White Papers

• About white papers.• The importance of document design.• Structured authoring.• Writing your white paper.

1© 2015 Karen Thompson �Department of English � University of Idaho

English 202: Intro to Professional Writing

Social or Political Focus

• The term white paper was originally used to describe a report that states the social or political position of an organization.

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IT Marketing Focus• Sometimes a white paper is a marketing

document aimed at selling a certain technology or products.

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Technical or ResearchWhite Papers

• At other times, a white paper presents the results scientific research or findings from a usability test of a product(s).

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White Papers Can Be

• Written for internal audiences – coworkers, project managers, high-level decision makers.

OR• Written for external audiences – clients or

customers.

• In both cases, document design is important.

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Writing the White Paper

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Focus on Audience and Purpose• You are writing to college-age students interested in the

field of professional writing or another career.

• Think of your purpose as preparing a white paper to be read at the Career Center, so another audience to consider would be the directors of this center.

• Imagine they have hired you to create this document.

• Adhere to UI style guidelines in the use typography, color, and design elements to enhance the look and feel of your white paper.

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Your paper will need:

• Title page

• Table of Contents page

• Introduction

• Methodology

• Results/Discussion

• Conclusion

• Works Cited or Bibliography

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Thesearenotseparatepages,souseheadingstoidentifyeachmajorsectionandheadings/subheadingswithineachtoorganizeinformation.

ReviewandapplyoneormoreorganizingpatternsfromthelectureonArrangementfromproject1(I’vereposteditontheproject2page).

Title Page: Poor Design Choices

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Colorchoicesanddesignelementsconveymeaning.

Clearly,thesearenotthebestrhetoricaldesignchoices.

Title Page: Improved Design Choices

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Theserhetoricaldesignchoicesmatchthepurposeofthewhitepaper.

Whendesigningyourtitlepage,becertainthedesignsupportsyourpurpose.

Word: Title Page Tip

• If you change the background color of the title page (or any page) in Word, that background color will be in all pages.

• To avoid that problem, use a text box, and stretch it the width and length of your cover page.

• NOTE: there are other solutions to that problem.

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Introduction• Start with a purpose statement that includes the career

option you chose.

Example: – This white paper presents information and employment

projections for those interested in pursuing a career in technical writing.

• Add a forecasting statement at the end of the purpose statement that names the sections that follow (these are the topic areas or focus of your investigation).Example:– The sections that follow explain what technical writers do, how

much they earn……

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Table of Contents

• You may create the table of contents manually.

OR

• Use the automatic table of contents feature in Word.

• The table of contents needs to be balanced on the page.

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Methodology

• State how data was gathered using a research dossier notebook (s) created in the tool Evernote.

• Explain the system you used to clip information. This can be done by simply saying how you looked for X information first, then Y information etc.

What you are trying to do here is demonstrate your methodology was designed and not just done without a plan in mind for how to gather the data.

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Results/Discussion

• In the body of your paper, organize your research findings on all topic areas by applying one or more strategies or patterns from the lecture on arrangement.

• Use at least headings/subheadings within each of the major sections (introduction, methodology, results/discussion, conclusion, and bibliography).

• Incorporate comparisons of data at the national, state, and one other state level.

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Graphics• The required comparisons should include graphically representing

this data by choosing the most appropriate format that conveys the significance of this data:– Pie chart– Bart chart (vertical or horizontal)– Line graph– Scatter plot– Data Map

• All graphics should be made by you.

• Graphics should be labeled (i.e. Figure 1 etc.), captioned, referred to in the text by the label, and text should be wrapped (see software tutorials for help with text wrapping).

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Conclusion

• Conclude the white paper on a forward looking note. By directing readers to services the UI Career Center offers.

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Works Cited or Bibliography• It’s important that you cite sources in your white paper.

• Use any standard documentation style and refer to the lecture on Citing Sources for help.

• I recommend using an endnote system, but it’s your choice.

• The last page will be a Works Cited or Bibliography depending on the documentation style you use.

• The next few slides show an example of how to do an endnote in-text citation with a corresponding entry in the bibliography or works cited page.

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Example: Endnote Citation Style

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Inthisexample,I’llbequotingfromthispageintheOccupationalHandbook,andIwillneedtograbthiscitationformyWorksCitedpage.AndIneedtouseanin-textcitationwithquotesaroundtextItakedirectlyfromthispage.

For my in-text citation, I will need toadd a superscript number after the quote.

The “annual median wage for technical writers was $70,240 in May 2015.”1

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It’sokaytoputthesuperscriptattheendofaparagraphratherthanaftereachquote,andifyouquotefromthesamepageinanotherparagraph,usethesamesuperscriptnumber.

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Now,Ijustneedtograbthebibliographyinformationandcut/pasteintomyWorksCitedpage.

I will use the corresponding superscript number next to the bibliography information I’m cutting and pasting.

Works Cited

1. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2016-17 Edition, Technical Writers, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-and-communication/technical-writers.htm (visited September 30, 2016).

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Thereisnoneedtorepeatthebibliographyinformationforapageyouquotefrommorethanonceinyourpaper,butwhenyouquotefromanotherpage,youwouldneedtousethenextsequentialsuperscriptnumber(inthiscase”2”)andgrabthatpage’scitationinformationforyourWorksCitedpage.