Banishing Bureaucratese: Using Plain Language in Government Writing

In the federal government, good writing skills have become particularly important since the Plain Language Guidelines were issued in 1998. Banishing Bureaucratese shows you how to apply the guidelines to every type of writing, from emails, memos, and letters to policies, agency communications, and budget justification statements.

You'll learn how to:
Overcome writer's block
Use mindmapping to create an outline
Choose the appropriate tone
Write regulations for diverse audiences
Create "if-then" tables
Draft policy statements that will be read
Write test, trouble, and trip reports
Compose meaningful budget justification statements

Using examples from sources that include a variety of federal and state agencies, this practical handbook walks you step-by-step through every phase of the writing process. Whether you're writing a cover letter, proposal, technical report, or simple email message, what and how you write affects how people interpret and respond to your message. Banishing Bureaucratese will enable you to express yourself more clearly and concisely, produce documents more efficiently, and work with others in the writing process more effectively.

Judith Gillespie Myers, Ph.D., is an instructor and curriculum developer for Management Concepts, a training company in Vienna, Virginia. She has taught writing skills to hundreds of students, many of them government employees. She coauthored Essentials of School Management and has written more than 20 training manuals. As a journalist, radio newscaster, and news editor, Dr. Myers has written numerous articles and news items. She received her doctorate from American University in Washington, D.C.