Addtional resources
Here are some resources we have found useful for creating and editing e-learning content. Note that not all the resources below are officially approved by the ICRC.
Dokiel: Translation
If you expect your module/course to be translated into a different language at some point, please read through this guide before you start creating your course.
Dokiel: Minimum standards for e-learning
Elucidat module: Minimum standards for e-learning
This is the dictionary and thesaurus officially used by the ICRC. Note that the British English spelling is preferred for ICRC content. If you are unsure of how to spell something or need a definition, this should be the first place to look.
PerfectIt
This is an add-on for Word that can be downloaded through the ICRC's ICT store. It checks your document against the ICRC's English Style Guide and looks for inconsistencies. The tool is an excellent low-cost option at around 100 dollars per year and we recommend it if you are creating lots of content.
Non-ICRC resources that may be helpful:⚓
“How can [insert word here] not be good English? It gets 219,000 hits on Google.” Unfortunately, Google is not a reliable source of good English. A search for “provides informations” results in thousands of hits, but the phrase is still wrong. Try the British National Corpus instead.
Create a short URL- Bitly
This app is helpful for editing down long sentences and making your writing bold, clear and concise. Try to make your text readable at an 8th grade level or below.
If you want to compare two or more terms to see which is more commonly used, ngram is invaluable. Make sure to set it to look at modern UK texts. Click here for more information on how to use Google ngram.
This is an easy-to-use back-up thesaurus.