Readability statistics: is anyone expected to meet a particular Flesch score?

Subject: Readability statistics: is anyone expected to meet a particular Flesch score?
From: "Harris, Michael" <Michael -dot- Harris -at- innocon -dot- com>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 07:15:50 -0500

I have written technical documentation for both military and civilian
applications for many years. My journey into technical writing began
when I was a young Electronics Technician in the Navy seeking
understandable documentation. It didn't take long to realize that most
technical documentation I found was either written by Engineers who knew
the material, but could not make it understandable for the intended
audience - the uneducated technician, or by Journalists who knew how to
make the documentation look nice, but from a user's standpoint it was
completely useless. When I worked in the Slot Machine business (every
industry needs writers), I found that most writers felt that they were
'above' the lowly technicians.

As I recall, the US Navy's required readability is at the 8th Grade
level, whereas the US Army's is 6th Grade, at least for manuals used in
the field. There is very good justification for writing to these basic
levels. Generally speaking, most college-educated people in the
military are officers (or managers, in the civilian world), who don't
read technical manuals. It is the grunt labor force that needs to know
how to fix things.

The Flesch-Kincaid Readability indicator, part of MS Word, gives the
writer a good indication as to how basic their thoughts are when put
into writing.

Michael Harris
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include single source authoring, team authoring,
Web-based technology, and PDF output. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40infoinfocus.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.


Follow-Ups:

Previous by Author: changing background for Captivate menu
Next by Author: Re: The T-letter
Previous by Thread: Readability statistics: is anyone expected to meet a particular Flesch score?
Next by Thread: RE: Readability statistics: is anyone expected to meet a particularFlesch score?


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads