Federal Plain Language Guidelines



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Federal Plain Language Guidelines

March 2011


Revision 1, May 2011

Introduction

The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN) is a community of federal employees dedicated to the idea that citizens deserve clear communications from government. We first developed this document in the mid-90s. We continue to revise it every few years to provide updated advice on clear communication. We hope you find this document useful, and that it helps you improve your writing — and your agency’s writing — so your users can:

find what they need,

understand what they find; and

use what they find to meet their needs.

We’ve divided the document into five major topics, although many of the subtopics fit within more than one topic. We start with a discussion of your audience because you should think about them before you start to write your document or your web content. In fact, you should start to think about them before you start to plan. From there we move to organization, because developing a good organization is important during your planning stage. Next, we discuss writing principles, starting at the word level and moving up through paragraphs and sections. This is the most extensive topic. We follow principles of writing documents with principles of writing for the web. We conclude with a short discussion of testing techniques.

When we first wrote this document, we were primarily interested in regulations. We’ve broadened our coverage, but the document still bears the stamp of its origin. If you have a suggestion about something we should add to address other types of writing, or have a comment on this edition, contact us at www.plainlanguage.gov/contactus.cfm.



Revision 1 Changes


We have not made any substantive changes in revision 1. We fixed the footer, corrected a few misspelled words, and modified our choice of words to be more concise. We made the formatting more consistent in Section V – Test. We added a few more references to outside publications. And, we changed the file name of this document to make it more descriptive and user-friendly.

Table of Contents



Revision 1 Changes
6

I. Think about your audience 9

a. Identify and write for your audience 10

b. Address separate audiences separately 11

II. Organize 12

a. Organize to meet your readers’ needs 13

b. Address one person, not a group 16

c. Use lots of useful headings 17

d. Write short sections 20

III. Write your document 22

a. Words 23

1. Verbs 24

i. Use active voice 25

ii. Use the simplest form of a verb 27

iii. Avoid hidden verbs 28

iv. Use “must” to indicate requirements 30

v. Use contractions when appropriate 32

2. Nouns and pronouns 33

i. Don’t turn verbs into nouns 34

ii. Use pronouns to speak directly to readers 35

iii. Minimize abbreviations 39

3. Other word issues 41

i. Use short, simple words 42

ii. Omit unnecessary words 43

iii. Dealing with definitions 46

iv. Use the same term consistently for a specific thought or object 49

v. Avoid legal, foreign, and technical jargon 50

vi. Don’t use slashes 52

b. Sentences 53

1. Write short sentences 54

2. Keep subject, verb, and object close together 56

3. Avoid double negatives and exceptions to exceptions 58

4. Place the main idea before exceptions and conditions 60

5. Place words carefully 64

c. Paragraphs 66

1. Have a topic sentence 67

2. Use transition words 68

3. Write short paragraphs 69

4. Cover only one topic in each paragraph 71

d. Other aids to clarity 72

1. Use examples 73

2. Use lists 74

3. Use tables to make complex material easier to understand 77

4. Consider using illustrations 80

5. Use emphasis to highlight important concepts 85

6. Minimize cross-references 86

7. Design your document for easy reading 90

IV. Write for the web 91

a. How do people use the web? 92

b. Write for your users 94

c. Identify your users and their top tasks 95

d. Write web content 96

e. Repurpose print material for the web 97

f. Avoid PDF overload 98

g. Use plain-language techniques on the web 99

h. Avoid meaningless formal language 100

i. Write effective links 101

V. Test 102

a. Paraphrase Testing 103

b. Usability Testing 104

c. Controlled Comparative Studies 107

d. Testing Successes 109

1. Paraphrase Testing from the Veterans Benefits Administration 110

2. Usability Testing from the National Cancer Institute


112




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