Why Does Anyone Care About Word Counts?

People track for various purposes. Counting or using values helps us imagine or even visualize how large, small, significant or insignificant something is. Within a school setting, people often track for words in a writing piece: a word count. That leads me to the question: are word counts actually effective or are they counter-productive?

An experience that most of you can relate to is the feeling of finally finishing your essay only to realize that you have not met the word count, or have thoroughly exceeded it. So to compensate you add words and sentences to your ideas, diluting the overall conciseness and meaning. On the contrary, sometimes you overshoot and you have to cut down significantly, essentially leading to the same outcome.

How teachers or organizations derive word counts varies but the general consensus that it serves a practical use such as ensuring fairness, enforcing clarity or encouraging effective explanations. Often times, authors use word counts as a clear goal they must achieve to prepare themselves mentally and physically. That means a clear direction and a clear end goal. You typically enjoy playing a sport or hobby that you are interested in. But without a clear finish, it becomes daunting and exhausting. Students naturally have different writing capabilities leading many to believe that the word count should be higher or lower depending on their individual preferences.

Word counts are useful but to an extent. The priority is to use it as a guideline rather than a strict rule because it introduces a sense of objectivity when writing.