OK. My 2 cents.
It is very difficult to develop a framework that assesses the content of the essays. But I use several tools that have helped me structure content, smoothen transitions and improve readability.
Check the readability of your essays using MS word's Spelling & Grammar feature. Your Flesch reading ease index needs to be >40 atleast. The scale is severe on run-on sentences and verbosity. For reference purposes, flesch reading scale indexes for popular publications are
Harvard Law Review - 32
Harvard Business Review - 42
Reader's Digest - Mid 50's and above (This is my gold standard)
Your average insurance policy - 10
Although, the scale helps you evaluate readability it still does not tell you how to improve. To overcome this, I use the utility available at
https://www.online-utility.org/english/r ... mprove.jsp
The utility will not only tell you your index, but also help you focus on the 'guilty' sentences. For a section of this post, the utility gave me this result.
Flesch Reading Ease : 43.81
List of sentences which we suggest you should consider to rewrite to improve readability of the text :
For reference purposes, flesch reading scale indexes for popular publications are Harvard Law Review - 32 Harvard Business Review - 42 Reader's Digest - Mid 50's and above (This is my gold standard) Your average insurance policy - 10 Although, the scale helps you evaluate readability it still does not tell you how to improve.
But I use several tools that have helped me structure content, smooth transitions and improve readability.
It is very difficult to develop a framework that assesses the content of the essays.
I got a lot of value from this strategy. To help you understand its effectiveness, let me tell you that all of my HBS essays are atleast 25 words
under the limit and have a reading ease close to 45.
Reduce jargon and management speak using Bull Fighter. It integrates well with MS word and identifies high faluting BS words like saying "enterprise" for "company". You can get bull fighter at
https://www.fightthebull.com/bullfighter.asp.
For other helpful tips, refer to
https://www.fireandknowledge.org/archive ... ting-well/
Have fun!