Plain-Language Style Guide

Purpose

The wiki should be useful as a working knowledge base, not just as an academic taxonomy. New Big Idea and claim pages should use plain, complete, durable language that Clay can understand quickly while scanning.

Default voice

Use language that is:

• plain-language but still professional,
• complete enough to stand alone,
• specific enough to guide a decision or interpretation,
• source-grounded without sounding like a journal abstract,
• easy to read as a note to Clay’s future self.

Avoid labels that are only noun phrases unless the phrase is already obvious and usable.

Big Idea titles

Big Idea titles should usually be complete sentence-like thoughts, not fragments.

Prefer:

Students need to check AI answers against real evidence.
Learning still needs some struggle, even when AI can make things easier.
District AI work is a long-term redesign project.

Avoid:

AI literacy as verifiable inquiry
Productive friction in AI-assisted learning
District AI implementation as long-term institutional redesign

A Big Idea title should answer:

What is the recurring idea I want to remember?

Big Idea definitions

Definitions should be one short paragraph that explains the idea in usable terms. They should preserve conceptual nuance but avoid unnecessary abstraction.

A good definition should:

1. say what the idea means,
2. explain why it matters for schools, learning, policy, or knowledge work,
3. avoid jargon unless the term is itself the object of the page,
4. be readable without opening the source articles.

Claim titles and claim sentences

Claim titles should be plain declarative sentences whenever possible.

A claim title should answer:

What proposition is this page tracking?

The claim: frontmatter and ## Claim sentence should match the same meaning as the title, but may be slightly fuller when scope or conditions matter.

Prefer:

Students should check AI claims against trustworthy sources.
AI tools should be tested on the real tasks they will be used for.
In an AI world, assessment should focus on watching students think.

Avoid:

AI literacy depends on grounding generated claims in sources.
AI model selection requires task-specific evaluation.
AI-era assessment should shift to observable cognition.

Practical implications

Practical implications should name what a teacher, school, district, or learner should do differently. Avoid abstract implementation language when a direct action is clearer.

Prefer:

Schools should test AI tools with realistic local tasks and expert review before trusting leaderboard scores or vendor claims.

Avoid:

AI evaluation should account for context-specific workflow alignment and local risk profiles.

Stable URLs

Do not rename files or change URL slugs just to improve wording. Prefer changing visible titles, headings, definitions, claim statements, and link aliases while preserving existing paths.

Only propose a slug change if the old slug is actively misleading or would cause long-term confusion.

Future-ingestion checklist

When adding a new article, Big Idea, or claim:

1. Draft the idea in precise source-grounded language.
2. Rewrite it once for Clay’s future use in plain language.
3. Check that the visible title is a complete thought, not only a category label.
4. Keep the slug stable and simple; it does not need to mirror the friendlier title exactly.
5. Use the plain-language title in indexes and link aliases.
6. Preserve nuance in the definition, claim statement, evidence notes, and practical implication.