Demonstrates a procedure for simplifying the reading ease formula and procedures developed by Rudolph Flesch, with no loss in accuracy. (GW)

A study of the readability of governmental pamphlets produced by the State of Florida, based on the use of the Flesch Reading Ease Formula and the Dale-Chall Formula, suggests that if a seventh or eighth grade readability level is considered an appropriate standard for public information brochures, the brochures tested may be too complex…

Studies leads and other top paragraphs in stories from the Associated Press (AP), United Press International (UPI), Scripps Howard News Service, and three major newspapers. Finds average lead sentence lengths range from 39 to 25 words. Suggests that journalists may be writing for themselves more than for readers. (RS)

Examines the relationship between advertising copy readability and advertising effectiveness. Finds that recall is improved when the copy style is either fairly easy or fairly hard to read. Suggests the value of considering copy readability as a potential contributor, though a minor one, to the success of magazine advertising. (RS)

After comparing sixteenth and twentieth century catechisms, suggests that the two categories of space and time are the best discriminators between documents. (TO)

Study indicates Fog Index of eleven is normal for popular literature and suggests the readability levels have increased by two in the past twenty years. (RB)

Concludes that with short news stories presented in modern style repetition is equally as important to the broadcast journalist as to the newspaper journalist. (RB)

Concludes that time-consuming man-made counts of syllables can quite accurately be done by computers. (RB)

A comparison of the readability of best selling novels and sample newspapers for the years 1904, 1933, and 1965 revealed that readability scores for the newspapers were significantly lower than those for novels across all time periods. (GW)

Reports that the traditional ways of handling datelines, figures, political designations, and second references hinder reader understanding of newspaper stories. (FL)

Reports a study devising a constructive treatment for news of violence that has higher reader interest than a conventional straight-news approach. (TO)

Compares passages from two weekly newsmagazines and finds differences in readability according to type of content, but not along lines of the delayed reward/immediate reward typology. (FL)

Compares nine basic reporting texts with regard to such items as chapter length, presence or absence of a glossary, reading ease, human interest, and treatment of sexism in language. (GW)

Finds that 204 high school students preferred newspapers that used accompanying materials, such as pullout quotes and many, although smaller, photographs. Notes that writing style and the use of color had little influence. (RS)