levels of indention and word lists in exercises

[rsherwood12]

Hello and Happy September,

I have a reading textbook with some exercise material for which I can't quite figure out which formats to apply. I have attached three sample pages.

On the first page there is a number with a paragraph. Should this entire paragraph and its attribution be displayed with an adjusted left margin of 5 and blank lines above and below it?

On the second page there are lettered directions and numbered questions. Each question has a set of specific ideas (like a word list) and a space to write in the general idea. Should "Specific ideas: ..." and "General idea" be considered subitems to the question number, making this an exercise with three levels of indentions?

B. The following items ... (1-7)
11. (3-7)
Specific ideas: beef veal pork (5-7)
General idea: (5-7)

Page three has something similar with lettered directions with multiple paragraphs, and then a word/phrase list for each question.

I am concerned about the spacing of the specific ideas because some of them are phrases and separated by wide spaces, which seem important to help the reader separate the ideas properly. Is there a format for a word/phrase list within an exercise question?

Many thanks,
Rebecca

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[joannavenneri]

There are certainly several different print layouts used here and so there will have to be some different braille formatting for each of there. I don’t see any way that the braille formatting can be the same for all of them.

I’ve seen a similar layout in standardized tests.

I would have the paragraph number by itself in 1-5 (Of course it’s too short for a runover, but that’s what the runover would be if one were needed.)

Blank line and then the displayed paragraph, which is 7-5 for this indented paragraph. (Displayed material in exercises in cell 5.)

See Formats 9.4.1 for the attribution, which is 5 cells to the right of the previous line. Be brave and block that in cell 10.

Answer choices follow in 3-5 after a blank line.

Next is B and C and the general and specific ideas. These are elaborate answer choices and answer choices are listed vertically. It’s especially important for the braille reader to be able to easily distinuguish and word PAIRS from single words. This is easily done visually, but in braille, not so much. I think that is what you were asking about. Vertical listing should address the spacing of words and word pairs.

B. The following items are made up of .... MAIN ENTRY 1-9
11. 3-9 by itself. These numbered items have have two levels (specific and general) in the same item, so each level must be broken out.
Specific ideas: 5-9
beef 7-9
veal 7-9
pork 7-9
General ideas: 5-9
Printed blank lines are omitted.

Note what happens with the word pairs in C.

C. For each, 1-9
16. 3-9
General ideas: 5-9
allergy symptoms 7-9
Specific ideas: 5-9
runny nose: 7-9

Omit all those print lines to write on. They are not in the middle of a sentence and the text tells the reader what to do and how many answers to give.

This will be relatively painless because most of these are not long enough to have an actual runover except in the first paragraph, but remember that braille readers find the runover position helpful in determining what to expect in the text that follows. It tells them exactly how many levels to anticipate. And the progressive indention and vertical listing provides additional clarity.

That last B. Just maintain the nexted list format.

B. in each pair, one idea 1-9
• Cirle the idea ... and DON’T FORGET THE BULLET. 3-9
• Then write one more ... 3-9
5-6. 5-9 by itself
light bulb 7-9
lamp 7-9

--Joanna

[joannavenneri]

Thanks, Joanna.

I forgot to ask about numbered/lettered directions. I was unsure if 10.3.3 applied to all numbered/lettered directions. Based on your response, it appears that the runover for numbered/lettered directions will be determined by the furthest level of indention for the subitems. Is that right?

Also, can you explain why the bulleted items in the last exercise are treated as subitems and not additional paragraphs for the directions? What would be an example of "additional paragraphs"?

Best,
Rebecca

[rsherwood12]

I was wondering about those directions. But since they weren't included, I couldn't speak to them. Numbered/lettered directions will be the main entry,which adds an additional level to the total, so that changes everything. As I said, I couldn't show that because it wasn't included in the samples I had.

There is nothing else to do with those bulleted items except to treat them as subitems. The additional paragraph provision applies only with UNNUMBERED directions, and these items are part of B above it, which is a lettered direction. See Formats 10.3.2.

--Joanna

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