Abstract: A method of data encoding is disclosed. A communications device receives a set of information bits to be encoded into a codeword (c), which includes the set of information bits and a set of parity bits. A first bit value is assigned to a first parity bit in the set of parity bits. The remaining parity bits are then encoded based, at least in part, on the first bit value assigned to the first parity bit. The device may encode the remaining parity bits using the set of information bits and a parity check matrix (H) for a low density parity check (LDPC) code. The device may also generate a new parity check matrix (H0) based on linearly independent rows of the parity check matrix H, and iteratively evaluate each of the remaining parity bits based on the equation: H0c=0. The device may then determine whether the encoded codeword c is a valid codeword given the LDPC code, and change one or more bit values of the codeword if c is not a valid codeword.