f you write 2,500 words, you’ll end up with 10 pages double spaced.
Imagine this scenario. You’re writing a grant application for a community project. For part of the application, you’ve compiled research on why a particular population needs assistance and you’ve cited all of your sources in MLA format. Next, you’ll need to write an essay persuading the grantor that your project should receive funding. The grantor wants submissions to be formatted as Microsoft Word documents with double spacing and a 2,500-word limit. Here’s the question: How many pages do you need to write?
To know how many pages you’ll need, you’ll first have to select a font. We recommend using Arial or Times New Roman in a 12-point font size. That’s a standard font and an easy-to-read option. 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 grantor to pay attention to the content of your writing, not your formatting.
Since you know the grantor only accepts submissions below the given word count, your essay must be less than 2,500 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 grant application’s suggested word count and double spacing, your essay would be approximately ten pages. Had the grantor asked for single spacing, you’d end up with five pages.
Of course, as you can imagine, the content of your application essay could influence the page length. Let’s say you use lots of long words in your essay, like “subrecipient” and “biquarterly”. That 2,500-word application essay could end up filling more pages. By changing the type of font and deviating from standard 1-inch margins, you could manipulate the total page count, as well. Since you’re not a high school student writing a term paper, you have a lot of freedom with this type of writing assignment. You may decide to add charts, graphics, line breaks, block quotes, and subheadings for emphasis. Keep in mind, any fancy formatting elements would add length to your total page count. For that reason, it’s hard to give a definitive answer about the exact number of pages you’ll end up writing.
Here’s the good news: Most word processors contain a word counter that allows you to check the word count and character count of a document. Also, if you’re writing for a grant application, it never hurts to ask for clarification. Check the grantor’s guidelines to see whether they require a certain number of pages, font type, or character count.
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 approximations for single space or double space essays with 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.