{"id":15443,"date":"2020-02-12T10:43:59","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T10:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/?p=15443"},"modified":"2020-08-13T08:14:58","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T08:14:58","slug":"i-am-a-researcher-how-can-i-write-simple-english-for-my-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/15443","title":{"rendered":"I am a researcher &#8211; how can I write simple English for my patients?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hi<\/p>\n<p>Thanks for a great question. At i-Base we often get asked to comment on patient information. It nearly always uses language that is difficult for most people to understand easily.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, on the path to becoming researchers, many people forget how to explain their research simply.<\/p>\n<p>This is a shame. It can put a barrier between research and the people that studies want to help.<\/p>\n<p>The following notes might help.<\/p>\n<p>Your text should follow guidance for plain English.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. The easiest single practical guide is to use short sentences. Try not to use more than 12-15 words in a sentence. It is easy to count.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Split long sentences into smaller ones. Many sentences will be much shorter. Simple to understand. Easy to read. More interesting too :)<\/p>\n<p>This link explains how we do this at i-Base:<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/about\">https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/about<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Don&#8217;t use words with more than two syllables. Or use as few as possible. Explain technical terms in simple words. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Again this is easy. Read the draft text and then change them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Cut and paste the body text into the text box at this link.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.readabilityformulas.com\/free-readability-formula-tests.php\">https:\/\/www.readabilityformulas.com\/free-readability-formula-tests.php<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This will give you an average reading ease score to estimate readability.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. The overall target should be Grade level 6 (or lower &#8211; lower is better). This is defined as \u201cFairly easy to read\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Flesch Reading Ease score should be above 70 (higher is better).<\/p>\n<p><strong>ie: Readability Consensus<br \/>\n<\/strong>Based on (7) readability formulas, we have scored your text:<br \/>\n<b>Grade Level:<\/b>\u00a06<br \/>\n<b>Reading Level:<\/b>\u00a0fairly easy to read.<br \/>\n<b>Reader&#8217;s Age:<\/b>\u00a010-11 yrs. olds (Fifth and Sixth graders)<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. If the text doesn\u2019t meet these targets, go back and edit until it does.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>6. When it does meet these rough targets, it is okay to send for comment :)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>NOTE: The text on this web page has a Flesch Reading Ease Score of 75. It is Grade level 5 (fairly easy to read). Reading age 8-9 year olds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hi, I am involved in research and have when I send patients information out for comments, I am often told the readability is too difficult. Do you have any tips that can help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-topics","category-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15443\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}