Volume 26, Issue 1 - Writing better
Three strategies to help you write clearly for a lay audience
Author: Michelle Guillemard
Abstract
When writing health and medical content for a lay audience, it is important to think beyond simply writing well. Defining your ideal readers, reducing medical jargon, and producing a well-formatted piece of work can all enhance your reader’s understanding. In this article, I explain how these three key strategies will help you write clearer medical content for lay readers. I also give some exercises to help you put these strategies into practice.
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References
- Graham S and Brookey J, Do Patients Understand? Perm J. 2008; 12(3): 67–9.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Quick Guide to Health Literacy [cited 19 Jan 2017]. Available from: https://health.gov/communication/literacy/quickguide/factsliteracy.htm
- Senelick R. C. Get your doctor to stop using medical jargon [2012 May 25; cited 19 Jan 2017]. Available: Available from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-c-senelickmd/medical-jargon_b_1450797.html
- Valtorta NK, Kanaan M, Gilbody S, Ronzi S, Hanratty B. Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for coronary heart disease and stroke: systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal observational studies. Heart. 2016;102(13):1009-16.
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Writing Better
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Advancing the Medical Writing profession: The Joint Position Statement on the Role of Professional Medical Writers
AMWA-EMWA-ISMPP Joint Position Statement on the Role of Professional Medical Writers
EMWA’s Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
Finding the action in your writing: Avoiding nominalisation
Removing the dead wood
Writing economically in medicine and science: Tips for tackling wordiness
How to shorten a text by up to 30% and improve clarity without losing information
Troublesome words
Can you recognise the four main ways that English sentences can be structured?
Three strategies to help you write clearly for a lay audience
Structuring paragraphs
A checklist to improve your writing
Results of the 2016 EMWA member survey
News from the EMA
Getting Your Foot in the Door
Teaching Medical Writing
In the Bookstores
Lingua Franca and Beyond
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Good Writing Practice
Medical Communications
Profile: An Interview with Michael Markie - an open science and open data advocate
Out on Our Own
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Editoral Board
Editor-in-Chief:
- Phillip Leventhal (Evidera, Lyon, France)
Co-Editor:
Managing Editor
- Victoria White (Tampa, Florida, USA) Email: MEW@emwa.org
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Associate Editors:
- Anuradha Alahari (PAREXEL International, Paris, France)
- Raquel Billiones (Clinipace, Zurich, Switzerland)
- Barbara Grossman (Hawkeye Medical Limited, Berkshire, UK)
- Joselita T Salita (Freelance, Bremen, Germany)
- Nathan Susnik (Hanover Medical School, Hanover, Germany)
- Clare (Chi-Chih) Chang
- Jonathan Pitt
Section Editors:
- Alison McIntosh (ICON Clinical Research, Hampshire, UK)
- Wendy Kingdom (Wendy Kingdom Ltd., Dulverton, UK)
- Lisa Chamberlain-James (Trilogy Writing and Consulting Ltd., Cambridge, UK)
- Maria Koltowska-Haggstrom (Proper Medical Writing Warsaw, Poland)
- Laura Collada Ali (Teksema, Cogne, Italy)
- Hervé Maisonneuve (Freelance, Lyon, France)
- Claire Gudex (University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark)
- Sam Hamilton (Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK)
- Anu Alahari
- Evguenia Alechine
- Kelly Goodwin Burri (Stryker GmbH, Selzach, Switzerland)
- Stephen Gilliver
- Amy Whereat
- Jennifer Clemens
- Karim Montasser
Ad-hoc Editors:
- Amy Whereat (SpeaktheSpeech Consulting, Asnieres sur Seine, France)
Editor Emeritus:
- Elise Langdon-Neuner (Medical University of Vienna, Austria)