Quick Reference Tips

The material available about plain language is extensive and can be confusing. This page links to some basic resources that can get you started.

Compare your document to this checklist of plain-language elements. If you are writing for the web, here's the additional weblist.

Trying to use all the techniques discussed on this site can be difficult if you are just starting to write in plain language. Take a look at these quick tips, and get started by practicing just one or two at a time. As you get more experienced, add more of them to your collection of writing tools.

Plain English at a glance is a concise discussion that will give you essential skills for creating a visually inviting, logically organized, and easily understandable document.

Mary Dash, Chief of the Congressional Correspondence and Quality Review Branch of the Internal Revenue Service, wrote these excellent writing tips. Like the quick tips, they give you more detail about some important plain language basics.