INTERNAL TRAINING DOCUMENT: 3/11/2024 Health Communications / USC Campus Health
READABILITY — Tool Tip in MS Word Creating materials for students, patients, families at all literacy levels. Questions? Contact studenthealthinfo@usc.edu
Keep your writing easy to understand. In MS Word, there is a tool to help “score” a document using the Flesch-Kincaid reading scale. The gives you the grade-level (difficulty) and the reading ease (for scanning or reading quickly). For audiences with English as a second language, or readers who will “skip to” quick and easy content (ads, handouts) generally aim for a reading grade level of 10th - 11th grade; and a Flesch-Kincaid score of 50-60 (as close to 60 as possible). HOW TO ACCESS THE SCORE IN MS WORD o
PC: (365 online) Open your Word document. Select the Home tab. Choose Editor, and then go to Document stats.
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PC on desktop: Go to File, then Options. (2) Select Proofing. (3) Under “When correcting spelling and grammar in Word,” make sure the “Check grammar with spelling” check-box is selected. (4) Select “Show readability statistics.”
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MAC: TOOLS > SPELLING & GRAMMAR > EDITOR > DOCUMENT STATS
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Other Word versions, instructions are available on the MS Office website
What improves the readability score? o
Shorter sentences, simple words instead of complex words. See examples on the next page.