Write for an 8th-grade audience

- You might think that using big words is a great way…to impress your audience, but that misses a major point.…People don't care to find out how large your vocabulary is.…Instead, they just want to read and understand…the information that you're providing.…Even if people can read at a higher reading level,…they find it easier to read simple text.…What this means is, you should write…for a 5th-grade reading level in your summaries,…an 8th-grade in the majority of your content,…and a maximum of 11th-grade in accompanying literature.…

Those grade levels correspond to a reading age…of around 11, 14, and 18.…This is about the age of children…in their last year of grade school, middle school,…and high school in the United States.…But there are also a lot of individuals…who just don't have the skills…to read at a high reading level.…A US government survey in 2003 found…that 14% of US adults are functionally illiterate.…And another 29% have only basic reading skills,…enough to perform simple everyday literacy activities.…