Word count for Uni. assignment....

[markk21]

I'm currently trying to finish my last Uni assignment of the year. It is about the work experience we have done throughout the year. The word count says 2,000 approx., normally assigments says x,000 words 10% + or -. When our lecturer gave us the assignment he said don't worry if you can't get up to 2,000 words. He must have been joking because it feels like I got up to 2,000 words on the 2nd section. I've managed to get the word count to around 3,750. What do you think would be the highest word count that would be allowed given what the assignment brief says? I've emailed my tutor but he usually takes a while to get back so I thought I would see what you guys thought.

Thanks

[P.addy]

2200 absolute top.

[Chalky.]

Use tables and appendices.

[sabian92]

10% either side. If you submit over 2500 it's waffle.

[Nexus Icon]

[DrSnoosnoo]

My Master's student has got himself al worried because of a 2000 word literature review.

All they want is a skim over it all.

2000 words is not enough for anything in depth.
____________________
I'm Sam; Northern, Ginger, Lover
Did have: '95 ZZR600 '83 CG125 '97 ZZR1100 '15 Hypermotard 821 SP Do Have: '10 ZX10R

[swampy]

You ordinarily would have 10% under or over the word count. I had a couple of essays (including my dissertation) where the word limit was fixed and you were penalised for anything over (although were allowed up to 10% under).

You're nearly 100% over, I would expect you to be penalised for that.

Brevity being the soul of wit and all that...
____________________
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." Hunter S Thompson
"Faster, faster, faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death..." Hunter S Thompson

[KLR600]

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

Not being a tosser here but in the past I've marked my fair share of UG essays and there's ALWAYS a fair amount of waffle - even on the ones that come in UNDER the word count (!!).

Just read back *again* - and wittle the shite out.

However I will also say this - I've only come across ONE lecturer who was absolutely hardcore about word counts, and I would say quite confidently that the vast majority wouldn't give a fuck about twice over the count IF THE ESSAY'S ANY GOOD.

Unless you're studying under some weird oxbridge nazi with weird OCD shit going on, 99.999% of lecturers will take a decent essay with too many words over a shit one that hits the limit.
____________________
"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[markk21]

Thanks for the advice. I would normally stick to the 10% over limit. However because it says 2000 approx. I may just see if I can get it to 2500 and hopefully it will be safe. I'm normally not too bad at keeping near the word count but 2000 words for this assignment seems a bit stupid as you can't go in depth on anything

[stinkwheel]

I find you can cut a large number of words out of an essay by using short, succinct phrases listing the salient pieces of information in isolation from one another. Each entity being marked for ease of recognition by some sort of non-alphanumeric textual device.

Or in 2300% less words:

• Bullet points.

More seriously. When someone is marking an essay, they are looking for places to put a tick when you've made/earned a point. Re-read it. If a bit of text is not something a marker could tick or would have already ticked, it almost certainly doesn't need to be there.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Carvel]

Its all relative really. As mentioned use appendices to your advantage If the content is valid then fuck the word count. I handed in numerous assignments during my degree this year that came in wildly over the word count, the most impressive of which was a 200 page 38,000 word group report that had a 40 page 10,000 word limit.
____________________
2002 Aprilia RSV1000R, Cbr600Fs, Mk1 B12, Vfr400 NC30...

Matt B: I can deal with crushed nuts to beat Ollie.

[DottyDuck]

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

The short answer: Every lecturer is different RE word counts but as a general rule it's best to not exceed it by more than 10%.

The slightly longer answer: Levels of leniency will relate to such things as general disposition of lecturer (are they cunts or not), is it a level 1 assignment or level 3 (might be more leeway for Level 1 rookies who don't know the ropes), type of institution (ex-polytechnic might in general be more accommodating than russell group HEI where dons are OCD about shit like this), subject area (arts and humanities might be willing to read longer essays than a scientific, technical field where waffle is not tolerated).
____________________
"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[Spudly]

When a word limit has been set, it's because the grader is looking to see how well you can condense information to a given level. 2000 words sounds like a lot when you have a blank document open, but as you have discovered, it really isn't a lot at all, it can be incredibly confining.

Remember the basic rule of writing an essay though.

Tell them what you are going to tell them;
Tell them;
Tell them what you just told them.

If you allow three hundred words each for the intro and the conclusion, you have at max 1600 words to convey substantive information in. (allowing for +10% total word count)

If you have a look at the rules for calculating word count, they generally tend to exclude three things from the total - footnotes, endnotes and appendices, as mentioned earlier. Some rules will also exclude text in tables as well, which can be a very sneaky way of dumping information into the essay. If you set aside endnotes for references, that leaves footnotes for small bits of information which help support your argument, but aren't critical to it, and appendices for tables, graphs and slabs of supporting text and data.

All pretty basic stuff that, but it's the system and if you are wanting to submit 6000 words instead of 2200, you have to play the system, right? So, go through what you have so far and break it down into sections, which you sound like you already have. Each section can be further broken down into footnote, endnote, appendix or delete.

As you go through, when you decide to put something into a footnote, ask yourself why it's there at all. If it's crucial, but wordy, can you edit it to be more concise? If so, can it stay in the main body, or should it be a footnote? Is it really crucial? If you can't decide, keep it in a footnote, you are playing the system after all.

Do that for each paragraph. Twice. Ballache, but it's part of the process of crafting a really great essay. By the time you have finished, if you do a total wordcount including everything, you will in all likelihood have shaved 50% or more from your overspill.

I used to despise writing essays, till I realised what I despised was starting an essay. Once I've got a few factoids down on the page, they almost write themselves and when that's happening, I love it.
____________________
The Old Apprentice

[Carvel]

[smegballs]

Our normal limits are up to +/- 20% on a larger 2/3000 word report and +/- 10% on a smaller say 1000 word report.

IMO working to a wordcount is like working to a required spec, relevant content or not, if you are significantly under/over the limit you are not working to the required specification.

[Annabella]

It's been a long time since I was at university (I'm so old, I can barely remember the subject I studied); but I do recall my favourite lecturer was a stickler for word limits and that discipline has stood me in good stead since.

He simply drew a line through an assignment where the word count had been reached and disregarded anything beyond that point. Which hurt a LOT of us in our first year.



In the real world, submitting tenders and bids for work - word limits are absolutely critical. Same issue, go over the word or character count (as most bids are now managed through online portals) and anything over simply doesn't end up in the system.

There's a reason that number of words has been chosen as a limit, try and think what the absolute key point is that you should be demonstrating is. Anything else, as others have said, is just waffle and will piss off the marker.
____________________
Avast! Pirates ahoy!
I did Cadwell!
www.bikepics.com/members/bella