Plain Writing at the National Archives
The National Archives is committed to improving our service to the public. We will use plain language in all our communications so that the public can easily understand them. You can help us comply with the Plain Writing Act!
How You Can Help
If you have suggestions on ways to improve our documents and/or website, we'd like to hear from you!
- Contact us at plainwriting@nara.gov
Please include the URL of the web page or the name of the document, and we will work to make it easier for you to:
- find what you need
- understand what you read
- use it the first time you read it
- accomplish your task
How are we meeting the goals of the Plain Writing Act?
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Our Working Group developed these tools to help employees use plain language:
- Plain Writing Checklist | PDF
- Style Guide
- Top 10 Principles of Plain Language | PDF
- Weekly Plain Writing Tips
- Plain Language Toolkit for Managers and Supervisors
- We've assigned staff to oversee our plain writing efforts:
- Senior Official for Plain Writing: Maria Carosa Stanwich
- Plain Writing Working Group: David McMillen (chair)
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We're training our staff to use plain language in any document that:
- provides information about any of our services and benefits;
- is necessary to obtain any of our benefits or services; or
- explains how to comply with a National Archives requirement.
- We're engaging with our staff about the quality of their communications:
- Our Plain Language Team advises staff about their content.
- National Archives staff provide quarterly progress reports based on a plain writing directive.
- Our Plain Language Liaisons report on what staff in their units are doing to review and revise documents.
- View examples of documents written in plain language.
- Our Plain Language Team advises staff about their content.
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We're consulting our customers about plain language:
We use surveys to ask readers if our use of plain writing has improved their experience with the National Archives, and analyze the survey results annually.
On Archives.gov, we use the ACSI Customer Satisfaction Survey, which includes plain language specific questions, to measure customer satisfaction. In November, we shortened and simplified the survey and changed the Plain Language questions to:
Plain Language Questions (1-10 scale):- Please rate the thoroughness of the information on this site.
- Please rate how understandable this site's information is.
- Please rate how well the site's information answers your questions.
- The current Archives.gov Content Satisfaction score is 77 out of 100 (Source: April 2015 - March 2016 Content Satisfaction average score)
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View monthly Archives.gov Metrics
The ClearMark Awards are given to the best plain language documents and web sites.
The National Archives redesigned website was selected as a winner in the Website / Dynamic Media: Public Sector category at the 2011 ClearMark Awards. - We report our progress and compliance with the Plain Writing Act to the
public by April 13 each year:
You can download and view a copy of our reports below. (All reports are in PDF format ):- 2015 Compliance Report - dated April 2016
- Previous Reports
- Our Plain Writing Implementation Plan - dated July 13, 2011
- 2015 Plain Language Report Cards
- 2014 Plain Language Report Cards
- National Archives wasn't graded in 2013 or 2014
- 2012 Plain Language Report Cards
What is the Plain Writing Act?
The Plain Writing Act of 2010 requires federal agencies to write "clear Government communication that the public can understand and use."