Introductions: Layout Matters

Have you ever tried to introduce a manual or an online course? Too often, readers skip introductions. Here is one that most people can read quickly:

Congratulations! You are in the Acme Focus Group’s (AFG's) Course for Group Leaders.

From this online course (and this workbook) you can expect:

Content tailored by expert leaders of focus groups
A chance to work at your own pace
A course facilitator to answer your questions
Best of all: In 8 weeks or less, you’ll be ready to lead focus groups with confidence.

Here’s how the course works:
All course content is organized into modules. Each module appears in a folder that you will see whenever you log on to Whiteboard. These folders contain links to:

Slide shows
Word documents
Video clips
A Discussion Board where you can type in (“post”) questions or comments
Practice tests so you can check what you’ve learned
Opportunities to go back and review any time

Flesch Kincaid Grade Level: 6th grade, 2nd month


A draft version of that introduction required more reading effort:

When the Acme Marketing team in Houston began training leaders of focus groups, the training was done in-person at a 3-day workshop. What the Acme team quickly discovered was that it was difficult for people to get away from their normal office duties for that length of time. It was expensive to train small groups of people and to offer trainings outside of Houston. It was at that moment the Acme On-line Group Leader Training Course began to take shape!

Staying true to the practice of the Acme team to consult with experts, this on-line training course was developed in collaboration with expert Acme group leaders who provided feedback about the content and structure of the course, the learning activities, and this workbook.

Trainees enrolled in the course have 8 weeks to work at their own pace to learn the Acme Focus Groups (AFG) content and skills to effectively run the focus-group program. As an on-line learner, you make your own “class schedule.” You have a course facilitator to answer your questions, and you have this workbook to guide your learning.

Here’s how the on-line course is set up. All the course content and activities are organized into “modules.” The content of each module is described below. Within Whiteboard, there are Module Folders with links to slide shows, Word document, and video clips to help you learn the course content. As part of each module, there is a “Discussion Board” where you can type in (“post”) questions or comments. There are practice test questions to help you know whether or not you are learning the AFG principles and strategies. If you discover you are answering these questions incorrectly, you can review the course content another time.
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 8th grade, 9th month

Word (Windows) 2007: Grammar Check & Readability

Many of you already know this technique; but if you don't, here is how to use Word 2007 (Windows) to grammar-check your document and report on its readability:


1. Click on the icon at the extreme upper left of your screen (the Office icon).

2. A window will open, and at the bottom you should click on Word options.

3. Another window will open; in the left column, click Proofreading.

4. The resulting window will have many choices with checkboxes next to them.
Probably you will need to check "Show readability statistics."

5. You will see a drop-down menu that lets you tell Word to review not
just Grammar but "Grammar & Style."

6. Then you can select specific style features that Word should flag, such as the comma in a series of three or more, and the number of spaces after a sentence-final period.

7. Click OK, and get back to your document.

8. Now, go to the "Review" tab, and at the left of the resulting toolbar you will see "Spelling and Grammar." Click on it.

9. After you have made a decision about each spelling or grammar issue, you will see a window with the word count, sentence count, etc. At the bottom will be

Flesch Reading Ease. This statistic is on a scale of 0 to 100; 70 is excellent, 60 is good, 50 is usually acceptable at the grad level.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. A reading of, say, 12.2 means 12th grade second month. 15.5 means junior year of college, 5th month.