AVCE Information and Communication Technology/Presenting information/Accuracy and readability

Readability

Screenshot: Microsoft Word Readability Statistics

If you are using Microsoft Word to write a document then you can make use of the readability statistics feature. When you opt to allow Word to check grammar then you also have the option to ask Word to display the readability statistics after completing each grammar check.

The Flesch Reading Ease score gives an indication of how easy a passage of text is to understand. The higher the number, the easier the passage is to understand. Some documents, such as contracts or other legal documents, are necessarily very complicated and will have a low reading score, but as a good rule-of-thumb a piece of text intended to be read by the general public should have a score in the high 50s or 60s.

The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level indicates the U.S. grade-school level at which the passage can be read and understood. a Flesh-Kinacaid Grade level of 8.0 means that a pupil in the eight grade (typically aged 13–14) should be able to understand it.

Drafts

When you have finished writing a document you will usually want to print a draft copy for proofreading and checking. Although not all printers support this function, many will offer the option to print in 'draft quality' mode. This will omit much of the formatting and pictures included in a document which will use less ink and will mean the document will print faster.

Checking your Document

Spell Checking

Spell checking is a facility offered by most word processing packages. Although not-infallible, spell-checking will catch the majority of spelling mistakes in any documents you have created. It is important to remember however that proper nouns will, for the most part, not be recognized and highlighted as errors. It is also necessary to remember that if you use a word which is spelled correctly but has a meaning other than that which was intended then it won't be picked up as an error. For example; "I couldn't decide witch one to buy" would not be flagged as a mistake by a spell checker.

Grammar Checking

Grammar checking is a similar facility to the spell checker but rather than checking for correct spelling it checks for correct grammar. However, since the rules of grammar are, in most languages, rather complex it is not uncommon for a grammar checker to indicate that a sentence is not grammatically correct when in-fact it is perfectly acceptable.

Some advanced grammar checkers allow for a specific writing style to be selected by the user. This will allow the grammar checker to indicate phrases which, although grammatically correct, are not appropriate to the writing style you have selected.

Proofreading

Spell-checking and grammar-checking facilities, however advanced or intuitive the design, cannot guarantee that a document is free of errors. Therefore you should always ensure that you proofread your documents before finishing work. You can proofread them yourself; but it is recommended, especially for important documents, that you ask at least one other person to proofread them for you as well.

The process of proofreading involves ensuring that a document is free of errors and that the writing and presentation style are effective and fit-for-purpose. When you are proofreading a document which is still in electronic form then there are tools you can use to help you. Some word processing packages, such as Microsoft Word, allow you to add comments to a selection of text. Doing so will allow you to electronically annotate work to show corrections which are needed.

When proofreading it is often easier to proofread a printed draft copy. There is a standard notation which can be used when proofreading a hard-copy of a document:

Correction	In Text	In Margin
Insert something
Delete a character
Delete a word or phrase
Insert a paragraph break
Remove a paragraph break
Align to centre
Indent
Make upper-case
Make lower-case
Make bold
Make italic