Steps from start to finish

Contents

About this guide
What is plain English?
Steps from start to finish
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Spreading the Word
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Appendix 4

Here we have set out five steps that will take you from staring at a blank page to having a well-informed reader.

Step 1: Think about your reader
Step 2: Organise your information
Step 3: Write your content
Step 4: Check what you have written
Step 5: Design and produce your document

Under each step are tips to help you improve written and spoken information. They are guidelines, not rules, and not all them will apply to every reader or every document. But using even some of them will take you a long way towards making your information more understandable.