- 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? (4 Marks)
Plain English writing is clear, concise, and correct.[1] It is basically a form of writing that will help readers understand your message in a quick way.[2] In order to choose the right way to write in plain language, you have to understand exactly who your audience is so you can write directly to them in a way they will understand the most. The idea of plain language is to make it easier for your audience to understand everything you have to say without any confusion. We have to remember the five guidelines that make up plain language. This is writing for our audience, organizing your information logically, writing for the purpose of action, keeping the text short and concise, and designing for easy reading.[3] By following these guidelines, we are writing in a way that people will be able to understand in the best ways possible. We want to speak directly to our audience by using “you”[4] and being able to relate to them, as well as using everyday words that people are used to seeing and understanding.[5]Keeping the content and writing organized is extremely important because people don’t want to read something that is out of order or confusing to pick up on[6]. This becomes annoying to them and takes up their time, causing them to lose interest in what they are reading because the writer of the content is all over the place. Write with action because that’s a way people understand how to do something. It feels like steps they should be completed when there are action verbs being used. Also, having a positive tone will keep readers engaged.[7] Keeping all your content short enough to have all the important information inside and not giving your reader a novel to read is going to help you keep their attention for longer because you will be writing in sentences and shorter paragraphs.[8] Making your writing designed for reading is another way you can ensure that people will understand and taking in the most important parts. We know that people read in an F shape pattern which is how the content should be written in order for them to gain the most valuable information. Using lists and clear text will make the readers lives so much easier and keep them engaged for longer.[9] This is basically what plain language is, it is all about making the choices in wording and the design of your content to make it as easy as possible for your audience to understand. Your audience shouldn’t leave after reading your content confused about something because everything should be written straight forward and clear.
b) What makes plain English writing different? (4 Marks)
Plain English writing is different in the way it is designed to make reading so much easier for people even though reading should just be done in one way technically. People who are reading content online obviously know how to read, but people are lazy in the way they choose to read things online. This is where plain language is considered different because people who write content understand that the readers aren’t wanting to read everything on the page, they are looking for the most important information that will satisfy their needs and questions they are looking for. Writing in plain language helps readers be able to understand the content on the page even better in a way that is clear and concise. Writers want to use this form of language because it creates a better chance at people clicking and staying on their site because all of the information is written out in a way that they understand the most. Plain language is different because the writers of the content need to know exactly who their audience is, and they shouldn’t just be writing to the general population because then their plain language is no longer effective. Understanding the audience is key for plain language to be useful which is why it is going to be different than regular forms of writing. Plain language prioritizes much more accessible and clear forms of content in ways that use everyday language, clear formatting and organization structures and shortened sentences and paragraphs.
c) What is plain language writing for the web and in detail and in your own words, why is it important? (4 Marks)
Plain language writing for the web is again still writing your content in a way that speaks to your audience and is easy for them to understand and see your message without getting lost in any extra words and terms that may confuse them. On the web, we are writing with strict guidelines that will make the most sense in the reader’s eyes. As I said above, we need to consider writing for our audience, organizing the information logically, writing with action, keeping the text short and concise, and designing for easy reading. We want to do this because people spend 15 seconds or less deciding whether they should engage with a page or not.[10] Writing on the web needs to make sure the information is written in a logical order and not all over the place. Readers don’t want to come to a website and have no idea where to start or where to find the information they are looking for because these are all ways we lose them and they choose to go to another site. Keeping the text short and concise will allow the content on the website to be more understandable and easier for people to read. We don’t want blocks of words on a page because that is not easy to read. People going on your website want to see separated sections of content not everything bunched together like one really long paragraph. The shorter and fewer words possible is going to be the best option. For the web it is important that we make the content good for SEO purposes as well. Using keywords and phrases as well as providing clear headlines to capture their attention, is going to be useful for the success of your website in the search engines.[11] This is all important because if web content isn’t being written in plain language, readers aren’t going to be able to understand in the way that they want to be able to. If they don’t understand, they are going to leave the site and move on to a different one. This will end up costing the website money in the future. They are losing out on potential sales, being ranked higher in the search engines, they will lose their visibility and importance.
[1] (Briscoe, W8 - A - Plain Language Writing (W25).pdf, Slide 3)
[2] (Briscoe, W8 - A - Plain Language Writing (W25).pdf, Slide 6)
[3] (Briscoe, W8 - A - Plain Language Writing (W25).pdf, Slide 39)
[4] (Briscoe, W8 - A - Plain Language Writing (W25).pdf, Slide 44)
[5] (Briscoe, W8 - A - Plain Language Writing (W25).pdf, Slide 42)
[6] (Briscoe, W8 - A - Plain Language Writing (W25).pdf, Slide 46)
[7] (Briscoe, W8 - A - Plain Language Writing (W25).pdf, Slide 51)
[8] (Briscoe, W8 - A - Plain Language Writing (W25).pdf, Slide 53)
[9] (Briscoe, W8 - A - Plain Language Writing (W25).pdf, Slide 57)
[10] (Briscoe, W8 - A – Writing Website Copy & Plain Language Writing (W25).pdf, Slide 3)
[11] (Briscoe, W8 - A – Writing Website Copy & Plain Language Writing (W25).pdf, Slide 26)