Plain language for academic & professional writing
Plain language principles are useful for professional and academic writing. Learn how to use plain language to communicate effectively.
The real cost of not using clear language
Advice for convincing your place of work that writing in clearer language would be beneficial. Use the results of powerful research to help persuade and influence.
Plain language and word choice
How to write plain language effectively
Love these short slides by June C, a content design consultant at SPARCK. While I love a comprehensive online course, you can't beat a few good ideas on a handful of screens to get a message across.
Quick and useful explanation of the active voice
Here is a smashing and very short post on LinkedIn by Hannah Collins, content design lead at Today. Some people find it tricky to spot the difference between the active and passive voice, so I am very much into this kind of concise overview.
The case for jargon
I like this piece by content designer, Amy Hupe, because it acknowledges the nuances of language and even plain English. Yes, in most cases, jargon should be avoided. But jargon can empower people and communities too.
UX writing: making our microcopy clear, concise and useful
Miles Taylor, now at Torchbox, wrote this while at University of Bristol. It comes from having pulled a load of information together to try and explain the benefits of UX writing and clear content to internal project teams. This is a job that often seems to fall to us content folk. Plain language? Explain yourself!
How to Write in Plain English (With Examples)
Another concise guide to writing in plain English, this time from Proofed. This one includes examples, which always helps when trying to understand some of the core principles of writing clearly.
The Ultimate Guide to Grammar
Grammarly is a useful tool that checks your writing for bad spells and stuff. But the company blog is also a content treasure trove of handy information, including this giant guide to pretty much every word-related term or phrase you can think of. Punctuation. Syntax. It's got the lot.
5 easy ways to shorten your sentences
When I run plain English workshops, people often find it more difficult to shorten sentences than they first expect. There's a real knack to it. It takes practice. But the tips in this Outwrite blog post will help you get started.
Making the case for clear language
This is super stuff from Nia Campbell at Content Design London. It's full of useful distinctions and information and a follow up to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) launching its first plain language standard.
The bit about whether we should use the term 'plain' or 'clear' language caught my eye! I fussed for ages over whether I should call this newsletter Clear Language Weekly. In the end, I went for Plain English Weekly instead because I felt it was the more recognised phrase. People know it as a thing.
But as you may have spotted, I do generally prefer 'clear language' when I talk about the practical act of – you know – writing clearly.
Passive Voice: When to Avoid It and When to Use It
If you can easily spot the passive voice, you're in a pretty good position to make a decision about whether it should be active instead. In most cases, active is your best option. But not always, as this Grammarly blog post points out.
Plain Language Is for Everyone, Even Experts
One web page (and associated video) full of useful advice, information and practical things you can do to improve your writing. The thrust of the piece shows why the people who might typically argue against clear language are, in fact, wrong. You can use this to persuade the doubters you find in your own work.
How to improve your writing with plain English
An absolutely smashing guide from the team at Scope, who do a brilliant job of creating accessible content. The principles here are all great and repeat much of the advice in the free guide from the Plain English Campaign. But it's the section on who plain English benefits that I really recommend.
The Handy List of Human Words
This is a great list of complex words with some suggestions for more human – clearer – alternatives. It was put together by Deanna Horton, a content designer currently at Shopify.
10 principles of writing to help you write in plain English
A few years ago, Gather Content asked me to write an article for them that outlined some of the principles of plain English. In general, I always think it's a good idea to start with principles when you're learning something new. Get the essentials down and then go from there.
How to write in plain English
This is the magic web page I've referred to and shared with others for many years. It's a short overview of plain English from the Plain English Campaign. These are the basics and a great place to start for most people.