How Many Pages Should You Write?

Teachers often give students essay assignments that include a certain page length requirement. For the most part, they really do this to encourage students to dig deep and cover all angles of a topic. Although they may tell you that they require five pages or so, teachers really tend to prefer quality over quantity.

But just to give you something to shoot for, a typical page that is double-spaced can hold about 300 words in twelve-point font. That means a 1000-word essay should be at least three pages long.

The next time you receive an assignment with a certain page minimum, ask your teacher if you'll lose points for being a page short. This way, you'll be less inclined to water down a good essay or research paper with extra fluff.

But if you plan to go short, you should pack your paper with great quality writing!

But what if you have no idea how long an assignment should be? If you have absolutely no idea how much to write in a certain assignment or about a certain topic, you could follow some very basic guidelines I've provided.

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Powerful Verbs

Verbs are action words, right? We all remember that from elementary school. Verbs describe the action that is taking place.

But verbs don't have to surrender all the fun and emotional power to adjectives--the words that traditionally paint the pictures in our heads. As a matter of fact, the most powerful writers use verbs quite effectively to illustrate their writing.

Review Your Verbs

After you complete a draft of your paper, it might be a good idea to conduct a verb inventory. Just read over your draft and underline all your verbs. Do you see repetition? Are you bored?

Verbs like said, walked, looked, and thought can be replaced with more descriptive words like mumbled, sauntered, eyeballed, and pondered. Here are a few more suggestions:

Looked:

• gazed
• stared
• severed (with his eyes)

Walked:

• strolled
• spidered
• sashayed
• skulked

Said:

• suggested
• uttered
• bellowed
• argued

Get Creative With Verbs

One way to make verbs more interesting is to invent them from other word forms. Sounds illegal, doesn't it? But it's not like you're printing dollar bills in your basement.

One type of noun that works well is animal types, since some animals have very strong characteristics. Skunks, for instance, have a reputation for being stinky or spoiling the air.

Do the following statements evoke powerful images?

He skunked the party up with his cologne...
She snaked the hallways...
She wormed her way out of the class...

Jobs as Verbs

Another noun type that works well is names of occupations. We often use doctor as a verb, as in the following sentence:

• She doctored the paper until it was perfect.

Doesn't that evoke the image of a woman hovering over a piece of writing, tools in hand, crafting and nurturing the paper to perfection? What other occupations could paint such a clear scene? How about police?

• Mrs. Parsons policed her garden until it was completely pest free.

You can get very creative with unusual verbs:

• bubble-wrapped the insult (to suggest that the insult was surrounded by "softer" words)
  
• tabled your idea
  

But you do have to use colorful verbs tactfully. Use good judgment and don't overdo the creativity. Language is like clothing--too much color can be just plain odd.

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How to Start a Project

Sometimes when we're facing a big project with lots of components, or a long research paper with many details, we have trouble getting started. There are two basic reasons why we might have trouble writing the first words:

• The thought of organizing all that research and doing all that writing can be so intimdating that we avoid it altogether.
• There is so much to talk about that we don't know where to start.

Either of these problems can be overcome with a simple solution: just jump in somewhere. You don't have to start with a beginning!

Some students think that they have to start writing a paper at the introduction. In fact, you can start writing at any point. If there is some component of your research paper that you find most interesting, just write that part first.

No matter what type of project you're working on, if you're having trouble, just try to zone in on one part and jump right in. You will find it easy to organize all the paragraphs later. Just start somewhere!

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Are You a Good Participant?

While we often hear about the importance of developing good leadership qualities and the value of experiencing a leadership role, we don't hear so much about the need to be a good participant.

You don't have to lead the pack in every endeavor, so during those times when you're playing the role of participant, it's important to be a good team member. The first rule for being a good team member is to support your leader! Don't' be resentful if you aren't chosen to be the leader every time. Each member of a team is important, and it's necessary for you to experience the different roles that team members play.

More rules for being a good participant include:

• Take quality notes at the meetings to help the communication flow.
• Address potential problems without getting personal. Make sure it's about ideas, not about people.
• Be willing to do your part. You might have a slacker on your team, but that should never affect your own work ethic.

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Do You Know What's Happening?

Do you know what's happening in your town or your state? Are you aware of events that show up in the newspaper headlines?

There are lots of reasons to stay up-to-date about current events:

• You may be interviewing for a college or a big competition soon. You'll want to sound like an informed student!
• You may be participating in a mock election.
• You could be writing an argument essay.
• You could be joining the debate team.

You surely don't have to read the newspaper or stay glued to cable news channels, but you should take a look at current events from time to time to stay informed about things that impact your life.

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