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Plain Language: Creating Readable Documents
Heather Matsune (Language Update, Volume 4, Number 2, 2007, page 14) For language professionals, writing fluidly and flawlessly can be something of an effortless endeavour. There is a tendency, however, to write at too high a level for a non-specialized readership and to underestimate the importance of document design. The result can be an unreadable document. A readable document is one that you can read only once and right away understand every linguistic and typographical element. The concept of readability breaks down into two components: text readability (anything involving language) and visual readability (anything involving design).Text readability Simplicity is essential in all communication, especially with a broad target audience. Your readers won’t all have the same linguistic knowledge, so be sure to choose words and write sentences that are easy to read.Familiar words It’s best to use short, well-known words rather than long, complicated ones:later or next (instead of subsequently) ask (instead of enquire or inquire) help or aid (instead of render assistance to) Sometimes the most accurate word available can be confusing. You can usually solve that problem with a paraphrase: every three months (instead of quarterly) before tax (instead of gross) live together (instead of cohabitate)Concrete words Abstract words can be problematic because they evoke no obvious mental image, which means it takes a more in-depth analysis to understand them. Concrete words are always better, but they are not always possible. To get around this problem, illustrate abstract words with examples or analogies:One serving of fruits and vegetables is an amount the size of a tennis ball.By the same token, verbs are more concrete than nouns. Long strings of nouns make your sentences heavy and slow your readers down. Consider the following two sentences:The company plans to move ahead with the reduction of staffing levels, the evaluation of its managers and the setting up of a new training program. (25 words) The company plans to reduce staffing levels, evaluate its managers and set up a new training program. (17 words)Consistent vocabulary Using synonyms for key words can seriously hinder readability. For example, referring to a person as both a "claimant" and an "applicant" in the same document may confuse your readers and lead them to believe that the synonyms refer to different people.Short and logical sentences Writing long sentences—convoluted constructions strung together with commas and other punctuation—takes much less effort than reading them. Help your readers out by keeping your sentences short and simple.In English, sentences longer than 25 words are difficult to understand on first reading. And even the most seasoned readers will struggle to make sense of sentences longer than 30 words. So, aim for 15 to 20 words. Of course, that’s not a hard-and-fast rule: varying sentence length keeps a document from getting monotonous. To build short sentences and reduce the risk of mistakes in your mechanics, tackle one main idea per sentence. Also, try to write in the most logical order: subject, verb, object.Instead of this:The following are the requirements that employees must meet. (object, subject, verb)Write this:Employees must meet the following requirements. (subject, verb, object)Using active voice helps maintain the logic of a sentence, too. Unlike passive voice, which reverses the order of whatever is happening in the sentence, active voice puts things in a natural, logical order.Instead of this:Your file will be reviewed by the director in the coming weeks. (passive voice)Write this:The director will review your file in the coming weeks. (active voice)Clear sentences It is distracting and confusing when non-essential information separates a verb from its subject or object. Your sentences will be easier to follow if you keep the essential elements together.Instead of this:The minister, after a lengthy consultation process with the commissioner, decided to make some recommendations.The verb (decided) is separated from the subject (minister).Or this:The minister decided, after a lengthy consultation process with the commissioner, to make some recommendations.The verb (decided) is separated from the object (to make some recommendations).Write this:After a lengthy consultation process with the commissioner, the minister decided to make some recommendations.Visual readability Getting your message across depends on more than just word choice and sentence structure. Design your document well and you can make it even easier to read. Design it poorly and your readers may get confused or distracted, or they may not read it at all.Layout Most of us are taught to read from left to right and top to bottom. That’s how the brain has learned to process information. To maintain that linear flow when laying out your documents, place main headings at the top left of the page, and use subheadings, vertical lists and bullets. Move graphics to where they do not disrupt the text, and eliminate any other elements that may interrupt the flow. If you can lead the eye smoothly across and down the page, you will save your readers time and energy.White space White space is any part of a page that is unmarked. On most pages, white space exists in the margins, in the hard returns between paragraphs and at the end of lines of text. A well-designed document reserves upwards of 50% of each page for white space. This prevents the appearance of clutter and disorganization and breaks reading tasks down into manageable chunks. Reaching that percentage is not as difficult as it sounds: just by using the default margin settings in your word processor you create a frame of white space equal to approximately 42% of the page.Use left justification to build white space into your document. Consciously or not, your readers appreciate having a bit of a break at the end of those lines that do not stretch all the way to the right margin. However, it is acceptable for newspapers and other periodicals to use full justification to create uniform white space between their narrow columns of body text. Although this occasionally results in unnaturally wide gaps between characters and words, the predictability of the white space reduces the effort demanded of readers.Fonts In the past, the body of a printed document always took a serif font (e.g. Times New Roman, Garamond, Bookman Old Style) and headings and subheadings took a sans serif (e.g. Verdana, Arial, Tahoma). However, as electronic publishing has become progressively more prevalent, those conventions have become obsolete. Certain types of publications can take liberties with their font selection, but for most business writing, it’s still best to stick to the standards:Times New Roman for print materials Arial for print or Web materials Verdana for Web materialsAlso, choose a font size that meets the needs of your readers:10–12 for specialized readers 12 for general readers 14-16 for seniors and people with visual impairmentsDecorative fonts may be eye-catching, but they tend to distract your readers. For the same reason, italicized, underlined and bold text, as well as words in all upper-case characters, should be used sparingly. Avoid low-contrast formatting: black font on a white background gives you the highest contrast possible and looks clean and crisp.With thorough planning and revision, you can maximize text and visual readability. By applying this principle of plain language, you can help your readers understand your message quickly.Source: Favourite Articles (language professionals’ insights on English language issues)
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A Procedure for Self-Revision
Brian Mossop (Terminology Update, Volume 15, Number 3, 1982, page 6) Revision is an essential stage in the translation process, but it does not need to be done by a "reviser." While new translators should have their work revised by someone more experienced, once they have shown themselves capable of achieving a certain standard they can begin to perform the revision function themselves. But it is then no longer sufficient for them simply to "go over" the draft, in the way they did while working under a reviser. Instead, they must devise for themselves a definite self-revision procedure.It is perhaps true that revision by a second party—a "fresh eye" with no personal commitment to the draft—is somewhat more likely than self-revision to lead to the identification of problems in the draft. But revision by a second party is very time-consuming because the reviser must independently work out the overall argument and conceptual difficulties of the text. Much time will also be lost if the reviser does not distinguish necessary changes from changes that merely bring the draft into conformance with his or her personal style of writing, and the translator will waste time thinking about whether to translate in a certain way merely to please the reviser. These problems do not exist in self-revision, and the disadvantage of not having a second opinion can be overcome to some extent by the use of a method designed with this problem in mind.The purpose of revision is to increase translation quality, but it must be distinguished from the quality-control procedure used by some employers, translation schools and professional associations for purposes such as hiring, marking and admittance to membership. First, whereas quality control is a procedure for evaluating a completed translation, revision is an integral part of the translation process. This is especially true in self-revision, in that the translator can divide translation tasks in various ways between the drafting and revising stages. Second, the quality-control procedure for identifying problems may be very elaborate and time-consuming because the work of several different individuals has to be evaluated on a fairly objective and consistent basis, or because a translation organization wants a detailed analysis of the weaknesses and strengths of its product. Revision does not have such aims, and there is a more limited amount of time available—time during which problems must be not only identified but also resolved. The approach must therefore be more subjective and less detailed.The goal in revision is to determine the most important problems and resolve them. In other words, revision is not retranslation: if when revising you think that whole sentences of the draft need recomposing, then either you are seeking a degree of perfection impossible to achieve in the time available, or else there is a serious problem with the way the translation was originally drafted—something which cannot be remedied by revision.When revising a draft, the question to ask is not "Can this be improved?" (for any piece of writing can be improved with enough time and effort), but rather "What needs to be improved?"Remark aRevision is basically a type of editing. Webster’s New World Dictionary defines "revise" as ’read over carefully and correct, improve or update where necessary’ and "edit" as ’revise and make ready for publication.’ The editing of draft translations does not always include the whole process of "making ready for publication," and in the case of translation as opposed to other types of writing, "updating" is irrelevant and "correcting" includes the correction of mistranslations. But otherwise the revision stage of translation has the same purpose as any other editing procedure: to look at the draft as a composition, written in a particular language, that must conform to certain writing standards and be "receivable" by prospective readers.The need for revision of drafts arises from two aspects of the drafting process that make it difficult at that stage to see how the text will appear to prospective readers:(i) While drafting the translation, the translator moves through the text relatively slowly and composes only a small fraction of the English translation before turning back to the French original. This fraction may get longer as the translator becomes more experienced, and the translator may work more quickly, but it will still be difficult for most of us to fully grasp the overall flow of the English text while it is being composed.(ii)While drafting, the translator must inevitably read the French first (since no English as yet exists), with the result that the meaning is coming into the translator’s mind from the French text, whereas the prospective reader will have to get the meaning from the English text.The revision procedure which I will now outline is designed to deal with problems arising from these two aspects of the drafting process. It does so by focussing on the English text: is the translation a coherent and genuinely English composition, and does it convey the desired meaning on its own, without there being any need to refer to the French? What the procedure specifically avoids is any repetition of the drafting procedure: first looking at a sentence of French, then turning to the corresponding English. It thus allows the translator to take a fresh look at the English, seeing it differently from the way it was seen during drafting.As far as I know there is no generally recognized procedure for revising. What follows is simply an adaptation to self-revision of the procedure for revising others which I have worked out for my own use over the past several years. Other procedures suiting individual translators are of course possible, but I think they must all be designed to deal with the problems that I have just mentioned.Step 1 Read a couple of paragraphs of the English without looking at the French.Comparison of original and translation is a part of revision (see Step 2), but revision cannot be reduced to an exercise in text comparison. Only by reading the draft without looking at the French—reading it not as a translation but as English—is it possible to determine whether the draft is a coherent and truly English composition, and how it will impress its Anglophone readership.During such a reading, certain problems of language and style can be identified: incorrect spelling, grammar and punctuation (which includes underlining and paragraphing); poor English usage; wrong level of language; gallicisms; language unsuited to the genre; poor intersentence transitions; excess verbiage; wrong focussing; wrong pronoun references, and uneuphonic effects.Remark b In some cases, problems can be corrected as soon as they are found; in others, correction must await comparison with the French (in Step 2).Three examples will illustrate the value of reading the English without first looking at the French:(i) excess verbiageIf you have just read "les renseignements qui se trouvent à la page 17," you are less likely to notice that your draft translation "the information which is found on page 17" probably needs streamlining to "the information on page 17."(ii) language unsuited to genreIf you have just read "acidifier chaque prélèvement (1 goutte CIH concentré)" you are less likely to notice, especially if you are new to scientific translation, that "acidify each sample (with 1 drop concentrated CIH)" needs changing to "add 1 drop concentrated HCI to each sample."(iii) incorrect focussing, wrong paragraphing, and wrong pronoun referenceSuppose you have translated the following passage:"Depuis une dizaine d’années, on parle beaucoup, surtout en Scandinavie, de l’acidification des lacs. Certains spécialistes attribuent ce phénomène aux pluies acides, tandis que d’autres proposent des explications différentes.Pour éclaircir ce problème, à la demande des pays nordiques, une étude très importante a été entreprise dans le cadre de l’OCDE, par 14 pays de l’Europe de l’Ouest. L’évaluation des transferts a été réalisée au moyen de modèles numériques de transport basés sur la conservation de masse du SO2 à l’intérieur d’un certain volume d’air en tenant compte du temps de réaction du SO2 sur les autres polluants. Des modèles de type eulérien, puis lagrangien, ont été utilisés pendant plusieurs épisodes. [Ils nécessitent la connaissance de la hauteur de la couche de mélange; celle-ci a été évaluée par des mesures du SO2 et des sulfates par avion. Comme résultat de cet effort, on commence à avoir une idée assez bonne au sujet du transport du soufre fossile remis en circulation par l’activité humaine, cependant on a à peine progressé quant à la compréhension de la corrélation entre le soufre et l’acidité libre des pluies.De vastes programmes de recherches (MAP3S et SURE) ont été récemment lancés aussi aux états-Unis d’Amérique, à ce sujet.Le CO2 est une autre substance dont il est difficile de dire, s’il est un polluant ou non.] L’homme joue certainement un rôle dans la mobilisation du carbone fossile et dans sa présence accrue dans l’atmosphère. La circulation globale du CO2 est à peu près expliquée. Ce qui l’est moins, c’est son rôle dans le changement éventuel du climat…"And suppose your draft of the bracketed portion of the passage reads:"…To use these models, the height of the mixing layer must be known, and it was determined by measurements of SO2Sulfur dioxide and sulphates taken from a plane. This study has begun to give us a good idea of the extent of the transport of fossil sulphur put into circulation by human activity, but there has been little advance in our understanding of the relation between sulphur and free acids in rainfall.Large-scale research programs on this subject (MAP3S and SURE) have recently begun in the United States as well. It is also difficult to tell whether CO2 is or is not a pollutant…" If you are revising by going through the text making a sentence-by-sentence comparison with the French, and if you have just read the last French sentence in the bracketed passage, then the last sentence of the draft may appear to convey the right meaning. But in fact there is a problem. The sentence as it stands will normally be read with the following stress pattern: "It is also difficult to tell whether CO2 is or is not a pollutant." But this does not flow on coherently from what precedes. The argument is "as with SO2Sulfur dioxide (just discussed), so with CO2." To get this meaning, the "also" of the draft would have to be read as going with "CO2" only, not with the entire expression "difficult to tell whether CO2 is or is not a pollutant." To obtain this result, the sentence would have to be read: "It is also difficult to tell whether CO2 is or is not a pollutant." But that is not the stress pattern a first-time reader will use. The problem becomes apparent if the sentence is read not in isolation after a reading of the corresponding French, but immediately after reading the preceding English. (Possible revision: "Another substance which may or may not be a pollutant is CO2.")Besides revealing this focussing problem, independent reading of the above draft brings out the need for reparagraphing. A new paragraph should be opened at the sentence beginning "This study. . . ." As the draft stands, the study in question appears to be the study of the mixing-layer height, whereas in fact the reference is to the OECD study as a whole. (The paragraph should perhaps begin "The OECD study…"). The one-sentence paragraph beginning "Large-scale research programs…" should be made into the second sentence of the preceding (newly-created) paragraph.Finally, continuous reading of the English reveals a problem of pronoun reference. The expression "on this subject" in the one-sentence paragraph could be interpreted as referring only to the "relation between sulphur and free acids in rainfall," a restriction which may not be intended. While the need for change here can be identified during Step 1, correction must await comparison with the French in Step 2, at which time the meaning of "à ce sujet" is checked. (Solution: delete "on this subject," to allow for both the restricted and more general interpretation of the topic of the "large-scale research projects.")There is one type of problem which is not a matter of language or style but can nevertheless be both identified and corrected during Step 1. Since attention is focussed on the prospective readers rather than on the original author during this step, it may be apparent that certain things in the draft are unsuitable for the particular readership of the specific translation at hand. For instance, if you have just read, in a meteorology text written in France, that "la Météorologie nationale accomplit deux tâches principales," you will be under the influence of the French and therefore less likely to realize that your translation "the national weather service performs two main tasks" may not be suitable for Canadian readers: it may be necessary to write "the French national weather service."Step 2 Read a sentence or so of the English, then look at the French and compare.This is the test-comparison procedure, where omissions and mistranslations are identified in the chunk of the draft which has just gone through Step 1.Judgments about the quality of the draft of a given sentence or expression can now be made in the light of the overall meaning of the paragraphs considered during Step 1 (the most common source of error in drafting is insufficient attention to context).During comparison, the English is once again read first, so that the meaning comes from it, uninfluenced by any prior reading of the French.Problems which are solvable fairly quickly are corrected as they are found. In more difficult cases, place a question mark in the margin and circle the problematic expression in pencil, for resolution in Step 3. Note that the paragraphs under consideration may resolve problems that were left question-marked in an earlier chunk of the text: an earlier problematic term may now appear in a new and clarifying context, or a problematic concept may be repeated in clearer terms. These terminological and conceptual problems may be ones that were not noticed during drafting, or they may be ones which were deliberately left for resolution during revision (more on this below).Once sentence-by-sentence comparison is complete, Steps 1 and 2 are applied to the next chunk of text. Before proceeding, however, you may find it useful to reread the whole revised chunk. This does three things which you may not have dealt with during sentence-by-sentence comparison. (a) Verify that the revisions you have made fit into the flow of the text: no matter how good a revision looks by itself, it is not an improvement if it does not work in context. (b) Identify any language changes necessitated by a given revision: if in the sentence "The little enthusiasm and the lack of volunteers for an office baseball team are easily explained," the subject has been revised to "the lack of enthusiasm and volunteers," then "are" needs changing to "is." (c) Ensure a smooth transition to the next chunk, and terminological consistency within and between chunks.After the whole text has gone through Steps 1 and 2, it may be of value (especially with long texts) to list, page-by-page on a separate sheet of paper, all the matters that have been question-marked in pencil during Step 2. This can be useful in ensuring that a problem on page 9 of the text and a similar one on page 39 are solved consistently. It can also facilitate discussion of problems when consulting the author or another resource person over the telephone. Finally, it can help organize the final resolution of problems in Step 3.Step 3 For each unresolved problem, decide the priority and appropriate strategy for its resolution.During both the drafting and revising stages of translation, it should be borne in mind that not all problems are of equal significance. It is especially important to be aware of this during the last step of revision, when final decisions must be made and time is of the essence. The translator should always be asking "What is important to my readers and what is not?"Some problematic concepts and terms are more central to a text than others, and should be accorded higher priority for resolution (see strategies A and B below). Generally speaking, concepts are more important than terms (see strategy C). And depending in part on the genre and the purpose of the translation (eg. whether it is to be published or not), language and style problems will vary in importance: well-crafted sentences may be very important in the translation of a speech for public distribution but they are not so important in the translation of an inter-office report to be read by five or six individuals. In a scientific text, even one that is to be published, do not waste time pondering linguistic trivia ("as regards," "in regard to" or "with regard to") when conceptual problems remain.There are six basic strategies for the final resolution of problems: (A) do more research (B) omit (C) invent an expression (D) fudge (E) place a question mark in the translation (F) correct the source-text author. Solutions C to F may call for a translator’s footnote, though footnotes should be avoided if possible.(A) Do more research.This is the most time-consuming strategy and is therefore applicable only to the central concepts and terms. The other strategies provide relatively speedy resolutions and are thus applicable to lower-priority problems, and in some cases to higher-priority problems where it appears that resolution by research would take an unacceptable length of time.(B) Omit.Where a concept is marginal or irrelevant to the subject of the text, and it is not clear how to express it in English, it can sometimes be omitted. For instance, I once translated a text on the causes of avalanches. The text began with a description of how the scientist arrived in a nice little Alpine village: the cattle were coming home and there were some pretty flowers growing in the meadows. The author then proceeded to name these flowers. At this point, I had left a blank space in my draft: as anyone who has translated biology texts will know, it can be extremely difficult to determine the right English common name of an animal or plant given only the French common name. Since this was not a biology text, however, I decided that the names of the flowers were irrelevant, and simply left them out. (Later, I deleted the whole passage about the village because its personal and anecdotal quality was foreign to comparable English scientific writing.)(C) Invent.If you have understood a concept in the French but cannot find the "official" English term, call a halt to your research and invent an English expression that conveys the idea. If you have found something which may be the English term, this could be added in a footnote.(D) Fudge.If it is not clear which of two possible meanings of an expression in the French text is correct, and there is an English wording which conveys both meanings, the problem can sometimes be left unresolved. Example: the deletion of the expression "on this subject" in the acid rain text discussed under Step 1. An alternative approach would be to express one possible meaning in the text and the other in a footnote.(E) Question mark.If you just do not understand an expression in the source text, do not pretend to have understood it. It is the mark of a professional to admit being stumped when she or he is stumped. Take a guess and enclose the expression in (?) question marks (?). A footnote may be added, giving a dictionary equivalent of the French (what some people call a literal translation) and perhaps an additional possible meaning. Question-marking is obviously undesirable in translations that are to be published.(F) Correct source text.An expression may be problematic because the author made a mistake. If you decide that this is indeed the case, simply correct the error in the translation (perhaps with a footnote explaining the original), or alternatively write [sic] in the text and add a footnote if necessary to explain the problem.Having now described the three steps in my revision procedure, I should point out, before concluding, that what the translator does during revision depends to some extent on what he or she did during drafting. There can be various divisions of tasks between the drafting and revising stages of translation. For instance, in my own drafting practice, I do not try to solve all the conceptual and terminological problems that I find. Instead, for reasons that would take too long to explain here, I use the revision stage to solve some of these problems. Also, I like to move fairly quickly through the original composing of sentences. This means not necessarily including every aspect of the meaning of the French text, and not stopping to think of the mot juste if it does not come to me immediately. Instead, I concentrate on getting a thoroughly English-sounding sentence down on paper. Then I use the revision stage to bring the English closer to the French than my original draft, to the extent time permits.Consider for example the following sentence from a Le Devoir editorial (Mar. 1/79): Il n’y a pas deux semaines, le même Globe and Mail pointait du doigt la presse francophone en lui reprochant d’avoir voilé les écarts de comportement du premier ministre québécois lors de la visite de M. Raymond Barre.The following draft is acceptable:Less than two weeks ago the Globe and Mail singled out the French-language press for not fully dealing with the Quebec premier’s bad behaviour during the visit by French prime minister Raymond Barre.But (as a reading of the original context would confirm) the draft can be brought closer to the French by changing "singled out" to "was pointing a finger at," "not fully dealing with" to "glossing over" and "bad" to "improper." Note, in passing, that the need to translate "M. Raymond Barre" as "French prime minister Raymond Barre" (for Anglophone readers who may not know or may have forgotten who Barre is) was noticed during drafting in this case. If it had not been noticed, the resulting problem could have been caught during Step 1 of revision.While many divisions of tasks between the two stages of translation are possible, I would counsel against any approach which leaves the elimination of Gallic syntax and style to the revision stage. My view is that once you have composed one of those awful sentences which are really French, but disguised in English words, it is very hard to get rid of them. You may not even notice them because, as their author, you have a certain personal commitment to them. Better to start with something thoroughly English, if slightly inaccurate, and then improve during revision.I have mentioned that tasks can be divided in such a way that a certain amount of "writing" is left to the revision stage; that is, certain problems are deliberately left unresolved during drafting. It is also the case that a certain amount of "editing" can be done during the drafting stage. Changes can be made in a drafted sentence just after it is written down. Indeed, we all probably do a certain amount of mental "editing" before we write down a first draft. And theoretically, I suppose there is no limit to this. That is, it is conceivable that some people might have the mental ability to carry out the whole revision procedure either in their heads before they have written anything down, or else just after they have composed the draft of a sentence. In this case, no distinct revision stage would be required. The translator would sense what the finished text would read like while composing it. But this ability, if it exists, is probably very rare. It would therefore not be wise to set as a goal the elimination of the revision stage. However, the amount of work required during revision can be reduced, with practice and by experimentation with various drafting procedures.RemarksRemark aOnly in "training revision" would a reviser ask the first question, with a view to showing new translators how she or he would have translated a given passage.Return to remark a referrerRemark bIn this article, my aim is to deal with the "how" of revision rather than the "what". For an interesting discussion (unfortunately without sufficient exemplification) of the types of problem one is trying to identify and resolve during revision, see Thaon and Horguelin, A Practical Guide to Bilingual Revision, Montreal, Linguatech, 1980.Return to remark b referrerSource: Favourite Articles (language professionals’ insights on English language issues)
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Plain Language: Making Your Message Intelligible
Heather Matsune (Language Update, Volume 4, Number 3, 2007, page 12) Our previous article dealt with readability—setting up the language and design of your document as a framework on which to build a clear message. With that framework in place, you can start filling in the content. If you aren’t careful, though, you may end up saying something you don’t mean. Or, rather, your readers may not interpret your message the way you intended. Avoiding that kind of ambiguity is not always easy: it takes planning and discipline to select relevant information, give it an appropriate structure and ensure the coherence of the whole. And that’s what gives your message meaning and makes it intelligible.RELEVANCE Consider your e-mail inbox: how likely would you be to open an e-mail with the subject line "Internal policy no. 102"? You might ignore it for a while, file it away or even delete it without reading it. But you wouldn’t hesitate to read that e-mail if you knew it was going to tell you what to do if you saw an unauthorized person in your office building. A more effective subject line might have been "Report trespassers in your building." As a reader, you would see right away that the information in that e-mail is relevant to you. As a writer, you need to put in the effort to make your documents just as relevant to all your readers.The information in your documents must be complete and concise. While you need to include all the necessary information, you also have to limit yourself to only the necessary information. Your message will be more easily understood if it provides the essentials with no filler. The relevance of your information also depends on its being thoroughly researched and factually correct, as well as adapted to your target readers. Bear in mind that you may need to update your documents occasionally to keep them complete and accurate.STRUCTURE Once you’re sure of your information, you can break it down and rearrange it until you find the most appropriate structure. As you work at this, focus on the message you want to convey, and try to organize your information to make that point obvious. Drawing up an outline before you start writing can keep you on track and will help you avoid leaving something out or being repetitive.Organizing your informationBring together all the information related to one idea, and then arrange that information in a logical order. If you do this for each of your main ideas, you can then organize the larger structure of your document. There are different ways to arrange those main ideas, including the following:moving from general to specific ideas (or vice versa) contrasting positive with negative elements presenting the most important ideas first followed by the less important ones progressing in chronological orderProviding reference pointsWrite an introduction for your document that sets out the main ideas in the order in which they will be developed. Then use headings to show precisely where those main ideas are addressed, as well as subheadings to give structure to those ideas. If your reference points are simple, concise and explicit, your readers will know what to expect. And if the words you pick for the headings and subheadings also appear in the body of the text, you will eliminate some guesswork for your readers.Try to choose the right structure for the different types of information you want to convey. Consider using step-by-step instructions, bulleted lists, tables and graphics, where appropriate. For long documents, include a table of contents. Anything you can do to make the reading task easier will make the message more intelligible.COHERENCE Coherence is fundamental to the intelligibility of a document: it helps you develop your ideas clearly by connecting them from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph. To tie the whole document together like this, you must make sure it flows naturally and is unambiguous.Creating a flowStructure and ideas guide readers visually and logically through a coherent document. Creating that flow helps you achieve the goal of your communication (to inform, convince, raise awareness, etc.), which is to say that it helps get the point of your document across.Using connecting words and phrases (because, however, in addition, etc.) is one way to reinforce the flow of your document. They are vital to good writing because they link parts of sentences, complete sentences or even whole paragraphs. Most of the time it is easier to understand a long sentence that contains a connector than two short sentences with no connector. Consider the following example:Claire is pregnant. She was fired. Claire was fired because she is pregnant.That said, there is such a thing as too many connectors: applied too liberally, they can weigh down your document and inhibit its coherence. In some cases, you may need to use a few sentences to make the transition from one idea to the next.Eliminating ambiguityAmbiguity makes your documents less coherent. To eliminate ambiguity, write so that each of your ideas can be interpreted in only one way.When your meaning cannot be understood from context alone, there are a number of ways to eliminate the ambiguity:Put your phrases in the right order.Instead of writingThere was an accident while the students were writing an exam on the lawn.WriteWhile the students were writing an exam, there was an accident on the lawn.Make sure that each pronoun refers to only one antecedent.In the following example, the personal pronoun "he" could refer to the ambassador or the minister:The ambassador is going to the ceremony to meet the minister. He has to return to his office at 9 o’clock.To clear up that ambiguity, you could have writtenThe ambassador is going to the ceremony to meet the minister, who has to return to his office at 9 o’clock.or The ambassador is going to the ceremony to meet the minister. The ambassador has to return to his office at 9 o’clock.Don’t let the object(s) in a sentence create ambiguity.It is unclear whether this example refers to the rules set out by the committee or the rules that the committee must follow:Are you familiar with the committee’s rules?Depending on which rules are in question, you could have writtenAre you familiar with the rules set by the committee?or Are you familiar with the rules the committee must follow?Make implied words explicit.Instead of writingI congratulated Raymond, but not Daniel.Write I congratulated Raymond, but I did not congratulate Daniel.or I congratulated Raymond, but Daniel did not.Unclear grammatical structure and implied words aren’t the only causes of ambiguity. Here are a few more things you can do to make reading your documents easier:Avoid using references that your readers won’t understand.Menu items often seem more appealing in the language of Molière.Reading the expression la langue de Molière in a French document would make perfect sense to francophone readers. But the concept may not translate as well into an English document for anglophone or allophone readers. In this case, it would be more straightforward, and less likely to cause confusion, to say "French" instead of "the language of Molière."Avoid using expressions that can evoke comical imagery or otherwise lead to confusion.Instead of writingCity officials gave the marathoners the runaround.Write City officials misinformed the marathoners.Intelligibility is a fairly broad topic, and we have only touched on the basics as they apply to plain language. Nonetheless, if you work at making your writing relevant, structured and coherent, you will more clearly communicate your ideas and thereby improve the intelligibility of your documents.Source: Favourite Articles (language professionals’ insights on English language issues)
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Plain Language: Breaking Down the Literacy Barrier
Heather Matsune (Language Update, Volume 4, Number 1, 2007, page 9) If a reader cannot understand a document, then the message of that document is not communicated. It’s a simple enough concept on the surface. And, on the surface, the right response is to write better. It is easy for language professionals to get caught up in wordsmithing. We can’t help it: it’s fun, and we’re good at it. Certainly, an elegantly turned and grammatically impeccable phrase is nothing to apologize for. But sometimes we expect our readers to have the same linguistic proficiency as we do, and sometimes we just forget who they are. Either way, if we’re not careful, we can hinder communication.Canadians want to be communicated with clearly and directly, and that is their right. What many writers do not recognize, however, is that the state of literacy in Canada is not what we would like to believe. According to the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS), 48% of the general population age 16 and over falls below the minimum level needed to function in society. That’s 12 million Canadian adults. When those low literacy levels meet with the complex administrative jargon and vague rationale typical of so many government documents, communication fails.Literacy defined Low literacy levels are among the greatest communication barriers for Canadians. Of course, there is more to literacy than knowing how to read and write. It has to do with how well people understand and can then use printed information at home, at work and in the community. And, by extension, it has to do with how well they can achieve their goals and develop their knowledge and potential.Because printed information comes in a variety of styles and can require a variety of skills, the IALSS broke down the umbrella term "literacy" into two categories:Prose literacyUnderstanding and using basic information in texts, such as news items, brochures and manualsDocument literacyLocating and using information in various formats, including application forms, maps and chartsLiteracy is measured in five levels:LevelIndividuals at this level1Are hard to reach with any kind of printExample of ability: reading information on pain-killer packaging2Can read, but not well Can deal only with text that is clear and simple Can handle only one task at a timeExample of ability: reading and filling out a job application for a fast-food restaurant3Read well, depending on context Need constant skill upgrading Are at the minimum level to function in societyExample of ability: reading and processing instructions in a manual4 and 5Can process complex materials that require specialized knowledgeLiteracy in CanadaAccording to the IALSS, many Canadians have trouble reading even the most basic type of texts. Close to half of adults come in below level 3, the minimum level, for prose literacy.Obviously, education is crucial in determining literacy skills. Prose literacy scores for youth and adults increase fairly consistently for each additional year of schooling completed. That said, while the link between education and literacy is strong, it is not absolute: some 20% of Canadian university graduates still rank at level 2, and approximately 2% fit the level 1 profile.Literacy is also affected when people communicate in a language other than their first. This is especially true in Canada, owing to its linguistic duality and openness to immigration.Occupation and age also influence literacy proficiency. In general, highly skilled professions correspond with high literacy, but as age increases, literacy tends to decrease. That may explain why approximately 82% of Canadians aged 66 and over are at levels 1 and 2. It does not, however, explain why approximately 38% of Canadians between age 16 and 25 are at the lower levels.The IALSS concluded that low literacy crosses all demographic groups. Given the high frequency of low literacy, it is both alarming and discouraging to learn that most government documents require literacy proficiency at level 3, 4 or 5. Millions of Canadians cannot understand what the government is trying to tell them, never mind what they are supposed to do with that information. Communication is failing. This is a problem.Plain language is the solution Plain language makes successful communication possible. Often misunderstood as a sort of linguistic dumbing down, plain language is really about putting the reader first. This does not mean adopting an overtly simplistic style, nor does it mean abandoning the conventions of language. What it does mean is putting together a message that the people you are writing for can easily read, understand and use. Appropriate vocabulary, user-friendly formatting and sound writing techniques are all musts for meeting readers’ needs, and content must be logical and concise.A document written in plain language makes information accessible to all your readers, no matter their literacy level, which makes it easier for them to do whatever it is they need to do. Whether addressing a nuclear physicist or an elementary school student, a message must be clear in order to be understood. Plain language becomes even more of a necessity when messages target people with low literacy. And although plain language may seem like a straightforward concept, words like remuneration, innocuous and quid pro quo still find their way into documents written for the general public. Given the IALSS statistics, it’s a safe bet that not all Canadians are familiar with such terms.Benefits of plain language There really is no downside to using plain language. Language professionals, the general public and the government would all benefit in different ways.Language professionals wouldwork more efficiently, more easily achieving their communication objectives increase their productivity, saving time and money be better understood by the general public, improving the quality of services offered to citizensThe general public wouldfind it easier to read, understand and use information be better equipped to exercise their rights and meet their obligations save time and money and be more satisfied with service qualityThe Government of Canada wouldbe better able to adapt its services to the needs and expectations of the general public reduce program costs and improve overall performance cut operating costsThe three fundamental traits of plain language This article has explained what plain language is and why it is important. Articles in the next three issues will address how to use it, based on the three fundamental traits of plain language: readability, intelligibility and usability. Here’s a preview of what you’ll find in the upcoming articles.Readability A readable text is one that a person can make sense of with minimal effort. Vocabulary, syntax and presentation are some of the elements that contribute to a document’s readability. Basically, readability focuses on the writing rather than the meaning.Intelligibility The principles of intelligibility are clarity, relevance, coherence and cohesion. Anything to do with the message of the text falls into this category, including content and organization.Usability Usability is closely related to effectiveness. While a document could be perfectly clear, it still might not be effective. Is the type of document appropriate for the readers? Are the tasks concrete, easy to do and broken down into steps? Those are just some of the questions writers need to ask to determine whether they have achieved their objective. After all, the true tests of successful communication are the action and its result.Language professionals need to recognize that readability, intelligibility and usability are closely related concepts and that there is more to good communication than words. Ultimately, the readers are the ones interpreting the message of a text and judging the writer’s work.Source: Favourite Articles (language professionals’ insights on English language issues)
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Clear and effective communication: Make your readers’ task easier
Emmanuelle Samson (Language Update, Volume 7, Number 1, 2010, page 40) As a writer, do you have any influence over the way your audience reads and interprets your texts? You may not think so, since every reader is different. But your readers do have one thing in common: they use cognitive strategies to make sense of what they read. Therefore, understanding the strategies involved in the reading process can be helpful.Researchers suggest various ways of dividing the reading process into stages. I have chosen to present a three-stage model: previewing, reading and post-reading.Previewing Even before beginning to read a text, readers glance over it to see what it is about and get an idea of the structure. They can then call to mind any knowledge already stored in their memory on this subject and begin to form theories about the information contained in the text.At this stage, readers focus on titles and headings, visual elements (images, tables, graphs, etc.) and elements that add emphasis (text boxes, bold font, etc.).The way your readers carry out this preview depends on their purpose in reading. For example, those who plan to read the text from beginning to end to get an in-depth knowledge of the subject will briefly assess the headings, visual elements and emphasis before starting the in-depth reading process. On the other hand, those who are hunting for a specific piece of information will spend more time looking at the headings and other elements and will read only the relevant sections of the text.TipsHere are some tips to help your readers preview the text:Use specific, meaningful titles and headings.For example, a vague title such as “Government to the rescue” doesn’t provide any concrete clues to the content of the text. And when there is no obvious link between the title and the subject matter, readers must generate an unnecessarily wide range of theories about the content. This process requires a substantial mental effort. In this case, a title like “Government unveils program to aid homeless” would provide readers with a clearer basis for theorizing about content. Make sure that your images, tables and graphs support the content of the text.To give your readers more guidance, title your tables and graphs and add a caption below pictures where necessary. Use text boxes and bold font to draw your readers’ attention to important information.However, while these elements can provide useful clues about subject matter, be careful: if you overuse them, they can create confusion. Keep in mind that your readers have different purposes in reading.Write for those who read every word and for those who don’t hesitate to skip lines or even entire paragraphs. You can serve the needs of both types of reader if you put the most important information up front, structure your text in a way that is logical and intuitive, and make good use of headings. In some cases, a question-and-answer format may prove effective.Reading Now that the reader has a general idea of the text, the actual reading process can begin. At this stage, a variety of strategies come into play: readers must decode and process information, while at the same time making links between ideas and comparing the information presented with what they already know. Let’s take a closer look at each of these activities.Decoding and processing information When they read a text, readers decode the information by focusing on groups of words and using syntactic cues (word order, punctuation, etc.) to assign meaning to these word groups. In this way, they pick out the important words in each sentence and are thus able to extract the main idea and retain it. They can then link this main idea to the main ideas in other sentences.Tip for ReadingUse a subject-verb-object order.Sentences that reverse the logical progression of an action require more effort to process. Consider the following example:The water that ecosystems recycle provides living organisms with nutrients and energy.The sentence below is far easier for readers to process:Ecosystems recycle water, which provides living organisms with nutrients and energy.Making links During the reading process, readers must also make links between clauses, sentences and paragraphs.Tip for Making linksCheck that pronouns, possessives and demonstratives have clear antecedents.Consider the following example:The union representative would have liked some insight into the thinking of the firm’s president. She had noticed that she did not share the position of the parent company, which could terminate its activities at any moment.In this passage, readers have to take time to think about the antecedent for each pronoun. True, they can figure it out. But if the passage were worded more clearly, readers would be able to give their full attention to the content of the sentences:The union representative would have liked some insight into the thinking of the firm’s president. She had noticed that the president did not share the position of the parent company, which could terminate the firm’s activities at any moment.Comparing information As they read, readers verify the accuracy of the theories they generated during the preview and compare the information presented in the text with their own prior knowledge. In the process, they arrive at new questions and form new theories that will turn out to be valid or invalid as their reading progresses. By the end of the reading process, readers will have brought forth from memory a quantity of information greater than that presented in the text.Post-reading Even when the reading process is complete, some cognitive effort is still required. Readers continue to go through a series of activities, although not necessarily at the conscious level. In the post-reading stage, readers begin a process of analysis. They reflect on whether they have understood the text, whether they have found the information they were looking for and whether the text met their expectations. They also file new knowledge in their memory banks.As we have seen, the reading process is a complex one. Readers have to apply cognitive strategies at every stage: while previewing, while reading and while reflecting afterwards on their reading experience. If you take these reading strategies into account when writing, you will make the reading process faster and easier for your readers.Bibliography ADAMS, George, Jean DAVISTER and Monique DENYER. Lisons futé : Stratégies de lecture. Brussels: Duculot, 1998.GIASSON, Jocelyne. La compréhension en lecture, 2nd ed. Pratiques pédagogiques. Montréal: Gaëtan Morin éditeur ltée, 1996.SASKATCHEWAN MINISTRY OF EDUCATION. Programmes d’études : niveau élémentaire, écoles fransaskoises, domaine : lecture (2000) [link no longer available], (accessed December 9, 2009).SMITH, Frank. Writing and the Writer. New York: CBS College Publishing, 1982.Source: Favourite Articles (language professionals’ insights on English language issues)
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Are You Begging the Question?
Vic Bucens (Terminology Update, Volume 29, Number 2, 1996, page 18) As most reference books explain, the correct meaning of the expression to beg the question is to assume an unproved point because it supports your argument. Fowler, in his inimitable style, puts it thus: "The fallacy of founding a conclusion on a basis that as much needs to be proved as the conclusion itself." The following statements are examples of begging the question: He can’t be a policeman, because policemen always wear uniforms. Parallel lines will never meet because they are parallel. Capital punishment is necessary because without it murders would increase. Frequently, the phrase is loosely used as if it meant "to avoid a direct answer to a question." Although one of the meanings of to beg is indeed "to avoid" or "to evade," we are dealing with a set expression here whose meaning cannot be modified. While a few authorities accept the extended use of to beg the question (the Collins Concise Dictionary is one), most do not. The Concise Oxford lists it as a "popular" usage. To confound the matter further, one comes across another departure from the linguistic straight and narrow, where to beg the question is used as if it meant "to call for (a question to be asked)" perhaps by association with the usual meaning of "to beg." To avoid ending up with what Fowler calls a "misapprehension," one should use this idiomatic expression with care or, if unsure, avoid it altogether.Source: Favourite Articles (language professionals’ insights on English language issues)
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Clear and effective communication for better retention of information
Emmanuelle Samson (Language Update, Volume 6, Number 1, 2009, page 30) When you write, you transmit information on a topic that you know well. You are in familiar territory; the information is part of a body of knowledge stored in your memory. For the reader, however, this is new information. If you do not present the information in a way that makes it easy to retain, your reader may not remember much of it, or indeed remember having read it.To help readers easily retain the information you present to them, it is worthwhile knowing how your readers process information and store it in their memories.Information processing What exactly happens in the readers’ brains when they read a text? First of all, the information enters their short-term memories, also known as working memories. The information is stored in this memory for about 30 seconds. Then two things are possible: the readers either forget the information or transfer it to their long-term memories.Information retention As a writer, you need to ensure that the largest possible amount of information goes from your readers’ short-term memories to their long-term memories. To do that, you have to look at the number of items of information you are providing, the order in which you present them and your readers’ degree of familiarity with the information.Number of itemsAccording to the psychologist George A. Miller, human beings can store between five and nine blocks of information in their short-term memories. This is what Miller called the "magic number of 7 ± 2."Let’s look at an example. The text you have written contains a series of 12 items in a bulleted list. In this type of list, each bullet corresponds to a block of information. After reading the 12 items in the bulleted list, your reader will usually retain a maximum of 9 items in the list because the short-term memory can only retain between 5 and 9 blocks of information.Could your readers retain more items of information? According to Miller’s research, readers can push back the boundaries of their short-term memories when they are able to establish links between certain items of information and recode them in their brains by placing them in categories.Let’s go back to the previous example. To ensure that your readers retain more information, you could divide your bulleted list of 12 items into several categories by grouping the items that go together and giving each category a catchy title. Thus, each category, which now contains several bullets, will be perceived as a single block of information. This will enable readers to retain a maximum of 9 categories rather than a maximum of 9 bulleted items.The associative work that you did will help your readers to increase the capacity of their short-term memories and assimilate a greater amount of information.Order of itemsOnce your readers have read all of the items presented in each category, they will retain some of the items more easily than others. In fact, the first items will be more likely to pass from the readers’ short-term memories to their long-term memories.This phenomenon is clearly demonstrated in a study done by researchers Glanzer and Cunitz. The participants in their study had to first read a list of words, then carry out an arithmetic task for 30 seconds. This task was intended to distract their attention from the list. When the researchers asked them to list the words they had retained, they were able to remember only the first items on the list.Why did they retain only the first items? When the first items entered the readers’ short-term memories, the memories had enough space to carry out the transfer to the long-term memory using an automatic recall mechanism. Items in the middle and at the end of the list usually stayed in the short-term memory and quickly disappeared when the readers did another task.Degree of familiarityIf readers are already familiar with the information presented, they will find it easier to transmit it from their short-term memories to their long-term memories. For example, if your readers are more familiar with the imperial system than with the metric system, they will more easily retain the information that a person is 5 feet, 6 inches tall rather than 1.70 metres tall.Also, your readers will more easily assimilate new information that you present to them if you associate it with knowledge that they already have. Your readers can therefore use what they already know to understand and retain the new information.If you take into account the method the brain uses to process information and you apply techniques that encourage the retention of information, your written message will be more effective. And readers who have thoroughly assimilated important information can make better use of it.Sources GLANZER, M. and CUNITZ, A. "Two Storage Mechanisms in Free Recall", Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, Vol. (Language Update, volume) 5, No. 4 (August 1966), pp. 351-360.MILLER, George A. "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on our Capacity for Processing Information", Psychological Review, Vol. (Language Update, volume) 63, No. 2 (March 1956), pp. 81-97.Source: Favourite Articles (language professionals’ insights on English language issues)
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Using headings to improve visual readability
Heather Matsune (Language Update, Volume 6, Number 1, 2009, page 17) It takes more than eye-catching graphics to make a document visually effective. Headings make organization and structure obvious by providing the visual cues readers need to quickly scan a document and find the information they want. Here are some guidelines on how to make the most of headings.Getting organizedStart setting up your heading hierarchy while you organize your ideas. As you divide your information, write a heading for each major topic. As you break down each topic into logical, understandable chunks, write subheadings, column headings and paragraph headings. If you normally make an outline before you start writing, you’re used to this type of activity—all you have to do now is bring the headings from your outline into the actual document. Sometimes when you aren’t sure what to write, determining what the different sections will be can help you figure out what you, and your readers, need to know.Establish a hierarchy of headingsA typical document has a title plus three to five heading levels. Try to use fewer than six levels of headings. If you find yourself with complex hierarchies of headings, you may need to restructure—for instance, turning large subsections into their own sections.Heading level stylesEach level has its own style, which can include font, font style (bold, italics), size, line spacing (single, 1.5), justification (left, centre) and capitalization (title case, sentence caseFootnote 1). These styles make it easy for readers to quickly identify the different levels. It’s important to apply heading level styles consistently throughout your documents, so readers always know how to scan for information.Most word processors have default styles for heading levels; some use different fonts for each level, others use variations of the same font. You can also customize your own heading level styles.Word processors offer a variety of fonts, but you don’t need to use more than two or three in a document. In fact, one clean simple font, such as Arial or Verdana, is often enough. Here’s a set of styles you can use without changing font:Heading typeSizeFont styleJustificationCapitalizationtitle18 ptboldleftsentence caselevel 116 ptboldleftsentence caselevel 214 ptboldleftsentence caselevel 312 ptboldleftsentence caselevel 410 ptboldleftsentence caseChoosing your wordsHeadings need to be informative and specific, without going into as much detail as the text that follows them. Try to keep them to one line.Choose the appropriate type of headingMost headings come in the form of questions, statements or single words.Question headingsIf you can anticipate the questions your readers will ask, question headings are especially useful. For example, a heading such as "What should I do if I forget my password?" provides the most specific information. The question/answer format is also easy to scan. Avoid creating question headings where the answer is only one word.Statement headingsStatement headings can be very specific too, but they don’t scan as well as questions. Indeed, a heading such as "Getting a new password" is specific, but not as eye-catching as a question.One-word headingsOne-word headings can be vague. If you use only one word, make sure its meaning and its relationship to the text that follows it are very clear. For example, avoid vague headings such as "Information" and "Questions."Adhere to technical writing standardsConsistency, directness, conciseness and a personal tone are vital to technical and non-technical writing alike. But technical writing uses standard phrasing for certain headings.Phrasing for headings in technical writingProcedure topic headings are typically gerund phrases, and the actual procedure headings take an infinitive. How-to and imperative phrases are also acceptable for procedure headings. For example, the heading "How to create a temporary password" meets technical writing standards.Phrasing for headings in non-technical writingAlthough there are no specific rules, you can ensure that your headings contribute to overall readability by maintaining grammatical parallelism among same-level headings. For instance, make all your level 1 headings questions, all your level 2 headings how-to statements and your level 3 headings gerund phrases:Does your child exercise enough? How to motivate your child Encouraging your child to be physically activeMaking it look goodA document needs to be at least 50% white space to be visually readable.Use left justification and sentence caseDocument titles are the only headings that are sometimes centre justified and written in title case, but increasingly even they are moving left and adopting sentence case.Making reading easierIt takes less effort for readers to start from the same point on each line than to jump from left to centre and back again. Left justifying all parts of a document gives readers a predictable starting point. Furthermore, it maximizes the amount of white space running down the right side of the page.It also takes less effort to read headings in sentence case than in all capital letters. Reading slows down with these headings because the words lose their shape and look more like LONG STRINGS OF LETTERS.Preventing inconsistenciesUsing title case can produce inconsistencies in capitalization. For example, it’s hard to tell whether the nouns in this heading are proper or common: Submitting Disclosure Policy Forms to the Policy Officer. If you were writing or translating a similar document, and you saw the heading in title case, you might assume that the nouns are proper and then capitalize them in the body of your text or translation. But when the heading is written in sentence case, it’s clear that the nouns are common: Submitting disclosure policy forms to the policy officer. Using sentence case in headings cuts down on the research time and confusion that inconsistent capitalization causes. For the same reason, capitalize proper nouns that appear in a sentence case heading, just as you would in the body text.Frame headings with white spaceDon’t increase heading font size to fill up an entire line. Leave lots of white space around headings to help readers scan and to keep your document from becoming dense.Spacing conventionsLeave more white space above a heading than below it. Leave one line of space between a heading and the text that follows it, but not between a subheading and the text that follows it.Getting the most out of a good documentPlanning, designing and writing clear and effective documents is hard work, but your readers benefit from your efforts. So, if you create a particularly successful document, reuse it by turning it into a template for future projects. If you work with an in-house graphic design or desktop publishing team, ask them to help. In the long run, this saves time and money and helps keep your documents consistent.NoteFootnotesFootnote 1Title case: The words in English titles are traditionally all capitalized, except for internal articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. [http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Title-case].Sentence case in a general sense describes the way that capitalization is used within a sentence. Sentence case also describes the standard capitalization of an English sentence, i.e. the first letter of the sentence is capitalized, with the rest being lower case (unless requiring capitalization for a specific reason, e.g. proper nouns, acronyms, etc.). [http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Sentence-case].Return to footnote 1 referrerSource: Favourite Articles (language professionals’ insights on English language issues)
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Plain Language: Evaluating Document Usability
Heather Matsune (Language Update, Volume 4, Number 4, 2007, page 13) In our previous two articles, we covered the basics of readability and intelligibility. Although applying those two concepts virtually guarantees that your documents will be clear, you may have more work to do to make sure they’re effective. Of course, to be effective, your documents have to be readable and intelligible, but if they aren’t usable too, your message may be lost and all your efforts for clarity will have been in vain. Therefore, evaluating the usability of your documents is an essential part of the writing process.UNDERSTANDING DOCUMENT USABILITY When you write, do you think about how well your readers will be able to use and retain the information in your document? Few of us do, even though a document that is usable from both a physical and a cognitive standpoint will be more effective in communicating your message.Physical usabilityTo evaluate the physical usability of a document, you need to distance yourself from the text and focus on its material qualities—whether it is easy or difficult to physically handle.For example, this week you need to read your organization’s annual report. The language may be perfectly clear and the information relevant and structured, but you still can’t read it all the way through. Why do you suppose that is? It could be something as simple as the finish on the paper: too high a gloss can tire out your eyes fast. With any kind of print document, factors such as the finish and weight of the paper have an impact on physical usability. In this case, a matte finish could make the document more usable.Here’s another example: you’re writing a historical document that refers to a number of Canadian cities. You include a map at the end of your document as a visual aid. It’s a legitimately good idea, but the unfolded map measures 50 by 75 centimetres. Needless to say, even if your readers had enough room to open up the map, most of them couldn’t be bothered. In this case, it would have worked better to insert smaller maps into the document at the point where you mention each city.Cognitive contentPresenting information so that it is easy for the brain to process increases the usability of your document. If you use the writing strategies below, you can reduce the amount of thinking your readers have to do.Lower the level of inference: be explicitWhen your message isn’t explicit, your readers have to infer the meaning, making assumptions and drawing their own conclusions based on the information available to them. Consider the following example:You have created a form with a note at the bottom that says, "Please send in this form after you fill it out." Yes, but where, when and how? Leaving out information can generate a lot of errors and complaints. Eliminate distractorsA distractor is any piece of information that your readers could confuse with the information they are looking for in a document. Too many distractors make it harder to use the document and retain the information in it.To renew your subscription, send in your order form by 2007-05-06. If this is your first order, please send a photocopy of your driver’s licence with your form by 2007-04-02. Your subscription will expire on 2008-12-11.The three dates in this short paragraph can easily distract readers and even mislead them—they may not know which number is the month and which is the day. Send readers to as few internal and external references as possibleReferences within a document (footnotes, asterisks) or to other documents increase the complexity of the reading task.For instance, if you are writing a technical manual for the general public, don’t explain all the terms in a glossary at the end of the document. Instead, define each term after it appears for the first time or in a sidebar on the same page. Make sure your information is easy to followFor example, use a numbering system (section 1, 2) instead of letters (section A, B). Readers filling out section G of a form won’t instinctively know that they are working on the seventh part of the document.Another strategy is to put figures and calculations in columns or rows. That kind of set-up helps the brain process numeric and mathematical information more quickly.TESTING YOUR DOCUMENT You can write and design a good document, but the only way to know for sure that it’s effective is to test it with actual readers. Before you distribute your document, make sure that a sample of your readers understands the vocabulary and key messages well enough to use it properly. Usability testing shows how well actual or potential readers understand a document, but more to the point, how well they can do what the document instructs them to do.Types of usability testsYou can take several approaches to usability testing, and you should! By using more than one type of test, you will get more in-depth information on the quality of your document. Three common types of usability tests are focus testing, written questionnaires and one-on-one interviews.Focus testingFocus testing is a market research technique in which you assemble a group of people for a moderated discussion about a document, service or other product in order to gather opinions. It’s a valuable marketing tool, but on its own it doesn’t tell you enough about usability. Because reading is typically a solo effort, evaluating a document in a group setting may produce unreliable results. For instance, readers who don’t understand the document probably won’t admit it, or they may work with other readers to figure out what they’re supposed to do. Focus testing reflects unrealistic reading situations and generates superficial feedback.Written questionnairesUsing a written questionnaire involves having readers fill out a form to evaluate their comprehension of a document. Because the questions are mostly multiple choice, the range of responses is limited. The upside of questionnaires is that your data is easy to quantify, which is helpful if you want to produce statistical reports. However, written questionnaires may come across as having right and wrong answers and may be intimidating for people with low literacy.One-on-one interviewsOne-on-one interviews are probably the most effective type of usability test because you can collect detailed, reliable feedback from one person at a time. In this type of testing, you ask a reader questions about a document to determine whether he or she has understood it, as well as observe the reader using the document in order to identify areas in need of improvement.It can cost you five times less to conduct one-on-one interviews than a series of focus tests. So, with one-on-one interviews, the return on investment is greater than with focus testing because it costs less to deal with a dozen or so people than the larger sample you need for focus testing. The only real drawback of one-on-one interviews is that they can be more time-consuming than other types of testing, which is why it’s best to use a combination of types of usability tests.IMPROVING YOUR DOCUMENT CONTINUALLY Although testing will improve usability, there’s simply no such thing as a perfect document. Invariably there will be a problem that no one notices, or a policy or some statistics will change and you’ll have to update your document. Therefore, you need to be set up to make changes after the fact. If you create a procedure for collecting and responding to feedback from your readers, you will be able to improve your document continually.By allowing your readers to participate in the development process, you significantly increase their chances of being able to read, understand and, in the end, use your documents.Source: Favourite Articles (language professionals’ insights on English language issues)
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Less is More: Eliminating “on a… basis”
Heather Matsune (Language Update, Volume 5, Number 4, 2008, page 23) English is full of words that let us express our ideas, experiences and emotions, and this is a great luxury. However, it’s important to keep word play, wordiness and witticisms to a minimum when communicating with a broad readership. Writing simply and directly helps ensure that readers at any literacy level can quickly and easily understand what you’re telling them.Fewer words Sometimes all you have to do to make a sentence more simple and direct is delete words. For instance, when you have on an [adjective] basis phrases, you can often reduce the entire phrase to a single adverb or adjective.Problem phraseWordy sentenceConcise sentenceon a daily (hourly, nightly, weekly, monthly, yearly, etc.) basisBack up your files on a daily basis. (8 words)Back up your files daily. (5 words)ORBack up your files every day. (6 words)on an ongoing basisInspectors monitor compliance with safety regulations on an ongoing basis. (10 words)Inspectors continually monitor compliance with safety regulations. (7 words)on a regular basisExercising on a regular basis reduces stress. (7 words)Regular exercise reduces stress. (4 words)Here are some other phrases that you can reduce to one adverb or adjective:Problem phraseWordy sentenceConcise sentencefrom time to time (on a few occasions, once in a while, on certain occasions, etc.)Meeting rooms get double-booked from time to time. (9 words)Meeting rooms get double-booked occasionally. (6 words)over and done withThe holidays are over and done with, and I hope you are all well rested. (15 words)The holidays are over, and I hope you are all well rested. (12 words)time after time (time and again, over and over, it is often the case that, etc.)Time after time, volunteers pitch in to preserve community green spaces. (11 words)Volunteers frequently pitch in to preserve community green spaces. (9 words)fully and completely (completely and utterly, wholly and completely, etc.)Please fill out the formsfully and completely. (8 words)Please fill out the forms completely. (6 words)worthy of note (worthy of consideration, etc.)The candidate’s attitude and work ethic are worthy of note. (10 words)The candidate’s attitude and work ethic are noteworthy. (8 words) Clearer words Another way to improve sentences containing on an [adjective] basis phrases is to substitute concrete details for an abstract or complex adjective. You may end up with more words in your sentence, but being specific will prevent confusion.Problem phraseWordy sentenceConcise sentenceon a quarterly basisThe committee meets on a quarterly basis.The committee meets every three months.ORThe committee meets in February, May, August and November.on a timely basisSend us your feedback about the workshop on a timely basis.Send us your feedback about the workshop by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, January 7, 2009.on a voluntary basisProducers indicate, on a voluntary basis, whether a product is derived from biotechnology.Producers may indicate whether a product is derived from biotechnology.ORProducers do not have to indicate whether a product is derived from biotechnology.Watch for on a… basis in your writing. You might be surprised by how often wordy and abstract phrases turn up. Fortunately, they’re usually easy to simplify and clarify. If you make the effort, writing concisely and clearly will become habit.Source: Favourite Articles (language professionals’ insights on English language issues)
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