We’ve all heard the phrase “quality over quantity” but where is the happy medium? Certainly a couple paragraphs won’t give the amount of quality needed to achieve the best mark possible. Does this phrase get ruled out when assignments specify how long the essay is supposed to be? Does the required number of words dictate the quality involved in the essays we write?
I don’t think it is the required number of words that will dictate the quality of your essay. If it is easy to read, written with clarity and evokes some emotion for the reader, it can be short and be very effective.
Depending on the taste of your reading audience, consider what they expect before you start writing. Are they like me – I don’t like too many metaphors, I find they distract me from the enjoyment of reading what should be an interesting read. I don’t care if they are long or short but I like to be able to take something away from what I read. A feeling, something to think about long after the piece has been read and so on.
Then again, when I was taking first year English I got turned right off with reading anything. I think what finally finished me off was no one else, saw what I saw in the works. I hated Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf, and the last straw came with my opinion on what the poet was trying to express with The Little Red Wagon or some such other short poem. The prof didn’t agree with my interpretation and although I got a good mark overall, he was not impressed with my opinions.
So is it any wonder I am a business copywriter and would love to be able to write a good essay but find it very difficult? I started with small newspapers and concise was the watchword, it is a habit and I love cutting drafts down to size. :) One of the most pleasant things about being a writer is finding just the right word or phrase to express something.
So who is your audience, if you have a word limit you feel is too short ,that is a challenge for you to find the just the right words, the most evocative language to get the reader to feel something, learn something or just enjoy a good read where they reflect for a few moments after they finish your essay.
Thank you Kaitomono! You have a lot of great insight to contribute. Do you find length comes into play quite a lot even when you’re not editing things down to size? Is it that short and sweet mantra that should echo through our essays and expressions?
I definitely agree with you that the audience is the key factor. If you know who ever is reading will be watching out for descriptions and fancy language your length will surely be longer than planned.
I now find that I’m so used to being given a word count for my essays that I’m unsure of what an adequate length is when not specified. And then what’s even more nerve-wracking is walking in to hand in your essay and seeing others handing in a novel of an essay when yours is only a few pages long!
I guess the kicker there is that you’ve written enough to get your point across. And if you haven’t done that, then it’s probably not enough.
Excellent essays can be either brief or lengthy. A word or length limit doesn’t preclude an awesome essay. A writer’s word choice, phraseology, sense of expression, and so on are what makes an essay great, not how long or short it is. With that in mind, some short essays need further elaboration, and some long(er) essays should be edited. It is certainly possible to babble for 10 pages, but say nothing at all; while it is also possible to write two or three paragraphs that would be a great start to an essay, but fail to fulfill all the requirements of the task. So, I guess what I’m saying is that how much a person writes isn’t as important as HOW it is written.
I think when professors give you a certain range of words to specify how long an essay should be, they’re really specifying the depth of the argument they wish to receive from you. For example, if they ask for 2500 words, this probably means they want more reasons and more back-up evidence to support your argument as opposed to a 1000-word essay.
If your essay comes significantly shorter than what is required, you probably need to do some further research. I agree with jhulin – it’s how you write it, not how much you write. If you become too wordy, the professor will obviously see through that and will no doubt notice the holes in your essay (seeing as how your teacher has probably gone through many essays and can tell right away!).
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