Plain Language
This section emphasizes the importance of clear, concise communication in scientific writing. By focusing on using straightforward language and simplifying complex concepts, this guide helps writers make their work more accessible and engaging for a broader audience. Whether writing for academic peers or the general public, these tips are essential for improving readability and ensuring your message is effectively conveyed.
Using Plain Language
Plain language refers to clear communication that an audience can understand the first time they hear or read it. Using plain language enables you to connect directly and clearly with all audiences – from research participants, to the general public, to research colleagues. Crafting your materials with plain language principles and guidance in mind increases your chances of connecting with your audience and achieving your communication’s intended purpose.
Materials prepared in plain language are:
Understandable: People of diverse backgrounds and varying levels of health literacy can process and explain key messages.
Actionable: People of diverse backgrounds and varying levels of health literacy can identify what they can do based on the information presented.
Culturally Relevant: The material uses language and examples that would be familiar to the intended audience(s) and does not perpetuate stereotypes.
Readability, Usability, and Accessibility
Readability
Readability formulas and calculators are useful tools in evaluating how easy or difficult it is to read a given text. These tools take into account factors such as word choice, number of syllables, and length of sentences. Using a free readability tool will provide you with a quick check of basic readability, but it is highly recommended that you also conduct usability testing to ensure your materials are accessible to the intended audience.
Usability
Usability testing involves evaluating the effectiveness of your drafted materials by sharing them with representative users. This comprehensive guide by the Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard offers practical guidance, including recommendations for how to plan and conduct a usability test, examples, and links to additional resources.
Use these tools to assess the usability of your work.
- Center for Health Guidance Health Literacy Principles (PDF) – A generic list of principles for health literacy, divided into the following sections: planning, content, literacy demands, organization, layout and typography, and graphics.
- National Library of Medicine’s Health Education Materials Assessment Tool (PDF) (NIH) – A form that can be used to evaluate the use of plain language in health education materials.
- Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool for Printable Materials (PEMAT-P) (AHRQ) (PDF) – A rubric for usability testing for patient education materials
Accessibility
Accessibility best practices are critical to ensuring that digital materials can be understood by as many people as possible. Harvard’s Digital Accessibility resource outlines steps to improve the accessibility of documents, PDFs, slides, and websites. Harvard’s Digital Accessibility Policy was updated in June 2023.
For accessibility guidance tailored to your delivery format, use these resources:
- Guidance for documents in Microsoft Word and Google Docs
- Guidance for slides in Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides
- Guidance for PDFs in Adobe Acrobat Pro
To test the accessibility of your work, use this resource:
- Accessibility Testing Tools and Practices – A list of non-technical testing tools for evaluating the accessibility of materials which have produced in a variety of formats
Additional resources:
- Health Literacy in Clinical Research: The MRCT Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard’s Health Literacy in Clinical Research website hosts several plain language resources, including about Health Literacy in Clinical Research.
- Plainlanguage.gov: This resource includes information on federal plain language guidelines and examples of various governmental communications.
- Clear Communication Index User Guide (PDF): The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Clear Communication Index User Guide gives examples of plain language alternatives to replace jargon words.
- Digital Accessibility Trainings: Browse trainings on accessibility covering content, documents, development, testing, and other topics.
Toolkit
Use the Plain Language Materials Development Checklist (PDF) to ensure that materials you create meet the criteria on plain language outlined above. This comprehensive tool, designed by Harvard Catalyst’s Community Engagement program, can help you conduct a systematic review of the understandability, actionability, and cultural relevance of your material.