<p>As an element in our <a href="https://getsourcer.com/blog/craap">credibility score</a>, we determine the reading difficulty of a news article. To do so, we the Flesch reading ease.</p>
<h2>What is the Flesch reading ease?</h2>
<p>The Flesch reading ease test is a way to measure the readability of a piece of text. Readability means how easy it is for a casual reader to read and understand any English written text. It is part of the Flesch–Kincaid readability tests, developed by the U.S. navy in 1975 [1].</p>
<p>The Flesch reading ease gives a score from 1 to 100, where 100 is the highest possible score, meaning the easiest possible text to read. The lower the score gets, the more difficult it is to understand the text for a casual adult reader.</p>
<p>The formula for the score is the following [2]:</p>
<p><code>206.835 - 1.015 (total words / total sentences) - 84.6 (total syllables / total words)</code></p>
<p>The scores can be translated to the following school levels (based on the US school system) [2]:</p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Score</th>
<th>School level (US)</th>
<th>Notes</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>100.00–90.00</td>
<td>5th grade</td>
<td>Very easy to read. Easily understood by an average 11-year-old student.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>90.0–80.0</td>
<td>6th grade</td>
<td>Easy to read. Conversational English for consumers.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>80.0–70.0</td>
<td>7th grade</td>
<td>Fairly easy to read.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>70.0–60.0</td>
<td>8th &#x26; 9th grade</td>
<td>Plain English. Easily understood by 13- to 15-year-old students.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>60.0–50.0</td>
<td>10th to 12th grade</td>
<td>Fairly difficult to read.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>50.0–30.0</td>
<td>College</td>
<td>Difficult to read.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>30.0–10.0</td>
<td>College graduate</td>
<td>Very difficult to read. Best understood by university graduates.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>10.0–0.0</td>
<td>Professional</td>
<td>Extremely difficult to read. Best understood by university graduates.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2>How do we use the Flesch reading ease?</h2>
<p>To determine the the relevance of an article within our credibility score, we also the reading difficulty of an article. To do so, we use the Flesch reading ease, as it is a genaral and language independent method.</p>
<p>It is important that an article is understandable for the widest possible audience. Therefore, the more general the article is, the higher scores in our system. More difficult and too easy articles will both score worse.</p>
<h2>Sources</h2>
<p>[1]: Kincaid, J. P., Fishburne Jr, R. P., Rogers, R. L., &#x26; Chissom, B. S. (1975). Derivation of new readability formulas (automated readability index, fog count and flesch reading ease formula) for navy enlisted personnel. Naval Technical Training Command Millington TN Research Branch.</p>
<p>[2]: Flesch, R. (1979). How to write plain English. University of Canterbury. Available at <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160712094308/http://www.mang.canterbury.ac.nz/writing_guide/writing/flesch.shtml">https://web.archive.org/web/20160712094308/http://www.mang.canterbury.ac.nz/writing_guide/writing/flesch.shtml</a>.[Retrieved 5 February 2016].</p>


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