“Plain language” is a term from the legal field: federal law requires that government agencies are required to use clear communication that the public can understand and use. As online teachers, we can take advantage of the set of clear guidelines and best practices that has grown up around this requirement. The federal plain language guidelines are fully in line with web usability recommendations, and can help streamline and clarify our online teaching. Whether you’re writing for a library website, a tutorial, a research guide or some other format, you’ll learn how to make your materials more accessible to the widest possible audience without dumbing them down.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the session, participants should be able to:
Adopt simple principles of writing to improve clarity
Organize written content clearly for better comprehension
Explain concepts to library patrons more effectively -Write more concisely for the online teaching environment
Instructor: Jason Puckett
Jason Puckett is Online Learning Librarian and Associate Professor at Georgia State University Library in Atlanta, Georgia. Puckett has an MLIS from Florida State University, is a Library Journal Mover & Shaker, and is the author of the ACRL books Modern Pathfinders: Creating Better Research Guides and Zotero: A Guide for Librarians, Researchers & Educators.
