<p>so i'm going to try to participate in a new york times essay contest with a word limit of 1200 words.</p>
<p>my question is - should i cite? I want to cite statistics such as "x% of undergrads ultimately get into graduate school". And such citations should not count in the word count right?</p>
<p>The statement "x% of undergrads ultimately get into graduate school" should count towards the word count. The citation of your source (whether at the end, on another page, or in parenthese) should not count against your word count.</p>
<p>That's what my college profs have told us when writing papers anyway.</p>
<p>so essay contests should have citations, right? and does format matter? the essay contest i'm trying to get in does not say anything about citations</p>
<p>i never wrote for an essay contest, so i dont know. there are probably guidelines somewhere or a number/email to contact with questions.</p>
<p>IK, what age will you be when you graduate from college and what year are you in now?</p>
<p>sophomore</p>
<p>could graduate at 20 but will probably delay to 21 or 22 (since that will allow me to explore more, and to do more research before grad school)</p>