This is a transcript of one of the videos in the plain language training course Writing well at work. There are references to slides and visual material that are only available by viewing the video.
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Headings show the structure of a document
The headings that you use in a document actually demonstrate or show the structure. So headings are really important in a document.
Talking headings – both navigation and information
I’m going to suggest that the best type of heading to use is a thing I call a talking heading. A talking heading provides both navigation and information. Let me show you what I mean.
Talking headings are the type of headings that you often see on news websites or in newspapers. That type of content. Now I know the example I’ve got on the screen here is really old now. I keep on using it because I really like the heading all the way down the bottom there, 10 people sick after eating poisonous mushrooms picked in New South Wales. That’s an absolutely brilliant talking heading.
It gives me the entire story just by reading that line. And so I as a user, I can quickly scan through this web page, through this content. I can read each of those headings. I can get an understanding of what each story is, and I can make a decision whether to read it in a bit more detail, or perhaps move on to something else.
So as a reader, I come down to this heading of 10 people sick after eating poisonous mushrooms picked in New South Wales. I might say, yeah. OK. I’m not particularly interested in that. I’ll move on to something else. A different reader will come in and they’ll read that heading and they’ll say, gosh, that’s really interesting. I think I need to read a bit more detail and so they’ll read that in that next layer of information in the introductory paragraph. And if they’re really interested, they’ll click on that link and they’ll get a whole page, another layer of information that will tell them the entire story. So most websites are structured using this idea of layering information and being able to dive into further and further levels of detail.
Now the talking heading stands in contrast to the bucket heading, and we’re often tempted to write bucket headings. The bucket heading in this case would just be poisonous mushrooms. And I haven’t got a clue what you’re going to talk about as I read that heading. Are you going tell me about different varieties of poisonous mushrooms, or how they’re grown. Who knows? I have to get inside the article before I figure out if it’s of use to me. That’s not helpful to your reader.
Talking headings help readers scan
Provide headings that help your reader scan and find the information that they need, and so that will mean these types of headings are useless. Introduction means I’m at the beginning. Conclusion means I’m at the end. Section 1, 2, 3 have no meaning at all. I might use those headings as I’m drafting the document. But I’ll never I publish them.
Nor will I just use a bland table of contents. This is from a mathematics textbook. It tells me that LaGrange multipliers are on page 55, but doesn’t tell me anything about them or why I’d want to use them.
Compare that style of heading with some headings that you might see in a book on writing. Just read the headings here.
Clarify your purpose. Take a reader centred approach. State your key message clearly, keep the message short and simple.
I’ve got good content just by reading the table of contents and my mind is now primed to pick up on that content as I go and read those chapters.
We want to provide these talking headings because readers are often scanning rather than reading everything. They need to quickly find the information that they need. The talking heading helps them do that.
Here’s an example from the Australian Tax Office. It’s actually an old web page, but have a look at how they’ve used the headings. It’s all about the benefits of salary sacrificing super contributions. Just read the headings. Super contributions are not a fringe benefit. They’re deductible for your employer. They reduce your assessable income. They’re concessionary taxed in the fund. You get the entire story about these super contributions just by reading the headings. And yes, there’s more detail there if you want it.
Here’s a report to parliament. Not all of these headings are talking, but I really like the one third from the top here. Retail food inspection results continue to improve. Well, fantastic. When I read that as a reader, I can say I don’t need to read the rest of that section because all I’m interested in is are they getting better or are they getting worse? You’re heading tells me they’re getting better. Fantastic. I’ll move on to something else.
Well, a different reader might come in and say, gosh, they’re continuing to improve. I wonder how that is happening? And their mind is primed to receive that information as they go and read that section. And again it stands in contrast to the bucket heading. And all the bucket heading would say is retail food inspection results, and the only information that would give me is that they’re on page 5. Not very helpful.
I’m starting to see talking headings in all sorts of publications. This one was from AFSA a couple of years ago. You can see how they’ve used the talking headings. As I just read those talking headings I get the gist of what they’re talking about, and of course there is more detail there in the paragraphs if I need them.
If I was to rewrite that indoor air fact sheet, these are some of the talking headings I might use. I might not use them in this order, but if I read all those talking headings, I will get the gist of what that indoor air fact sheet was all about.
Establishing indoor air standards will protect public health. Indoor air pollution can be more damaging than outdoor pollution. Indoor areas can be polluted by common materials. Health impacts can be severe. Good ventilation can help.
I’ve got the entire story of what that indoor air fact sheet is about just by reading the headings.
Now you can use talking headings in all sorts of documents. You can use them in letters, particularly if they’re a little bit longer – if they go over a page or so to separate the big ideas in the letters. You can use them in reports. Of course, in briefing notes – in all types of documents. And of course you can use them in emails. And you’re talking heading for an email is going to be in the subject. It’s really valuable real estate, so don’t waste that. Use that area to tell the reader what this is all about.
Now a couple of things to be careful of with talking headings. The first one is make sure that they actually provide information rather than just being long and chatty. So I wouldn’t write the heading ‘why we have a new strategy’ because this doesn’t really tell me anything even though there’s a whole bunch of words there. I’d want to write the heading ‘our new strategy responds to funding cuts’. OK, I’ve got some information there. I know what the rest of that paragraph is going to be talking about.
And we’re not trying to write clickbait. We want information, not stimulation. So this heading, ‘the amazing health benefits of this common food’ doesn’t tell me a thing. It’s just trying to get me to click on something. Whereas a heading like ‘broccoli lowers blood pressure’, actually gives me information. (I need to be truthful. In this case, it gives you misinformation. I just made that up to show you what a talking heading looks like. You don’t need to go and eat lots of broccoli.)
Answer, rather than pose, questions in headings
I think it’s also good in your headings to have statements rather than questions. So instead of having a heading that says, ‘how do I apply for a loan?’ No, have the statement ‘applying for a loan’ and that tells me how I’m going to do it, I want to provide a little bit more information. I might not pose this question as a heading. ‘Why do I need to send bank statements?’ Now I’m going to answer that question in my heading, ‘we’ll review bank statements to check spending patterns’, and then there’ll be a bit more detail about how that happens.
Questions as headings does provide a little bit of location information, but it doesn’t actually tell me the answer to that question. So I think it is better if you can provide the answer in your headings rather than just posing the question.
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