BellaOnline Forums Education Distance Learning Essay lengths

Any advice on how to write an essay between 300-400 on subjects that could easily be a minimum of 15 pages? My one class had my mid-term essays at that length. The topic was to review the Roman revolution and discuss all the events and personalities that led to it. The end result, I felt, was poorly done. I couldn't get what I needed in and still make it sound good.

Holy cow -- that's a few words to say a lot! I'm sure you did fine. I guess as long as you got the main points and main people in, you covered the essay points.

Sara, isn't it? Every time I read it, the flow of the writing seemed to get worse as I tried to get all the info in. My head was spinning.

Rebecca - I think you probably could have written 300 to 400 words on each event and personality. You would have to be an expert at editing and cutting to get that topic covered in those few words. So I'm sure you did just fine. Everyone would have had the same problem and I doubt that they are experts either.

My professor suggested that I write the introductory paragraph and the conclusion and then fill in the gaps. I'll try that next time and see how it goes. I made an A (barely), but I knew it was not my best.

Yay for you! Barely works

That's an interesting suggestion that your prof made. I think I'll stick a little note in my notebook about it, might be helpful

Great work Rebecca!

I think the suggestion your prof made is a good one. If you have a thesis statement then the introductory and conclusion will summarize how you intend to support your thesis and help to focus your ideas. Too bad I didn't think of that when you asked for suggestions. But I guess that's the nature of learning on these forums - we all learn together!

LOL - so true - plus material for articles, ebooks, courses, etc. I must have done better because my last essay was a perfect score on Hadrian's Wall.