Complete Bookshop/CompleteWorkshop.iso/lists/reviewb/readabil.txt

Text File | 1988-11-11 | 4KB | 60 lines

             Readability - The Program Which Analyzes Your Writing
                     Copyright 1988 by David W. Batterson

     For several years there have been public domain programs which analyze
one's writing.  They do this by measuring the length of words and sentences,
and the percentage of common words used.  Syntax errors cannot be analyzed.
     Two early readability formulas were the Gunning Fog Index and the
Recalculated Flesch Score.  [They sound more like appraisals of horror films to
me!]
     Readability from Scandinavian PC Systems uses a variation of these
formulas.  By calculating the numbers of words and sentences, along with
difficult vs. common words, a score can be arrived at.  Examples are 20-25
(easy), 40-45 (average; like newspaper articles), and 60 (very difficult).
     One chapter in the excellent manual discusses the mathematical and
statistical data.  If you're interested, you can read about Readability Index
Parabolas, Focal Point Coordinates and the like.
     Readability uses a list of the 400 most commonly used words, which make up
about 60 percent of average writings.  It calls these "mortar."  All other
words--longer and more complex--Readability calls bricks."
     The idea is to use "plenty of mortar" and to achieve the proper balance.
As any good writer knows, one must vary the lengths of sentences and words to
keep it interesting.
     Readability looks for "simple," "normal" and "narrative" sentences as the
ideal ones.  It urges that you avoid "difficult," "wordy" and "pompous"
sentences.
     However, you write differently for children's books than you would for
Scientific American.  Readability recognizes this.  When you are ready to
analyze, you select the type of writing it is.
     It can do analyses based on what is ideal for newspapers, ads, novels,
magazine features, children's material and technical reports.
     Thus you can score your writing, based on its intended readership.  You
may be doing fine for technical writing.  But if your audience is newspaper
readers, the analysis will show that it's too difficult to understand.
     I think if you ran the average software or hardware manual through
Readability, some of your PC's chips might blow out!  Even as technical
material, much of it is hard to follow.
     Readability displays various graphic charts.  I didn't care a lot for
these.  I prefer the actual messages, which tell you exactly what you're doing
wrong.
     It also selects and displays words, sentences and word groups which it
thinks need some changes to make them more readable.  I didn't go along with
all their choices, however.
     There are a couple of irregular commands.  F1 is usually reserved for
help, while <Esc> takes you to the previous menu.  Readability instead uses F10
and F1 for these functions.  It's an example of sloppy programming.
     Someone should have run the program's text files through a spell checker,
since there were several words on screen misspelled, such as  "evaulation" for
evaluation, "choise" for choice, and "analyse" for analyze.
     Keep in mind that any text you analyze must be an ASCII file too.
     The program is useful, though.  In analyzing my own writing, Readability
pointed out too many long sentences and difficult words.  It gave me an overall
rating of "good" on this article, so no lollipop for me!
     This is basically a novelty program, with no widespread appeal for
computer users.  However, it might find its niche in schools and colleges.
     Readability is available from Scandinavian PC Systems, Inc., 51 Monroe
St., Suite 707A, Rockville, MD  20850; [phone]; FAX: [phone];
(800) 288-SCAN, ext. 982, for credit card orders only.
                                       #
     David Batterson is a freelance computer writer and consultant.  Send your
comments via MCI MAIL: DBATTERSON.