How To Make an Essay Look Longer on Google Docs? (Proven Tips)
When it comes to writing essays, length can be an important factor in quality.
And that’s exactly what we’ll be covering in this article! We’ll look at the benefits of making an essay appear longer on Google Docs, how to increase font size and line spacing, increase margins, use longer phrases and sentences, avoid contractions and abbreviations, add detailed descriptions and examples, as well as tips for editing and proofreading.
Short Answer
You can also increase the margins to add extra space for the text.
Finally, you could research more information and add it to the essay to make it longer.
Benefits of Making an Essay Appear Longer on Google Docs
For students, making an essay appear longer on Google Docs can be the difference between passing and failing a class.
For writers, making an essay appear longer on Google Docs can help them to meet their publisher’s length requirements.
Finally, making an essay appear longer on Google Docs can also help to make the essay more engaging and interesting.
With a few simple tricks, you can easily make an essay look longer and more engaging, which can make all the difference in the world.
Increase Font Size & Line Spacing
This can be done by selecting all of the text in the document and then going to the Format tab and selecting Font.
Additionally, you can also increase the font size of specific words or phrases to draw attention to them and make them stand out.
Increase Margins
Increasing the margins can create more white space on the page and make the essay appear longer than it actually is.
From there, you can enter the desired margin size and click OK to save your changes.
Use Longer Phrases & Sentences
When it comes to making an essay look longer on Google Docs, using longer phrases and sentences is one of the most effective tricks.
Additionally, you should avoid contractions and abbreviations, as these make the essay seem shorter.
Avoid Contractions & Abbreviations
When youre trying to make an essay look longer on Google Docs, one of the best tricks is to avoid contractions and abbreviations.
This way, your readers will still be able to understand what youre saying.
Add Detailed Descriptions & Examples
One of the easiest ways to make an essay look longer on Google Docs is to add more detailed descriptions and examples.
If youre writing about the importance of education, you can include specific examples of how education can open up opportunities or help individuals reach their goals.
Additionally, if youre writing a persuasive essay, providing real-life examples of how people have benefited from following your argument can help to illustrate your point and make it more convincing.
Additionally, if youre using technical terms or jargon, make sure to explain them clearly so that the reader better understands your argument.
Tips for Editing & Proofreading
When it comes to making an essay look longer on Google Docs, the key is to focus on both the content and the presentation.
Hearing your essay can help you find mistakes that you may have missed while reading silently.
Even the most experienced writers make mistakes, so it’s important to double-check your work for any errors.
Reading your work on paper can help you spot mistakes that you may have missed while reading on a computer screen.
Final Thoughts
By following the tips outlined in this article, you can easily make an essay look longer without sacrificing quality.
James Wilson has extensive knowledge in the information technology industry.His second love, besides dealing with computers, is smart home technology. He is continually updating information to better comprehend this problem and has a deep understanding of the apartment’s support system.
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When you have to write an essay, there’s usually a required word count you have to compose. It’s not a problem when your topic is exciting, and sources are inexhaustible. Most of the time you need to write an essay on an issue that a) is boring; b) what the hell one can say about it at all.
If you are lucky to have a topic case like that, it’s OK if you’ve run out of ideas on the second page. Result: you’ve written all you had in mind and more, but your essay still doesn’t match the required volume. Well, any writing process has its circle of life, and insufficiency of words is its integral stage. The next everybody-wants-to-get-there stage is a word redundancy. It is hard to believe, but this second stage is even more agonizing and takes almost as much time as getting through the first one. One fine day you'll also get there, but for now, you need to focus on making your text grow in scope.
There are two primary ways to convince your professor that your essay meets the volume requirements. The first way is to expand your paper content to fill up your essay with the needed amount of words to make your essay longer on google docs. Plain and simple: need more words - add them. As for a second way, I wouldn’t honestly say that there is any second way because it is rather a kind of visual fraud. But for those desperate who don’t have any other option, I’ll outline technical ways to make your essay look longer.
Let’s get down to the business.
- 1. How to make your essay longer with words
- 1.1.Making essay longer: a Jedi way
- 1.2. Making essay longer: a trickster's way
- 1.3. Words and phrases to make your essay longer
- 2. Desperate ways to make your essay look longer
- 2.1. Period trick and plays with font to make essay look longer
- 2.2. How to change the size of margins on Google docs
- 3. Final touch
How to make your essay longer with words
If you decided to increase the word count of your paper, you have two options. The first one is a fair but the most time-consuming way of doing it. When you realize that your essay doesn’t meet the volume requirements, you either expand your topic or deepen your research to gain some new information to describe. I call it a Jedi way.
Another option is to water down your text a bit. What I mean is adding more words without adding any informativity. Basically, the word windiness is the eighth deadly sin for any writer, but still, the way out when you’ve written down everything you could, but it is still not enough. This is what I call a trickster’s way, and although it is not something I’m proud of, I’ve become a master of this technique. And yes, I’ll share the tricks with you. But I’m going to start from the noble methods of expanding your text. Notice, that it is the only one that can contribute to the content of your paper.
Making essay longer: a Jedi way
- Make sure you’ve written everything you could. First of all, you need to read carefully what you’ve already have written. Analyze the structure of your narrative. Is something missing? Maybe you can add one more argument or expand those that you’ve already provided? Think!
- Make your topic broader. It is risky but sometimes the only technique to compose an essay of a required scope. So if you feel that there is nothing more to say on a topic that you’ve chosen, think of the reasonable ways to widen it. It’s OK to contact your professor and ask for her/his advice on this one.
- Do more research. Yes, I know that essay isn’t a 30-page term paper on African-Americans segregation , and you aren’t obliged to fulfill any complex topic analysis and background search. Still, you have to give your professor at least something coherent. If you see that you’ve used all the sources you had and have described all the results, then keep digging. Look for some alternative points of view or factual information. Statistics, charts, case studies - anything goes.
- Illustrate your points with examples and citations. Think of an example for each argument you provide. If nothing comes up, do research, ask a friend. Besides, you can use at least one juicy quote to support your statements. It can serve not only for expanding your text but as an excellent essay hook to catch your reader’s attention. Quoting is one of the rhetoric methods to prove the point, so what are you waiting for? Google the hell of it!
And that’s it. There is no other honest way to increase the number of words in your essay. Everything said below are tips on how to twist your professor around your finger.
Caution! The tips below can turn you into eternal writing bluffer!
Making essay longer: a trickster's way
A hawk-eyed professor will surely notice your efforts to increase the amount of text volume artificially. But you always can respond that it is a part of your writing style (a poor one, yes, but still). So, what to do:
- Restate paragraph’s first sentence at the end of it. If possible, take opening sentence idea or concept and explain it in other words. Each of your paragraphs has a core idea, so don’t be afraid to be wordy while explaining it. If you cannot do so, rewrite the first sentence and place it at the end of the paragraph. This will add a couple of more words to the count.
- Do not use contractions. Since it is academic writing, using contractions is not required, and avoiding it also adds a few characters to the total equation. As a senior student, you will be prohibited to use contractions anyway, therefore start training right now.
- Spell out numbers lower than four. In case your essay is heavy with numerical data and digits, write down all the one hundred sixty-five figures as words. Don’t spell out one, two, and three as your professor will see that you’re desperate, so adopt such approach only when truly pressed into a corner.
- Use vivid adjectives with more letters to them. In academic essay writing, synonymic rows are a thing to use quite often. To increase word count, use really luscious adjectives as much as you can. However, using more than five in a row will make your mark lower.
- Act as a wordsmith. Where a normal person would’ve written ‘I like this painting a lot,' a wordsmith would’ve rather used ‘This splendid masterpiece of modern art touches upon my deepest emotions thanks to its delicate, gentle brushstrokes and master’s spectacular attention to the tiniest details.’ Give vent to your inner composer, write on a grand scale!
- Write down your stream of thoughts. Try to take a topic you are writing on personally. Elaborate on your own attitude to the thing you write about and then set your mind free to express everything you can say on the topic. Include your associations and childhood memories.
- Expand the lead-in words to phrases. I’m just going to provide you with a list for it.
Words and phrases to make your essay longer
Such words as ‘ on ’ and ‘ about ’ you can replace by the phrases:
In regards to ...
With reference to ...
On the topic of ...
Regarding the idea (that) ...
Considering the issue of ...
Peculiar details concerning the subject ...
Ways to expand your ‘ because ’:
Due to the fact that ...
Because of a fact that ...
For the reason that ...
In light of the fact that ...
Considering the fact that ...
A reasonable way to explain it is that …
For, to
In order to
For the purpose of
To make it possible
For the sake of
In the interest of
Time-pointers are your Eldorado of extra words:
Now, currently
At the present time ...
At the point of time ...
According to the current state of affairs ...
At a present situation ...
According to the situation that has developed as of today ...
For as long as I can remember
At all times
Forever and ever
On the occasion of
At the very moment when
The day the situation occurred
In the final analysis
Considering all the aforementioned arguments
After all is said and done
With regard to all said above
So, to sum up all the statements pointed out above (See? See?!), I want to ask you not to run mad after these stretching phrases. Don’t turn your text into a garbage bin.
Desperate ways to make your essay look longer
Before I start pointing out the technical ways to fool your professor, I want to warn you one more time. These are the obvious ways to cheat. Your lecturers and tutors read dozens of essays every day. They have a good eye on formatting details, and unless they had eye surgery the day before reading your essay, they would notice the fraud.
So, in case you’ve run out of any decent ideas to fill up your essay with words till the needed count, and there is nothing left to add to it, there is a trick. You can make it appear longer as a result of smart formatting. Here’s a list of gimmicks you can grab and run:
- Format your heading giving each element its own line.
- Think of an extended title for your paper.
- Use line breaks.
- Use slightly bigger line spacing (like 2.25 instead of 2).
- Choose larger letter spacing.
- If allowed, make keywords or even entire sentences in bold.
Period trick and plays with the font to make the essay look longer
The first coming into mind, an obvious, a bold way to visually expand your essay is to pick a slightly bigger font. In any case, don’t make it bigger on more than 1 pt. Slightly means a little bit! Like 17pt instead of 16pt.
On the screenshot is an example of how your essay will look like if you change a font from 11 pt to 12. On this fragment, it seems not like a big difference. But if you have at least 500 words essay, this trick will help you to make your essay one-page quarter longer.
I’ve checked the so-called period trick a couple of times and, in my opinion, it doesn’t work at all. What am talking about? The thing is that some students believe that if you replace the periods in your text with the periods of a bigger font, it will make help your opus seem longer. Well, it won’t.
How to change the size of margins on Google Docs
One more trick to use when you have reached the bottom of your despair is increasing the margins of your document. It is easy to do in any version of Word (1997-2013), but it is a bit confusing on Google Docs. What you need to do is to find and add-ons option. Here:
Then press ‘Get add-ons’ button. You’ll see the window with add-ons available for installing. So find the one that is called Page Layout Tool. Here you are! Now you can keep cheating with the margins of your paper even on Google Docs!
As well as with the font changing, the key to a successful trick with margins is to remember the limits.
Final touch
If you have read this guide till the final thoughts, you are probably in big eternal-essay-writing trouble. But at this point, I have nothing more to tell you except to relax. If you have two more hours to make your essay longer with words, you will definitely cope with a task. If not, you can always use one of my formatting tips and hope for better.
In my turn, I hope that you will heed the pieces of advice I gave you between the lines. The main of them - don’t rely on lazy methods of extending your writing. Excuse my somewhat lecturing tone, but it all is for your sake.
P.S. If you want to see more living examples of artificial increasing of the text content, carefully revise this article. I had to use a whole bunch of techniques I’d told you about to make this article look more respectable. But let it be our little secret, ok?
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How to Make an Essay Appear Longer Than It Is
Last Updated: February 2, 2024 Approved
This article was co-authored by Jake Adams . Jake Adams is an academic tutor and the owner of Simplifi EDU, a Santa Monica, California based online tutoring business offering learning resources and online tutors for academic subjects K-College, SAT & ACT prep, and college admissions applications. With over 14 years of professional tutoring experience, Jake is dedicated to providing his clients the very best online tutoring experience and access to a network of excellent undergraduate and graduate-level tutors from top colleges all over the nation. Jake holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article has 12 testimonials from our readers, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 1,781,183 times.
You are writing a paper and the deadline is approaching, but you are nowhere near the page limit. Many students find themselves in this position. Luckily for you, you can lengthen your paper by using a few tricks. Increasing the font size, adding a lengthy header, and manipulating the spacing between lines are just a few strategies you can use to make your essay appear longer. However, be aware that breaking your teacher’s guidelines may result in a lower grade.
Playing with the Font
- Don’t pick a very large font like Arial Black or Lucida Handwriting. Your teacher will notice that you are trying to make your essay longer by choosing a larger font.
Manipulating Spacing and Margins
- If the increase is too noticeable, then try 1.15 or 1.1 instead.
- Because all documents are left justified, avoid increasing the left margin. Adjusting the left margin will produce a noticeable change that your teacher will detect.
Adjusting the Header and Footer
Expanding the Content
- Additionally, if you are quoting or paraphrasing research or literature, make sure to cite it properly. Citations can add extra length to a paper as well.
- Expand your introductory paragraph with an attention-getting statement to hook the reader in.
- However, try to avoid being descriptive when it is unnecessary since this may cause your paper to appear embellished or sound verbose.
Community Q&A
- Copy and paste your paper into a new document. Make these changes to the new document. Then compare and contrast the document with the changes to the original document. Remove any adjustments that seem obvious. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
- Use a thesaurus to find longer synonyms to use in place of shorter ones. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
- Spell out abbreviations; for example, write out “United States" instead of using "US." Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
- Be aware that breaking your teacher’s guidelines may be considered cheating, which may result in a lower grade or even a zero. Thanks Helpful 12 Not Helpful 1
- Don't be redundant. Thanks Helpful 5 Not Helpful 1
You Might Also Like
- ↑ https://www.paperhelp.org/blog/how-to-make-a-paper-longer.html
- ↑ https://www.jakebinstein.com/blog/how-to-make-an-essay-look-longer/
- ↑ https://studentshare.org/study-guides/how-to-make-your-essay-look-longer
- ↑ http://www.seventeen.com/life/school/advice/a27491/tricks-you-try-to-make-your-school-paper-longer/
- ↑ https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-make-paper-longer-793288
About This Article
To make an essay appear longer than it is, pick a font that's slightly larger than Times New Roman, like Arial, Courier New, or Cambria. If you're required to use 12-point font, try increase the font to 12.1 or 12.2 to gain some extra length without the font looking noticeably larger. Then, press on Control and the F key at the same time to activate the find and replace function, and replace all of the commas and periods with 14-point font. If the essay still isn't long enough, increase the line spacing by 0.1 or 0.2 and make the right margin 0.1-0.2 inches larger. For tips on adjusting the header and footer or adding more content to your essay, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No
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How to Make an Essay Look Longer
It’s somewhat difficult to make demands on essays for students – demanding that they have 500 words, for example, leads to really, really, very, extremely superfluous lists of adjectives and describing words like this sentence to up the word count. Other teachers use the page count as a metric of completion. But what happens when you have 4 and a half pages done of your five page essay? There are plenty of writing techniques to flesh ideas out and make it longer, but I’m assuming that your essay is perfect as it is and you want a more technological answer. Here are a few techniques that have served me well. I use them all the time.
Note: This tutorial is for Microsoft Word as a part of Office 2007, although many of the same techniques can be used in previous or subsequent versions of Word.
Font Choice and Font Size
First, font or font size is a fairly easy way to make an essay longer. Some teachers demand that Times New Roman size 12 be used. However, when they forget to add that to the rules, you can change it to whatever you want (assuming there’s no blanket statement about it on the syllabus). You want to choose a font that maximizes height. Obviously you don’t want to choose a font that’s too difficult to read, as it may annoy the person grading it. Below is a picture of the word “Hello” printed four times, each at size 12. The fonts, from left to right, are “Angsana New”, “Calibri”, “Times New Roman”, and “Algerian”.
Font size can also make a big impact on your paper. Going with a size 72 font will undoubtedly make your paper surpass the required page count, but isn’t the best idea. Just changing the font size from 12 to 13 can add a few lines to your paper. Below is a picture of identical text in two columns, both in Times New Roman, but size 12 on the left and size 13 on the right.
Even if your teacher demands size 12 Times New Roman, you might be tempted to change it anyway. Slight changes are fairly hard to measure in a printout, however, it is possible. For instance, if a teacher were to print out the word “the” in Times New Roman size 12 on a piece of transparency paper, they could then hold it over a word “the” in your essay and confirm whether or not it’s identical. Probably not going to happen, but it actually has happened to me before.
Space Between lines
The spacing between lines is very difficult to measure because although in most fonts the top and bottom edges vary significantly. In some fonts, there is a common edge except for letters that hang above or below the line, but in fonts that are meant to look more like handwriting, there is not. In any case, even with common edges, it’s not likely that your teacher will whip out a ruler and measure. Too large a gap may arouse suspicion, but changing an essay from double spaced to 2.1 spacing may actually make a large difference. The thing to remember is that the longer the base essay, the more they amplify the length. So for instance, if your essay is 10 lines with double spacing, and you change the spacing to 2.1, you get an extra 0.1 of a line for every line you’ve written, and 0.1×10 = 1. So, for every ten lines you actually write, you get the effect of having written eleven instead. For an essay that’s 4.5 pages, this tiny change can easily bring you over the 5 page mark and is virtually undetectable. Below is two paragraphs, the left with single spacing and the right is 1.1 spacing. This really demonstrates the potential of the small change.
To change the spacing between lines, you’ll need to access the “Paragraph” menu (I believe that in older versions of Word this could be done by going to Format -> Paragraph). In Word 2007, it can be accessed by going to the “Page Layout” tab of the ribbon and clicking on the pop-out button of the Paragraph rectangle.
From there, under Line Spacing, choose “Multiple”, and under At, choose a number close to something normal, like 1.1 or 2.1. You can increase this difference at the risk of the teacher noticing.
Changing the margins of a page is another great way to change the length of your paper. By decreasing the amount of space the words can take up per page, you increase the number of pages required to fit your existing content. Changing the left margin is a bit risky since most papers are left-justified, meaning that the left edge will be relatively the same for all papers. The right margin, however, can be changed to your heart’s content, since the length of words, number of letters, and number of spaces greatly affect each line’s right edge. You can also increase the amount of space taken up by the header and footer of a document.
Lengthen Header Content
One final way you can make a paper appear longer is by adding more lines to the header of your document. If you make it too long, be sure to have it on only the first page and not every page, as this would be incredibly obvious.
Other Notes
If your teacher demands that an essay be 5 pages long and no longer , but your paper is slightly longer, you can use these same techniques in reverse to make your paper look shorter . For instance, you can change double spacing to 1.9 spacing, or increase the margins.
111 Comments
If you must have MLA format and the essay is turned in electronically the teachers will be able to see the changes of font size and other things. So the easiest thing for me is to increase the font size of just the periods to 14 instead of the required 12 font. This makes your essay lines more spaced out and sentences longer. Even though it is not a huge change, it makes a very big difference.
In addition to that, I usually add just enough description to my sentences in order to barely create one new line of text before going to the next paragraph. It is also beneficial to end a paragraph on the second to last line of a page. That way the next paragraph is forced to appear on the next page altogether.
If you are turning in your essay online, use these and the larger font periods only, as everything else will likely be checked by the system when you upload it.
If you turn it in online, turn it in in PDF format, it’s standardized and they can’t see the font size easily
Unfortunately, this is not true. While it may not be obvious ow to inspect a PDF to get the font, the easiest thing to do is copy some text and paste it into Microsoft Word – it’ll retain its font.
This + the commas
THANKS GANG
REALLY REALLY LIKE THIS
This helped me so much!!!
It’s 5 am, my paper’s topic would have sent me to sleep hours ago if it weren’t for the Red Bulls, and you’ve been added to my list of “People I Will Buy a Drink for if I Ever Meet Them”.
You my good sir have just made my night! If you’re ever in Atlanta I will be MORE than happy to buy you a drink as well! 🙂
I don’t know you. But I love you.
You are amazing. Another thing that I tried at one time was to bold the periods. it made my 4 1/4 page research paper into a 5 page paper. Just trying to help out some more.
Recently I had to write a 12-page essay on a mostly-factual topic. It wasn’t pretty. I was on the eleventh page when I found that I simply couldn’t add any more to the paper no matter how I tried. A quick change to all the margins from 1.0 to 1.1 boosted my essay to fill the entire twelfth page! I wish I had found this article earlier, though, as I didn’t know that modifying the left margin is risky.
In retrospect, I really should have just changed the line spacing from 2.0 to 2.1, but I couldn’t figure out how to do that thanks to Word’s confusing line spacing interface. Now I know that I can set the spacing to “multiple” and achieve the desired effect!
I also recommend “adding space between paragraphs of the same style” as is done by default in Word 2010. It doesn’t make a really significant difference, but for every paragraph you write you’ll gain about 1 extra line.
To all you essay writers out there: these techniques should really only be used as a last resort. If you are able to flush out your entire essay, do that instead of modifying its layout. Only when you are completely stuck and need just one more page or so should you use the strategies here.
I was struggling to write 10 pages of term paper. Thank you for the tips!!!!
10? I can barely write 5 wow
Thank you!! =,) Thank you so much!
tnx so much that helps a lot .I had to write 3 pages and I only had 1 page and ur advice works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You sir are amazing. Thank you SO SO SO much.
I owe you a drink sir. It’s 5:00 A.M. and this paper is due in a few hours. Five and a half pages out of eight! Tough night oh and screw Marry Shelley and Frankenstein.
in college i made my periods a font size bigger and doing that to all puntuation can add up to 1/4 to a page and teacher will NEVER know
I have two 12-15 page research essays due in the same week and this post just saved my life. I never would’ve thought of changing the line spacing from 2.0 to 2.1, but it added about another page length to what I’d already typed. Bless you.
ERMERGERD these pointers helped out sooo much I absolutely hate typing term papers for my class and this helps out a bunch THANKS A MILLION.
praise the man, you are the new black baby jesus. bruh, you are my sunshine on a cloudy day, I am your loyal friend to the ends of the fiery underworld, all of the twinkies shall be yours. may your palm tree forever sway high.
This…I…well, thank you, brother. This is the greatest comment I have ever received. I feel giddy.
Hey, I’m a TA and when I have to grade lab reports, I always select all and change to 12pt times new roman even if it looks like it is already, and I check the margins and spacing. I don’t actually ever have to take points off for length, just check to make sure that the essay has x number of examples of y thing and an explanation for each. Be careful because I know a few of the English TAs do that to all the papers before the prof. grades them if the TAs aren’t grading.
thank you sooo much you just saved my English grade and my date that was depending on my English grade. you are the best person ever I love you!!!
3 page assignment due by the end of tomorrow, and had really hit my limit at around 2 1/2 pages of B.S’ing. You’re the real MVP tonight.
Go to the Font Dialog box (Ctrl+D) and under character spacing change from normal to expanded very subtle but gives you a couple lines
I love you.
You are amazing, this helped me so much, Thank you
i literally used to use all of these in high school, i just wish i could have found this page instead of having to figure it out on my own
If your page is a little too long, try changing the font to Garamond, it looks the same as Time New Roman, but is smaller
Are you married? If not, I’d totally marry you for this advice. Thank you so much, brilliant person!
For me I had a required 12 point font size but if you type in a 12.5 point font size the it really helps without being too noticeable on a printed copy.
Another good tip is to change the font color to grey instead of black (on the printed papers) This is a good tip because it will make the words pop off the page less, and therefore the teacher will have a harder time reading what you wrote. This is also good because if your teacher magically notices your letters are the wrong shade, you can blame it on your printer.
There’s something so rewarding about sitting here screwing with margins, spacing, adding random and pointless space lines to the header, and going through the entire paper making every blessed period 14 pt font until the paper is long enough. Thank you so much for the tips!
Arial looks to be larger than Times New Roman and is a standard looking font
Useful… very useful… although I turn my work in electronically, my teacher allows this stuff, because he used this kind of thing in school
there is a font on 2013 word called verdena, its like calibra but a little bigger. changing all of the periods to size 16 is very useful too
Another tip-increase the size of periods, commas, apostrophes etc. Ex if I’m typing in 12 size font, I increase the size for periods, commas etc to size 14.
Another thing that might help is to have more paragraph breaks.
Thxs so much man ur a life saver! 2.1 Is the best spacing and so hard for my teachers to notice
Thank You… Thank You Very Much.
Another good way to increase the amount of writing without actually writing more is to mess around with widow-orphan controls (Under line-spacing options). You can set it so that if you write a paragraph with one word on the next page, it’ll put another line on that page to make the one word less lonely. That can add at least a half-page if you work it right.
This is so helpful!
Awesome. Better tip – Courier font is the biggest font and still passes as acceptable on essays. Check it out, I promise.
You just made my 15 page paper much more delightful. AP classes in high school are an absolute pain! 🙂
Another way to make your paper longer is to double space between sentences. Not the double space between the lines, but in between the sentences double click the space bar. It’s what I’m doing right now and you might not have noticed until I told you.
Its 2016, I’m exhausted, and I had to crank out 12 pages. You may not even read this comment. But you are a true American Hero. If you are ever in the state of Michigan (particularly the lower peninsula), I will purchase you a beverage. Infinitely grateful. Best of luck to you, sir!
THIS HELPED SO MUCH WITH MY 30 PG ESSAY
Verdana seems to be the largest proper looking font I’ve seen so far. I highly recommend it.
The thing i do the most to make a paper longer if specifics are required is 2 spaces after the periods. depending on the length of the paper it can add half a page or more. I wrote a 75 page paper over the summer, with every detail specified, except nothing about spaces between sentences. 69 with one space, 72 with 2.
This just saved my life. English 1101 is going to be the death of me….can’t wait for next semester.
OMG. Heart u! My teacher says she knows a font near identical Times N Roman, but a teeny bit wider, so it makes 3 pages 3.5 pgs. Any Ideas?
Also, changing the file type to a pdf if you have to turn it in electronically will confuse the hell out of most english/humanities teachers to the point where they’ll never discover a 2.3 spacing change in between paragraphs
http://cdn1.thecomeback.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/94/2015/02/Screen-Shot-2015-02-19-at-11.56.00-AM.png You the real MVP
Not a typical trick but if it is permitted use Chicago style citations (or any footnote based citation style… if any others exist). While it does not technically add to the length of an essay as references do not count the lines upon lines of footnotes can add pages upon pages to an essay. At certain points I have literally had half the page just be lines of footnotes. While it obviously adds nothing it does provide the illusion of a lot more going on, especially if it is something you have to print out. Plus you know it looks better, is easier to read, and makes paraphrasing a breeze.
I use the Courier New font. It is by FAR the best font, not only because it looks cool, but because it is MEGA HUGE. It saved me a TON of space on my English Essay. My teacher passes it because it is an “adequate font” and “not a fancy, hand-writing-type font.”
If your essay is to be turned in digitally, there is an extremely underhanded tactic that can be used to increase word/character count. Turn the font color to white, then place random periods in your essay. This will cause the character count to go up, and is almost impossible to detect unless it is being actively searched for.
This man has saved me on around 50 essays and will continue saving me. Tank you Jacob Binstein.
Thx sooo much!!
Thank you so much! This is very helpful:) Xx Ali
THX SO MUCH!!!!
Oh my god thank you so much
Another cool trick is to use the replace all tool to change just the punctuation from size 12 to size 14 fonts.
I have a 2-page essay due in 9 days and I can’t include pictures or sites in the length. This will help a lot. Thanks!
wow this actually really helped with my paper. thanks so much but I wish I found this a few years ago.
this saved my aSS LAST YEARRRR
THANK YOU SO FUCKING MUCH
thIS SAVED ME LAST YEAR THANK YOU SO MUCH BRO
Thank you, so much man you are so amazing btw a really good font that you can use is courier new and it makes it look good and takes up a lot of space just saying think about using it.
Merriweather is bigger than all of your fonts.
Cambria looks exactly like Times New Roman but is slightly larger which will make it still look like it is in MLA format
A G I W Y A (a genius is what you are)
Nice job! thank you!
Thank you!! I am bolding the periods and changing the line spacing!! Helped so much! <3
Thanks, bro. More like Jacob Einstien bro. Heck yeah, man.
Hi, I’m a college instructor, and we know all these tricks. Some of them I deduct points for. Others I will return an essay ungraded for. You know what is an even better idea? Write to the actual demands of the assignment.
Or don’t, but ooh I hope you end up in my class.
Some instructors know some of these tricks. But it would be a far cry to say that all instructors look for all of these.
You know what’s an even better idea than searching out articles which, to you, are apparently irrelevant? Writing assignment instructions which don’t require an exact number of words.
Good Job Jim! Congrats on killing the creativity of the nation and forcing students to suffer through your class by making them meet arbitrary standards that teach them to use fluffy jargon instead of clear concise points! Pat yourself on the back Jim!
You can also hit enter a couple times in the header sections, which effectively makes each page start a couple lines farther down.
Thx this is a great advice. I have to write a paper for civics and i will totally use this!!!!!! 🙂 😉
Lol that professor’s comment cracked me up Thx for the laughs.
Some of the best advice I have ever received on increasing page length of an essay, is to go through each paragraph, and try to find a way to add words so that the last line just barely word-wraps.
What I mean is that the last line of each paragraph should have only 1 or 2 words. This makes a huge difference, especially if you have a lot of paragraphs.
I don’t think I’ll worry about my teacher noticing any of these tricks since when I asked him if he wanted the paper in MLA, he asked what MLA was… Thanks for this!
any one here in 2019?? Oh and thks
Courier New is way bigger that Algerian.
the font “Press Start 2p” is the largest font for Google Docs
I just finished a 20-page paper for a test and this has really helped. One other thing I recommend is adding a space before and after each paragraph. Press Ctrl+A to select everything, then add a space before and after each paragraph to get every paragraph.
I’m on week 8 of procrastinating and have a paper due in 5 days. These tips helped! Thanks so much 🙂
bro your a genius i got a A on my book report
Im on page 9 of a 10 page essay and I was wondering if I change the font size from 12 to 12.5, would it be too noticeable? It adds length, i’m just hoping my professor and TurnItIn won’t detect it.
Thank you so much! Ur a Lifesaver!
This is so funny, looking at all the comments they are either written really late at night or super early in the morning hahaha.
This is genius! They didn’t tell me anything about margins, so I changed it!
fuckin genius, bro
*adds yours name to ‘list of fckin geniuses’*
i just realised one more thing that can help— use the REALLY REALLY long dashes instead of colons or semicolons. It takes more space and though it’ll barely make a difference, im so proud of thinking of that myself
It has been 10 years, and we are all still struggling with essays.
the biggest font is actually roboto mono
My teacher only said 1 page size thirteen and what it had to be about. thank you
Hey! Nice article. I agree with you that choosing the right font and font size is very essential. Your content contains different valid points and is very beneficial for all designers. Thanks.
ooooh thanks for the advice!
don’t forget typing random words and making them white
thanks for the advice
MY ass is saved It’s almost 8pm and i have an english 5 pg essay to write. A Geography 5 page essay to write and presentation. And 20 lessons of calculus to get done before tomorow morning.
Grammar is another way to lengthen essays. Don’t use contractions, for one thing, use the definition of a big word instead of the big word itself (e.g. use ‘ it was of little value or importance’ instead of ‘it was trivial.’ Lengthens word count and takes up more space on the page.
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Beyond words: comprehensive guide on styling text in Google Docs
In this blog post, we delve into the various techniques and features available to customize your Google Docs. Follow these tips and tricks to be well on your way to creating documents that convey your content effectively and look polished and visually captivating.
When you want to make documents look really professional and nice to read, it's super important to learn how to style the text properly. Google Docs offers a range of text formatting tools that will transform your documents from bland to outstanding.
How to use text formatting in Google Docs
Text formatting is crucial in conveying emphasis, clarity, and structure within your documents. Google Docs provides a range of text styling options to help you achieve these objectives.
How to change font style in Google Docs
The first thing I'd recommend changing is the font style (and its size).
Picking the most suitable font size and style in Google Docs from the start will minimize the need for retroactive formatting changes along the way. You'll be able to focus on the layout and content knowing that the main visual element is already set.
Below are some other standard fonts often used in different documents.
To change font style in Google Docs, click on any font. You can quickly go through multiple fonts to see which one you like better in action.
Once you find the ones you love, just click on them and they will appear in the list of your fonts in both the right panel and the drop-down with the available fonts.
Use these to:
- increase or decrease the current font size (or use Ctrl+Shift+. and Ctrl+Shift-. hotkeys instead)
- pick one of the predefined font sizes from the drop-down
- enter the exact size from your keyboard
Bold, italic and underline
To make your text stand out and grab attention, you can use bold formatting, and italicized or underlined text.
Tip. Besides the toolbar, there's another way to indicate a different tone for your text. You can apply these Google Docs formats using shortcuts:
- Ctrl+B for bold ( Command+B on Mac)
- Ctrl+I for italic ( Command+I on Mac)
- Ctrl+U for underline ( Command+U on Mac)
Of course, you can apply all three formatting Google Docs styles to the same piece of text or mix & match with just 2 of them.
Strikethrough
Sometimes, conveying information involves showing what has changed or is no longer valid. Strikethrough is a text formatting tool that helps you visually indicate that a particular portion of text should be disregarded. You can also use strikethrough to add a touch of humor or irony to your text.
Though there's no button for this option, you can easily apply strikethrough to a portion of text in Google Docs by using the Alt+Shift+5 shortcut.
Text & highlight colors
To enhance the visual appeal or emphasize important points even more, don't neglect text and highlight colors. Using them strategically or creatively will make a significant difference.
Text color will change the color of letters. Highlight will color the white background behind the text.
You can pick a hue from predefined colors or click one of the icons at the bottom of the palette:
Note. When using text and highlight colors in Google Docs, it's important to ensure adequate contrast for optimal readability. Choose such color combinations for your text that provide enough contrast between the text itself and its background to make your content easily legible.
Tip. Remember to strike a balance between creativity and readability when playing with colors. Stay consistent with your color choices to maintain a professional and organized appearance.
Style Google Docs text using the paint format tool
I cannot help but mention one small tool to work with the formatting. Instead of applying the same visuals over and over again, you can copy them from any portion of your text.
This tool acts as a formatting brush allowing you to copy the style in Google Docs, size, colors, bold/italic/underline and other formatting of one piece of text and apply it to other parts of your document:
- Format a text selection to your liking.
- Select the formatted text only.
- Click on the Paint format icon in the toolbar.
- Click and drag your cursor over the text you want to apply the formatting to.
The chosen text will adopt the formatting of the initial selection.
Tip. To apply the formatting to multiple selections, double-click the Paint format icon to keep it active until you're done.
Improve readability with line spacing and alignment
When it comes to styling documents in Google Docs, aesthetics and readability go hand in hand. Proper alignment, indentation, spacing, and effective use of lists are essential if you want to engage with your material effortlessly.
Alignment & indentation
As for indentation, it helps create a visual hierarchy. It's usually used to block quotes, bullet points, and more.
Line & paragraph spacing
Optimal line and paragraph spacing are key elements for your document's readability. Let's see how you can adjust line and paragraph spacing to prevent text from feeling cluttered or too spread out.
- The first 4 settings — single, 1.15, 1.5, double — offer various breathing rooms between the lines.
- The next two — Add/Remove space before/after paragraph — visually separate the content blocks. Use these to distinguish different sections easily.
- Keep with next and Keep lines together will make sure your paragraphs or lines are not divided into different pages.
- Add page break before , on the contrary, will move the selected block to a new page.
- Prevent single lines , well, prevents single lines at the beginning or the end of your section (paragraph) from being left out on a page. It always keeps at least two lines of text together.
Note. Some options are not available in the pageless format.
Bulleted and numbered lists
Select the text that you want to turn into a list and click either Bulleted or Numbered list icons.
Tip. Or use the shortcuts ;) Ctrl+Shift+8 for bullets, Ctrl+Shift+7 for numbers. For Mac, it's the Control key instead of Ctrl .
Tip. Press Shift+Tab to turn the sub-item into the main list item.
You'll see a window with tens of characters to choose from, including numbers, symbols from other languages, emojis, currencies, etc. Just find the one you like best for your list or draw your own symbol in a special field in the same window.
Headings & styles: enhancing Google Docs structure
Creating a well-structured Google document is essential if you want to guide your readers through your content. The tools from this section will help you achieve a clear hierarchy and visual consistency within your documents.
How to add headings in Google Docs
Headings provide a roadmap for everyone reading/working with the document, making it easier for them to navigate through.
Tip. The more heading levels you use in Google Docs, the more extra levels will be available in the dropdown.
How to edit all headings in Google Docs at once
So you added headings in your Google Docs, what's next? You will most likely want to edit them: set the proper alignment, indentation or change colors, make them bold or underlined, etc.
Luckily, there's a smart option that lets you do that with all headings of a similar level in Google Docs in just a few clicks.
Let's suppose it's Headings 2 you'd like to format.
- Pick one heading of the 2nd level and right-click it.
Tip. This way is great to edit not just headings but the normal text as well.
Creating a table of contents
A well-organized document often includes a table of contents (TOC) that acts as a roadmap for readers. In Google Docs, you can create a table of contents that dynamically updates as you edit your content. This feature is particularly handy when your document contains several sections or subsections.
Generate TOC from headings on Google Docs
Google Docs knows how to automatically generate a table of contents based on your headings and place it whenever you need in the document:
- Make sure to add headings to your document as I described in the previous section.
Each item in the TOC will be linked to its related section (even if you pick the style that doesn't look like it contains links).
TOC outline: same concept, different purpose
An outline in Google Docs serves a similar purpose to a table of contents: it helps you create an organized structure. The only difference is that it's located not within the pages but on the side: as part of the Google Docs interface.
Note. Both the table of contents and the outline rely on properly formatted headings on Google Docs. Ensure your headings are consistently applied for accurate results.
How to change default style in Google Docs
When customizing Google documents, you might have a specific look in mind that aligns with your brand or personal preference. Custom styles in Google Docs enable you to save your preferred formatting settings, allowing you to apply them consistently across your documents.
The standard feature lets you save only one style as your default one for all future documents:
- Format your document: make sure titles, headings, subtitles & normal text look exactly as you need.
You'll see the confirmation message from Google Docs that your style has been set. Now when you start the new document, the font, its size, color, and headings will look as you prefer from the start by default.
To apply this style to other Google documents, go to Styles > Options > Use my default styles .
Most likely, you already see the major drawback of this instrument: you can save & use only one style at a time.
Create multiple reusable custom styles in Google Docs
If you're looking to take your document styling to the next level, the Styles add-on for Google Docs is a real game-changer.
It empowers you to create a multitude of custom styles, save them for future use, and effortlessly apply them to your entire document or specific sections.
As a nice bonus, it goes with built-in 20+ style templates for your Google Docs to choose from.
This add-on gives you broad freedom of action:
- Create, save and reuse a multitude of different style sets. For various types of documents and needs. You can even pick the style from your document!
- Applying the styles in Google Docs with this add-on couldn't be easier. Either click the blue Apply style button at the bottom to format the entire document, or change the appearance of specific paragraphs / selected text by clicking only on the necessary heading style. Either way, it's literally just a click :)
This add-on will be your sidekick if you crave efficiency without compromising on aesthetics. To play with it around, install it from the Google Workspace Marketplace and find it under the Extensions menu in your Google Docs.
Video: Styles add-on for Google Docs: customize your documents
Share google docs styles with teammates.
Since collaboration is at the heart of many Google Docs projects, sharing consistent styles among team members is crucial for maintaining a unified document appearance.
Fortunately, Styles add-on for Google Docs allows you to share custom styles with your teammates, ensuring everyone is on the same page in terms of document formatting.
- Use the first two to export, or save to your Drive, all or only the selected style template for Google Docs.
- Use the third one to import, or upload from Drive, a style shared with you.
Mastering text styling in Google Docs is not just about making your documents visually appealing; it's about effectively conveying your ideas and engaging your audience.
Whether you're working on an academic paper, crafting a report or simply sharing your thoughts, understanding these styling & customization techniques will give your Google documents an edge. By following the tips and tricks outlined in this guide, you'll be well on your way to creating documents that convey your content effectively and look polished and visually captivating.
So, go ahead and experiment with these features — your words deserve to be noticed :)
You may also be interested in
- All Google Docs & Google Sheets limits you need to know
- How to make a good-looking table in Google Sheets
Table of contents
I'm looking for a way to create numbered paragraphs with text - like Article I., Article 2., etc. Is there a way to do this with the Styles or a different Add-on?
Hello Melissa,
I'm not sure Styles will help since it's merely changes the appearance of the text.
If you need extra headings literally containing 'Article 1', 'Article 2', etc., you will have to enter them manually. And then you can apply a certain style to them using the Styles add-on.
Alternatively, you could use standard Bookmarks for this purpose. Our Search & Navigate will then show you all these headings/bookmarks in a list.
I meant underline for Mac: Command-U
All fixed! Thanks for catching those mistakes, Peter!
In your change font style for Mac, italic and bold should be command-I and command-B
It Was very helpful Thank you for gather all the information together.
Appreciate your feedback! I'm glad the article is helpful :)
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How to make an Essay Longer – 21 Easy Tips!
Chris Drew (PhD)
Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]
Learn about our Editorial Process
Just about all the advice on the first page of google about how to make a paper longer sucks. No, really. The tricks they suggest suck so bad I can’t believe how bad it sucks.
Most advice on how to make your essay longer tells you to do gimmicky things that will lose you marks.
How do I know? Because I read it. And I (yes, I’m a professor) would instantly see through all those things.
Let me tell you: if you’re wasting time turning “15” into “fifteen” to get an extra 6 characters into your essay , increasing font size, or sticking fluffy adjectives into sentences to make your essay longer and increase word count, you’re stuffing up. You’re flushing marks down the drain.
So, here’s what you SHOULD do to make your essay longer.
How to Make an Essay Longer
1. make sure you included everything.
I can’t tell you how many of my students submit assignments and forget to include important points! Go back to your writing prompt . That’s the thing that you’re going to be graded on.
Go and check out exactly what your teacher asked you to write about. Did you write about every point they suggested?
Related Article: 17+ Great Ideas For An Essay About Yourself
2. Make Every Paragraph at least 4 Sentences
Scan over each paragraph. Do you have any paragraphs that are less than 4 sentences long? This is your low-hanging fruit for making your paper longer. You need to make these paragraphs longer and your page count will naturally increase.
The best paragraphs should be 4 – 7 sentences long .
If you’ve got a 1, 2 or 3 sentence paragraph, make sure you go back through it. What new points can you include to make your paragraph better? Maybe you can:
- Add a sentence at the start of the paragraph explaining what the paragraph is about;
- Add a sentence giving a real-life example of the points you’re trying to make
- Add a sentence giving an explanation of your points.
Or, you can try adding points explaining:
- Why the thing is true;
- Where the thing happened;
- How the thing happened;
- When the thing happened.
3. Define your Terms
Have you written a paragraph defining your key terms? If you’re writing an essay on modernism, write a paragraph defining modernism. If your essay is about education , write a paragraph giving a brief history of education. This will make your paper better – and longer!
You should have a paragraph or two right after your introduction defining and explaining what your topic is!
Now, if you are going to provide a definition for a term in college or university level writing , you need to read this article . In it, I show you how to write a full paragraph that defines a term in the right way using a research paper, not a dictionary!.
4. Get new Ideas from your Class Handouts
Below are the class handouts that you should go back through to add new ideas. They’re your most important sources. Go through all these sources and try to take down and more key points you can add:
- Handouts or worksheets in class?
- Readings or articles that they asked you to read?
- Lecture slides?
6. Get new Ideas from Friends
You will have many classmates working on the same essay as you. What ideas have your friends come up with? See if you can find out. You want it to seem like you’re working to help each other out. You don’t want to be a sponge, taking from them and not giving back. Help each other out so you both get better marks. I recommend being strategic about this:
- Offer to look over each others’ work and give suggestions;
- Trade key points in bullet point format;
- Brainstorm together to create a master list of key ideas.
8. Get new Ideas from Blogs
There are websites online about just about every topic that you can possibly imagine. That includes the topic you’re writing your essay on!
Let me ask you a question: Why would you waste your time trying to add padding to old sentences to increase your word count when you can write new ones that will win more marks?
It’s really so simple – google your essay topic or question and see what comes up. What have other people said on the topic? What ideas can you grab from others and use for yourself? You can also get new ideas from Google Scholar, which can provide you with a free to access research paper that will give you ideas as well.
12. Use the Keep Writing Website
Keep Writing is a website where you can write your essay. But, it won’t let you delete anything. So you have to just keep on typing. This means you can just write ideas that roll off the top of your head. I gave this website a go to write this article you’re reading right now and it really did help me just write in a way that flowed nicely and added to my page count quickly. I must admit, after using the website, I copied the text and did some edits. But by that point I had a ton of words in there – more than enough – and I could shorten the essay by deleting the words that weren’t so good. I ended up having the opposite problem – too many words!
13. Include one new Example in Each Paragraph
Another thing you can do is go through each and every paragraph and add one more example and some supporting evidence. Even if you’ve included one example in each paragraph, that’s okay. You can still add more examples. In fact, teachers love to see examples and supporting evidence.
Good examples are what separates good and bad students.
Teachers love to see examples because you can only give examples if you understand the topic. So, when we see examples we go “Yes! You Got It! You understand it!”
16. Don’t add Pointless Words!
‘Padding’ is what we call it when you stick extra words in a sentence just to increase your word count. I’ve taken a sentence from earlier in this post and I’m going to show you the sentence as it is, then show it to you with padding.
Here’s the original:
“You’re going to need some new points to add to your essay. You should not try to make your sentences you’ve already written longer. You shouldn’t be trying to add in fluffy new words or saying things in a longer way.”
Here’s the padding:
“You’re going to need some new points to actually add to your essay , which actually is quite significant . You should not actually try to generally make your sentences you’ve already written longer , generally contrary to popular belief . You shouldn’t be trying to generally add in fluffy new words or saying things in a longer way , which is fairly significant. ”
Your teacher is going to read this and think “This student is a terrible writer.” And you’ll lose a ton of marks.
17. Don’t Change the Formatting
Increasing the line spacing, font size or character spacing will just make your paper worse. You should have ONE space between each word. Your line spacing should either be 2.0 or 1.5 spacing. That’s it. Those are your options. Stick to normal margins in Microsoft Word You should use font size 12. If you artificially change any of this, your teacher will see through it and grade you down .
Final Thoughts
Making an essay longer needs to be done in a way that will get you marks. I can’t believe that there are websites ranking high on google that recommend tricks like “make the space between lines bigger” and “increase your margins”.
If a student did that in my class, I’d fail them instantly. There are smarter and better ways to do it – whether you’re writing a grade 7 essay or dissertation chapter! Do it the right way and you’ll grow your marks and be on the way to success.
- Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 10 Reasons you’re Perpetually Single
- Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 20 Montessori Toddler Bedrooms (Design Inspiration)
- Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 21 Montessori Homeschool Setups
- Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 101 Hidden Talents Examples
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29 Tips On How To Make An Essay Longer & Free Essay Extension Tool
Declan Gessel
Mar 17, 2024
In the realm of academia, the quest for optimal word count is a common challenge for many students. Whether you're struggling to meet the minimum requirements of an assignment or simply aiming to enhance the depth of your arguments, understanding the ins and outs of how to make an essay longer can be a game-changer. By implementing various strategies and tactics, you can effectively expand your writing while maintaining clarity and coherence. Stick around to uncover some good ways to start an essay and master the art of crafting more robust and compelling academic pieces.
Table of Contents
Reached writer's block, how to determine the optimal essay length, 29 tips on how to make an essay longer, complete guide on how to write a great essay, write smarter with jotbot — start writing for free today.
Writer's block is a common challenge that writers face, characterized by the inability to come up with new ideas or continue writing. When trying to lengthen an essay, writer's block can be particularly frustrating as it hinders the progress needed to reach the desired word count. There are strategies you can employ to overcome this obstacle and effectively expand your essay.
1. Take a Break and Refresh Your Mind
Sometimes, stepping away from your writing and taking a break can help clear your mind. Engage in activities that relax you, such as going for a walk, listening to music, or meditating. This break can help you come back to your essay with a fresh perspective and new ideas.
2. Freewriting or Brainstorming
Set a timer for a few minutes and write down any ideas that come to mind, even if they seem unrelated to your essay. This can help stimulate your creativity and unlock new angles or points to expand on in your writing.
3. Research and Gather More Information
If you're struggling to reach the required length, delve deeper into your topic. Conduct additional research to gather more information, statistics, or examples that can support your arguments and add substance to your essay.
4. Expand on Existing Points
Review your essay and identify areas where you can elaborate further. Look for opportunities to provide more detailed explanations, examples, or evidence to strengthen your arguments and increase the word count.
5. Utilize Jotbot's Essay Extender Tool
When all else fails, consider using Jotbot's essay extender tool. This AI-powered tool can analyze your existing essay and suggest ways to expand on your ideas, add more content, or rephrase sentences to increase the length while maintaining clarity and coherence. Incorporating these strategies can help you overcome writer's block and effectively lengthen your essay to meet the required word count, ensuring that your ideas are fully developed and your arguments are well-supported.
Enhance Your Writing Workflow with Jotbot's AI-Powered Tools
Jotbot is your personal document assistant. Jotbot does AI note taking, AI video summarizing, AI citation/source finder, it writes AI outlines for essays, and even writes entire essays with Jotbot’s AI essay writer. Join 500,000+ writers, students, teams, and researchers around the world to write more, write better, and write faster with Jotbot. Write smarter, not harder with Jotbot. Start writing for free with Jotbot today — sign in with Google and get started in seconds.
Related Reading
• How To Shorten An Essay • Essay Planning
Before determining the optimal length of your essay, it is crucial to thoroughly read and understand the assignment guidelines provided by your instructor or supervisor. Look for specific instructions regarding the required length, formatting, and any additional requirements that may impact the overall length of your essay.
Considering the Purpose and Audience
The optimal length of your essay can also depend on the purpose of your writing and the intended audience . Consider whether you need to provide a detailed analysis, cover multiple perspectives, or present a concise argument. Tailoring the length to suit the expectations of your audience is key.
Exploring the Complexity of the Topic
The complexity of the topic you are addressing can also influence the optimal length of your essay. More intricate subjects may require a longer discussion to thoroughly explore different aspects, provide sufficient evidence, and articulate your ideas effectively.
Conducting Sufficient Research
To determine the optimal length of your essay, ensure that you have conducted thorough research and gathered enough credible sources to support your arguments. The depth and breadth of your research will impact the overall length of your essay, as you will need to incorporate relevant information and analysis.
Outlining Your Ideas
Creating a detailed outline of your essay can help you visualize the structure and organization of your thoughts. By outlining the main points, arguments, and supporting evidence, you can assess the overall scope of your essay and determine if additional content is needed to reach the optimal length.
Drafting and Revising
As you draft your essay, pay attention to the flow of your ideas and the coherence of your arguments. During the revision process, consider whether all key points have been adequately addressed and if any sections require further elaboration to enhance clarity and depth.
Seeking Feedback
Seeking feedback from peers, instructors, or colleagues can provide valuable insights into the length and effectiveness of your essay. Consider their suggestions on areas that may require more elaboration or further explanation to reach the optimal length and improve the overall quality of your writing.
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When faced with a need to increase the length of an essay, writers often find themselves at a loss for how to effectively do so without compromising the quality of their work. Here are 29 practical tips to help expand your essay without sacrificing substance or coherence.
1. Expand on Your Arguments
Delve deeper into your arguments by providing more examples, evidence, and analysis to support your main points.
2. Introduce New Subtopics
Introduce new subtopics or aspects related to your main topic to add more content to your essay.
3. Provide More Examples
Use relevant examples to illustrate your points and provide a deeper understanding of the subject matter.
4. Incorporate More Quotations
Integrate quotes from experts or reputable sources to support your arguments and add credibility to your essay.
5. Add Definitions
Include definitions of key terms or concepts to enhance the reader's understanding and add more content to your essay.
6. Include Statistical Data
Incorporate statistical data, research findings, or survey results to provide empirical evidence and strengthen your arguments.
7. Offer Counterarguments
Address potential counterarguments and provide refutations to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the topic.
8. Analyze Your Sources
Analyze and interpret your sources in-depth to extract additional insights and perspectives for your essay.
9. Provide Historical Context
Offer historical context or background information to contextualize your topic and enrich your essay.
10. Elaborate on Your Thesis
Expand on your thesis statement by exploring different angles or implications of your central argument.
11. Include Case Studies
Incorporate relevant case studies or real-life examples to illustrate the practical application of your ideas.
12. Compare and Contrast
Engage in comparative analysis or contrast different viewpoints to add complexity and depth to your essay.
13. Add Visual Aids
Include charts, graphs, images, or tables to visually represent data and information, thereby enhancing the visual appeal of your essay.
14. Explain Your Methodology
Detail your research methodology, data collection process, or theoretical framework to provide transparency and add substance to your essay.
15. Annotate Your Sources
Provide annotations or commentary on your sources to offer critical insights and strengthen the scholarly rigor of your essay.
16. Clarify Your Arguments
Clarify complex ideas or arguments to ensure that your points are articulated clearly and concisely.
17. Engage with Opposing Views
Engage with opposing viewpoints or alternative perspectives to demonstrate a nuanced understanding of the topic.
18. Provide Detailed Descriptions
Include detailed descriptions or narratives to create a vivid and immersive reading experience for your audience.
19. Offer Solutions
Propose solutions to the issues or challenges raised in your essay to showcase your critical thinking skills and add value to your work.
20. Create Subheadings
Organize your essay with clear subheadings to structure your content and make it easier for readers to navigate through your work.
21. Use Transition Words
Incorporate transition words and phrases to improve the flow of your essay and connect ideas seamlessly.
22. Check for Repetition
Review your essay for any repeated points or redundant information, and replace them with new insights or arguments.
23. Expand Your Introduction
Enhance your introduction by providing more context, background information, or a captivating hook to engage readers from the start.
24. Develop Your Conclusion
Expand your conclusion by summarizing key points, offering insights for further research, or reflecting on the significance of your findings.
25. Seek Peer Feedback
Share your essay with peers or mentors for feedback and suggestions on how to improve the length and quality of your work.
26. Revise and Edit
Carefully revise and edit your essay to refine your arguments, eliminate unnecessary content, and ensure clarity and coherence throughout your writing .
27. Consult with Your Instructor
Seek guidance from your instructor or supervisor on how to expand your essay effectively while meeting the requirements of the assignment.
28. Utilize Jotbot for Assistance
Consider using Jotbot, your personal document assistant, which offers AI tools for note-taking, video summarizing, source finding, outline creation, and even essay writing. Write smarter, not harder with Jotbot. Start writing for free with Jotbot today — sign in with Google and get started in seconds.
29. Join a Writing Group
Join a writing group or seek support from peers to exchange ideas, share resources, and receive encouragement to enhance your writing skills and productivity. By implementing these practical tips and leveraging tools like Jotbot, writers, students, teams, and researchers can effectively lengthen their essays while maintaining quality and coherence in their writing. Write smarter, not harder with Jotbot. Start writing for free with Jotbot today — sign in with Google and get started in seconds.
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Before diving into writing your essay, carefully read and understand the assignment prompt. Pay attention to any specific requirements regarding length, formatting, and content.
Conduct Thorough Research
Gather relevant sources to support your arguments and ensure that your essay is well-informed and backed by credible information. Incorporate quotations, statistics, and examples to strengthen your points.
Develop a Clear Thesis Statement
Craft a concise and focused thesis statement that outlines the main argument of your essay. This will help guide the direction of your writing and keep your essay on track.
Create a Detailed Outline
Organize your thoughts and ideas by creating a detailed outline before you start writing. This will help you structure your essay and ensure a logical flow of ideas.
Write a Strong Introduction
Begin your essay with a compelling introduction that grabs the reader's attention and provides an overview of what to expect in the essay. Include your thesis statement at the end of the introduction.
Elaborate on Your Points
In the body paragraphs, elaborate on your main points, providing evidence and analysis to support your arguments. Make sure each paragraph focuses on a single idea and transitions smoothly to the next.
Use Transitional Phrases
Incorporate transitional phrases and sentences to ensure a seamless flow between paragraphs and ideas. This will help your essay feel cohesive and well-organized.
Provide Evidence and Examples
Support your arguments with evidence from your research, such as quotations, data, and real-life examples. This will add credibility to your essay and strengthen your points.
Write a Clear Conclusion
Summarize your main points and restate your thesis in the conclusion. Avoid introducing new information and instead, reflect on the significance of your arguments.
Revise and Edit
After completing your essay, take the time to revise and edit it carefully. Check for grammar and spelling errors, ensure clarity and coherence, and make any necessary adjustments to improve the overall quality of your writing.
How to Make Your Essay Longer
If you find that your essay is falling short of the required length, consider the following strategies to expand your writing:
Add Examples and Evidence
Incorporate additional examples, quotations, and evidence to support your arguments and provide more depth to your analysis.
Provide Detailed Explanations
Expand on your ideas by providing more detailed explanations, analyses, and insights. This will demonstrate a deeper understanding of the topic.
Include Counterarguments
Address potential counterarguments to your thesis and provide rebuttals. This will show a more comprehensive understanding of the topic and help strengthen your arguments.
Use Descriptive Language
Enhance your writing by incorporating descriptive language and vivid imagery. This will make your essay more engaging and help paint a clearer picture for the reader.
Explore Different Perspectives
Consider different perspectives on the topic and incorporate them into your essay. This will add complexity and richness to your arguments.
Expand on Supporting Points
Take the time to delve deeper into each supporting point in your essay. Provide more examples, analyses, and explanations to strengthen your arguments. By following these guidelines and strategies, you can craft a great essay of the perfect length that is well-researched, well-structured, and compelling. Quality is key, so focus on providing insightful analysis and thorough research to make your essay stand out. Jotbot is your personal document assistant. Jotbot does AI note taking, AI video summarizing, AI citation/source finder, it writes AI outlines for essays, and even writes entire essays with Jotbot’s AI essay writer. Join 500,000+ writers, students, teams, and researchers around the world to write more, write better, and write faster with Jotbot. Write smarter, not harder with Jotbot. Start writing for free with Jotbot today — sign in with Google and get started in seconds.
Jotbot's AI note-taking feature can streamline your research process by automatically organizing and summarizing key information from various sources. By using Jotbot to compile and structure your notes, you can save time and ensure that you have all the essential information at your fingertips when you start writing your essay.
AI Outlining for Essays
With Jotbot's AI outlining tool, you can easily create a well-structured outline for your essay in a matter of minutes. By inputting your main ideas and supporting details, Jotbot can generate a comprehensive outline that serves as a roadmap for your writing. This helps you stay focused and organized as you develop your essay.
AI Essay Writing with Jotbot
For those looking to expedite the writing process, Jotbot's AI essay writer can generate entire essays based on your input. Whether you need assistance with brainstorming ideas, fleshing out arguments, or refining your writing style, Jotbot's AI essay writer can provide valuable support and inspiration. With Jotbot, writing essays has never been easier or more efficient.
Enhancing Productivity and Efficiency
By leveraging Jotbot's AI-powered features, you can enhance your productivity and efficiency when it comes to essay writing. From generating outlines to writing entire essays, Jotbot streamlines the writing process and helps you produce high-quality work in less time. Say goodbye to writer's block and hello to effortless writing with Jotbot.
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How to Format Your Essay in MLA Style Using Google Docs
by Mel Beasley | Jan 23, 2021 | Academic Writing
Information is taken from the 8th edition MLA Handbook, latest version, 2022.
MLA format was created by the Modern Language Association and is a widely used styling for research papers and academic essays. If you’re a college student, you’ll notice that MLA format is required in liberal arts and humanities subjects.
Most professors will strongly recommend that you use Microsoft Word to format your essays, but some students might not have access to this paid software. If this is the case, it is possible to format your essay in MLA style correctly while using the free Google Docs app within your Gsuite. This guide will show you exactly how to format your essay properly in MLA style using Google Docs. This guide only covers the basics of formatting such as margins, spacing, etc., so please see our other resources for further MLA formatting guidelines
What will we cover?
- Proper MLA font style and size
- Margins and header
- First-page title information
- Body-paragraph spacing
1. Open your blank document
To get started with your essay, you’ll need to log in to your Gmail account. Once signed in, you should be looking at your email dashboard.
- Look to your profile image and name at the top right.
- Click on the squared dot icons to view your apps.
- You should see “Docs” as one of your options.
- Click on “Docs.”
2. Set the font and size
In MLA format, you may only use Times New Roman font at size 12. It’s understandable if you’re feeling the urge to get creative with styling but don’t. Stay focused on following the MLA style guidelines and you’ll save yourself valuable grade points later.
When you open Google Docs, the font and size are set automatically, so make sure you manually make tweaks to these settings. Unlike MS Word, Google Docs only has one main view with all options listed in dropdowns. This simplicity should help you easily set up your document without getting lost.
How do you do it?
- In Google Docs, you’ll see your font and size dropdowns slightly off-center left of the page.
- Select Times New Roman .
- Select size 12 .
2. Set the margins in MLA format
MLA Style requires that your margins stay set to 1 inch around the entire page.
- Click on File at the top left of the page.
- Click on Page Setup.
- Next, you’ll see a popup appear in the middle of the screen.
- Check to make sure all the boxes for the top, bottom, left, and right are set to 1 inch.
3. How to add your name and page number in Google Docs 2020
Properly formatting your essay in MLA Style using Google Docs has a few extra steps compared to doing the same thing in MS Word, but as long as you follow this guide, you shouldn’t have any issues making it happen. Keep in mind that not adding your name and page numbers to your document could count against your grade. This part of formatting is very easy to do, and it’s not worth losing grade points over, so don’t forget this step!
- Select Insert.
- Hover over Headers & Footers .
- Select Header .
- A header section should appear.
- Change your font to Times New Roman and your font size to 12 .
- Make sure the box next to “Different first page” is unchecked or the header won’t show on every page.
- Type your last name only and make a single space .
- Before navigating out of the header, you’ll need to insert the page number.
- Select Insert again.
- Hover over Page Numbers .
- Select the first option .
- When your page number appears in your header, you can simply select the middle of your page with your cursor to make the header changes stick.
4. How to set double-spaced lines in Google Docs
MLA Style requires that all your body text be double-spaced. This helps your essay look cleaner and easier to read.
- Click on the Line Spacing icon.
- In the dropdown, select Double .
5. How to set name and title information
The name, assignment type, date, and essay title are the first things your professor sees in your essay because they’re at the top of the first page.
Before you begin writing the first draft of your essay, go ahead and enter the name, course, and date information. MLA Format requires a very specific setup for how this information is listed in your essay. You should list your first and last name, the professor’s name, the course number, and the date all on designated lines. This information should be neatly aligned to the left of the page.
How do you format your name and course info in MLA Format?
- You’ll need the first page of your MLA Style essay to contain your name , professor’s name , course number , and the date in that order.
- Align the essay information to the left of the page.
- Hit Enter once before writing your essay title in the Center of the page.
- Hit Enter once, Align Left , and tab over a half-inch before you begin writing your essay text.
The finished title information should look like this:
Not sure how to set your indent to a half-inch in Google Docs?
Google docs should already have your half-inch indentation automatically set, but here’s how to do it just in case.
- Select Format .
- Hover over Align & Indent .
- Select Indentation Options .
- You’ll see a popup appear in the center of the screen.
- Enter .5 in the box beside Left .
- Hit Apply .
That’s all there is to properly set up your essay in MLA Format using Google Docs. Good luck!
Mel Beasley has a bachelor’s in creative writing and journalism from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He brings 9+ years of digital marketing and writing experience to the table by writing for publications such as Lumina News and Encore Magazine. He spent 2 years as a college-level writing tutor, and is a certified writing tutor through the CRLA, which is a prestigious cert recognized by the Association for the Coaching & Tutoring Profession. He is a professional SEO blogger with experience writing for brands such as Boardworks Education and The Greater Wilmington Business Journal. One of his latest website and marketing projects has been building the website for the now New York Times Bestselling author, Nina de Gramont .
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Short Answer. To make an essay look longer on Google Docs, you can use the font size and line spacing to add more content onto the page. You can also increase the margins to add extra space for the text. Additionally, you could add more subheadings to break up the text and make it look longer.
This video shows how you can make an essay longer in Google Docs. You can use formatting and page setup options to achieve this.
There are two primary ways to convince your professor that your essay meets the volume requirements. The first way is to expand your paper content to fill up your essay with the needed amount of words to make your essay longer on google docs. Plain and simple: need more words - add them.
the video shows you 2 ways to make the page count on google docs longer without changing anything about your essay.This doesn't change anything with the word...
To make an essay appear longer than it is, pick a font that's slightly larger than Times New Roman, like Arial, Courier New, or Cambria. If you're required to use 12-point font, try increase the font to 12.1 or 12.2 to gain some extra length without the font looking noticeably larger.
If your teacher demands that an essay be 5 pages long and no longer, but your paper is slightly longer, you can use these same techniques in reverse to make your paper look shorter. For instance, you can change double spacing to 1.9 spacing, or increase the margins.
Make your Google Docs stand out with styles & formatting techniques from the ultimate guide: fonts, headings, spacing, style templates, and more.
Making an essay longer needs to be done in a way that will get you marks. I can’t believe that there are websites ranking high on google that recommend tricks like “make the space between lines bigger” and “increase your margins”.
Struggling on how to make an essay longer? Discover 29 practical tips and a handy essay extension tool to help you add more content easily.
Learn to format your essay in MLA style using Google Docs. We’ll cover the title, page number, course info, spacing, and more!