What is readability? Essentially, it s how easy it is for readers to read your wri ting.

Improving the readability of your writing helps your reader to comprehend what your saying more accurately in less time. To make your writing more readabl e, follow these simple rules: 1. FOCUS ON YOUR READER Who will be reading your writing? young adults, men, women, seniors, etc. Find out as much as you can about your readers' education, reading habits, age, sex, occupational background, and so on. Even knowing the likes of "the general read er" is better than writing in a vacuum. Analyze the advertisements in the public ation you intend to write for to help you discover your what your readers like. 2. FOCUS ON YOUR PURPOSE Why are you writing? What do you expect your readers to do? Read your piece casually? Study it? Use it for reference? Read it for entertainment during leisu re hours? Be sure of what you are trying to do and write accordingly. 3. DESIGN YOUR WRITING TO FIT Once you know your audience and your purpose, you can design your piece of w riting to fit. Ordinarily, this means that you start raising your readability by increasing the number of "personal words." For easy and interesting reading, a story design is usually best--either sustained narrative or anecdotes, illustrat ive examples, and practical applications, sandwiched between straight exposition . For instructions, the best design is the direct "you" approach, or cookbook st yle. In other words, you can increase the number of "personal words" by using the first and second persons for yourself and your reader and by explaining your id eas through the experiences of people. Use actual people if you can. If you use fictitious characters, be sure the reader knows they re fictitious. 4. USE DIRECT QUOTES AT KEY POINTS Move your narrative along by using direct quotes at key points along the way . After increasing the number of "personal words," increase the number of "per sonal sentences." In today's professional writing the proportion of dialogue to narrative is rising steadily. Even without quoted dialogue the conversational approach to the reader will increase readability. 5. BREAK UP SENTENCES AND PARAGRAPHS Next, shorten the length of the average sentence. To do this, look for the j oints in complex sentences and change dependent clauses to independent clauses. There s a natural relation between the length of sentences and the length of p aragraphs. After you ve shortened your sentences, break up your paragraphs to fit the changed rhythm. Also, avoid using semi-colons. Put a period where a semi-colon should be. Bu t make sure the new sentence following it relates directly to the previous one.