How many different words are in the typical 1000 word document?

I am trying to find support to win a weird argument. I’m looking for any kind of study that shows how many different words are used in a piece of literature.

I really don’t know, and have no desire to count, but that’s the type of thing people graduate college on. Go down to your local University’s Library, and I guarantee some English Major did a last minute thesis. Just check through the abstracts, and you should be able to find that pretty quickly.

Written by rob on December 29th, 2009 with 6 comments.
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Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Eric M
#1. December 29th, 2009, at 6:59 AM.

type an essay and count the words.
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Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com 4 strings
#2. December 29th, 2009, at 7:47 AM.

1,000
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Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Ajescent
#3. December 29th, 2009, at 8:17 AM.

it should be about 650-750
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Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com beardog4314
#4. December 29th, 2009, at 9:07 AM.

I really don’t know, and have no desire to count, but that’s the type of thing people graduate college on. Go down to your local University’s Library, and I guarantee some English Major did a last minute thesis. Just check through the abstracts, and you should be able to find that pretty quickly.
References :

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com TheOnlyBeldin
#5. December 29th, 2009, at 9:37 AM.

Not sure if there is any study, but a lot will depend on the exact nature of the document. Could be as few as 150 or so or as many as 500-600.
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Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com trobop
#6. December 29th, 2009, at 10:13 AM.

i think it depends on the author. If it was me( not even an author) you would find the same words over and over again, cause my vocabulary is limited..If the author trying to show off, he’ll use lots of new words, but if he is simple he’ll use simple words and basically use the same words througout the document.
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