Essay Structure Planner
Fill this in before you write a sentence. The whole value is that the split is decided while the word count is still theoretical.
BFCBrilliance · bfcbrilliance.com/tools/essay-word-count-planner
The assignment
- Module
- Title
- Word limit
- Do quotations count?
- Do footnotes count?
- INTRODUCTION
- WORDS PER BODY SECTION
- CONCLUSION
- Deadline
Plan each section before writing
| Section | Argument / theme | Words allowed | Key sources | Drafted? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
The arithmetic and the usual proportions
- Body total
- total × (100 − intro% − conclusion%)
- Per body section
- body total ÷ sections
- Paragraphs
- total ÷ paragraph length
- Common intro share
- about 10%
- Common conclusion share
- about 10%
- Academic paragraph
- 100-200 words
- 2,000 words at 10/10
- 200 / 1,600 / 200
- ⚠ Word-count rules
- vary — check yours
Before drafting
- Word-count rule checked (quotations, footnotes, references)
- Body sections named, not just counted
- Sources gathered BEFORE writing, not during
- Each section given a single clear claim
- Introduction limited to framing, not argument
- Conclusion planned to close, not to introduce
- Section budgets written down where you can see them
- Checked whether the limit has a tolerance (often ±10%)
Write the introduction last
Or at least rewrite it last. It is the section most likely to expand while drafting, and the one you can only write accurately once you know what the essay actually argued.