Guidelines for counting words

NASW MA recommends utilizing the “Word Count” feature of Microsoft Word  (“Tools” > “Word Count”).

Word Count specs:

• All words are counted (including “a,” “I,” and “the").
• Hyphenated words count as one word, so long as there are no spaces surrounding the hyphen. 
  e.g. [“far-reaching” = 1 word],  [“far – reaching” = 2 words]
• Words separated by a slash count as one word, so long as there are no spaces surrounding the slash. 
  e.g. [“Social Worker/Case Manager” = 3 words]  [“Social Worker / Case Manager” = 5 words]
• Abbreviations count as one word, so long as there are no spaces between the letters.
  e.g. [“BPL” = 1 word],  [“B.P.L.” = 1 word],  [“B. P. L” = 3 words]

 
Karon Konner, LICSW
Receives Social Worker
of the Year Award

 Many faces of social work:
This could be you