# Fillable Readability Editing Worksheet

Improve a finished draft's structure, sentences, word choices, scanning, and accessibility without changing its facts or important qualifications.

## Usage note

Edit for the reader rather than for a detector score. Readability formulas can identify patterns, but they cannot judge factual accuracy, usefulness, voice, or accessibility on their own.

## How to use this template

1. Define what the intended reader should understand or do.
2. Edit the document's structure before polishing individual sentences.
3. Replace unnecessary complexity while preserving precise meaning.
4. Improve headings, lists, links, tables, and other scanning aids.
5. Read the final version aloud and recheck every fact and qualifier.

## Blank template

### Reader and outcome

- **Intended reader:** [Describe the reader]
- **Likely prior knowledge:** [New / Familiar / Expert, with context]
- **Desired action or takeaway:** [State one outcome]
- **Terms requiring explanation:** [List terms or write None]

### Structure

- [ ] The main point appears early.
- [ ] Each section answers one clear question.
- [ ] Headings describe their sections accurately.
- [ ] Important conditions appear near the relevant instruction.
- [ ] Repeated explanations were consolidated.

### Sentences and wording

- [ ] Unnecessarily long sentences were divided.
- [ ] Subjects and actions are easy to identify.
- [ ] Familiar words replace avoidable jargon.
- [ ] Pronouns have clear references.
- [ ] Filler phrases and repeated qualifiers were removed.
- [ ] Technical terms remain where precision requires them.

### Scanning and accessibility

- [ ] Lists use parallel wording.
- [ ] Link labels describe their destination.
- [ ] Tables have headings and make sense when read linearly.
- [ ] Instructions do not rely only on color or position.
- [ ] Acronyms are expanded on first use.

### Meaning-preservation check

- [ ] Numbers, conditions, and exceptions remain unchanged.
- [ ] Simplification did not remove an important qualifier.
- [ ] The revised text still matches its supporting source.
- [ ] Any readability score is treated as a diagnostic rather than a quality guarantee.

### Editing record

- **Most important change:** [Summarize the improvement]
- **Terms intentionally retained:** [List precise terms and reasons]
- **Editor:** [Enter name]
- **Review date:** [YYYY-MM-DD]