Editing, plain English and advice

Good editing into plain English can transform a document into something people really want to read.

We have skilled editors who can either sub-edit to remove typographical mistakes, improve grammar and ensure consistency, or undertake major editing work to restructure a document and re-write the text in plain English. We can also produce summaries and write press releases and, of course, design an attractive layout (see the design page).

Why plain English?

Do you need to make a business case for devoting resources to the work involved in re-writing your documents into plain English? Here are some of the arguments you could use.

If people understand you, they can find and use your services more easily.
You will alienate people if your reports, leaflets and websites are full of jargon, or if the text is complicated and confusing, or if the important points you want to make are getting lost in a lot of waffle. This applies as much to other managers and professionals as it does to the general public. Many managers and professionals find jargon-ridden 'management-speak' impenetrable, but learn to let it 'wash over' them, and read without fully understanding. You've probably experienced that yourself.
As a public service, your organisation spends a lot of time and money doing good work. Communicating that to the people who use your services, or who need to know what you are doing, is crucial. Otherwise you risk wasting much of that good work, or even undermining it.
Other public services are making the use of plain English a basic requirement. You should too.

Writing in plain English means following a few basic rules, and you can learn them. But it takes practice. We can help:

We can re-write your text in plain English, including re-designing your document to make it more readable. We'll give you a short report of what we have done and why. And we'll tell you some ways of improving your writing that you can easily learn to do yourself. Over time, you'll learn to write better plain English.

We can also advise you in person on ways of improving your writing, and show you some 'tricks of the trade'. Learning to write well (if you don't already do so) is a long-term venture but well within everyone's grasp. At the very least, we can help you to recognise some of the main mistakes you make and give advice on how to deal with them.

A few examples

1. Writing up case studies

For our own annual review, we interviewed clients and used the material to write case studies.

Time needed

One case study, including preparation, setting up interview, conducting interview, writing 300-700 words: 0.75 day

2. Consultation and engagement strategy

We edited a consultation and engagement strategy for a London borough, including restructuring the document into a more logical order and drafting the mayor's foreword.

Time needed

Thorough editing of a 60-page document: 3 days.

3. Strategy document for a government department

A department director asked us to re-write a report of the activities of several working groups, all of which had submitted their own sections. She was not satisfied that they had all answered the same brief, and could not find an obvious way to bring consistency to the whole. We worked closely with her to establish a better structure, researched and wrote up some background information as an introduction, and then re-wrote the individual sections as necessary. The final report was published on the department's website.

Time needed

Depends on size of report: we should be happy to discuss your needs.

If you think we can be of help, please contact Leila Carlyle on 0207 239 0877 or email Leila