Title :
Effectiveness of Plain Language in environmental policy documentation for the general public
Author :
Derthick, Katie ; Jones, Natasha ; Dowell, Randy ; McDavid, Justin ; Mattern, David ; Spyridakis, Jan
Author_Institution :
Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Abstract :
Several government agencies have been calling for the improvement of the quality of environmental policy documents through the implementation of principles drawn from plain language guidelines. Many of the writers who have been tasked with implementing such principles have expressed ongoing doubts about the guidelines´ effectiveness in making documents easier for the public to comprehend and trust. Our research seeks to discover whether implementing some specific plain language guidelines influences the comprehension and perceptions of readers of environmental policy documents.
Keywords :
government policies; system documentation; environmental policy documentation; general public; plain language; Documentation; Environmental factors; Guidelines; History; Public policy; Terminology; Transportation; US Government; Writing; NEPA; environmental impact statement (EIS); headings; personal pronouns; plain language;
Conference_Titel :
Professional Communication Conference, 2009. IPCC 2009. IEEE International
Conference_Location :
Waikiki, HI
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-4357-4
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-4358-1
DOI :
10.1109/IPCC.2009.5208680