Effects of Line Length and Paragraph Denotation on Retrieval of Information

Abstract

Grade-school children read either two-column (each column 20 ems) of a single-column (42 ems) of text in one of four ways that indicated new paragraphs. Students were assigned to find missing words to measure the readability of the various systems. The results suggest that a two-column layout with traditional paragraphing denotation is preferable to a single-column in terms of cost-effectiveness; however, an extreme line-length does not place an undue strain on the reader.