Simple Measure of Gobbledegook (SMOG) calculator

Practitioners can use this calculator to check the readability level of their own documents or texts from a website etc.

It uses a version of the SMOG formula, which gives a score as a "readability level" rather than the American school grade level of the original SMOG test which was created by Harry McLaughlin in 1969.

Note: To obtain the most accurate score on longer documents use a sample of at least 100 words from three different places in your document.

To use the calculator...

• Select the text for which you want to calculate a readability level, and copy it.
• Paste the text into the text box above the "calculate SMOG" button
• Click on the "calculate SMOG" button. The text will then appear on the left, below the heading "text supplied", and the following information will be displayed:
  • SMOG readability score
  • total number of words in the text
  • total number of polysyllabic words (three syllables or more)
  • total number of sentences
• Click "clear text" to start again with a new text.

Note: for guidance in interpreting the readability score, download NIACE's free Readability leaflet: http://shop.niace.org.uk/readability.html