If you write 250 words, you’ll end up with 1 page double spaced.
Imagine this scenario. You’re in class and your teacher gives you a writing assignment. He wants you to compose five short essays about five different historical figures. He’s asked for at least 250 words per biography. You’ll need to complete the assignment by Monday. Here’s the question: How many pages do you need to write in total?
To know how many pages you’ll need to complete before the weekend’s over, you’ll first have to select a font. We recommend using Arial font or Times New Roman in a 12-point font size. That’s a standard, easy-to-read option. Most readers prefer something classic. You could always test your limits with a more exotic font, such as Calibri or Verdana; however, think carefully before selecting anything too hard to read. You want your reader to pay attention to the content of your writing, not your formatting.
Since you’ve been given a word count, you know that each essay will need to be at least 250 words. Using the chart below, you can see that the same number of words may result in a different page count, depending on the line spacing you select. A 250-word count essay would result in half a page with single spacing and one page with double spacing. So, once you’ve completed all five essays about historical figures, you should expect to have two and a half single spaced pages.
Of course, you can imagine that the content of your essays can influence the outcome. Let’s say you use lots of big words in your writing or long names like Napoleon Bonaparte and Charlemagne. That 250-word essay could end up being longer. By changing the type of font and deviating from standard one-inch margins, you might also be able to manipulate the page count. For that reason, we can’t give a definitive answer about how many pages you’ll end up writing.
Here’s the good news: Most word processors contain a word counter that allows you to check the word count and character count so that you can be precise. Also, if you’re writing a term paper or an assignment, it never hurts to ask for clarification. If the teacher assigns a certain number of pages, be sure to double check whether he or she is expecting to see a particular amount of words. As a good rule of thumb, use this chart to approximate the number of pages you’ll get for a particular amount of words.
If you’d like to know how to convert a speech from pages to minutes, check out this article.
