Plain Language Writing for Government Employees
CPEs: 7
|CEUs: 0.7
Classroom, Virtual
Who Should Attend
Federal civilian employees, military employees, and contractors and anyone else who wants to develop the skills needed to make their writing clearer and easier to understand.
Additional Information
Prerequisites: None
Advanced Preparation: None
CPE Field of Study: Communications
What You Will Learn
- Determine what plain language is and is not.
- Apply plain language principles and improve the clarity of your writing.
- Produce workplace documents in accordance with the Government's plain language writing requirements, including 1) thinking about your reader(s) and 2) understanding the clearest method for communicating your message to the reader(s).
- Write documents using:
- concrete, familiar words
- shorter and clearer sentences and paragraphs
- active verbs
- pronouns that speak to the reader
- appropriate methods of development
- lists and tables to simplify complex material
- Design the document and layout in a reader-friendly format that is in keeping with the plain language guidelines.
- Develop outlines to organize documents.
- Receive a plain language document checklist to evaluate your writing.
Why You Should Attend
This course is interactive and HANDS-ON. It includes lecture, individual and group work sessions, presentations, and instructor coaching. The instructor customizes the curriculum to meet the needs stated by the participants.
This course focuses on writing documents that are clear and easily understandable the first time they are read. Course objectives are consistent with the Federal Plain Language Writing Act.