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The Clarity Journal

Our biannual journal, The Clarity Journal, is the leading source of plain language news and research from across the globe. The journal features the latest plain language research, practical advice, before-and-after examples, success stories, campaign strategies and much more.

The Clarity Journal is distributed free to members, keeping you up-to-date and informed of changes and trends in plain language and clear communication.

Contact our Editor-in-Chief at editor@clarity-international.org for advertising, article submissions and enquiries.

  • The Clarity Journal 64 November 2010

    In this issue :

    1. Defining plain language
    2. Setting plain language standards
    3. Training for plain language
    4. Grounding plain language in research
    5. Advocating plain language
    6. Certifying plain language
    7. Strengthening plain language institutions
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  • The Clarity Journal 63 May 2010

    In this issue :

    1. Writing Smaller
    2. Plain Language in Plain English, Chapter 8: Identify the purposes of the document
    3. Simplifying frequent overlooked customer touchpoints
    4. How to conduct readability research according to the standards of professional market and social research
    5. Five tips on writing to a judge
    6. The research basis of plain language techniques: Implications for establishing standards
    7. Two drafting examples from the proposed new Federal Rules of Evidence
    8. Multilayering in plain language texts
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  • The Clarity Journal 62 November 2009

    In this issue :

    1. Opening address
    2. Ensnaring perceptions on communication: Underlying obstacles to lawyers writing plainly
    3. The credit crisis has its roots in Main Street not Wall Street
    4. Plain language and financial transparency: What you don’t understand can cost (or make) you money
    5. Making the business case for plain English
    6. Plain words
    7. Righting the wrongs of rewriting
    8. Keynote address : International trends in English style and usage
    9. Laws set the framework for plain language in South Africa
    10. Assessing the usability of credit card disclosures
    11. Developing plain language multilingual information about the law
    12. Closing address – Plain concord: Clarity’s ten commandments
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  • The Clarity Journal 61 May 2009

    In this issue :

    1. SIMPLE LAW: laws in citizen-friendly language: a program implemented by Chile’s National Library of Congress
    2. From plain language to business language
    3. Opening ceremony remarks for Clarity’s third international conference
    4. Legal language and the technique for legislation drafting in Mexico: an unresolved matter
    5. What our Constitution has to learn from religion
    6. Plain English for Spanish-speaking lawyers: specific language based issues
    7. Paths that meet: the plain language network
    8. The journey of Citizen language
    9. Leaving legalese behind
    10. Defining the profession: placing plain language in the field of communication
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  • The Clarity Journal 60 November 2008

    In this issue :

    1. Plain language—(literally) halfway around the world from Cincinnati
    2. Construction contract administration— an approach on clarity
    3. ‘And yet it moves’: recent developments in plain legal English in the UK
    4. Stepping stones to plain English
    5. An arbitration agreement designed not to be read, written not to be understood
    6. The Texas pattern jury charges plain-language project: the writing consultant’s view
    7. Further thoughts on letters of advice
    8. The good lecture and the good paper
    9. Linguistic lingo for lawyers—linking verbs
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  • The Clarity Journal 59 May 2008

    In this issue :

    1. The building blocks on Wessel’s website: the Amsterdam challenge
    2. Setting the standard: some steps toward a plain language profession
    3. Strong, cautious support: Clarity’s position on standards and accreditation
    4. International plain language standards— the view from the Center for Plain Language
    5. Writing by numbers: are readability formulas to clarity what karaoke is to song?
    6. Some thoughts on standards
    7. Towards a plain lingua franca for India
    8. Getting a grip on plain language
    9. The Dutch Constitution in plain language
    10. Plain Portuguese, the new member of the plain language family
    11. Clear language: the municipal challenge
    12. Best practices: key features of the City’s new staff report design
    13. Plain-language changes to the City of Toronto’s procedures by law
    14. 2 continents + 2 approaches + 1 vision = effective government communication
    15. Tools and techniques for working with subject matter experts to create plain language manuals
    16. A national organization of physicians embraces plain language: a case study and what we learned
    17. Certified plain-language consultants already exist in Sweden
    18. Linguistic lingo for lawyers—word classes
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  • The Clarity Journal 58 November 2007

    In this issue :

    1. Measuring plain language at the British Columbia Securities Commission
    2. Plain language in financial correspondence: bridging the consumer-to-customer gap
    3. Lord Renton 1908–2007
    4. What makes a document readable?
    5. Learning about plain language through a community development project on adult literacy
    6. Keeping errors in Czech
    7. Drafting matters—letters of advice
    8. Tips from a unique provider of South African legal research
    9. Book review—Informed choices with a capital ‘G’
    10. Book review—Indlish
    11. Linguistic lingo for lawyers— personal pronouns and gender: a dialogue
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  • The Clarity Journal 57 May 2007

    In this issue :

    1. Opening speech at the conference for the launch of New Zealand’s WriteMark plain English awards
    2. Judicial attitudes to plain language and the law
    3. Clarity member receives the Burton Award
    4. Lord David Renton
    5. Introductory editorial for the seminar in print
    6. Linguistic nasties and niceties: Who should we pander to? Or to whom should we pander?
    7. A rant in favour of empathy and against relativism: the impact of grammar, punctuation and usage on clarity
    8. House style—whose style is it?
    9. Editing judgments: lessons learned in law reporting
    10. The continuing insult to the language
    11. Punctuation
    12. Letter to the editor
    13. Improving our writing by understanding how people read personally addressed household mail
    14. A redrafting exercise
    15. Clarity for Lawyers—Effective Legal Writing
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  • The Clarity Journal 56 November 2006

    In this issue :

    1. A retrospect for Clarity
    2. Plain language in the UK
    3. Plain language in Scottish legislation
    4. Plain legal language in the English courts
    5. Plain language, the “Better Law-Making Charter” and some UK developments
    6. Plain English revolution officially announced
    7. Clarity for South Africa’s credit consumers
    8. Implementing plain language at Mallesons
    9. Evolution of an easy-to-understand financial privacy notice
    10. Two items from the US
    11. Improving financial disclosure for individual investors
    12. Legislative update: Plain language and government accountability office regulation review
    13. Understanding barristers’ opinions: a discourse analytical perspective
    14. Plain language: a survey by Sydney law students
    15. Plain language in legal agreements: is it safe?
    16. Linguistic lingo for lawyers—‘person’ and other grammitical terms for personal pronoun forms in English
    17. The importance of punctuation
    18. Drafting tips—recasting a document
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  • The Clarity Journal 55 May 2006

    In this issue :

    1. Master class in English, for Clarity’s conference in Boulogne: writing the law in plain language— three versions
    2. Instructionsfor Queues Bill
    3. Queues Bill 2005
    4. Commentary and Queues Bill 2005
    5. Queues Bill 2005
    6. Drafting master classes: plain languagestyles are not consistent
    7. Introduction to theinternationalroundtable at the Fifth Plain Language Association INternational(PLAIN)Conference
    8. Plain language developmentsin Australia
    9. Plain language in the Senate of Chili
    10. Plain language in Spain
    11. What’s on in plain Swedish
    12. Recent plain-language progressin the U.K.
    13. Plain languagein the United States government
    14. Removing barriers to food stamp assistance— one complex form at a time
    15. Health literacy: the importance of clear communication for better health
    16. Making things clear: how we are winning— 6 strategies and themesto our work
    17. You can fix your own English
    18. Technical jargon: an approach, an idea and an offering
    19. Taking an overview: three rules of thumb
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