Minimize cross-references
Nothing is more annoying than coming upon cross-references in reading material. Cross-references frustrate any attempt to write clearly and simply. Most readers consider them a bother, and just skip over them. This can be a problem when the document is a regulation! Numerous cross-references can confuse readers and make them less attentive to your message. They may also overtax your readers’ short-term memory. Imagine the work it would take a reader to puzzle out just this one short section from our tax regulations.
Regulation with many confusing cross-references |
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“Section 1250 capital gain—(i) Definition. For purposes of this section, section 1250 capital gain means the capital gain (not otherwise treated as ordinary income) that would be treated as ordinary income if section 1250(b)(1) included all depreciation and the applicable percentage under section 1250(a) were 100 percent.” |
On the other hand, repeating bulky material over and over can be equally annoying to readers. So there is a place for cross-references, but the challenge is to not overdo them.
How to minimize cross-references
There are several ways to deal with cross-references. The best is to organize your material so you can eliminate the need for cross-references. Often, you are forced to resort to a cross-reference because the material isn’t organized the way it should be, so material that belongs together is instead found in distant sections. However, given the complexity of some documents, it won’t be possible to eliminate them all. If a cross-reference refers to brief material, just repeat that material and get rid of the cross-reference. Sometimes, careful thought may reveal that you’ve included an unnecessary cross-reference.
If the cross-reference is to lengthy material that, if included, would make the wording long and complicated, you may have to refer readers to another section. Typically, this would include long descriptive material, such as a long list of items or a list of requirements that you want to apply to a new situation.
Be sure that the reference you insert clearly describes the referenced material. That way readers can decide if they need to read it to know how the rule affects them. Sometimes just including the title of the referenced section is enough.
Let’s look at an example from National Park Service regulations.
A regulation with several cross references |
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Section 45. May I camp in a national park? If you hold one of the vehicle entry passes listed in Section 18 for entry into a national park, you may camp in that park. But you may not sleep in a tent if the park has declared one of the animal danger levels described in paragraphs (c) through (h) of Section 51, and the campsite is not covered by an animal emergency plan as described in Section 52. |
In this excerpt, the first cross-reference is to brief material, so you can just repeat it here. The second cross-reference is to a long list of information; it’s probably clearest to keep the cross-reference. The third cross-reference probably isn’t necessary—the camper needs to know whether there is an animal emergency plan, but not the details of the plan contained in Section 52. Following these principles, the final text could read.
Two of three cross-references eliminated |
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Section 45. May I camp in a national park? If you hold a daily, weekly, or annual vehicle entry pass for a national park, you may camp in that park. But you may not sleep in a tent if the park has declared one of the animal danger levels described in paragraphs (c) through (h) of Section 51, and the campsite is not covered by an animal emergency plan. |
Another treatment
If you believe you must include cross-references, consider putting them at the end of the text, like a reference, rather than in the middle. This is less disruptive to the reader, and less annoying. It gives readers a chance to absorb your main message before your references elaborate on it. As an example, if you need to keep the second and third references in the national park example above, you might write it this way:
Cross-references at end of passage |
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Section 45. May I camp in a national park? If you hold a daily, weekly, or annual vehicle entry pass for a national park, you may camp in that park. But you may not sleep in a tent if the park has declared an animal danger level and the campsite is not covered by an animal emergency plan. |
Referring to another agency’s regulations
If you want to require readers to comply with certain requirements of another Federal agency, which they would not otherwise have to do, you have to meet the requirements of the Office of the Federal Register (OFR). A Federal agency may cross-reference the regulations of another Federal agency only if the OFR finds that the reference meets one of the conditions specified in 1 CFR 21.21. You can find a discussion of these conditions in the OFR’s Drafting Legal Documents under Cross References.
Referring to other material in regulations
A cross-reference to material that does not appear in the Federal Register or the Code of Federal Regulations is called an “incorporation by reference” by the Office of the Federal Register. The OFR has very specific rules that agencies must follow to do incorporation by reference. You will find them in Chapter 6 of the OFR’s Document Drafting Handbook.
Avoid these situations
Multiple cross-references in one section. Multiple cross-references make your reader’s head spin, and you will fail to deliver any useful information. Reorganize your material to eliminate the cross-references, or at least to keep them to no more than one in each section.
Unnecessary cross-references you put in to be sure that your audience don’t miss something that applies to them. You won’t know where to stop cross-referencing. You should presume that readers will familiarize themselves with your document to see what applies to them. Make sure your table of contents and headings are informative enough that readers can find everything they need.
Cross-referencing definitions. Adding a cross-reference to a definition for the convenience of the reader may create a problem if you don’t continue to repeat it every time you use the word.
If you say | Then you can’t later just say |
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a corporation as defined in Section 1 (when Section 1 clearly applies to your regulation and defines a corporation as having, for example, at least 50 employees) |
a corporation(Some readers may think the 50-employee limit doesn’t apply here.) |
The “boomerang.” Rudolf Flesch (1979) named this particularly insidious cross-reference. It’s a reference that refers to the section it’s found in. It sends readers on a futile hunt for another section of the same number, until they finally realize you are referring to the same section they were reading in the first place. If you mean “listed in paragraph (h) of this section” say it that way. The Office of the Federal Register’s Document Drafting Handbook tells you the proper way to refer to something in the same section of a regulation.
The “all-inclusive” cross-reference. It’s no help to your reader to say something like “As a permittee, you must comply with sections 542.6 and 543.10, and all other applicable laws and regulations.” What exactly does the term “all other applicable laws and regulations” cover? Do you expect your reader to become a legal scholar and go out and research the answer to that question? This form of cross-reference reflects a lazy writer. And it’s not likely to achieve much.
The never-ending story cross reference. This is the cross-reference that refers the reader to another section containing another cross-reference, which takes the reader to yet another section containing another cross-reference, and so on forever and ever. You probably can’t follow the web of references, why do you think your reader will.
Final thoughts
Whether you use a cross-reference or repeat the material in the new location, you must remember to update the information if something in the cross-referenced material changes.
There is no hard and fast rule about when it’s reasonable to use a cross-reference. It depends on the purpose of the cross reference and the bulk of the material referenced. The bottom line is that you should minimize them to the extent possible.
Sources
- Flesch, Rudolf, How to Write in Plain English, A Book for Lawyers and Consumers, 1979, Harper and Rowe, New York, pp. 82-93.
- Office of the Federal Register, Document Drafting Handbook, 1998, 1-15). http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/write/handbook/ddh.pdf.