Plain Language as a Recipe for Effective Writing

Jenny Chicca, PhD, RN, CNE, CNEcl

Writer’s Camp Senior Counselor and Associate Editor

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Please enjoy this recipe for successful writing, our holiday gift to everyone here at Writer’s Camp.

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Consider the following scenario. A nursing faculty member has completed an 8-hour day with undergraduate students in the clinical setting. They come home to their family, make dinner, and spend a few hours grading. The faculty member then plans to review a few articles to stay up-to-date before heading to bed. Tomorrow will be another early and long day for them. The faculty member presented in this scenario is likely not unique. Like many nursing professionals, this individual has various demands on their time including completing professional development activities.

As writers, we aim to communicate information effectively to readers like the faculty member in the scenario. However, sometimes we write in an overly complex way due to a variety of factors such as skill, education level, and expertise. But overly complex writing means content may not be relevant, and content might not be understandable or usable.¹ Thus, you need to write simply to improve outcomes.  

There are many structures which can help you write clearly. One that may be particularly helpful is plain language. The Plain Writing Act of 2010 requires federal agencies to write government documents in a clear, understandable style so the public can use presented content.² Although you may not be a federal agency writing a government document, the principles of plain language can help you write effectively too. And there are lots of free resources online on how to use plain language.^3,4 So, let’s use plain language as a Recipe for Effective Writing. Why a recipe you say? Well, maybe I am hungry, or maybe it is because the holidays are here. Either way, let’s start with the ingredients, which stem from the top 10 principles for plain language.⁴ Yes, as a chef (writer), I did make some substitutions (edits).

Ingredient 1: Write For Your Reader

The first ingredient in the Recipe for Effective Writing is writing for your reader. You want to think about their knowledge, expertise, and interests as you write. Ask yourself questions such as:

• Who is my audience?
• What do they already know?
• What do they need to know?
• What questions might they have?

Say you are writing a manuscript on alternative teaching-learning strategies, and your audience is nursing faculty. This reader would already know basic principles of teaching-learning, and you are now presenting them with alternative or non-traditional strategies they may want to use. In addition to background information about strategies including their evidence base, educators would want to know how to implement the strategies with considerations. Writing for your readers will keep them engaged and help them use the presented content.

Ingredient 2: State Your Main Points Before Going into Details

Now that you know how to write for your reader, let’s talk about how to organize your writing. The second ingredient in the Recipe for Effective Writing states that major points should come first, and then you can provide the details. This orients the reader and helps them understand your content. Let’s look at an example from an article on artificial intelligence (AI) and accreditation: “To maximize output, faculty must carefully craft and enter input into AI models.”^{5 (p.3)} After presenting that main idea, the authors explained prompt engineering principles and how they are applied to accreditation-related activities. That leads me to my next point: examples. With your details, examples are a great way to succinctly get your point across, and they can substitute for long explanations. Don’t spend time explaining something when a simple example would do the trick. Stating your main points before the details (with examples) orients the reader and helps you communicate effectively.

Ingredient 3: Stick To Your Topic

So far, you’ve learned how to write for your reader and organize your writing. The next ingredient in the Recipe for Effective Writing includes sticking to your topic. Sticking to your topic is important in your overall writing, but also in your sections, paragraphs, and sentences. I’ll go ahead and say it: this is an area where I struggled at first. It’s tempting to veer off to ensure all content is covered, but that doesn’t help your reader. Think back to Ingredient 1. You want to cover only what is needed for your reader. In general, sections should be a few paragraphs, paragraphs should be 150-250 words, and sentences should be short (more to come on that in Ingredient 5). As you go between thoughts, adding transitions can help point out connections and link related thoughts. Example transitions include:

• This, that, these, those, the
• And, also, moreover, in addition, further
• However, but, on the other hand, in contrast
• Therefore, consequently, thus, as a result
• For example, for instance, such as, specifically
• First, next, then, afterward, finally, meanwhile, last
• In conclusion, in summary, in short, to sum up

My piece of advice: don’t overdo it. You want to lead readers through your writing, but too many transitions can distract your reader. Okay, now that you know how to stick to your topic, on to the next ingredient.

Ingredient 4: Write in (Mostly) Active Voice

The next Recipe for Effective Writing ingredient is to write in active voice as much as you can. Only use passive voice in rare cases. Active voice is where the subject performs the action of the verb. Active voice is clear, concise, and engaging. Passive voice is where the subject receives the action of the verb. One way you can spot passive voice is when there is form of the verb ‘to be’ like are, was, and were, followed by a past participle with an ‘ed.’ Let’s go over some examples (thank you, Ingredient 2).

Active Voice	Passive Voice
The nurse will draw blood.	Blood will be drawn by the nurse.
The educator graded the papers.	The papers were graded by the educator.
One-third of applicants failed the entrance exam.	The entrance exam was failed by one-third of applicants.

I tell my students that passive voice feels like you are talking around what you are trying to say. It’s better to be direct. However, sometimes passive voice is allowed. It can be used when the subject is unknown, unimportant, needs to be de-emphasized, or when there needs to be an objective tone. But most of the time, it is best to use active voice for clear, concise, and engaging writing.

Ingredient 5: Use Short Sentences

The next ingredient in the Recipe for Effective Writing is using short sentences. Repeat after me: I will resist the temptation to write one sentence. Split your thoughts into two or more sentences. If you are splitting up sentences, you may need to add transitions to preserve the relationships. For example, you could use words or phrases like if, in this case, and then. Looking at you, Ingredient 3!

Consider the following sentence written by ChatGPT-5. Nursing education, which serves as the foundation for developing competent, compassionate, and critically thinking healthcare professionals, integrates theoretical instruction with extensive clinical practice, fosters the cultivation of ethical decision-making and cultural sensitivity, and continuously evolves to incorporate advances in medical science, technology, and evidence-based practice in order to prepare nurses to meet the complex and ever-changing needs of patients and communities across diverse healthcare settings. Although grammatically correct, the sentence is hard to read. Instead, you could write separate sentences (at least 2 or 3) and link them with transitions.

Ingredient 6: Use Everyday Words      

The next Recipe for Effective Writing ingredient is to use everyday words. If you must use technical terms, then define them at first use so your reader knows what they mean. Avoid jargon and complex words. Example word substitutions could include:

Everyday Word or Phrase	Complex Word or Phrase
Use	Utilize
Publish	Promulgate
If	In the event of
Begin	Commence

You also want to decrease the number of abbreviations, initialisms, or acronyms you use to two to three per document. When overused, abbreviations, initialisms, and acronyms come across as a string of letters and make a document harder to read. For example, say you are discussing the Initial Program Application Subcommittee. Instead of writing out the long name repeatedly, or calling it IPASC, you could just call it “the Subcommittee.” Readers will know what you are talking about. That said, at times technical terms should be used, and an abbreviation, initialism, or an acronym is more descriptive—but use these elements with care. Don’t “acronymize” every other word in your document.

Ingredient 7: Omit Unneeded Words

The next ingredient in our ever-growing Recipe for Effective Writing involves omitting unneeded words. This ingredient helps you write in active voice (Ingredient 4), use short sentences (Ingredient 5), and can even help you use everyday words (Ingredient 6). Omitting unneeded words means that you will evaluate each word you have to see if it provides value. If not or if you are unsure, take it out. Once again, we are going to use Ingredient 2 and skip the long explanations in favor of examples. Take out modifiers like absolutely, completely, actually, really, quite, totally, and very (I am guilty of this one. I may have re-read this article and removed a few of these after writing this section). You should also avoid doublets and triplets such as cease and desist, null and void, or first, last, and always. You should look for any words that seem to duplicate ideas. Consider the following sentence written by ChatGPT-5. The National League for Nursing organization provides essential resources for advancing nursing education. Is the word organization needed? No, it is not. You should also watch out for what my colleague Leslie Nicoll calls “pizza pies,” which phrases that say the same thing twice.⁶ For example, say you are writing a research report and your participants are nursing students. Once you define who they are, you can just say “the participants” or “the students.” Your readers will remember who they are. Omitting unneeded words directly communicates your message to your reader (and helps you write shorter sentences).

Ingredient 8: Keep The Subject and the Verb Close Together

So far, you’ve learned to write for your reader, state your main points before going into details, stick to your topic, write in active voice, use short sentences and everyday words, and omit unneeded words. It’s coming together now! Although related to the other ingredients, let’s just highlight a few steps to ensure you are using Ingredient 8. Let’s use the following sentence written by ChatGPT-5 as an example. Nursing education, despite the constant evolution of healthcare technologies and teaching methods, remains a vital foundation for preparing competent professionals.

Step	Example
1. Identify the subject and the verb.	Nursing education (subject) Remains (verb)
2. Look for intervening words like prepositional phrases or clauses separating the subject and the verb.	… despite the constant evolution of healthcare technologies and teaching methods …
3. Remove unnecessary words.	Constant, vital, healthcare, methods
4. Rearrange the sentence by moving intervening words or breaking up the sentence.	Nursing education remains foundational in preparing competent professionals amid changes in technology and teaching practices.

Well, if that was my paper, I would probably edit it a bit more, but you get the idea. Keeping the subject and the verb close together is easier to read.

Ingredient 9: Use Headings, Lists, and Tables to Make Reading Easier

As you follow the Recipe for Effective Writing, don’t forget to use headings, lists, and tables to lead your readers through your work and engage them as they predict what is next. Although these tools are helpful, they should be used sparingly and appropriately. Tips for using these tools include:

Tool	Tips
Headings	Up to three levels, use a main type of heading (question, statement, topic)
Lists	Lead-in sentence with parallel construction,* left justify, accessible symbol
Tables	Display complex information and show relationships

*Note. Parallel construction involves checking that the lead-in sentence makes sense with each list point. If you can’t read the lead-in sentence with every list point, it’s time to revise.

Do you see where I’ve used headings, lists, and tables to enhance this article?

Ingredient 10: Proofread Your Work

The last ingredient involves taste testing before you serve your writing. In other words, proofread your work before you share it to ensure you have a cohesive and clear document. Review for plain language principles and any glaring concerns like the consistent use of terminology. For example, if you have mentioned a concept a few times in your document, do you refer to it in the same way? Of course, there are many ways to proofread, but let me give you a few ideas:

• Read your work out loud yourself or using screen reading software.
• Use an assistive or generative AI platform.
• Have someone outside of your discipline read your work.

Directions for Effective Writing

It’s time to bring all the ingredients together. Start by outlining your audience (Ingredient 1) to draft your purpose. Then, create an outline for your reader which is organized using main points then details (Ingredient 2) and stick to your topic (Ingredient 3). Next, start writing and incorporate Ingredients 4 through 9 to the best of your ability. You may have noticed these ingredients are related so blending them truly provides your intended yield: effective writing. Once you are done, add Ingredient 10 and make sure prior ingredients are there (I forgot an egg once in my cookies. Those were some odd cookies). Make edits as needed and re-proof your work. Consider using a checklist to structure your review. Examples include the:

• Plain Language Quick Reference Guide⁷
• Plain Writing Checklist⁸
• Maryland Clear Writing and Plain Language Checklist⁹

Now, it’s time to share your writing with others. Or, as I write at the end of all my recipes, serve and enjoy!

Conclusion

Writing can be overly complex which means it may not be understood, and readers may not use presented content. Despite the need for simplicity, writers can struggle to make their writing more effective. This article discussed using the 10 principles for plain language as a guide for effective writing. Effective writing is more likely to be used and positively impact outcomes.

References

1. Schinder TM. The making of the International Standard for Writing in Plain Language ISO 24495-1: Its usefulness, content, and how it came into existence. American Medical Writer’s Association Journal. 2024; 39(1): 51-55. doi:10.55752/amwa.2024.333
2. Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Plain Language Act. October 1, 2025. Accessed November 1, 2025. https://www.dni.gov/index.php/plain-language-act
3. U.S. General Services Administration. Plain language guides. October 1, 2025. Accessed November 1, 2025. https://digital.gov/guides/plain-language
4. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Top 10 principles for plain language. February 17, 2023. Accessed October 31, 2025. https://www.archives.gov/open/plain-writing/10-principles.html
5. Chicca J, Shellenbarger T, Chicca D. Artificial intelligence meets accreditation to modernize nursing education. Nurse Educator. 2026; 51(1): 7-12. doi:10.1097/NNE.0000000000001975
6. Nicoll LH. Becoming a ruthless editor revisited. The Writer’s Camp Journal. 2025;1(1):1. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15333137
7. United States Department of Labor. Plain language quick reference guide. September 2020. November 1, 2025. https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/general/Plain-Language-Quick-Reference-Guide.pdf
8. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Plain writing checklist. July 2, 2019. Accessed November 1, 2025. https://www.archives.gov/open/plain-writing/checklist.html
9. University of Maryland. Maryland clear writing and plain language checklist. May 8, 2023. Accessed November 1, 2025. https://sph.umd.edu/sites/default/files/2023-09/Plain%20language%20checklist.FINAL_.Fillable%20PDF.pdf

Author: Jenny Chicca

Reviewed and Edited by: Leslie H. Nicoll

Copyright © 2025 Writer’s Camp and Jenny Chicca. CC-BY ND 4.0

Citation: Chicca J. Plain language as a recipe for effective writing. The Writer’s Camp Journal, 2025; 1(3):15. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.18036423