What Is Readability of an Essay?

When we communicate face to face, there are subtle signals that clarify meaning. Maybe we laugh or change up our tone of voice, letting those that we’re speaking to know that we’re joking. When writing, it’s not that simple, as there are no hints about what you’re saying. That’s why it’s essential to focus on readability, helping your readers understand what you’re saying and grasp your tone. To get to the bottom of readability, we’ve chatted with writers from Ordercoursework, picking their brain on the importance and why you should add it to your essay.  

What Is Readability? 

Readability is defined as the ability to understand writing. Scores are given on a scale of 1 to 100, also referred to as a Flesch score. Lower scores mean that a text is relatively hard to read, and the higher the score, the higher the readability. Many things determine whether or not a paper is easy to read, including: 

• The tone 
• The use of words
• Sentence structure
• Sentence length 
• Structure of your paragraphs and paper

When checking readability, it’s best to avoid lengthy and drawn-out sentences and complex vocabulary. You can use the help of readability software or take a look at your paper and look for key things to make it easier to get through. The key is getting to your point without dragging on and overusing words. You want your readers to follow along with your points and ideas, not run from them. 

Why Is It Important?

Readability is essential for many reasons. One of the most important is that your readers will get what you’re saying. Making your ideas easy to understand, your readers will grasp your main idea and have a deeper understanding of your ideas. You don’t want your readers to pick up a dictionary so that they can make it through your essay. 

Readability is important not only in essay writing but also in writings for business and marketing. The idea is to reach as many people as possible and helping them identify. Expert writers at assignment writing service suggest going for a 5^th or 6^th-grade reading level, making it easy enough to comprehend. For example, to approach a larger audience, marketing teams go for campaigns that reach a ton of people, going for messages that are short, sweet, and to the point. 

Checking Readability

These days, checking readability is not tricky. Several software and programs help check readability and will even suggest improvements. Still, there are ways that you can check your readability, reading aloud and making sure ideas are crystal clear. 

After chatting with writers from Write essay for me, we gathered up a list of things to look for when checking for readability, and this is what they came up with. 

Short and Sweet

They don’t only mean words but also sentences. Don’t add complicated phrases that need all sorts of punctuation marks. Instead, only write what’s necessary and leave the extra words out. 

Cut Adjectives and Adverbs

Long and detailed descriptions are okay for some books and writing but, not all of them. You can describe things without going overboard in your writing, cutting a few of those adjectives and adverbs out. 

Leave out the Slang

Slang is fun when speaking and sometimes has a place in writing, but you have to be careful. Slang is dependent on the area and may not be understood by all. So, try and avoid using it unless you’re adding it in for emphasis. 

Give Readers a Break

Noting makes an essay more challenging to read than long and drawn-out paragraphs. To increase readability, reduce paragraphs’ size and break up the copy to have shorter blocks make up your essay. 

Give It a Read

After completing the writing process, always give your essay a final read-over, checking to make sure it makes sense to you. You’ll notice if there are things that don’t quite roll off the tongue nicely, able to change it on the spot. It’s also helpful to pass your text on to someone else, getting their opinion about whether it’s easy to read. 

Improve Your Writing 

One of the main reasons to check readability is to improve writing. By creating sentences and paragraphs that work well together, you can improve your writing and reach larger audiences to share your ideas. Also, you’ll learn how to hone in on your ideas to express them more effectively. Without jumping around from idea to idea, you’ll write more clearly and realize that you get to your point much faster. 

Readability Is Not About Word Count

Too many times, we get caught up in reaching a word count. This is especially true when you’re assigned an essay that has to reach a certain number. However, it’s not always practical to stuff words in just to reach the required word count. Even if your professors assign you something with a word count, you can get away with writing less if you create a good argument. 

Be clear with your ideas, don’t add in extra stuff that doesn’t belong, and keep your paper flowing from intro to body to conclusion. The better the readability, the more interesting the essay, helping you get to the point. Improve your writing and give readers something to enjoy, focusing on readability.  Skip all the extra unnecessary words and get to your point.