How to Write a 500 Word Essay

Essay is a great piece of writing where you have the freedom to present your own emotions, feelings, and thoughts. There are different types of essay and all of them have certain peculiarities. Among the plentitude of essays we will focus on a 500 word essay in this article.

Why is this type of essay special? Because you have only 500 word to speak your mind and express your ideas. It requires you to be very concise and communicate with your readers in the clearest and most comprehensive way. Usually, those who haven’t gone through any special preparation will find it difficult to write a good 500 word essay. As a rule, good results start to reveal themselves only after 12-15 written essays or after 2 months of work. As with all other things in life – you need practice and dedication to become really good at it. 

Top 3 Peculiarities of a 500 Word Paper

• Theme. Sometimes you are given a topic and in other cases you can chose it on your own. The latter is preferable, because writing an essay on the topic that you like increases the quality of your work considerably. 
• Format. Formatting is always important when it comes to the academic world in general and the academic writing in particular. Follow the requirements given by your department diligently in order to avoid getting your mark decreased for bad formatting.
• Readers. Always have your audience in mind when working on a 500 word essay. What are their peculiarities? What do they expect from you?

As in all other types of essays, there will be arguments which will be contradictory to what you’re writing about. Considering that you’re limited in the number of words, you should address these arguments very cleverly and precisely, without any unnecessary explanations or vague language.  

The structure of a 500 word consists of the introductory part, where you make readers acquainted with the topic, the body of text, which is the main part of your essay, and the conclusion, which is aimed at finalizing your work and leaving a final impression about your paper.

Working on a 500 word essay, it is crucial to write one thought per one paragraph, otherwise, you can easily go over the limit. If you don’t want to be accused in plagiarism, use quotation marks and give list of sources when quoting. 

The Professors Don’t Like:

• If you can’t answer their questions;
• When your answer is organized in a bad way;
• If you can’t answer a basic question;
• If you use rhetoric instead of reasoning;
• If your text is devoid of analytical material or is too broad for a 500-word essay;
• When you list others’ points of view but don’t give your own.

The Main Mistake

The most common mistake is to not using enough arguments or data. Find all the information which can help you to solidify your arguments, choose the strongest points, and use them in your essay.