Five Principles of Readability Dr. David Blakesley Professor of English, Purdue Rationale: Welcome to “Five Principles of Readability.” This presentation is designed to introduce technical writers to the five basic principles that determine the readability of a technical document. The 23 slides presented here are designed to aid the facilitator in an interactive presentation of the elements of readability. This presentation is ideal for technical and professional writers, engineers, or managers who want to make their writing more comprehensible. This presentation may be supplemented with the following OWL resources: “The Paramedic Method” “Five Principles of Readability” handout Directions: Each slide is activated by a single mouse click, unless otherwise noted in bold at the bottom of each notes page Writer and Designer: Name(s) Contributors: Name(s) Revising Author: Name, date Developed with resources courtesy of the Purdue University Writing Lab © Copyright Purdue University, 2000, 2006, 2008

English is an S-V-O language, so get with it! Principle One English is an S-V-O language, so get with it! Sentences that have a subject – verb - object order are more readable than those that don’t. The presenter should emphasize that the S-V-O sentence order is usually advantageous in English composition. The writer should have a good reason to deviate from the S-V-O sentence model. Click mouse to advance slide.

The American Concrete Institute recommends the technique. Principle One Example The American Concrete Institute recommends the technique. S V O The presenter should emphasize that the S-V-O sentence order is usually advantageous in English composition. The writer should have a good reason to deviate from the S-V-O sentence model. Click mouse to advance slide.

Principle One Non-Example The technique is being recommended by the ACI. O V S The presenter should emphasize that the S-V-O sentence order is usually advantageous to readability. The writer should have a good reason to deviate from the S-V-O sentence model. Click mouse to advance slide.

Get close to the action! When possible, put the agent Principle Two Get close to the action! When possible, put the agent (subject) and action (verb) close together in the sentence. The presenter might explain that having the subject and verb close together makes comprehension easier for a reader. When the subject and verb are separated by a phrase or clause, the reader has to remember the subject and comprehend the intervening text at the same time. Click mouse to advance slide.

Modified by a chemical process, the ash strengthens the mixture. Principle Two Example Modified by a chemical process, the ash strengthens the mixture. agent action S V O The presenter might explain that having the subject and verb close together makes comprehension easier for a reader. When the subject and verb are separated by a phrase or clause, the reader has to remember the subject and comprehend the intervening text at the same time. Click mouse to advance slide.

Principle Two Non-Example The ash, modified by a chemical process, strengthens the asphalt. agent S action V O The presenter might explain that having the subject and verb close together makes comprehension easier for a reader. When the subject and verb are separated by a phrase or clause, the reader has to remember the subject and comprehend the intervening text at the same time. Click mouse to advance slide.

Get those modifiers up close and personal! Principle Three Get those modifiers up close and personal! Keep modifiers and the words they modify close together in the sentence. A presenter might point out that the farther removed the modifiers are from the word they modify, the harder it is for a reader to understand which word is modified and how it is being modified. Click mouse to advance slide.

Principle Three Example Prone to non-linear fissures and cracks, the asphalt is difficult to cut. (modifying phrase) A presenter might point out that the farther removed the modifiers are from the word they modify, the harder it is for a reader to understand which word is modified and how it is being modified. Click mouse to advance slide. proximity (word modified)

Principle Three Non-Example Prone to non-linear fissures and cracks, it was difficult to cut the asphalt. (modifying phrase) A presenter might point out that the farther removed the modifiers are from the word they modify, the harder it is for a reader to understand which word is modified and how it is being modified. Click mouse to advance slide. intervening text (word modified)

Principle Four People matter! Whenever possible, put people in the subject position in the sentence. People are usually best able to relate to people, so a person makes the best subject (agent) in a sentence. Click mouse to advance slide.

Principle Four Example Three teams of engineers tested the slag. agent = people S V O People are usually best able to relate to people, so a person makes the best subject (agent) in a sentence. Click mouse to advance slide.

Principle Four Non-Example The slag was tested with multiple measures under laboratory conditions. receiving object action People are usually best able to relate to people, so a person makes the best subject (agent) in a sentence. Click mouse to advance slide. Note that there is no agent/subject in this sentence!

…that many readability problems stem from one type of sentence You may have noticed… …that many readability problems stem from one type of sentence construction… Proceed to the next slide for explanation. Click mouse to advance slide.

The passive voice reverses the agent and the object. Active John laid the pavement. s v o Passive The pavement was laid by John. s v o An instructor might point out that a preposition retains the object (John) in the ‘passive’ sentence above. Objects in a passive sentence are usually retained by prepositions. Click mouse to advance slide.

In with the old, out with the new! Principle Five In with the old, out with the new! Start sentences with old information, end them with new (or important) information. An instructor might point out that a lot of teachers review what was learned in the previous class at the beginning of each class. They do this because it’s easiest to proceed to new knowledge in light of what is previously known. A writer pays a courtesy to their reader when they start each sentence with what was discussed at the end of the previous sentence. Click mouse to advance slide.

Which is easier to read? Business school professors perennially debate over whether maintaining an old employee is more costly than hiring a new one. The issue has strong proponents on each side. Human resource experts maintain that keeping an old employee requires fewer man hours for training and orientation. However, management gurus insist that having the right person in the right position increases the overall productivity of a team or workgroup. Between these two groups are the economists who study new hiring practices in a company-specific context. An instructor might give directions to the students like “look at me when you’re through reading the paragraph to let me know you’re done.” Of course, the instructor will want to gauge the context of the educational environment before giving this kind of instruction. Click mouse to advance slide.

Which is easier to read? Business school professors perennially debate over whether maintaining an old employee is more costly than hiring a new one. Strong proponents are on each side of the issue. An old employee requires fewer man hours for training and orientation, human resource experts maintain. However, having the right person in the right position increases the overall productivity of a team or workgroup, according to some management gurus. Between these two groups are the economists who study new hiring practices in a company-specific context. An instructor might give directions to the students like “look at me when you’re through reading the paragraph to let me know you’re done.” Of course, the instructor will want to gauge the context of the educational environment before giving this kind of instruction. After students read the paragraph, ask them which was more readable. An instructor might ask students to point out specific characteristics of the paragraph that make it more readable. Most students will likely choose the first paragraph as the more readable of the two. Click mouse to advance slide.

Principle Five Example Business school professors perennially debate over whether maintaining an old employee is more costly than hiring a new one. The issue has strong proponents on each side. Human resource experts maintain that keeping an old employee requires fewer man hours for training and orientation. However, management gurus insist that having the right person in the right position increases the overall productivity of a team or workgroup. Between these two arguments are the economists who study new hiring practices in a company-specific context. The instructor will want to point out that the old information is always within two words of the new information from the previous sentence. Generally, this is a good pattern to follow when composing professional or technical text. Click mouse to advance slide. new information = red old information = blue

Principle Five Non-Example Business school professors perennially debate over whether maintaining an old employee is more costly than hiring a new one. Strong proponents are on each side of the issue. An old employee requires fewer man hours for training and orientation, human resource experts maintain. However, having the right person in the right position increases the overall productivity of a team or workgroup, according to some management gurus. Between these two groups are the economists who study new hiring practices in a company-specific context. The instructor may want to show that a few minor changes in the paragraph affect readability a lot. The sentences convey the same information, but the information at the beginning of each sentence no longer seems pertinent in light of the previous sentence. Click mouse to advance slide. new information = red old information = blue

The Five Principles Again … English is an S-V-O language, so get with it! Get close to the action! Get those modifiers up close and personal! People matter! In with the old, out with the new! Click mouse to advance slide.

Adapted by Joshua Prenosil and David Blakesley from The Thomson Handbook by David Blakesley and Jeffrey L. Hoogeveen Thank you for using a Purdue OWL resource.

For More Information Contact the Purdue Writing Lab: Drop In: Heavilon 226 Call: 765-494-3723 Email: owl@owl.english.purdue.edu On the web: http://owl.english.purdue.edu Thank you for using a Purdue OWL resource.