diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
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--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -1,53 +1,53 @@
-This is a repo to design a beta version of 18f.gsa.gov based on the U.S.
-Web Design Standards and with a complete refresh of much of the content.
+This is a repo to design a beta version of 18f.gsa.gov using the [U.S.
+Web Design Standards](https://standards.usa.gov/) and to completely refresh most of the content.
 
 ## Where Contributions Go
 
-Thanks for planning to contribute. Please read the below guidelines to know what to expect before submitting a contribution. Submit contributions to https://github.com/18F/18f.gsa.gov as pull requests to the `master` branch. 18F team members should submit pull requests from a branch. Outside contributors will need to fork this repo.
+Thanks for planning to contribute. Please read the guidelines below to know what to expect before submitting a contribution. Submit contributions to https://github.com/18F/18f.gsa.gov as pull requests to the `master` branch. 18F team members should submit pull requests from a branch. Outside contributors will need to fork this repo.
 
 ## Front end architecture
 ### CSS
-- Styling will be built from the US Web Design Standards.
+- Styling will be built from the [U.S.
+Web Design Standards(**WDS**)](https://standards.usa.gov/).
 - CSS methodology will be inherited from the WDS, which inherits mostly from the [18f front end guide](https://pages.18f.gov/frontend/css-coding-styleguide/architecture/).
   - Use [18F modifed BEM naming convention](https://pages.18f.gov/frontend/css-coding-styleguide/naming/)
   - Componentized CSS: start with tag rules and only becomes more specific as necessary, using component classes.
-- Will update the WDS library when it publishes a change required by the site. Otherwise will update bi-monthly (see #1877).
+- The 18F-site team will update the WDS library when it publishes a change required by the site. Otherwise it will only update bi-monthly (see #1877).
 - The codebase will be visual regression tested when a suitable tool is found for 18F.
 - The Sass code should be linted with `scss-lint` (see #1878)
   - The [18F CSS linting configuration](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/18F/frontend/18f-pages-staging/.scss-lint.yml) will be used.
   - If linting fails, it will also fail the tests, but not the build.
-- Will default to [semantic HTML5](http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_semantic_elements.asp).
+- The website should default to [semantic HTML5](http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_semantic_elements.asp).
 
 
 ### Images
-- Will use `<svg>` and `xlink` (looking for link) for icons.
+- All icons should use  `<svg>` and `xlink` (looking for link) formats.
 - All blog images should be under 800kb in total, un-minified size.
 - Images should be under 600Kb after being minified
 - All raster images should be minified with a tool such as [grunt-imagemin](https://github.com/gruntjs/grunt-contrib-imagemin).
 
 
 ### JavaScript
-- The site will be developed with Jekyll so will have a ruby-based build.
-- Is required to work without JavaScript.
-- jQuery will be required for the WDS.
-- No heavy JS framework is required.
-- Should use the AirBnB linter configuration for JavaScript, if linting fails, it will also fail the tests, but not the build. (See: #1879)
+- The website is developed using [Jekyll](https://jekyllrb.com/) , a static site generator based on the Ruby programming language.
+- The  website is also required to work without JavaScript and no heavy Javascript framework is used.
+- jQuery will be required for the WDS
+- The website github project  uses the [AirBnB linter configuration for JavaScript](https://github.com/airbnb/javascript/tree/master/packages/eslint-config-airbnb), if linting fails, it will also fail the tests, but not the build. (See: #1879)
 - Ruby gems will be used for front end dependency management.
 - JavaScript will not be bundled.
-- There will be a manual testing script that will be required to walk through for each PR.
+- There will be a manual testing script that will be required to walk through for each Pull Request.
 
 
 ### Devices
--  All versions of IE that Microsoft supports; newest Chrome/FF.
--  Mobile first will be employed.
+-  The website supports all versions of Internet Explorer still supported by  Microsoft, as well as the  newest Chrome and FireFox.
+-  The website should be designed with a mobile-first approach.
 -  Every applicable change should be run through HTML code sniffer.
 
 
 ### Performance
-- Will measure against the following custom events:
+- Performance will be measured against the following custom events:
   - Time to blog post image
   - Time to main image and callout text.
-  - Time til first blog post title shows up on page with all blog posts.
+  - Time until first blog post title shows up on page with all blog posts.
 - Each of these should load in under a second
 
 ## Public domain