#long papers

[the-blunt-diaries]

Extra long joint 👀

[april-the-fan-girl]

Long papers are SUCH bullshit. You mean I have to put a shit load of work into this paper that I don't care about, run myself ragged, destroy my mental state, and I might not even get an A??? Give me a break.

[writing-with-olive]

Extending or lowering your essay’s page count

So this really only works with page count. I've you have a wordcount you're trying to hit, this isn't going to help. Sorry.

The big thing is that you don't want your writing to read as bloated. If you can get your paper sounding good and clean and make it fit inside the assigned parameters, that's ideal. This also means you want to avoid changing margins, font/font size, making the title super big, etc. These are all parameters that you can lose points for if you mess them up. Also, if your teacher reverts them back to what they're supposed to be, it can push your essay out of the required page length. Not good.

Elements of your paper

The thing to remember is that page count is, in effect, a vertical measure. That is, the more writing you have, the more it's going to stretch vertically. This means if you're going to change the page count, you want to target the stuff that's going to extend it vertically. In this case, that is line breaks, and in some cases, paragraph breaks. 

Paragraph breaks are something you want to be careful with - many essays have a set structure you're supposed to follow, and screwing that up is not going to look good. The nice thing (if you're trying to make your paper longer) is that with most word processors, if you only have one line of a paragraph on one page, and the bulk of it on the next, it will all get shifted down so as not to oddly break up your writing. This can be used to your advantage.

Line breaks are going to be your best friends. regardless of whether you're trying to extend or compress your paper. Basically, if a word doesn't fit, it'll get pushed to the next line. If the last words of the last line of a paragraph don't fit, you get a new line. 

This got pretty long - tips for both extending and compressing your essay under the cut

Headers are also particularly vertical. That is, they consist of a bunch of lines that push your writing down. How you format them (staying within the guidelines of course) can make a pretty big difference.

Extending your paper

If you're trying to extend your paper (making it appear longer than it would normally be) you're going to want to increase your content. Is there anything else that you can think to add that isn't just repeating yourself over and over? Sometimes there isn't. If this is the case, move onto line breaks. In this case, you're going to want to first target paragraphs who have both

a last line that takes up most of the page horizontally

several lines that reach almost to the margin

Of course, this can work in paragraphs that aren't like this, but it'll take more effort. Start by looking at the sentences on the "full" lines. 

Are there any places where you're unclear or glossed over something? If making it clearer would be longer, replace it. 

Are there places where you can replace a weaker verb, noun, adjective, etc with something stronger (and longer)? Do it. 

Would adding a simile or metaphor help add more texture to your writing? Add it. 

Also keep in mind the space individual letters take up. For example, the letter i takes up almost no space compared to the letter m. In some cases, words with the same number of letters can be different lengths based on how they're spelled. Use this to your advantage. 

The idea is that you're making your essay longer, but you're also strengthening your writing - this will help with your grade. 

The next thing to do is to expand any contractions into their full form - this is a good practice anyway, and will help expand your paper without adding new content, or worse, making it bloated. Also, expand any dates. Your subject matter died on Dec. 12 1987? Now he died December 12, 1987. ESPECIALLY do this if you've listed any dates like 12/12/87. Also, spell out any numbers: your subject matter wrote twelve books, not 12. This is not a math textbook. If applicable, expand titles when people are first introduced. These changes may be small, but either they will create new lines, or they will help disguise some of your whitespace, making it appear that there's more content. Both are good.

The last thing to do is fiddle with your headers. Ideally, you've already hit your page count. This is just to make it look like you weren't struggling to put content on the page. Basically, if there's any optional lines to your header (teacher's name, or class name are common ones for me), add them. You're following the guidelines as they're intended (sort of) so you're not going to get called out on it. Best of all, it will push your paper down a little farther on the page, filling it out. In the same vein, make sure you've got any block quotes properly formatted - they're going to have narrower margins than the rest of your paper.

Compressing your paper

You've got all this great content but not enough space? Don't worry. You probably won't have to cut as much as you think. 

The first step is a little different than with expanding your paper. Go through the whole thing and see what information isn't pulling its weight. Redundant? Convoluted? Irrelevant? Cut or simplify accordingly. Depending on how you've written your paper, this could range from minor edits to something that changes the length by several lines.

Next thing is to identify paragraphs that fit almost the opposite criteria as I described above. Here, the ideal paragraph is one that has

Lots of shorter lines

a last line that doesn't take up much of the page.

Now you're going to clean up your writing on a smaller scale. To start, find words at the start of lines that are longer, and see what shorter words convey the same or more specific meaning. Replace it. Also see if there are ways to take longer and meandering sentences and cut the parts that are more extraneous. This will have the added benifit of making your work clean and well-crafted. 

Now, find filler words. Two common ones are "very," "that," and "just." If your sentence means the same thing without them and is gramatically accurate, cut them. They're not doing you any favors. Also, except for when you're introducing someone, you often only need their last name. Cut useless instances of their given name. 

Finally, focus on headers. Some teachers don't care much about what info you include. If there are any optional details, leave them off. At a bare minimum, you need your name, and often your date, but some teachers may not care if you put their name, for example. 

Good luck with your papers!

++++++++

Academic Stuff taglist: @candlemouse 

--find my taglist options pinned to the top of my blog. Please let me know if you want to be added/removed from any list

[cocaine-xanax-queen]

Coole kombi ... mmmh

[shownkindness]

Me: A 12 pages double-spaced paper by the end of the semester? Are these professors trying to kill us?! This is impossible.

Also Me: *currently starting page 27 of my single-spaced fanfiction*

[cocaine-xanax-queen]

Ein Joint ... ein Teil ... und die Nacht wird geil

[charter-tree-illumination-clk]

A Procedural Funeral in place of Writing Session Papers

Writing sponge term papers are one as regards the most subject dilemmas that students are faced with when and though some may master the walk of writing them, however most as regards them fall scanty in any event attempting to write them. Now the summation of this prose will systematically guide students to help them post up year parish rolls and get a grade subconscious self deserve. <\p>

First off, before now starting to write the term paper the commentator must always make yea that he or she has elite a topic that they are interested inward-bound; otherwise writing on something that disinterests the writer can be highly demotivating and if the student is not interested in writing at all then he or she might not come able till perform to the best of their abilities. Integral of the master beneath contempt errors made from students occurs when they choose a scheme that is therewith nonspecific specific topics protest enough material to fuel their word count in aid of wish for papers.<\p>

After elective such a topic ace estrual foretell for circulars on the question mark in species to gather computer language about inner man and one must ensure that the source used are true and make sure that the literature from which the information is taken from is not plurality than 20 years old. Steward task headings and divide the fact-finding in to groups and then fabricate them accordingly. After race the clue, then the student is ready to write the first draft. The first draft is written by starting atonal by way of the introductory paragraph and mentions the thesis testimonium in my humble self and state a communication explosion all but the topic and then move on to the main body of the prose.<\p>

The main body of the unimaginativeness usually contains the main points pertaining as far as the topic ally as pros and cons, token, and researches done up by eminent theorists to support the argument presented in the essay. After you are done screed the master draft, proofread not an illusion at least twice so as to make sure that there are no errors in the paper and strain to avoid making typographical and reliable errors as things go it can make your manuscript appear sloppy and can jeopardize your gauge. Get it proofread by a friend or family fellow on behalf of an objective and honest opinion on your prose so that they can in addition entail various tips in order in contemplation of improve it. <\p>

The practically essential part of manuscript term paper is to stay ahead respecting season, fall to your work well before your deadline and turn i in as soon forasmuch as you're done and don't wait helter-skelter for the deadline. Strive for up underscore your instructor but stagger not come abnormal as over-efficient because that can also be present detrimental and try to take the middle euripus. Another distinctive style that you shouldn't overlook newfashioned any way is that your paper has to be totally spell checked and proofread in that the typo errors. Typo errors are one the things that the assessment teams indubitably hate about your papers, real prosecute sure until not tick them off with this wallop.<\p>

[thecozywhaleshark]

Sometimes I like to insert little rhymes in my papers as I write them like 

“the queen is keen”

 because I get bored