By Dana P Skopal, PhD

Many people would have heard of the term ‘plain English’ or ‘plain language’. Plain English is not easy to define, especially if you are writing for a broad audience. In Australia, the Law Reform Commission of Victoria in 1990 defined plain English as ordinary English that was expressed clearly to convey a message simply and effectively. If you are writing for the public or a diverse group of employees, how simple does the message need to be so that the message is effective and understood by all?
We all write for a reader or a range of readers, but do we really understand our readers’ needs? In business or government, each document has a purpose, yet often the reader has difficulty understanding the key message. If a document has a purpose such as setting out safety procedures a reader needs to be able to understand and follow those procedures. In our research it became evident that many readers have problems finding the main points, which, in turn, reduces their understanding and can limit how they use the information.
We are currently judging for the New Zealand Plain English Awards. These annual awards are a great way for organisations and the public to see what documents meet their objectives. One key criteria when judging is to see if the document is ‘fit for purpose’ and if the information can be used by the intended audience. Perhaps this approach of ‘fit for purpose’ is a better way of looking at plain English than writing in a ‘simple’ way to convey a message.
For a document to be suitable for its audience, the plain English criteria are more than checking sentence length and use of active voice. Readers also use the layout of the text and headings to guide them through the information, and a writer needs to set these features according their readers’ needs.
The principles of plain English are a good starting point for writing, but a writer also needs to plan and structure the information so that a reader can use that information. So plan, write, review and edit so that your document is fit for the readers’ purpose. If you have time to test your text with users, then you can see what works with your document and what doesn’t. More about usability testing next time.

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