Plain Language
Resource Library
How and why we overcomplicate our writing
Plain language at-a-glance guides
Magic emails
Planning and filtering tools
Legal language
Visual tools for text documentation
Miraka’s infographics and slideshows
Academic papers on plain language – with summaries (of course!)
Academics judge plain-language versions of papers as higher quality. They are more likely to accept them for a conference. They believe those papers have a better chance of being accepted at a good journal.
— Published in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2024
The Secret of Impressive Writing? Keep it plain and Simple
Writers who use long words needlessly and choose complicated font styles are seen as less intelligent than those who stick with basic vocabulary and plain text.
— Published in Applied Cognitive Psychology
If it’s hard to read, it’s hard to do
Processing fluency affects effort prediction and motivation.
— Published in Psychological Science
Plain language in the US gains momentum: 1940 - 2015
Plain-language practitioners expanded their concerns from how people understand the content — to the usability and accessibility of the content — to whether people trust the content.
— Published in IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 60(4):343–383
Words count: The empirical relationship between brief writing and summary judgment success
Brief readability is significantly correlated to summary judgment success, but that correlation is stronger in federal than in state courts.
— Published in The Journal of the Legal Writing Institute
TED talks on plain language
Deborah Bosley: Demand to Understand: How Plain Language Makes Life Simpler – TEDxCharlotte (in English)
Sandra Fisher Martins: The right to understand – TEDxO’Porto (in Portuguese with English subtitles)
Gergely Vera: Jogod van érteni – TEDxDanubia (in Hungarian with English subtitles)
Shelly Davies: Write like a Reader – TEDxTauranga (in English)
Cristina Carretero González: Hablando Más Claro – TEDxAlcoi (in Spanish)
Alan Siegel: Let’s simplify legal jargon! – TED2010 (in English, with subtitles in 34 languages)
Useful sites and links
Plain English Campaign - based in the UK
plainlanguage.gov - based in the USA
the SEC’s plain language handbook for writing disclosure documents
We’re in the middle of updating the bottom part of this page to make it more useful. Sorry if it’s a bit confusing to get around at the moment - it will be gorgeous soon!
Tips for plain language
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Find out why words, structure, and design are the triple creators of clarity - and get an easy ‘how to’.
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Do you waffle? Here’s how to slash through your waffle with lightning clarity and keep only the powerful word
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We ALL write jargon. This tip helps us root out the inevitable!
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Why do we write jargon? Why does it keep coming back? Here’s why, and what we can do about it.
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Challenging yourself to be creative with words is fantastic - when you’re writing poetry. Here’s why, in business, it’s a better idea to stick to familiar words.
Tips for planning your writing
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A clear goal is everything. So if your goal in writing is ‘They’ll be informed’, you need to dig deeper. Here’s how.
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Readers have questions. Answer them up front to hook your reader. What are your readers’ first three questions? Read on!
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If you’re writing to discover what you think about your topic, you’ll write waaaay too much. Here’s one simple question to help you discover what you think.
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Sounds obvious, right? But we don’t always do it. Here’s why we don’t ask directly, and why it’s a good idea to push through the discomfort.
Tips for writing
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No surprises here - shorter is usually sweeter. Here’s a question to help you cut out the unnecessary.
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Don’t destroy your sentences while trying to make them short. Here’s a way to know if you’ve gone too far.
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Are you keen to take an audience-based approach to using te reo Māori in your English writing? Here you go…
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The subject line or title is your big chance to hook your reader! Here’s how to make the most of it.
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Have a tricky concept to get across? Here’s how to do it respectfully and effectively.
Tips for formatting
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People adore visual variety. Here’s how to make your writing visually interesting.
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You can paragraph it, or you can list it. Why are lists a great option? And how can you overdo them?
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Find out how to release your hidden lists to create more visual variety in your writing.
Tips for reviewing
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