The Scorecard differs depending if you have Targets enabled or if you use a Guidance Profile to check your content.
Tip
Not sure if you have Targets enabled? Don't worry, there are two ways to find out.
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Check the Options tab in the slide-out menu of the Sidebar and see if a Target or a Guidance Profile is selected.
or
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Open the Scorecard and search for Checking Information. If it's not there, you're checking with Targets.
With that in mind, read this article to get the information that you'll need to analyze your Scorecard.
After you run a check, you can view a Scorecard that scores your content based on the goals that you're checking for. You also get an overall Acrolinx score when you check the entire document.
To view your Scorecard, you have two options:
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Click on your Acrolinx score at the top right of the Sidebar
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or click Scorecard in the slide-out menu.
In the Scorecard, you'll see different sections that help you analyze your content. The Scorecard displays a separate section for each goal. The sections give you detailed information about the issues identified and suggestions for how to resolve them. When you review your Scorecard, keep in mind that Acrolinx will only display a section if the corresponding goal is part of the selected Target. You'll see a padlock icon next to issues that you can only edit directly in the text. You also get a different view, the Selection Scorecard, when you check a selection.
For a quick overview of scoring and info about documents and checking, go to the Scorecard with Targets column in the General Information table.
To get detailed information on each issue section, go to Scorecard with Targets enabled.
After you run a check, you can view a Scorecard that scores your content based on the types of issues that you're checking for. You also get an overall Acrolinx score when you check the entire document.
To view your Scorecard, you have two options:
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Click on your Acrolinx score at the top right of the Sidebar
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or click Scorecard in the slide-out menu.
In the Scorecard, you'll see different sections that help you analyze your content. When you review your Scorecard, keep in mind that Acrolinx will only display a section if the corresponding checking option was selected for the check. You also get a different view, the Selection Scorecard, when you check a selection. The Scorecard displays a separate section for each issue type. Each of these sections has detailed information about the issues identified and suggestions on how to resolve them. For issues that you can only edit directly in the text, you'll see a padlock icon next to the issue.
For a quick overview of scoring and info about documents and checking, go to the Scorecard with a Guidance Profile column in the General Information table.
To get detailed information on each issue section, go to Scorecard with a Guidance Profile.
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Section |
Scorecard with Targets |
Scorecard with a Guidance Profile |
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Acrolinx Score |
The overall Acrolinx score for your content is displayed with a colored bar. The color coding is as simple as a traffic light, so you can quickly see how you scored. If you're curious about how it's calculated, check out How Acrolinx Scores Are Calculated (with Targets) or Configure How Acrolinx Scores Are Calculated (with Guidance Profile). |
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Summary |
Here you can see how well you did for the goals that are part of your Target. For more details, you can check the corresponding section for each goal further down in the Scorecard. The colors of the bars reflect the range of acceptability of the respective scores. The color coding is as simple as a traffic light, so you can quickly see how you scored. NoticeThe summary only shows the required goals that count toward the Acrolinx score. You can, however, check your issues for recommended goals in the corresponding section. The sections are in alphabetical order. |
The scores show you how well you did for each of the issue types. The colors of the bars reflect the range of acceptability of the respective scores. The color coding is as simple as a traffic light, so you can quickly see how you scored. NoticeYou only get scores for the issue types that you select in your Acrolinx options. |
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Metrics |
The metrics show your scores for each of the characteristics that make up the tone of your content. Click below to get more information on each English-language metric. Clarity IndexThe Clarity index tells you how clear your text is. Sentence length and syllables per word don’t tell the whole story. So, it also looks at other linguistic factors: embedded sentences, complex verb forms, passives, difficult words, and much more. The index ranges between 0 and 100. You can interpret the values as follows:
Informality IndexThe Informality index tells you how informal your text is. Informal writing sounds a lot like how we speak. It’s relaxed and colloquial. You address the reader in a casual way. For example, marketing text for a hip product would probably be informal. On the formal end of the spectrum, you'd find legal papers or official government documents. If you use more verbs and pronouns and fewer nouns and adjectives, Acrolinx tends to score content as informal. Acrolinx also looks at specific expressions. For example, Latin expressions come across as formal, while slang is informal. An occasional sentence fragment will raise your Informality index. The index ranges between 0 and 100. You can interpret the values as follows:
Liveliness IndexThe Liveliness index tells you how lively your text is. Lively text is exciting and compelling. It engages the reader. How lively you want your writing to be comes down to how you want your audience to see you. You might aim for a very lively blog post about a new and exciting topic. But lively texts can be inappropriate depending on the text type! If your content includes a lot of questions, exclamations, and quotations, Acrolinx tends to score it as lively. Addressing the reader also lifts the index, as does referring to yourself. Your Liveliness index will drop if you use passive tense or certain dull expressions. The index ranges between 0 and 100. You can interpret the values as follows:
Flesch Reading EaseFlesch Reading Ease is a classic readability metric. It’s probably the most commonly cited and used of all of them. It’s based on the sentence length (number of words per sentence) and the number of syllables per word. The scores are generally between 0 and 100. You can interpret the values as follows. See also: Flesch, Rudolf. "How to Write Plain English". University of Canterbury.
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Document Information |
This section displays information about the checked document, including:
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This section displays information about the checked document, including:
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Administrative Information |
Information about the configuration that Acrolinx used for the check. For example, this section displays the Content Profile and the Acrolinx Platform and integration versions. |
Information about the configuration that Acrolinx used for the check. For example, this section displays information about who ran the check and the Acrolinx Platform and integration versions. |
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Checking Information |
Doesn’t exist if you have Targets enabled. You'll find the information about the Acrolinx check under Administrative Information. |
Information about the check. For example, this section displays the language of the document, and the writing guide and term sets that Acrolinx used for the check. |
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Get an overview of all the issues Acrolinx found for the goals you've checked for.
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Section |
Description |
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Clarity Consistency Correctness Inclusive Language Scannability Tone |
Acrolinx groups the issues for each goal by guideline. In each goal section, you can order the issues listed by Guideline or Occurrence. By default, the results are sorted by occurrence. The most frequent issues appear first in the list. For example, if the Correctness issue "papeya" occurs several times throughout your content, all the sentences with this issue will be grouped under the header "papeya". |
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Words and Phrases |
You can order terms by Term or Occurrence. By default, Acrolinx lists terms in the order in which they occur in your content. If you want to group the sentences where each terminology issue occurred into one section, you can order by terms. For example, if the deprecated term "use" occurs several times throughout your content, you'll see all the sentences that include it in one group. You can switch between deprecated and admitted terms. |
Get an overview of the issue types Acrolinx found when checking with the selected Guidance Profile.