Frequently Asked Questions

Answered by verbal nutritionist Dr Helen Sword

Q. What do my Verbal Fitness scores mean?

A. A rating of Needs toning, Flabby or Heart attack territory in any category suggests that your writing could benefit from a workout. The examples and exercises in each chapter of The Writer's Diet will help you decide whether (and how) to change the way you write.

Q. Can effective writing really be reduced to a numerical formula?

A. No, of course not. The Wasteline Test does not attempt to measure for vividness of expression, clarity of thought, fluidity of style or any of the other elements that matter most in engaging writing. Instead, the test provides a user-friendly method for identifying some of the sentence-level grammatical features that most frequently weigh down academic prose.

Q. How did you come up with the scoring values for the Wasteline Test?

A. I chose examples of the liveliest and stodgiest academic writing I could find and extrapolated the initial values from there. Since then, I have tweaked, tested, streamlined and elaborated the Wasteline Test based on more than 1,000 writing samples -- a process of informed evaluation based on extensive reading, rhetorical analysis, intuition and, yes, a dollop of subjectivity.

Q. How does the Wasteline Test differ from other quantitative measures of readability, such as the Fog Index or the Flesch Index?

A. The Gunning-Fog Index, developed in 1952 by Robert Gunning, uses an algorithm based on word and sentence length to calculate the number of years of formal education required for a person to understand a given text. The Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level Formula makes a similar calculation keyed to United States grade levels. The Wasteline Test, by contrast, has nothing to do with grade levels or average word length. Complex scholarly essays can score very well on the Wasteline Test, whereas a children’s story filled with weak verbs and fluffy adjectives could score badly.

Q. Is it better to test short writing samples or longer ones?

A. On average, longer samples generate better Wasteline Test fitness scores than shorter ones. You can limit your sample to exactly 100, 300 or 1,000 words by selecting one of the 'Limit sample' radio buttons on the 'Take the test' page. When you enter a sample of 100 or 300 words, you receive a diagnosis specific to that sample. Longer samples of 1,000 words give more of a 'big picture' view, helping you spot recurring patterns.

Q. How much fine-tuning must I do to ensure my scores are accurate?

Particularly in the Adjectives & adverbs category, the word classifications are rarely 100% correct. For example, if you use the word ‘facial’ as a noun, the test may count it as an adjective. You can adjust your results manually by right-clicking on an incorrectly classified word and then selecting the correct classification from the drop-down list. ('Normal' removes all highlighting). If you are testing a short sample (100 or 300 words), such fine-tuning can make a difference to your fitness scores, especially if you have a high percentage of false positives. For a 1,000 word sample, on the other hand, it's probably not worth the bother; the number of false positives will most likely be balanced by the number of words missed.

Q. Why should I omit quotations and citations from my sample text?

A. Quotations and parenthetical citations skew your results because they clutter your passage with words not your own. If you use a parenthetical citation style such as APA, tick Omit (..) on the 'Take the test' page before you click 'Run the test'. All of your parenthetical citations will automatically be excluded from the word count. Likewise, if your passage contains lots of quotations, you tick Omit ".." or Omit '..'.

Q. Sometimes when I use the 'Omit' feature, big blocks of text disappear and are not counted. How can I fix this problem?

A. Most likely your entered passage contains a typographical error. For example, if a closing parenthesis or quotation mark is missing, the automated exclusion feature doesn't know where to stop striking out words. Try re-entering your sample, fixing the error (e.g. by replacing the missing parenthesis or quotation mark) and running the test again'.

Q. Can I edit a text sample directly onscreen?

A. You can make minor changes to your sample by right-clicking on an individual word, editing it, and clicking 'update'. Substantial changes are best made using your own word processing program. The 'Save as MSWord' button allows you to download your fitness scores and highlighted text to a Word file on your own computer, where you can edit and save the file.

Q. Given that I can use this free online tool, why should I buy The Writer's Diet?

The Writer's Diet will help you understand what your Wasteline Test scores mean, how you can improve them and even when it's okay to ignore them. The book puts a human face on a mechanistic tool, taking the Wasteline Test as a starting point, not an endpoint, for helping you become a more effective and stylish writer.

Q. Can you offer further resources for teachers who want to use the Wasteline Test with their students?

If you are currently using, or considering using, the electronic Wasteline Test as a teaching and learning resource, please contact me directly via email (h.sword@auckland.ac.nz) for some suggestions and sample assignments.