Writing readable documents
Introduction
The aim of this document is to explain how ICT colleagues can write emails, documents and web
pages that staff and students (the ‘users’) can quickly read and understand. Throughout this guide,
we refer to these different document types simply as the ‘document’.
The purpose of any ICT document is to inform users about something related to IT. Any document
will fail if the purpose becomes lost amongst superfluous or ambiguous words or phrases. Ambiguity
creates confusion and superfluous words over-complicate the message.
Everyone’s a critic
Anyone can review a document and criticise its content. This is often because:
a) the person has no personal interest or incentive to read the document
b) the person hasn’t read it from start to finish (for any reason, usually time constraints)
c) the document isn’t written as clearly as it could be
You can’t do much about (a) and (b) but you can improve (c) by changing the way you write and by
having measurable information about your documents. You do this by:


… following guidance from the Campaign for Plain English
… using the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Grade and Flesch Reading Ease tools readily available in
Microsoft Word and Outlook.
The Campaign for Plain English
Although there is a commercial organisation behind it, the campaign is a worthy attempt to improve
the clarity of written documents and communication in general.
Plain English helps to produce clear and concise documents written with the reader in mind.
Free guides are available from the campaign web site. However, below is a summary:
1. Try to keep your sentences short
Try to keep to one main idea in a sentence, with maybe one other related point.
It’s fine to have a short sentence followed by a longer one, as long as the average sentence length in
your document is between 15 and 20 words. Use the Proofing tools in Word 2010 or Outlook 2010
to calculate the average for you, explained later.
2. Use active rather than passive verbs
An ‘active voice’ is preferred over the use of a ‘passive voice’ for documents that include instructions
or guidance for users.
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A passive sentence typically adds words that make a sentence longer than it needs to be. Swapping a
passive verb for an active verb will change the construction of the sentence and result in fewer
words.
For example, old ICT guides included the following sentence about saving energy:
Desktop PCs, monitors, local and networked office printers should be switched off at the mains where
practicable.
Rewritten, the sentence is now:
Switch off desktop PCs, monitors, local and networked printers at the mains.
The ‘should be switched off’ part of the sentence was ‘passive’. Rewritten, the sentence is now five
words shorter, and a superfluous part of the sentence (“where practicable”) has also been removed.
If the stated action isn’t practicable, (which is an overly complex synonym of easier to understand
words like ‘possible’ or ‘feasible’) then the user can’t follow the instruction anyway!
Thankfully, you don’t need to immediately recognise the rules of grammar relating to ‘passive’ use.
Microsoft’s proofing tools find ‘passive’ sentences in documents, measure sentence length, and
much more besides.
Proofing Tools
The Microsoft Proofing tools analyse a document and rate how readable it is and at what age the
reader is able to understand it, thanks to the Flesch Reading Ease score and the Flesch-Kincaid
Grade level.
Reading Ease
The Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Levels are the results of two formulae that
include the total number of words, sentences and syllables in a document.

ICT’s aim is to get a Reading Ease score of 60 – 70 (the higher the better)
Grade Level
Use the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level to know what age the reader can expect to understand the
document. Add five to the Grade Level score to get the age of the reader (e.g. a score of nine
equates to a reader age of fourteen).

ICT’s aim is to get a Grade Level score of 9 - 8 (the lower the better)
Remember that everyone - regardless of their age or role at the University - must understand the
public documents, emails and other communications produced by ICT as quickly as possible.
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Word Settings
In Microsoft Word, click on ‘File’, ‘Options’ and ‘Proofing’. Now click on ‘Show readability statistics’
and then set ‘Writing Style’ to ‘Grammar & Style’.
To check your document, select the ‘Review’ tab and then click on ‘Spelling & Grammar’. Word now
goes through your document and checks for spelling, grammar and readability (showing where you
use a ‘Passive Voice’).
The recommended average sentence length is between fifteen and twenty words, so eighteen is a
good average. 0% on passive sentences is the best score you can get, but the Reading Ease needs to
be between sixty and seventy and the Grade Level needs to be between nine and eight. Both of
those need a little more work in the example shown above.
Average Sentence Length
Passive Sentences
Reading Ease
Grade Level
15 - 20 words
0%
60 – 70 (or higher)
9 – 8 (or lower)
The proofing tools will also look at other aspects of grammar, including what it thinks are
fragmented sentences, split infinitives (“to boldly go”), end of sentence prepositions and so on.
Simply click ‘Ignore Once’ or ‘Ignore Rule’ and then proceed as normal.
Sometimes you might feel the need to reset the ‘Spelling and Grammar’ settings so that it doesn’t
remember things you have told it to ignore within a particular document:
Go back to ‘File’, ‘Options’ and ‘Proofing’. Click on ‘Recheck Document’ then go back into your
Document and click ‘Spelling & Grammar’ again.
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Outlook settings
In Microsoft Outlook, create a new message and then click on ‘File’, ‘Options’, ‘Mail’ (from the lefthand list), then click the ‘Spelling & Autocorrect’ button and choose ‘Proofing’ from the left menu.
The options here are similar to those in Word.
Tick the ‘Show readability statistics’ option near the bottom and choose the ‘Grammar & Style’
setting from ‘Writing Style’. Click the ‘Settings’ button to amend your chosen ‘Writing Style’ setting.
When writing a new message, click the ‘Review’ tab in Outlook and click the ‘Spelling & Grammar’
button to starting the proof reading process.
General Tips
What follows are some general tips to writing clearer documentation, outside of using the proofing
tools in Microsoft applications.
When only jargon will do
It is sometimes unavoidable to include IT jargon. This affects the Reading Ease and Grade Level
scores. The worst offenders are web site or email addresses.
If the content is for a web page, try having the address as a hyperlink attached to a related word or
phrase rather than including the full address in the content.
For example, show ‘in.beds.ac.uk’ but the interactive link is to ‘https://in.beds.ac.uk’.
The Professional Approach?
Remember who your audience is and what the purpose of the document is. Try to put yourself in
their shoes.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that using business language or IT jargon should be included
because it makes the content “look more professional”. You aren’t trying to impress people. You are
trying to inform them.
Getting the message across is the most important thing and information should always be written
using the appropriate style and be as concise as possible.
Too Much
Too much information is as almost as bad as not enough. Although it is commendable to try to
educate as well as inform, sometimes the reader only needs to understand their part of the process
and nothing more.
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For example, the reader doesn’t need to know that ICT supports three thousand computers when
the only computers that matter to them are those they use or are responsible for. They shouldn’t
need to know that LDAP lets them login to the University mobile app. They just need to know to use
their normal University login and password to use the app.
Focus on what is important
If an IT system has become unavailable, that should be the first thing mentioned in the title or
subject. Get the relevant information across as quickly and simply as you can. Don’t force people to
read preamble or have to click and go elsewhere before the reason for the document becomes clear.
Don’t completely rely on proofing tools. Under certain circumstances, a list of bullet points can score
highly using the proofing tools, but it doesn’t mean it is sufficient for the purpose of the document.
Alternative words
Your first draft might contain certain words that some users might consider too complex. MS Office
has a standard option for looking up alternatives (Synonyms) that might be more appropriate.
Highlight the word to change and then right-click over it. Now choose ‘Synonyms’ from the pop-up
menu and see what alternatives are offered.
Contractions
Using contractions like “don’t” instead of “do not” or “isn’t” instead of “is not” are now okay to use
in written documentation. They help the sentences to flow and sound more natural and less formal
when read aloud.
And finally…
Using the Proofing Tools will get you into good habits. Over time, your writing style changes subtly
and becomes clearer. Eventually, you won’t need to use the tools much, if at all.
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