Writing for the Layperson

I read a draft op-ed piece this week by a brilliant academic who used both the words: venerable and somnolent in not only the first sentence, but the first clause. Now, I probably shouldn't admit this, but I headed to the dictionary on somnolent and double-checked what I understood was the definition for venerable while I was there. My point is not that I have a lackluster vocabulary. Rather, I fall pretty firmly into the "intelligent layperson" category for most of the pieces I read as a professional in research development. So, when I can't get through the first sentence of a piece that's intended for the lay audience, there's likely some work to do on the part of the writer. 

As we near the end of the year, I wanted to return to one of our more popular blog topics: writing for the layperson, if for no other reason than to help prepare you to move from your very technical and scholarly writing to writing your end-of-year family newsletter.

Make it useful
Back in tech-writing school, technical writing was defined as writing for a purpose, and more specifically, writing to be useful. Meaning to transition to technical writing is to take yourself out of the equation (you're not writing for your own edification anymore) and focusing on writing that will be useful to the reader. The first thing to do is understand what your reader is using your writing for.  If you're writing a grant proposal, your audience is at least in part your reviewers.  So, who are your reviewers? Are they experts? In your specific field? After figuring out who they are, realize that they likely want to skim your application initially to get an understanding of what it's all about. So, how navigable is your piece? Are you using clear and consistent headings? Are you organizing your writing in a way to make your grant "useful?"

Start with what they know
If you're writing a technical piece for the layperson, begin with both things they are familiar with and things that matter to them to draw them in. Talk about the big picture and possible impact that your research will create. Explain in plain language why your work is important and what difference it will make. When you're addressing the "who cares?" question, make sure you explain why they, the readers, should care as well.

Use examples that will resonate
As you move into the more technical nitty gritty of your document, let your reader come up for air every so often by providing an example or a metaphor with which they will be familiar. Having just completed a statistics course, it's amazing how useful it is to have my instructor show a picture of the curvilinear relationship we're studying or offering an example of interpreting an odds ratio. These teaching practices can really be put to good use in your own technical writing. If you equate the intended use of your grant proposal with the learning outcome for a class, you can then start breaking down your subject matter in such a way that it gets your reader to your intended outcome in the same way you instruct a learner.


Going, back to my original example, I don't mean to be a fancy-word-hater, even if I am a Technical Writer. Think how much smarter I am now that I can start describing things as venerable or somnolent! But, if you're going to wax poetic in your piece, make sure there is a good reason for the reader's sake. Make sure that you're really using the best word(s), and that your reader's potential trip to the dictionary will be worth it. Or, better yet, use the fancy word(s) in such a way that their meaning is obvious, so those readers who are too lazy to look it up can still stay with you.

Resources:
The Mayfield Handbook of Technical and Scientific Writing - MIT
Writing a Layperson Summary - UNC, Charlotte