We spoke about Plain English writing in class. Please answer the following in detail:
a. How would you explain to someone what “Plain English writing” is? (3 Marks)
in a way that is easily digestible to as many users as possible. Akin to explaining to someone a new concept to someone unfamiliar with that topic. It is about removing “jargon” they won’t understand, and keeping paragraphs and sentences short. Essentially, it is about having enough clarity and good readability so that as many people can quickly graph and understand the message you’re trying to say.
The reason why it is used is because it helps people understand what you’re trying to convey quickly. This is especially important in real-world applications. For example, when writing an email you have to CC everyone on a team, create updated release notes, and implement new policies. These examples typically contain large amounts of information and text, so utilizing plain English writing here will allow people more easily digest the information such as by condensing the amount of text.
The goal of plain English writing is as mentioned previously, to allow users to easily graph your written content. This is done in many ways beyond shortened sentences and paragraphs. Ways that it is achieved by simple everyday words, removing unnecessary jargon, and organizing information logically.
With all this in mind, it is key to know what plain language is because we live in a world where communication digitally and physically is important. Therefore, writing in a language that is easily accessible will ensure that whatever you’re trying to convey to your audience isn’t misunderstood.
b. What makes plain English writing different? (4 Marks)
Plain language writing is different because it emphasizes clear, concise, and correct writing.
Writing that is clear means that users will easily find the information they’re looking for. A reason to do that is so disengaged from the content. As discussed in class, first impressions matter so writing in a way that the user will easily find what they’re looking for will encourage the content being sharedable and potentially further read the content.
Being concise when writing content means that they will understand what you’re writing. This means ensuring the point you’re trying to tell the users is told without any jargon. This could mean keeping paragraphs and sentences short. The purpose of doing this is to allow the user to fully grasp what you’re trying to say. As stated before, first impressions are limited, so writing in a way that they will understand your content, mitigates the chances of them bouncing away from your content.
Lastly, writing in plain language means that the writing is correct which will allow users to use it to fulfill their purposes. While it is imperative to write content that is accurate and ideally with limited grammar mistakes, writing correctly in plain language is guiding them where they want to go or know. This entails understanding what your audience already knows and filling in the gaps that they don’t know. As mentioned in class, many people will come across your content, such as sophisticated people, or people with literacy difficulties. Therefore knowing what they know and don’t know will be the key to keeping their attention to your content.
c. What is plain language writing for the web and in detail and in your own words, why is it important? (4 Marks)
Plain English writing for the web is important because it is in everything that we do on the web. Whether it be for the blogs we create, website landing pages, or even in team communication. The last thing you want to do is have people misunderstand what you’re trying to convey and writing in plain language will alleviate that issue. By using plain language, the messages that we want to convey will be more accessible and easily understood by as many people as possible. Plain language writing for the web is done in a couple of ways.
Firstly, plain English writing is about writing with a specific audience in mind. The purpose of this is to use words and phrases that they understand to help guide them in your content. By speaking directly to your audience, it makes them feel appreciated and will be more inclined to further read your content. For example, if you’re a software programmer writing to other programmers, you would want to use terminology related to that field to quickly convey your message. Such as API (Application Programming Interface) or Front-End programming. By doing this, it allows the audience to feel appreciated and be more engaged with your content.
Secondly, plain language writing for the web is about organizing information logically. What this means is rearranging the content that will make it make sense to the reader and overall enhance readability. An example of this in class is, as mentioned in class discussions, that requirements, prompts, warnings, notes and anything else that someone needs to complete an action correctly must come before the action, field or instruction, not after it. To illustrate, when creating digital content, you’re not going to implement a payment field first at the top before giving an explanation and purpose as this immediately turns people away.
Thirdly, plain English writing for the web is about writing for action. Writing for detail in plain language is using action words to motivate the reader to do what you’re telling them to do. A reason to do this is because as discussed in class, readers appreciate clear instructions online. When they do not know what to do, users will disengage with the content. Examples of action words include, Go, Put, and Follow. When using these words, it is clear what to do. “Go” here, “put”, “this” there, and “Follow” this.
Fourthly, it is condensing your message as concisely as possible. Essentially, this means as much as possible to avoid long walls of text. This can be done in a few ways such as using short sentences ideally within 15 – 20 words. Removing unnecessary words, and limiting a paragraph’s topic to one only. Doing this will improve the clarity and readability of your content. Not implementing this will have your audience easily confused about your content. First impressions matter and users don’t want to feel like they’re wasting time, so by writing in a way like this that emphasizes clarity and readability, they will be more inclined to read the content and take something away from it.
Lastly, writing in plain language for the web is designing the content for reading. This is important to consider because if your content is not easily navigable, they will leave your site and never come back. As discussed in class, After waiting 3 seconds, 57% of users will leave and 80% of users will never come back if they can’t find what they’re looking for. One of the main principles of plain language writing is having users be able to find what they’re looking for which this factor helps cover. One way to do this is by writing in F-Pattern. Users don’t meticulously read but rather quickly scan. As such, using titles and bullet points rather than paragraphs of info is ideal. Another way of designing plan language on the web is the use of images. As per class discussions, users will look at 100% of the visuals on the page, therefore, implementing the information in infographics rather than paragraphs is designed for the web.
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