Phew, you’ve managed to finish writing your masterpiece. Now you can finally relax. Or not? It’s such a disappointment to realize that your essay is not long enough and you’ve got nothing more to say. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. What should you do next? Please leave the margins and footers alone. It’s not the best solution to this problem.

You need to understand that your aim is not to reach the required word count but to write a substantial paper that explores a particular topic from different perspectives. Students think that the more words they use the higher chances to get an “A”. But your instructor will never highly evaluate your paper if you just add unnecessary fluff. Everything you write about should be relevant and easy to understand. So, let’s look at some of the possible ways of how to make an essay longer.

Forget about making your font larger or increasing the line spacing.

You must have heard know about these overrated tricks of enlargening your font from 12pt to 12.3 pt and line spacing from 1.5 to 2.0. The best advice we can give you is to ignore these “wise” tips. And don’t play around with margins as well. These changes are way too obvious for your teacher. Don’t waste your time on them as they won’t help you get a better grade.

Ask someone to give you feedback.

You may have run out of ideas but your friends and family might have a few. Ask someone you trust to read your essay and suggest some ideas you don’t mention in it. If you don’t have anyone to help you, turn to a professional writer who will definitely have something to add to your masterpiece.

Take a break.

When you’re stuck and nothing comes to your mind, forget about writing for some time. If your deadline is not that pressing and you can get back to the writing process later on, use this time to relax and recharge your batteries. the chances are you’ll come up with a fresh perspective to look at your topic.

Address the possible counterarguments.

It’s an effective tool for writing objective argumentative essays. Now that you’ve listed all the points that support your viewpoint, you can mention some of the arguments the opposite side may have. Doing so, you are not only making your essay longer but also show your deep knowledge of the topic.

Look for contradictions.

You’ve been writing a paper and then suddenly realize that there is a major contradiction in your reasoning. Don’t panic and try to dig deeper. Maybe you’ve missed a significant aspect that will help to build a logical structure of the essay.

Use a couple of extremely extended sentences.

But just a couple of them. Find some sentences where you can add adjectives and expressions like “in spite of the fact that”, “in the final analysis”, “in light of the fact that”, etc. These phrases can easily be changed with much shorter ones but play a great role in making your sentences longer.

If none of these ways managed to help you, we suggest you turn in the essay as it is. The length is not the key factor, the content is. If you’ve managed to answer all the questions using fewer words than required, so be it. Your instructor will see the true value of it.