If you write 6,000 words, you’ll end up with 24 pages double spaced.
Imagine this scenario. You’re writing biographical essay about your CEO for the company newsletter. She wants to publish a non-fiction essay about her early years as an entrepreneur. Although she won’t be involved in the writing process, she’s looking forward to proofreading and editing a 6,000-word essay. You’ll be sending it to her as a Microsoft Word document with double spacing. She’s also asked you to cite your sources, using MLA format. Here’s the question: How many pages do you need to write to complete the 6,000-word essay?
To know how many pages you’ll need to write, you’ll first have to select a font. We recommend using a standard font, like Arial or Times New Roman, in a 12-point font size. 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 the CEO to pay attention to the content of your writing, not your formatting.
Since you’ve been given a word count, you know that your essay must contain at least 6,000 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. With the assigned word count, your biographical essay will be approximately twenty-four pages double spaced. Had the CEO asked for single spacing, you’d end up with twelve pages. The word limit does not include the works cited page.
Of course, the content of your typical page may influence the page length. Let’s say you use lots of long words in your essay, like “multinational” and “competitiveness”. That 6,000-word essay could end up filling more pages. By changing the type of font, deviating from standard 1-inch margins, and including graphs and charts, you may end up with a larger page count. For that reason, we can’t determine the exact number of pages you’ll need to complete the biography.
Here’s the good news: Most word processors, like Google Docs and Microsoft Word, contain a word counter that allows you to check the word count and character count of a document. Also, if you’re writing for an assignment, it never hurts to ask for clarification. Check with the CEO to see if you should aim for a certain number of pages or a particular character count.
Whether you’re writing a term paper, a biographical essay, or an article, you’ll benefit from knowing how to convert words to pages. As a good rule of thumb, use this chart to approximate the number of pages you’ll get for a particular amount of words. The chart includes estimates for both single and double spacing, using Times New Roman font or Arial font.
If you’d like to know how to convert a speech from pages to minutes, check out this article.
