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NDIA plain English standards
Version 3.0
Introduction Plain English is a style of writing that helps people understand information quickly. It
focuses on communicating instructions and ideas in short, clear sentences.
Plain English can be professional or casual, depending on the tone you use. Using
plain English principles encourages you to be strategic in what you write and how
you write it.
The NDIA has created these plain English standards as part of its commitment to
accessibility.
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Contents
Why use plain English …………………………………………………………………………………… 4
Where to use plain English 4
Plain English versus Easy Read …………………………………………………………………….. 5
Principles of plain English ……………………………………………………………………………… 5
Get to the point quickly 5
Use short words 5
Keep sentences short 5
Avoid jargon 7
Use positive language 8
Planning ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 9
Understand your audience 9
Start with the key message 10
Headings and sub-headings 10
Adjust your language 12
Active and passive voice ……………………………………………………………………………… 12
Passive voice 13
Active voice 13
Times when passive voice is useful 14
Word choice ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 14
Delete padding and redundancy 15
Contractions 15
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Plain English when you talk ………………………………………………………………………….. 16
Presentations 16
Telephone 16
Final review ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 17
Checks you can do yourself 17
How to check readability 17
Suggested minimums versus an absolute rule 17
Tools and resources ……………………………………………………………………………………. 18
NDIA Terms Guide 18
Other references 18
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Why use plain English Australian Government agencies like the NDIA are legally required to provide
information and services in an accessible way. Using plain English is part of the
Agency’s commitment to accessibility and impacts our authority and standing as a
leader in accessibility standards.
Plain English helps everyone understand our content. This includes people:
with disabilities with a native language that isn’t English with low literacy levels who are busy and need content to get to the point quickly and clearly.
Using plain English improves our users’ experience.
Where to use plain English You should apply the NDIA plain English standards to your work.
This includes digital and printed content, as well as formal and informal
correspondence, such as:
Documents (letters, manuals, guides, reports, forms and surveys). Printed information (factsheets, brochures, booklets and task cards). Digital information (emails, newsletters, the intranet, websites, provider
portals, participant portals, text messages and social media). Call centre scripts and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) messaging. Posters, signage and advertising.
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Plain English versus Easy Read Plain English and Easy Read (also known as Easy English) are different writing
styles. Easy Read has a lower reading grade level and uses images to support the
content. Government departments and agencies use Easy Read versions for people
with learning or cognitive disabilities, or low literacy levels.
You can read more about Easy Read on the Accessibility Hub.
Principles of plain English Whether you’re speaking or writing:
Get to the point quickly Use short words Keep sentences short Avoid jargon Use positive language.
Get to the point quickly Start with the main point you want your audience to understand. Then expand with
more details. For example, if you write a long email your reader may only read the
first sentence of each paragraph. If you get to the point quickly, they should still
understand what you are trying to say.
Use short words Use short, common words to help make your message clear.
Keep sentences short Short sentences help people to understand what you’ve written. Try to keep
sentences to an average of 15 to 20 words, and no more than 25 words. Longer
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sentences can lead to misunderstandings and confusion if read quickly. Paragraphs
should be limited to one topic.
Break up long sentences Replace commas and the word ‘and’ with full stops to convert a long sentence to
several short sentences.
For example:
A paragraph with long sentences may read:
The longer the sentence, the harder it often is to follow, which may
even mean that the reader forgets how a sentence started by the time
they get to the end, and, if you use too many long sentences, they will
find it harder to understand what you’ve written, and you might even
bore them!
A paragraph with shorter sentences would read:
Long sentences can be hard to follow. The reader may forget how a
sentence started by the time they get to the end. They might find it
hard to understand what you’ve written. You may even bore them.
Take care when breaking up sentences Make sure that shortened sentences make sense. If you have a series of short,
choppy sentences, your paragraph may become distracting and hard to follow.
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Avoid jargon Jargon means words or phrases that are specific to a group or industry. People
outside that group may not understand the term unless you explain what it means.
For example:
‘Core supports’ and ‘capacity building’ are examples of jargon because people
outside of the Agency may not know what they mean.
Never assume everyone reading your content knows what a term means.
When using specific terms Sometimes you’ll need to use a complex or specific term, such as those listed in the
NDIA Terms Guide. When using these terms, give a brief explanation of what the
term means to help people understand.
For example:
A ‘core support’ helps participants with day-to-day life. ‘Capacity building’ is a
support that builds a participant’s long-term independence.
Explain what acronyms mean An acronym is a word or name we create by using the first letter of a set of words or
a phrase. For example, people outside the public service may not know that ‘APS’
stands for ‘Australian Public Service’.
Consider if you need to use acronyms at all. If you only use the acronym once (after
the initial explanation) in a 2-page document, it’s often better to write the phrase out
both times and not use the acronym at all. Infrequent use of an acronym means the
reader must refer back to find out what it means.
Always explain what an acronym means the first time you use it.
You can read more about acronyms and initialisms in the Australian Government
Style Manual (external).
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Use positive language The language we use affects how people receive our messages. Positive language
improves communication, it:
tells people what they can do sounds helpful and encouraging provides options softens the impact of bad news.
You can also use personal pronouns such as ‘I’, ‘we’ and ‘you’ to set a
conversational and friendly tone.
For example:
Please contact us if you need help.
Instead of:
Contact the department if you require further assistance.
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Planning Before you start writing, think about who your audience is and how you can help
them do what they need to do. The content you are making isn’t about you, it’s about
the person reading or listening to your writing.
Understand your audience Start with the key message Use headings and subheadings Adjust your language
Understand your audience Readers tend to scan a page before reading it, particularly on websites. Design plays
a key role in helping your readers scan for the content they need.
What action or result do you want? Clearly state the purpose of the content.
Identify what you want your audience to do.
Provide step-by-step actions they should take.
Templates and layout Identify the best document type or format to use.
Plan the structure.
Organise your information.
Use white space to help your reader find content.
Limit paragraphs to one topic.
How much detail is needed? How much does your audience know about the topic already?
Anticipate questions and provide information that gives steps to take.
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Start with the key message Plain English means focusing on your key message early in the document or report.
This gives an overview of what you are saying before going into detail.
If you write a letter, try to summarise the key message in the first 2 or 3 sentences.
If you write guidelines or processes, include an introduction like the one in these
standards.
Headings and sub-headings Good headings help readers to find the content they’re looking for. Headings should
be descriptive, using as few words as possible. Use key words to summarise the
content, so it’s easy for the reader to understand what they’re about to read.
Headings should not be phrased as questions. Statements encourage new ideas
and actions. They also make content easier to find as it puts the keyword(s) first.
For example, use:
Accessibility is important.
Instead of:
Why is accessibility important in government documents?
This technique is called, front-loaded headings. Front-loaded headings help people
to find what they are looking for quickly. They are especially important for people
with cognitive disabilities and/or blindness.
Front-loaded headings help people scan a page to understand the key points and
find what they’re looking for quickly.
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Readers should be able to read the headings to gain an overview of written content.
For example:
Program Name
Eligibility
Cost
How to Apply
Appeal
The more words in a heading, the longer a person that uses a screen reader needs
to listen to a robotic voice to find out this isn’t the section they’re after.
The Accessibility Hub has more information about how to format headings to work
with screen readers.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) has more information about
front-loaded headings:
WCAG Guideline 13: Provide clear navigation mechanisms (external).
WCAG Guideline 13.8: Place distinguishing information at the beginning of
headings, paragraphs, lists, etc (external).
Headings, in the Australian Style Manual (external) also provides more information
about how to format headings.
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Adjust your language How you apply plain English is just as important as considering your audience. Some
content allows for more informal language than others. For example, a social media
post can be more casual than an official letter from the Agency.
Sometimes readers will need to know high-level or detailed information about a topic.
Never assume everyone reading your content knows what a term means.
Remember to explain jargon and specific terms if you need to use them.
Active and passive voice Active voice clearly tells you who is doing what. It follows a sentence structure of:
Subject. Action (verb). Object.
When we write a sentence using active voice the sentence is generally shorter, more
direct, and easier to understand. The following examples show the difference
between active voice and passive voice.
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Passive voice
The piano was played by the musician.
Here the piano is the focus of this sentence. The piano is receiving the action
from the musician.
Subject: the piano (an object). Action: was played (past tense). Object: the musician (the person).
The piano was played.
This sentence fails to mention who performed the action at all.
Subject: whoever did this isn’t specified. Action: was played (past tense). Object: the piano (out of order).
Active voice
The musician played the piano.
Here the musician is the focus of this sentence. The musician is performing
the action of playing the piano.
Subject: the musician. Action: playing music. Object: the piano.
You can use the Check Accessibility feature in Word to check your content for
passive voice. Remember this tool is a guide only. See the section on reviewing
content (below) for more information.
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Times when passive voice is useful There may be times when you need to use passive voice. No more than 10% of your
sentences should be in passive voice.
Here are some examples of when you may need to use passive voice – as you:
don’t know who performed an action
don’t want to say who did an action
want to sound neutral.
For example:
Studies have shown that screen readers can help people with low vision.
Word choice Avoid turning verbs (actions) into nouns (things). Nouns reduce clarity and make text
seem more technical or abstract.
For example, use:
Develop (the action, a verb)
‘We will develop a new plan for a 4-day week.’
Instead of:
Development (a thing – in this example, a status, a noun)
‘We’re working on the development of a new plan for a 4-day week.’
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Delete padding and redundancy Redundant and padded writing adds ‘noise’. It makes it harder for the reader to
quickly find and understand information.
For example, use:
Helen manages the program.
Instead of:
Helen is responsible for the management of the program.
Contractions A contraction is when we use an apostrophe to combine two words into one.
For example, use:
We’re closed on the public holiday.
Instead of:
We are closed on the public holiday.
Always think about whether the shortened form works best for the type of content
you’re creating.
Contractions are not generally used in formal content. You can use them in less
formal content that aims to create:
a conversational tone (social media and newsletters) a friendly or collaborative tone (brochures and manuals).
You can read more about Contractions in the Australian Government Style Manual
(external).
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Plain English when you talk People absorb content differently when they hear it rather than read it. When you
read text, you can:
Go back and read text again. Look up words or phrases you’re not familiar with. Pause to process what you’ve read and form your own ideas.
Presentations When you give a speech or a presentation you can follow principles of plain English
and the planning process described earlier in this document when creating spoken
content.
Telephone When speaking to someone over a telephone, listeners can only go on the words
you say and the tone you use. They don’t get body language, facial expressions, or
any of the other non-verbal cues used when speaking. It is especially important to
use plain English when speaking over a telephone, as the listener may not have the
confidence to ask what you meant if you use a word or phrase they didn’t
understand.
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Final review You should review your content to make sure it meets our plain English standards.
How you apply plain English to different content is just as important as considering
your audience.
Checks you can do yourself There are several ways you can check your content yourself:
Read your content aloud to yourself. Run a spell check. Listen to your content using either a screen reader such as JAWS, or the
Read Aloud function in Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat. Check your readability using the Microsoft Accessibility Checker.
How to check readability Use the Check Accessibility feature of Microsoft Word to calculate the readability
scores of your content.
NDIA content should aim for:
a grade 7 reading level a reading ease score of 70% or higher.
Suggested minimums versus an absolute rule It’s important to remember that readability is just part of using plain English.
Remember:
Just because your content has a low readability score doesn’t mean that
it’s easy to understand. Formulas can’t measure context, prior knowledge, interest level, difficulty
of concepts nor the logic of your text.
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Tools and resources
NDIA Terms Guide Some words or phrases need to be used in a specific manner to meet NDIA
requirements. The NDIA Terms Guide is available on the Branding and Style Guides
intranet page. It lists specific words and phrases and explains how they should be
used.
Other references The following links may help you develop your plain English skills:
Plain English on the Accessibility Hub Plain language and word choice in the Australian Government Style Manual
(external) Plain English Foundation (external) Five principles of plain language by Plain Language Australia (external)
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