If you write 500 words, you’ll end up with 2 pages double spaced.
Imagine this scenario. You’re a high school senior writing a term paper. Your science teacher assigned you a research paper on honeybees. She wants you to compose a high-quality, one-page paper, single spaced, using MLA formatting. She wants you to cite all of the research that you reference in your paper. Here’s the question: How many words do you need to write in total?
To know how many words you’ll need to complete, refer to the chart below. We recommend using Arial font or Times New Roman font 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 teacher to pay attention to the content of your writing, not your formatting.
Since you’ve been given a page count, you know that your essay will need to be one full page with single spacing. Using the chart below, you can see that the same number of pages may result in a different word count, depending on the line spacing you select. A one-page essay would be 500 words with single spacing and 250 words with double spacing. So, once you’ve completed a one-page essay with single spacing, you should expect to have written 500 words.
Of course, you can imagine that the content of your essay may influence the outcome. Let’s say you use a lot of big words in your writing, like Apis lithohermaea. A 500-word essay could end up being longer than a page. 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 words you’ll end up writing within one page.
Keep in mind, if you change the format to double spacing, a 500-word essay would take up two pages. Also, be sure not to include your MLA Works Cited page in your total word count. Your essay length only includes the material that you write about honeybees, not your list of source material.
Most word processors come with word counter that allows you to check the word count and character count. When you’re writing a term paper, it never hurts to ask for clarification. If the teacher assigns a certain number of pages, be sure to double check whether she expects 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.
