There’s a growing understanding of the importance of using Plain English. It makes content more accessible and understandable to everyone. The basic principle of Plain English is to present information in a way that makes it easier for people to read and understand the first time they read it.
There are five things to focus on when using Plain English:
Consider your audience
The first step is to consider your audience:
- Who are they?
- What are their characteristics? Consider their literacy level, level of education, and so on.
- What information do they need to know?
Structure your content
Here are some tips for structuring your content to make it easier to understand:
- Organise your content logically
- Use headings and subheadings to section content
- Use transitional phrases to show you’re moving on to a new point
- Use lists and bullet points
Write simply and clearly
It doesn’t matter what you’re writing whether it’s a report, email or blog. Plain English benefits everyone. Hare the most important principles:
Be direct: Say what you need to say and keep it to the point.
Avoid complexity: There’s no need to use complicated terms when a simple one will do.
Be consistent: If you use a certain term to describe something, be consistent and keep using that same term.
Be thoughtful in your design
Think carefully about how to display content. Over-designing something can make it harder to easily pick out information. Here are some design elements to focus on:
- Use 1.5 line spacing
- Left-align all text
- Check the contrast of text and background colours is clear
- Use visual aids, such as tables, images, charts, when they help make the content easier to understand
Check is it readable
- Ask a colleague or someone you trust to check your work
- Use tools such as spell checkers or online grammar tools to check the content in terms of readability, fluency, and so on.
Learn more about using Plain English
Now you know the five steps to use Plain English, use them to make the writing process easier for you. Learn more with The Learning Rooms Plain English online course.
