and got a B!

Anyway, I handed in two resit history essays today. 5000 words was the amount given but I simply could not write that amount on the topics, even with a million sources and wracking my brains trying to find fresh things to make a few paragraphs on. Ended up with about 3600 words for each. Do ye reckon this will be ok? Is there a set guideline for taking off marks for essays which are considerably shorter than the target?

WeeBushy

Econoline Van wrote: »

I think I wrote even less than that for that subject and got a B!

Anyway, I handed in two resit history essays today. 5000 words was the amount given but I simply could not write that amount on the topics, even with a million sources and wracking my brains trying to find fresh things to make a few paragraphs on. Ended up with about 3600 words for each. Do ye reckon this will be ok? Is there a set guideline for taking off marks for essays which are considerably shorter than the target?

If its concise and cover all the things you need to then I don't think it would affect it too much. If however its a bit sparse I doubt they would look on it well.