Planning in Plain English

Book excerpt: "Cover"--"Half Title"--"Title" -- "Copyright" -- "Contents" -- "Foreword" -- "Acknowledgments" -- "Introduction" -- "Part I: Getting Started" -- "1. Knowing Your Readers" -- "How Many Readers?" -- "Who Are They?" -- "What Information Do They Need?" -- "How Will They Use Your Document?" -- "2. Organizing Your Document" -- "What Is the Main Message?" -- "What Can You Leave Out?" -- "Does the Document Need Headers?" -- "Does the Document Need a Summary?" -- "Are There Ways to Make the Document Livelier?" -- "Part II: Writing Clearly" -- "3. Writing Simple Sentences" -- "Writing Short Sentences" -- "Removing Extra Words" -- "Avoiding Clusters of Nouns" -- "Exercises" -- "4. Writing Active Sentences" -- "Avoiding the Passive Voice" -- "Turning Nouns Back into Verbs" -- "Exercises" -- "5. Using Simple Words and Avoiding Jargon" -- "Recognizing Jargon" -- "Avoiding Acronyms" -- "Finding the Simpler Word" -- "Exercises" -- "6. Explaining Technical Information" -- "Explaining Processes From the Beginning" -- "Highlighting the Main Point" -- "Using Specific Examples" -- "Exercises" -- "7. Using Lists" -- "Using Bullets" -- "Writing Policies and Conditions" -- "Exercises" -- "Exercise Key" -- "References and Bibliography