How Long Should an Argumentative Essay Be? (Quick Answer)

August 10, 2023

how long should argumentative essay be

When it comes to writing an argumentative essay, you want nothing more than to score the best grade for the assignment.

If you can use hard, factual, and logical evidence to support your position and convince a reader to agree with your stand, you’re already on your way to scoring high grades for the paper.

A common question that many students have about argumentative essays is how long they should be.

It’s a good question to ask for the simple reason that it helps students to write good essays without spreading themselves too thin and/or going overboard with word/paragraph count.

No Time to Read the Guide? 

Let our team of writers help you research your topic, determine the ideal length, and write your argumentative essay for you

So what’s the recommended length for an argumentative essay?

How Long Should an Argumentative Essay Be?

In general, an argumentative essay should be between three and five paragraphs.

Although the topics your instructor asks you to work on will span across different fields, from history and science to society and literature, you will need to maintain the same argumentative essay structure throughout your writing.

In other words, you must not only give a claim but also provide reasonable evidence from at least three or four relevant sources to defend your position.

Not to mention you need to make sure you stick strictly to the standard format as you write the essay.

Can an Argumentative Essay be More than Five Paragraphs?

Yes, an argumentative essay can be more than 5 paragraphs depending on a number of factors. So you don’t have to treat it strictly as a mathematical construct with a fixed number of paragraphs or word count.

First, look at the task at hand and particularly the topic in the essay prompt.

If the assignment is simple enough to support with basic arguments, stick with the 5-paragraph essay limit.

This being the case, the first paragraph should introduce the argument, the second and third should support it, the fourth should focus on the counter argument in the essay, and the final paragraph should be a solid conclusion for your argument.

Second, you shouldn’t limit yourself to the five-paragraph standard unless your instructor has asked you to do so.

That’s because if the five paragraphs aren’t enough to convince an audience about your claim and stand, adding more paragraphs can explain your position way more better.

Third, an argumentative essay can be more than five paragraphs if you have more points to add to your arguments.

Just remember that each paragraph should have a claim linked to your central theme in the thesis and include detailed explanations, statistics, and examples to strengthen your argument and your position. 

How Can I Determine the Length of the Argumentative Essay Assignment? 

There are two ways to determine how long to make your argumentative essay.

The first option is to read the essay prompt. Your instructor may have included the suggested number of paragraphs in the essay guideline, so this should point you in the right direction.

The second option is to ask. While there is nothing wrong with overlooking this, it’s just to engage your instructor in a one-minute conversation to determine who long to make your argumentative essay.

If they don’t give you a limit, simply look at how many points you can include in the essay and plan yourself accordingly.

How Long Should the Thesis Statement of an Argumentative Essay Be?

We’ve covered about thesis statement in an argumentative essay writing already. However, since this guide is on the length of the assignment, it’s important to touch a bit on the length of the thesis statement.

From what you already know, a thesis statement is the most important part of any type of an argumentative writing.

Since that’s the case, you might fall into the temptation that it’s okay to make it longer to clearly bring your idea to life. However, there’s a caveat to this. And that is the thesis can only one or two sentences long.

It must come after the opening paragraph and it should be very short and concise.

After all, you don’t need that much writing real estate to summarize what your essay will be about. The one or two sentences are enough to let your readers know what to expect.

How Many Pages Should an Argumentative Essay Be?

There is no right or wrong answer to this, which is why we can confidently say that it depends.

From what we understand as an academic writing company, the number of pages you end up with for an argumentative essay will depend on the number of paragraphs, the spacing used, and the length of the essay. 

More often than not, short essays will be at least 5 paragraphs, so you’ll end up with about two or three pages depending on the spacing used.

Argumentative essays that have more than 5 paragraphs tend to be longer, which means more pages regardless of the type of spacing used.

For example, if you decide to make your essay as long as 10 to 15 paragraphs, you’ll end up with at least 6 to 8 pages give or take.

You get the idea.

Do You Need Help With Your Argumentative Essay?

Although writing a good argumentative essay isn’t impossible, it certainly can be challenging.

For one, you have to do a lot of research to be able to make reasonable claims, construct your arguments, and defend your position. Not to mentation you have to include counter claims to sound authentic.

If all that seems like a lot of work, you can reach out to Help for Assessment for some constructive assignment help.

Get Help, NOW!

Our team of writers is always working hard to help you every step of the way. In fact, many students we’ve helped with argumentative essays always end up scoring good grades. So you too can join us and become part of the success that you want to be.

What sets us apart from other writing service is how we approach your assignment.

Instead of just getting it done and forgetting, we take you through every step of the assignment. That way, you can easily defend your paper if your content ever raises your instructor’s eyebrow.

Do you want to get started with us? Check out our argumentative essay writing service here. Place your order and let us help you ace the assignment.

About the author 

Antony W is a professional writer and coach at Help for Assessment. He spends countless hours every day researching and writing great content filled with expert advice on how to write engaging essays, research papers, and assignments.

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}