I originally wrote this article for budding freelance writers, but it could be useful for students and teachers as well. 

Students always ask, “How long should this be?”  Teachers can respond in a number of ways - “Five paragraphs,” “Two pages,” or “400-600 words.”  What is the most precise?  The word count.

One problem with paragraphs is students could interpret that to mean two sentences per paragraph or ten.  Two pages could likewise mean two pages with 2″ margins and 16 point font, or two pages with no margins and an 8 points font.  4-600 words can only mean one thing… 4-600 words.

How do you measure the word count, then?  If the document is in MS Word (or any modern word processor), it’s as simple as finding the Word Count feature.  Check out this article on Helium to set up MS Word to tell you the word count of an article.

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