The first section of this study traces the history of the story of "Little Red Riding Hood," from its possible primitive origins, through its first publication in 1697, up to its current status. The second section analyzes the language of an interesting 1856 version of the tale and compares it with more modern versions. Table I indicates…

Readability formulas are designed to provide quantitative estimates of the relative difficulty of pieces of writing. This study explored the extent to which an increase in the accuracy of a specific readability formula could be obtained by norming it for a restricted set of reading materials and subjects. (Editor)

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)

Uses one basalized revision of Judy Blume's "The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo" to illustrate how publishers change literature to fit their self-imposed constraints. Criticizes publishers' emphasis on learning words and skills, which causes them to fracture and narrow language, and results in adapted and synthetic texts instead…

This study examined the McCall-Crabbs Standard Test Lessons in Reading to determine whether selections of passages covered a sufficiently wide range of difficulty to warrant their use in developing readability formulas. The results, which find several readability formulas suspect, are discussed. (Author/MT)

Reports on a study that examined the readability of a selection of C. S. E. papers taken from six subject areas. Found that, with the exception of that given in history, the exams did not make excessive demands on the candidates' reading skills. (FL)

Provided are explicit guidelines, in a form that can be used as a handout for students. The guidelines cover formulation of the statement of the problem and the hypothesis, ways of writing in a logical format, and ways of improving the readability of the term paper. (RM)

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

Many of the award winning Newbery books have a readability level at the upper elementary grades. (JH)

One of four International Reading Association award-winning dissertations from 1975. (RB)

Because of the greater demands made on students in liberal arts for written assignments, the differences in difficulty level among university entrants in various areas of study were examined. The study suggested variability across areas of study and between the sexes in readability levels of written essays. (LBH)

When a participant signs a pre-participation agreement they verify that they have been informed of potential risks, understand the demands this activity will require, and comprehend the types of injuries that may occur as a result of participation. With an average reading level of 8th grade, however, most American adults are no match for the…

Taking the mystery out of how skilled writers think, this book shares some practical tips on how to make prose more readable. It also examines some common questions about punctuation, quoting, usage issues, and stylistic taboos. The book is geared to those writers who have already been through the "textbook mill and who now hunger for helpful…

This book provides biographical profiles of 11 environmental leaders of interest to readers ages 9 and above and was created to appeal to young readers in a format they can enjoy reading and readily understand. Biographies were prepared after extensive research, and each volume contains a cumulative index, a general index, a place of birth index,…