Clear and effective communication is essential for people and businesses to achieve their missions. However, the messages we want to communicate are often complicated and it is not always easy to reach our intended audience.

Approximately 25 percent of New York City adults 21 and over do not speak English well. Another 15 percent did not complete high school and, therefore, have reading levels well below the equivalent of 9th grade.

However, many government documents are written in English and at the 8th or 9th grade level or above.

These guidelines are intended to help you create documents that are clearly written, easily and accurately translated, and understandable by your intended audience.

They are not concrete rules that must be applied without discretion or judgment. On the contrary, the guidelines assume that you are a skilled writer and that your agency will use them to build on the successes you have already achieved.

GUIDELINES:
The following guidelines present nine principles associated with effective written communication that you can refer to when creating and revising documents:

1. Use a Plain Language Approach to Communications
2. Define the Purpose of Your Written Document
3. Only Include Important and Directly Relevant Information
4. Use Simple Language
5. Keep Sentences and Paragraphs Short
6. Make It Personal
7. Use the Active Voice
8. Use Easy-to-Read Design Techniques
9. Assess the Usability of Documents: Listen to Your Readers

Taken together, these simple strategies will help you write documents in plain language. Plain language communications are more effective than traditional government writing.