How to Type a Killer 200-Word Short Essay

Have you ever tried to shove a blanket into a duvet cover that is too small for it? An irritating and troublesome experience, isn’t it? Some students have the same feelings while typing the shortest essays for their courses. They need to stuff only the significant words into their essays to make them 200 or 250 words at most. These papers have to be brief.

College and university students struggle to achieve structuredness and clarity in their texts. It’s burdensome for them to put their thoughts into a limited amount of words. It’s always easier to broaden the text with watery phrases rather than make a sentence idea clear and highly expressive in only 6 or 8 words.

How to combine briefness and meaningfulness?

Questions about Peculiarities of 200-Word Essay Writing

Problems with such essay assignments may arise in any class. Whether it’s Literature, English, Business Communication, or Environment. You may have certain questions about your college or school essay of 200 words. Let’s answer them together.

Why do we Get this Assignment?

These assignments define the level of laconic and logical expressiveness. They show how students think and how well they can formulate their visions and reflections. Professors expect you to illustrate a reasonable, coherent, and systematic flow of your suppositions and attitudes too.

Sometimes, these are only factual materials, but more often teachers ask you to narrate about your hobbies, family, recent experiences, etc. Alternatively, they might want to hear why they should give you a grant, for example, or why you are worthy of a stipend.

How Many Sentences Should I Write in Shorter Papers? 

A typical sentence is about 12–22 words. Based on this fact, there should be about 13–17 sentences in a 200-word paper. At any rate, sentences shouldn’t be abrupt. Make the fullest representation of your core idea using the smallest number of words. 

How Many Sections do I Need in my 200-Word Paper?

This type of assignment does not usually differ in structuring. Like any academic paper, it should have an intro, body, and final part (conclusion). In its turn, the body of your essay may have 2 blocks (paragraphs). The table below demonstrates each essay part and the actions you need to take while writing.

Section	What to do
Introduction	introduce your main idea to capture and keep your reader’s attention
Body	analyze data cover all supporting points raise counterarguments
Conclusion	summarize prove that you uncovered the topic vividly

Do I Need a Thesis Statement in Such a Tiny Essay?

Certainly! An essay’s thesis statement is a mandatory element. It appears in the last 2 sentences of the introductory section.

It is a so-called “GPS” to your essay’s body content. Importantly, there should be an assertion and 2–3 supportive constituents.

How Fast Can I Type my 200-Word Essay?

The ordinary speed of essay writing per minute is 60 words. If you already decided on the topic and structured everything in your head into blocks, it will take you roughly 4 minutes to type this type of assignment. 

What if I Wrote More than Two Hundred Words?

The rule of thumb for writing two hundred words for a top-grade essay is: 1 sentence – 1 idea. Reword or restructure some text parts. Find shorter synonyms to long phrases. You should delete the words that do not influence the core idea of the paragraph. For example, if your essay is too long, you may omit some phrases or use their shorter substitutes:

• “most” instead of “the majority of”
• “because” instead of “because of the fact that”
• “now” instead of “at the present time”
• “currently” instead of “at this point in time”
• “though” instead of “in spite of the fact that”
• “in fact” instead of “as a matter of fact”
• “finally” instead of “in the final analysis”
• “twice” instead of “on two separate occasions”, etc.

To make sure your essay will certainly be top-notch, you may need to peer into some winning tactics of professional essay writing.

7 Hacks to Type an Amazing 200-Word Essay

You’ve got an assignment to write a university or college essay that contains not more than two hundred words. No secret you’re looking for the wisest tips and tricks for custom essay writing. Just like any other student. Here are some must-have hacks to keep in mind:

Hack #1 Choose an emotionally colored topic

To type a high-quality essay, you need it to stir your feelings. You cannot be indifferent. You should be able to enjoy the process of writing. These may be some memories, the feeling of discovery, your ambitions, your attitude to the state of things, etc. Even sadness or anger may help you in this case. When the topic evokes emotions, the results will be definitely higher.

Hack #2 Find templates and samples

Download some relevant outlines. You may find four or five-paragraph essay templates and use the most suitable ones for your task. Check the samples of short essays on Geography, Geological Sciences, Medieval Literature, Neuroscience, Online Education, Engineering, and many more.

Hack #3 Make a diagram of ideas

You may prepare a sketch of your outline on a sheet of paper or in a Word document. To visualize the logical steps in essay writing, draw arrows that go from one argument to another.

Hack #4 Count the words on every step

The introduction should be near 10% of the whole essay’s text. For the ordinary 200-word essay, an intro needs to be around 20 words. The conclusion should be practical of the same length as an introductory section – 20 words. In total, they both need to contain 40–60 words.

Hack #5 Follow logical patterns

The hardest task for many learners is to determine the logic in writing. Create a consequent chain between the arguments and form a logical sequence.

Hack #6 Use attention grabbers

An intro should grab readers’ attention. Use these “hooks” in your essay:

• Striking facts
• Quotes
• Questions
• Interesting statistics
• Metaphors
• Provocative phrases

Have a look at this example of an attention grabber in text:

“What are you wearing right now?

Wait. That was awkward and creepy. Let’s rephrase it. Think about the clothes you’re wearing right now. What can they tell us about you?”

This is an intro from a blog article. To write a short but successful essay, provoke your reader to say: “What?”, “No way!”, “Impossible!”. Though make sure you are not using any vulgar expressions in your custom essay.

Hack #7 Take advantage of proofreaders’ and editors’ tools

You have typed the first draft of your first-class essay. It is a stage of near-completeness. Make use of the time-saving tools for automatic grammar checking or editing:

• Grammarly
• Wordy
• LanguageTool
• Typely
• Repetition Detector 2
• Hemingway app

But don’t over-edit your paper. It may lose its essence. Use online instruments to edit/proofread your paper in moderation.

Let’s see how to apply these hacks and type a short essay for a good grade.

Step by Step Guide to Write Essays of Only 200 Words

You do want to get the highest grade for your homework, don’t you? Then follow the quickest steps and do your essay assignment painlessly:

1. Pick a comfortable topic.

Think of some pleasant happenings in your life. Perhaps, you could write about some particular memories from your childhood or campus life. If you can’t think of any, write about today: how you spend your day and how you feel about it. Some students write about their favorite video games, books, movies, etc.

2. Write down all your thoughts on it.

Don’t hurry and mention all details you can remember. If it’s an essay about your first love, let it be passionate and emotional. Brainstorming may help too.

3. Research the data to make a proper justification for your arguments.

Googling helps here a lot. Find as much information as you can. You also have to double-check all the facts before indicating them in your college paper.

4. Sketch an outline.

Like any other homework assignment, a 200-word short essay is a tiny project that requires responsibility and seriousness. Establish a strategy for it and arrange the data into blocks.

5. Type a rough draft.

Don’t be too picky here. Formulating sentences, try not to reread them 10 times in a row. Leave it for the last step.

6. Polish your text (editing and proofreading stage).

Check the grammatical structures and the spelling. There may be mistyped words – correct them. Check if all commas and periods are in their places. Now it’s time for formatting.

7. Reread your essay after some time.

Ideally, it would be reasonable to reread it after a day or two. In this case, you will notice more mistakes (if any) and prove the essay to be acceptable. A wiser decision will be to let your roommate or fellow student read your 200-word paper and comment on it.

200-Word Essay Samples

The samples below will help form a totally adequate idea about the layout and conciseness of short essay writing – for papers of 200, 250, 300, 350 words, etc.

Sample 1

Topic: “Why I choose a Master’s course on Linguistics”

I regard the opportunity of becoming a Master’s student from several linguistic directions. Having dedicated four years to this craft, I can hardly imagine my life without lexicology, etymology, and terminology science.

A special interest lies in lexicon analysis. Paradoxically, remembering new words was always a problem for me. It was a challenge to memorize them. I never gave up, though.

With time, mere words became not just grouped signs but special, significant, and peculiar unities for me. They originate from the past and can tell us even more than we think. Having found this ability, I felt the strongest desire to be useful for society.

Regarding the scientific sphere from the point of view of practical importance, I would like to bring something new to the science of terminology. Not everyone is able to reveal the unknown and cry out “Eureka!” However, special vocabulary appears every day. There is much room for discoveries.

A Master’s degree will expand my possibilities. I can put into practice my ambitions of a budding lexicologist and contribute to the scientific community discovering word formation and origin, as well as the special vocabulary. Not everyone is an Einstein. But it is worth trying.

Sample 2

Topic: “Personified anger” for a Creative Writing class

You’re an evil god who ruins everything. You’re playing with people’s minds like a tornado with an innocent grain of sand. There are thousands of us, but you somehow manage to ruin our relationships, begin wars and empty our lives. You smashed my dreams too. How? You took my job and my friends away from me. Everything I loved and cared about.

Once I walked into the office in the most terrible mood I had ever had. The client started complaining and whining. Again. I could not stand it anymore. The rage burst in me like a rocket. I yelled at him using all the swear words I knew. It was you. You did it with me. My boss fired me because of you. But why did you continue making my life a nightmare even after that?

You couldn’t stop, could you? After all years you had been imprisoned in my thoughts. My poor friends… An avalanche of devastating and cruel words buried them in a few seconds. Again, it was you. You destroyed the best friendship I ever had.

You have eaten my brain and said “Ta-ta” in your last letter. And there’s nothing left in the end. Emptiness…

Sample 3

Topic “The creepiest story I have ever read” for the seminar on the Gothic Tradition (Literature)

Surprisingly, even “Hannibal” by Thomas Harris did not have such a powerful effect of creepiness on me. I chose “My Father’s Mask” by Joe Hill – a representative of the Gothic Tradition. The story left my brain disoriented with its gothic elements. It brought disturbance, the feelings of surrealism and apprehension into my mind.

It developed a brooding atmosphere of gloom and terror in my room, as I was reading it alone at midnight. At times, I felt discomfort. Particularly, it was noticeable even physically, when I was reading the descriptions of the ghost.

Its surrealistic nature evoked a sense of mystery and emotions alien to reason. I felt like I was to be swallowed by an impending but unidentified disaster. The horror seemed to inevitably possess me instantly.

My emotions were accumulated and intensified by the simplicity and cleanliness of phrases. Their straightforward effect left me speechless for a couple of hours.

No wonder it is the weirdest and creepiest story I have ever read. The characters in gothic narratives encounter supernatural creatures which frequently take the form of ghosts. It is a striking capacity of a writer to produce such a strong and even violent effect on the feelings.

Bottom line

Students often fail to impress teachers because of their lack of knowledge. They cannot complete their projects without the guidelines on how to write an amazing essay. From this moment on, you know how to do it right. Doing your homework, essay writing in particular, won’t be too painful. You’ll resolve all stumbling blocks with the above instructions.

Now you know the answers to all disturbing questions about writing the shortest essays. You may use these hacks and type a killer 200-word short essay in just 30 minutes.

The given samples can help you concentrate on the paragraph structure and the logic of writing. When you get your next essay to write, use this guide straight away. It will contribute to fast essay writing and help you do some obligatory edits in the final draft. It’s not a magic pill or panacea, but it can save you more time for leisure and entertainment.