Digital Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) Writing Guide

Written communication skills are essential for Army readiness and are a core component of junior and mid-level noncommissioned officers NCO job duties Bradshaw, 2017 Department of the Army, 2020. The Digital NCO Writing Guide is an online training tool designed to support NCOs as they develop skills and acquire knowledge associated with the writing process, Army writing style, and preparing specific Army documents. Features of the Digital NCO Writing Guide include a writing checklist, writing tips, and examples of effective and ineffective Army documents. This research product provides a description of the Digital NCO Writing Guide, its features, benefits, recommendations on use, suggested enhancements, and future areas of research. Based on Soldier input, we recommended tool enhancements e.g., additional example Army documents, links to Army doctrine, fillable forms, and an option for reviewer feedback to improve usability and effectiveness. Future research recommendations include summative evaluations to determine skills transfer during assigned writing tasks. We provide details on the design and development of the Digital NCO Writing Guide in Sanders et al.