Writing clearly

There are two main rules to follow.

Write for your audience

During the analysis stage of the project you should have developed a picture of the likely users of the course. With that picture in mind you can write material at a level suitable for them.

Write clearly

Writing clearly can be more challenging. Our education teaches us to use sophisticated language, but this may not be the most effective style to use when writing instructional materials. There is also the difficulty that people find it harder to read text from a screen than from paper.

Follow these guidelines to help you write good, clear instructional English.

Use easy to understand language

Use personal language

Use short sentences

Use short paragraphs

Use the active voice

Use active headings

Avoid negatives

Be concise

Introduce then expand

Sort information types

Use easy to understand language

The richness of English means that it is often possible to use several different words to express a meaning. When you are trying to decide which word to use, try to use the simplest. Some examples.

If you want to write:	Use this instead:
facilitate	help
calculate	work out
necessitate	have to
alleviate	ease

Use personal language

Using the word 'you' makes the learner feel the material is aimed at them and increases their motivation.

Use short sentences

Long sentences are harder to read and understand due to the limitations of our short-term memory. But do not try to keep all your sentences short. A blend of shorter and longer sentences improves the rhythm of reading. Aim for an average sentence length of between 15 and 20 words.

Use short paragraphs

Large paragraphs on screen look intimidating and are difficult to read. Paragraphs are used to group together sentences with a similar content and to provide a breathing space. So do not worry too much about grammatical considerations: if a paragraph looks too big, split it up.
Consider ways of breaking up paragraphs using such things as numbered or bullet point lists.

Use the active voice

Where possible, use the active voice rather than the passive. For example, write "Send the form to the customer" rather than "The form is sent to the customer".

This is because passive sentences introduces ambiguities: in the above example does "The form is sent to the customer" mean that the learner must send the form or that someone else does it?

There will be instances where the passive is unavoidable, but to make your writing as clear as possible make sure that you have less than 20% passive sentences.

Use active headings

Make sure that headings and sub-headings describe some action. For example, the headings on this page are active; they tell you what you should do as well as summarising the content of the sub-section.

Avoid negatives

It is always better to tell somebody what they should do rather than what they should not do. This is because our brains pay more attention to verbs in a sentence than to syntax such as 'not'.

For example, it is more powerful to say, "Use the active voice" rather than "Do not use the passive voice".

Be concise

Keep written content to a minimum, particularly for e-learning as people find it difficult to read text from the screen.

Remember whom you are writing for and put in only what they need. Avoid adding extra material that is not relevant. You will find this much easier to do if you base your content around your detailed task analysis and if you have a clear target group description.

In e-learning remember the limitations of the screen size. Make sure that the learning point you are introducing can be presented on one screen. If it is going to need more than one screen, break it down into logical components and present each one separately.

Avoid using scrolling windows or other techniques for 'cramming' text into a screen.

Introduce then expand

A technique used in newspapers to present information is to summarise the content of an article in one sentence or paragraph, and then to expand on it.

You can use this technique in writing instructional materials. At the start of every screen use a heading or a sentence to summarise the content of the screen.

Sort information into types

You can improve the clarity of whatever you write by looking out for the different types of information that you are presenting. We can divide information into five different types.

Facts	Straightforward information about the subject.	"Accidents at work cost our organisation £250,000 each year".
Concepts	Information about what something is or is not.	"Loose carpet tiles can cause serious injury" provides information about the concept of what is dangerous.
Procedures	Tell you what to do.	"Ring the Health & Safety Officer if you find a loose carpet tile" is a procedure for reporting something dangerous.
Processes	How something works.	"The Health & Safety Officer will come and look at the floor and decide what needs to happen" explains the process of how the Health & Safety Officer works.
Principles	Advice on how to do something better.	"Ring the Health & Safety Officer if you have any worries about your workplace" is just good advice.

Learners find it much easier to understand new material if these different elements are separated, by headings or into different paragraphs, for example.

Also, each type lends itself to different ways of presentation. Processes can be represented by graphics, procedures by numbered lists, for example.

Structuring a module

Using graphics