How can you avoid jargon in your reports?

💡Avoiding jargons isn't always the solution, even if you have different audiences. One audience doesn't always mean they have the same reading needs or levels. Therefore, instead of avoiding jargons, it helps to add footnotes, sidebars, or glossary of terms for readers to refer to. 💡

- Express ideas in simple, straightforward terms. - Clarify technical terms for a non-specialist audience. - Tailor language to the knowledge level of your audience. - Explain concepts within the context of your report. - Illustrate complex ideas with relatable analogies. Tip: Have someone unfamiliar with the subject review your report to identify and eliminate any jargon that might be unclear to a broader audience.

Simplicity is priceless. Be it an image, writing, video or even food. Jargons in writing shows the content is complex and makes the reader skip past it. The writer becomes a specialist in it only if they know to convince the audience with their daily language or emotions. Places which requires the jargon usage, try to replace with routine and simple words without altering the meaning of the sentence. Use Thesaurus as a reference tool for synonyms to enhance or vary the writing skill.

A great writer is someone that make a complicated topic easier. You don't need to use complex words. You need to use everyday language. Write like you talk. The easier your writing is to understand, the deeper your connection gets with your reader. As a writer, your job is to make people understand. Write to make them understand.

Skip extra words that aren't needed. Use pictures, graphs, or quick stories to explain harder topics. I also write for a 9-10th grader can understand. People who are not around a topic in the professional side will not understand the lingo

💡Use plain language and simple sentences as much as possible. Reports need to be straight to the point, rather than a sea of data or technical information that your audience have to understand. 💡Complex and compound sentences are okay, but ensure that you don't put more than two-three jargons in one sentence. Again, jargons don't have to be avoided especially if the topic is technical to start with.

Sometimes avoiding jargon isn’t possible. For example, as a health writer I sometimes have to use a medical term in order to properly convey a concept. When this is necessary, I provide a simple definition to help readers better understand the term used. This allows me to utilize the proper medical term while still keeping things simple and improving readability for my audience.

💡Define special acronyms and terms for your industry or niche. For example, terms in cloud computing. There might not be general terms for them, but you can define them on first mention or provide footnotes, sidebars, and glossary of terms to your report.

Acronyms and terms are like shortcuts in language. They're shorter forms of phrases or specific words used in certain areas, like "NASA" for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. They're handy for saving space, but if people don't know them, they can be confusing. So, it's a good idea to explain them the first time you use them.

Last step to keep jargon out of your reports? Get feedback and then tweak your report. Find someone who doesn't know much about your topic. Have them read your report and give you their honest thoughts. Their fresh eyes can spot where you might need to clarify things.