Best practices for writing
Highly recommended: Following the best practices for writing is encouraged as it will improve the user experience.
For all text, ask yourself:
- Could a 10-year old understand?
- Could a 90-year old understand?
- Can I remove any words to make this more clear?
- Can I replace any words with easier words?
For tool names, ask yourself:
- Is this name used elsewhere in CET?
- Does this name accurately describe with the tool/function does?
- Does this name mean something else in the real world or in the industry?
For error messages, ask yourself...
- Have I provided an explanation of the current state and/or what caused it?
- Have I provided a solution to the problem? And have I given enough instruction on how to achieve the solution?
Check grammar and clarity: Grammarly Install Grammarly as a plug-in or extension for your browser and other programs. It checks your grammar, spelling, and helps with clarity automatically.
Capitalization: Capitalize My Title Type in text to check if it matches the AP style guide requirements for capitalization.
Multi-purpose: ChatGPT
- Review or improve existing text
- Create draft of texts
- Check for inclusive language
Paste your text into ChatGPT and ask for ways to improve the text. Continue to ask follow up questions for iterations if you don’t like the first revision.
Do not use ChatGPT to do the work for you, but to speed up and improve your work.
Note: Always review text generated by ChatGPT or other AI tools before implementing it.
Clarity: Hemingway app Write or copy your text in this app, which highlights areas that can be improved. This is a great tool to use since it doesn’t just fix it for you, it explains why it’s making suggestions, so that you’re learning along the way!
Inclusive language: Alex Running this program checks for insensitive language and suggests alternatives.