PLAIN LANGUAGE MOVEMENT- Medical Writing

Joanne Locke, Senior Policy Advisor and Plain Language Coordinator at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), reviewed an initiative termed “The Plain Language Movement” The movement dates back to the 1970s when the U.S. federal government began encouraging its regulation writers to be less bureaucratic.

 

The plain language movement is an attempt to demonstrate the benefits of writing clearly and concisely, in a reader-focused style. In short, the plain language movement may be called a recipe to use 

• logical organization of your text,  
• common, everyday words (except for necessary technical terms),  
• “we” and other personal pronouns, 
• the active voice, and 
• short sentences.