How to count words and characters
Paste your essay, dissertation chapter or abstract into the box above, and the word counter shows the number of words, characters with and without spaces, and paragraphs. It is a character counter as well, and the figures update as you type.
A word is anything between two spaces or line breaks that contains at least one letter or digit. A hyphenated word such as “well-being” counts as one word, and so does a number such as 2024. A dash standing on its own or a bullet point does not count.
Line breaks are not counted as characters, but spaces, punctuation and digits are. The tool counts a new paragraph wherever there is an empty line between two blocks of text. If only part of your work counts towards the limit, paste just that part, for example the main text without the title page.
Characters with and without spaces
The character counter gives you two numbers. Characters with spaces include every letter, digit, punctuation mark and space in your text. Characters without spaces leave the spaces out, so that number is lower.
Essays and dissertations at UK universities are usually set in words rather than characters, so you will rarely need either figure for coursework. Character limits turn up elsewhere: in abstracts for conferences, personal statements, application forms and some journal guidelines. If a form gives a character limit without saying which kind, ask, or work to the figure with spaces, which is the stricter of the two.
Word limits in essays and dissertations
Essays, reports and dissertations usually come with a word limit set for the module or the programme. Many UK universities allow a small margin above the limit, while others penalise any words over it. The module handbook or the assessment brief decides, so read it before you start cutting.
Check what the limit covers as well. The main text counts, usually including quotations. Whether the reference list, appendices, footnotes, tables and the abstract count varies between universities and even between departments, and so does the treatment of in-text citations. If in doubt, ask your module leader.
If you are close to the limit, check the count in the program you submit from, and leave a small buffer rather than aiming for the exact number.
How many words is a page?
There is no fixed answer. A page in Word can hold many more or many fewer words depending on the font, the font size, the line spacing and the margins. That is one reason limits are normally given in words rather than pages.
If you need to convert between pages and words, measure it in your own template. Format one full page of your text with the required settings, paste it here and note the word count. That figure is a fair estimate for the rest of the document, as long as the layout stays the same.
Word count in Word and Google Docs
In Microsoft Word, go to Review › Word Count. The window shows pages, words, characters with and without spaces, paragraphs and lines, and a tick box decides whether text boxes, footnotes and endnotes are included. On Windows, Ctrl+Shift+G opens the same window, and the status bar at the bottom shows a running word count.
In Google Docs, choose Tools › Word count or press Ctrl+Shift+C, or Cmd+Shift+C on a Mac. Google Docs leaves out headers, footers and footnotes. Tick “Display word count while typing” to keep the count in the bottom left corner.
In either program, select a passage first to count just that passage. The figures from Word, Google Docs and this word counter can differ slightly, because each program treats hyphens, dashes and special characters in its own way.
Interviews and appendices
If your dissertation draws on interviews, the full transcripts usually go in an appendix. Whether appendices count towards the word limit depends on your university, and the same goes for references and footnotes. Quotations from your interviews in the main text normally do count, so long extracts use up words you need for your own analysis.
Plan early which passages you will quote word for word and which you will summarise, and agree with your supervisor how the transcripts should be presented, including how much detail your verbatim transcription should keep.
- Quote briefly in the text, and refer to the participant and the line or timestamp in the transcript.
- Put each full transcript in the appendix in the same layout.
- Read how interview transcription turns a recording into text with speakers and timestamps.
The text you paste into this word counter stays in your browser. Nothing is sent to us, and nothing is saved when you close the page.