Loading page
About this tool
Split an assignment word budget across sections by weight and track how many words each section still needs.
This planner divides an assignment's total word budget across its sections in proportion to the weight you give each one, using the largest-remainder method so the per-section targets always add up exactly to the limit. It preloads the structure taught in most academic writing guides — roughly 10% introduction, 80% body and 10% conclusion — and tracks words written against each target so students can see precisely how much every section still needs.
Open Assignment Word Count Planner on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Paste or type the text you're working with.
Choose how it should be transformed or analyzed.
Copy the finished text into your document or post.
Largest-remainder rounding means section targets always total the full budget, never 1,998 or 2,003.
Each section shows words written, words remaining and an over-budget flag, not just one global count.
Add, remove or reweight sections for essays, reports, dissertations or reflective journals.
A common guideline is about 10% of the total for the introduction, 80% for the main body and 10% for the conclusion, so a 2,000-word essay gets roughly 200, 1,600 and 200 words respectively. Longer pieces such as dissertations use different splits — a literature review alone often takes 20-30% — so adjust the weights to your brief.
Many institutions allow around plus or minus 10% of the stated limit before applying penalties, so a 2,000-word essay is often safe between 1,800 and 2,200 words. This is a convention, not a universal rule — some markers stop reading at the limit — so always confirm the policy in your module handbook.
Usually the reference list and bibliography are excluded, while in-text citations are included, but practice varies by institution. Check your assignment brief; this planner counts whatever words you choose to log against each section.
It allocates the total in proportion to each section's weight and rounds using the largest-remainder method, which guarantees the whole-number targets sum exactly to the budget. If your weights do not add to 100 the tool still splits proportionally and tells you the actual sum.