As You Write

Organize Your Content in a Reader-Friendly Way

• Identify Key Questions: Anticipate the questions your audience may have about the topic. What will they need to know to have a good understanding of the subject?
• Structure Your Draft: Arrange your content based on these questions, following the order in which a reader might logically ask them. If appropriate, you may want to:
  1. create headings based on the topic to be addressed in that particular section;
  2. adopt a Q&A format, using the questions as headings to guide your audience through the document; or
  3. make headings about each topic that form a complete sentence.
  4. create an executive summary (for more formal documents) or explainer notes at the beginning of the document that concisely capture the main conclusions, recommendations, or important insights of your project. This allows the reader to understand the key messages quickly.
• Ensure Logical Flow: Start with the important conclusions/outcomes of the piece to capture the reader's interest at the beginning. This helps to set the context and importance of the information that follows.

Be Concise

• Wordy, dense sentence construction is too often an attribute of government writing. While this kind of sentence construction works for academic writing (to show the writer's expertise and present information in a nuanced manner), it does a disservice to the majority of the public who are not subject matter experts and are not inclined to wade through complex sentences that contain multiple phrases and clauses.

• Tips:
  1. Set word or page limits for your project and adhere to them - attention spans are short. If this writing project is annual/periodical, try to convey the same amount of information as the last issue in fewer words.
  2. Remove unnecessary words. LINK

Increase Readability

• ○ Use simpler sentences that are easy to understand. Shorten sentences and paragraphs where possible and vary lengths.
  • Remember your target audience. Are you using words that they would be familiar with? Is there a way to express the information in a simpler way that still provides your audience with the information that they need to know?
  • EXAMPLE:
  • Before:

"The proposed development will feature a multi-modal transit hub to facilitate interconnectivity and reduce the reliance on private vehicles, thereby promoting sustainable urban growth.

• • After:

"The proposed building has a station that connects different types of transport. The station will reduce residents' dependence on private cars, making the city more environmentally friendly."

• Remember:
  • Using plain language doesn't always require you to shorten a sentence; it's preferable to maintain the length of the section or include a few more words to make a concept clearer to your reader.
  • If a document will be read by subject matter experts as well as laypeople

 ○ Create white space between paragraphs.
 ○ Use bulleted or numbered lists instead of narratives where applicable.
 ○ Use bold, italic or underline formatting to emphasize key words or phrases.
 ○ Create hyperlinks and change the URL to explanatory text

Use Active vs. Passive Voice

It is important that you use active, rather than passive voice in most of your writing. Sentences written in passive voice often hide the answer to "who is doing what?" in a sentence and increases the chance that pertinent information is omitted. Readers prefer active sentences because they make the message more effective and lively.

Crafting active sentences can sometimes lengthen the text, but it is worth it if the additional words provides the readers with necessary details.

EXAMPLE:

Passive Voice	Active Voice
The community members were asked whether the developer's responses answered their questions.	The corridor project team asked community members whether the developer's responses answered their questions.
The amended application must be submitted by the June 1 deadline in order to have the application reviewed.	The applicant or their legal representative must submit an amended application by June 1 for board review.

Limit Qualifying Language

Words and phrases that qualify our use of language introduce nuance and precision into our communication by changing the scope, strength, or certainty of a statement. There are many types of qualifying language, but for Planning Department purposes, we have separated them into three categories and provided examples in the table below:

Type	Common Words and Phrases	Examples
Degree of Certainty	may, might, could, seems, probably, likely, definitely, possibly	The planning project will probably be completed in October.
Scope and Degree	always, almost, sometimes, never, rarely, really, very, extremely, slightly, only, just	The planning project is almost complete.
Condition and Comparison	if, unless, similar to, different from	The planning project is similar to the one completed in 2017.