NCEH/ATSDR Clear Writing Hub | NCEH

One of our goals is to help our grantees and partners create environmental health information the public can understand and trust. We’ve developed this website to help you communicate clearly and effectively to all the audiences you serve.

Clear Writing Training Modules

These 3 online trainings teach you about audience, main message, format, layout, and more.

Environmental Health Thesaurus

Search our thesaurus of environmental health terms to find plain language substitutes, tips, and examples.

Clear Writing Advocacy

Make the case for clear writing in your organization with a tutorial, posters, table tents, and flyers.

Journal Articles and Case Studies

This toolkit walks you through steps to plan, write, and publish a scientific journal article.

Screen shot of the Case Study Guide webpage

This guide explains how to write a descriptive case study.

Clear Writing Resources

The Clear Writing Guide helps you create clear, effective materials that everyone can understand and use.

The Communication Playbook teaches you the foundations of public health communication.

How to Use Empathy in Health Communication Factsheet

This fact sheet provides 5 tips for communicating with empathy.

Testing Tools

CDC’s Clear Communication Index helps you assess your health materials.

NCEH/ATSDR’s Clear Writing Assessment [PDF – 423 KB] helps test if your materials are clear.

A Paraphrase Test [PDF – 116 KB] will tell you if readers interpret your messages as you intended.