Online training

Plain language training is available in many forms. This page provides links to some of the plain language training resources we have found. If you know of any training resources that we’ve overlooked, please contact us.

• U.S. government agencies are required to communicate in plain language. The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN) through Digital.gov held two online workshops to explain how to write in plain language. 8-11-2020 workshop and 9-10-2020 workshop. The materials are similar in both.

• The Federal Aviation Administration has made its basic course and plain language toolkit available online.

• The National Institutes of Health offers a free plain language training course that introduces you to the basics of plain language. It’s not just for medical folks. The goal of this training is to help you learn to organize your ideas, use a clear writing style, and become a more effective communicator.

• The Centers for Disease Control has an online health literacy training for health professionals.

• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services developed a Toolkit for Making Written Material Clear and Effective. It focuses on healthcare and health literacy, but its principles can be used for any discipline.

• The Department of the Army made their training for staff officers (PDF) available to us.

• The Essentials of Plain Language is a nine part training that covers plain language principles and the Plain Language Writing Act of 2010.

• The government of Mexico kicked off a program in 2004 encouraging plain language in government writing. You can download this compressed file of the materials they prepared for the participants. This material is in Spanish.