The Importance of Knowing How Long Should a Term Paper Be
Jul 16, 20249 min read
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When you are preparing to write a term paper for the first time in your life, there are lots of things that go through your head.
When you are preparing to write a term paper for the first time in your life, there are lots of things that go through your head. You are worried because you need to figure out the structure and ideas you’re going to pick for a theoretical framing of your work, proper writing style, and the cause of headaches and terrors for all students: FORMATTING!
Going through all of that, you may miss quite a significant aspect — the length.
How many pages is a term paper? Figuring it out is more important than it may seem at first glance. Obviously, you know that it’s longer than your typical high school essay but shorter than a thesis: 15 to 25 pages. But you need a precise number of pages. After all, the length of your paper allows you to understand the amount of work you need to be done with it.
And that’s what we’re going to discuss here.
Figuring Out How Long Is a Typical Term Paper
Term paper how many pages?! Most likely, that is your first panic reaction to the term paper assignment. You see, when you start figuring out the length of your typical term paper, you can easily get confused.
Some sources state that five pages are enough; others state that any work under ten pages cannot be considered a term paper. Which one is correct?
To figure that out, you need to consider spacing because ten double-spaced pages contain approximately as much information as five single-spaced pages.
- 3,000 words single-spaced — 3 pages
- 2,000 words double-spaced — 4 pages
Remember, it’s absolutely okay to consult the institution or your professor on how long they expect your term paper to be.
Yet, it’s safe to say that a typical term paper should not be shorter than 10 pages, as fewer pages can be considered lazy. At the same time, your paper shouldn’t be longer than 25 pages, as longer works can be too much for your professor to check — don’t forget that you’re not the only student with such an assignment.
Still, the content and formatting are more important; thus, there can be exceptions. A term paper that fully explores its topic in less than 10 single-spaced pages is okay. So is the paper that requires slightly more than 25 pages to explore the subject to the full extent.
Why the Topic, Your Research Skills, and Precision Matter?
Here are some suggestions that can make writing your term paper easier. Firstly, you need to find the topic that truly interests you, one that you feel passionate about. This is obvious but a bit tricky advice, and we’ll discuss why later. The topic that you’re interested in gives you a benefit, as you already have some knowledge about it.
Then, your research skills enter the stage. Yes, being passionate about the topic means that you already know enough to start working on your term paper but not enough to complete the work. Besides, researching the subject allows you to discover something new.
Now, remember when we said that opting for the subject you’re interested in is tricky advice? We established that, despite the exception, you should stay in the 10–25 pages range. When you’re too invested in the subject, you can easily end up writing a dissertation instead of a term paper.
And that’s why precision is crucial to your work. It allows you to explore the subject while leaving out the details that are not conducive to your work.
So, being interested in the topic will make the work less tedious, research skills are always helpful, and precision will prevent you from turning your term paper into “À la recherche du temps perdu.”
So, How Many Pages Should a Term Paper Have Exactly?
We must agree that we probably got you confused about something. You may be still scratching your head figuring out how many pages is term paper. Should it be five pages? Ten? Fifteen or twenty-five?
Why do some articles say that five pages is enough? Does the number of pages even matter, or should you just stick with the number of words?
Well, we’ll try to provide you with a more or less definitive answer to this question. And here, you need to keep two things in mind: number of words and formatting.
The number of words is something you need to stick to, no matter what. The formatting is another thing to keep in mind. Formatting also includes spacing; thus, it plays a crucial role in the number of pages.
Basically, that’s all that you need to know when figuring out how many pages your term paper should be.
To put it even simpler, all you have to do is keep track of the number of words and make sure that you follow all the rules of a formatting style. This way, you will surely get the necessary number of pages.
Mind the Length of Every Part of Your Term Paper
Another essential aspect of your term paper is the structure. The structure is quite simple: cover page → table of contents → introduction → main body → conclusion.
We’ll omit the cover page and table of contents, as you make them after the work is done, and they don’t count toward the number of pages or words.
When you’re figuring out the prospective length of your paper, you need to keep in mind the length of each segment. The main body is the longest part. Thus, you can’t have a 15-page term paper with an introduction that runs for, say, 7 pages.
A Word on How To Make a Term Paper Longer
Even if you’re passionate about the subject and feel you have so much to say, you may find yourself in a situation where you’ve explored everything and yet your work is several pages short of being considered a term paper. That’s why you need to know ways to extend it, and increasing the font size is not one of them.
- Always make drafts
- Add more quotes
- Add more supporting evidence
- Use more sources
- Reconsider your writing style
The crucial aspect to keep in mind is that you can’t extend your term paper by trickery, like increasing the font size. That’s why drafts are important. Making the first draft will provide you with ideas on how to extend the paper.
Maybe you’ve missed something in your research. Possibly, you should focus more on certain aspects of it that you discarded previously.
Also, think about your writing style. There are ways to write long sentences without them being just clusters of wordiness.
Knowing the Expected Number of Words Is Also Helpful
The confusion about the pages is obvious; thus, answering the question of how many words should a term paper be can be more than helpful.
We mentioned the font size and the paper being single- or double-spaced. We also mentioned “À la recherche du temps perdu,” as Marcel Proust’s opus magnum, depending on the edition, can be 4,000 to 5,000 pages long, yet the word count of 1,267,069 remains.
So, regardless of the font size, being single- or double-spaced, your term paper should be 3,000 words long minimum and 6,000 words long maximum.
How To Make a Good Term Paper: Summing It Up
So, we provided you with bits of information that we are hoping are going to come in handy when you start scribing your term paper.
Start with picking up the subject, as in the majority of cases, students are allowed to choose it on their own. Make sure that you pick the topic that interests you. You already have some knowledge of the subject, so it’s easier for you to start working on your paper, and it makes the whole process far less tedious.
And then, there are two simple things that you need to keep in mind while working on the project.
Instead of checking out sources with contradicting information on how many pages a term paper should have, you can stick to the word count. The minimum number of words is 3,000, but if the paper demands, it can go over 6,000 words. This way, you may forget about the number of pages.
And there’s formatting. Aside from the number of words, formatting impacts the number of pages. Font size, spacing, and number of paragraphs per page are all aspects of formatting.
Add your good research skills and sharp writing style, and you’ll end up having a perfect term paper.
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Frequently asked questions
The standard word count for a term paper is in the 3,000-6,000 words range. If you can explore the subject to the full extent in 3,000 words, there’s no point in extending the paper. If the subject requires more exploration to prove your point, you can easily head for the 6,000 words.
Usually, similar articles will provide you with information that a term paper should be not shorter than ten pages and not longer than twenty-five pages. But everything depends on the word count and formatting. A 3,000-word paper can equally be five and ten pages long, depending on the formatting.
In most cases, students are allowed to pick the topic for a term paper on their own. Thus, if you’re not assigned a certain subject, you should pick the one you’re either passionate about or know well enough. This way, the process of writing it would be less complicated.
Everything depends on the complexity of the subject and your work ethic. If the topic is not complicated, the research may take from a couple of hours to a few days. The writing may take just as long. You should also consider the time devoted to editing. Hence, it takes from a couple of hours to a week.