diff --git a/etc/matlab/README.md b/etc/matlab/README.md
index 96bf0b77f3a5360bb21405d40f86f6b1fa57b9c8..814afc6aa225f4ad87c1162f02be0ecf4338af1a 100644
--- a/etc/matlab/README.md
+++ b/etc/matlab/README.md
@@ -7,13 +7,12 @@ All recent versions of Matlab include a Java runtime environment and it is there
 
 1. Matlab R2013B or higher (nshmp-haz targets Java 7; prior versions of Matlab use Java 6).
 2. A [build](/usgs/nshmp-haz/wiki/Building-&-Running) of nshmp-haz.
-3. nshmp-haz.jar on Matlab's classpath.
-4. Save a file with the name javaclasspath.txt to the Matlab preferences directory (as specified by the prefdir command) and with contents:
+3. nshmp-haz.jar on Matlab's classpath. Save a file with the name `javaclasspath.txt` to the Matlab preferences directory, as specified by the `prefdir` command, and with contents:
 
   ```
   <before>
   /path-to-repository/nshmp-haz/dist/nshmp-haz.jar
   ```
 
-**Note:** Although Java classes can be loaded dynamically when running a script, Matlab includes some outdated versions of 3rd party libraries required by nshmp-haz and it must therefore be loaded earlier.
+**Note:** Although Java classes can be loaded dynamically when running a script, Matlab includes outdated versions of some 3rd party libraries required by nshmp-haz and it must therefore be loaded earlier.