WRTG 393 students,
Your
last writing assignment will be a white paper.
You might
have taken
WRTG 394
at .
In WRTG
394, the
final paper is a research-based
business report. This
assignment is different
from the
research-based business report in WRTG
394.
In this
paper for WRTG 393, you
are providing
background research to an audience
to help
the audience
make a decision on a topic.
In WRTG
394, the
paper is written to a
specific decision-maker about a specific
problem in your workplace
or community
and recommends
a specific
course of action. The audience
and approach for the white paper
in WRTG
393 is
very different
from those
for the
research-based business report in WRTG 394.
If you
have written
a white
paper for WRTG 293, please
note that
the requirements
for this
white paper in WRTG 393 aredifferentfromthoseinWRTG293.
The length,
number of graphics, types of
graphics, and focus of this white
paper involve different requirements than those of WRTG
293.
In
preparing for this assignment, you will want to review the following videos:
•
“White Papers: An Introduction to the Genre and
Its Expectations,” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIgJTQiv7wQ) from the Purdue OWL
• “What is a
White Paper?”by Mak Pandit
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCNNu3nwfSw )
• You
may take any of the following approaches:
• a white paper to an internal audience – written to
individuals within an organization you work for or are a part of. The white
paper might inform them about a trend in the field and/or to solve a problem in
the organization.
• a white paper to an external audience – written to
individuals in a particular
industry
or field of study, but not an organization you are a part of. The white paper
could address a problem you are attempting to solve in the organization or to
inform an external audience about a relevant trend.
• a white paper promoting a new product or service to
potential customers. This is
an
example of a white paper to an external audience, but it features different
rhetorical considerations than the typical white paper written to an external
audience does.
All
three options are discussed in the Purdue OWL video mentioned above. In
addition, the video from Mak Pandit mentioned above provides excellent insight
into how these approaches would work.
Strategies to Consider
for this Assignment:Please follow these guidelines:
• have a focused topic
• write to an identified audience
oif your white paper is to an internal audience, it
might have a fairly narrow audience. For example, if you work in a hair salon
and write a white paper promoting a new billing system for your salon, the
audience will probably be the owner and manager of the hair salon.
oif your white paper is to an external audience, it
could have a broad audience or a narrow audience. For example, if you do not
work for a hair salon and you write a white paper promoting a new billing
system for hair salons, the audience will probably be the various hair salons
in your neighborhood.
oif your white paper is to promote a product or service
to potential customers, it could have a fairly broad audience. For example, a
white paper promoting a new taxi service in your neighborhood has,
theoretically, all residents in the neighborhood as a potential audience.
• integrate thorough research
•
make sure that you do not directly tell the audience what action it
should take. Rather,
offer
background information that the audience can use to make a decision. The Purdue
OWL video mentions this principle. This is one reason the video refers to the
white paper as a backgrounder report.
Please
include the following sections in your white paper:
• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Previous Approaches
• New Findings
• Conclusion
• References
In
the Executive Summary, summarize your research and your purpose. The executive
summary should be a stand-alone document. It should be written in such a way
that a busy executive could read the executive summary and know exactly what
the paper is about without reading the rest of the paper.
In the
Introduction, you lay the groundwork for your readers for the details that will
be introduced in the white paper. If you need to define any terms, you will do
so here. You might share an anecdote or illustration to describe why this topic
is important.
In the
Previous Approaches section, you will describe the approaches or strategies
that have been previously used or are currently used on the topic. For example,
if your white paper is being written to advertise a new taxi service in your
area, you might review what transportation services are provided now. You could
show the challenges or problems that the current services involve.
Inthissectionofthewhitepaper,youruseofsourceswillbeveryimportant. Youshould
integrate research to show that the problems you have identified exist.
In
the New Findings section, you present perhaps the most important information in
the paper. In this section, you will describe the findings of your research and
relate these findings to the purpose of your report. You will not only provide
data and research, but you will also explain the data and research and why it
is relevant to your report’s topic.
For
example, if your white paper is being written to advertise a new taxi service
in your area, you might review what transportation services are provided now
and show why the new taxi service fills a need that the current set of
transportation services does not fill or solves a problem that the current set
of transportation services does not solve. You will provide data and evidence
for why the new taxi service has promise in solving the problems you have
identified.
In
this section of the white paper, your use of sources will be very important as
well. You should integrate research to show that the problems you have
identified will be solved by your new approach.
In
the Conclusion section, you review what your research shows in light of the
previous approaches used. You will not tell the audience what steps to take
next. However, you will summarize what your findings articulate.
In
the References, you will list your sources that you cited in the paper. You
will list them in APA format. Please note that the lectures on white papers
that you have viewed and examples of white papers you may have read may not
have used APA format. You will be using APA format in this assignment.
You
are required to have at least five sources for your paper. In addition, at
least one of them is to have been acquired through Library OneSearch.
Primary sources will be very beneficial for the paper.
For example, if your white paper is being written to advertise a new taxi
service in your area, you might interview some local residents about the
problems they have with the current transportation services in the
area. The
information in such interviews would be persuasive research to integrate into
your white paper.
The following websites and documents
offer additional guidance in writing a white paper:
•
Chapter 1, “A Primer on White
Papers,”by Michael Stelznerhttp://www.writingwhitepapers.com/book/Sample-WritingWhitePapers.pdf )by
• “The Art of the
White Paper,” by Manuel Gordon and Gordon Graham
http://www.gordonandgordon.com/downloads/art_of_the_white_paper_2003.pdf
• “Guidelines for
Writing White Papers”from Warthman
Associates
http://www.warthman.com/images/Writing-White- Papers.pdf#search=%27Guidelines%20for%20Writing%20White%20Papers%27
Length of your paper:
Your
white paper should be 2000-3000 words in length. Again, you are required to use
at least five sources, with at least one of them being acquired through
Library OneSearch.
Graphics:
Your
white paper should incorporate at least three graphics. Graphic can include
tables, charts, or graphs showing some research findings. They can also be
images that are relevant to the topic of the white paper.
At
least two of the graphics must be original. Original graphics can include
photos taken by you; tables, charts, or graphs developed by you; or screen
captures showing a function on your computer (not a screen capture of an image
off of the web).
To
see examples of graphics used in white papers, see the Purdue OWL video, “White
Papers: An Introduction to the Genre and Its Expectations,” at the 3:27
mark, at the 5:29 mark, at the 6:58 mark, at the 7:01 mark, at the 7:11 mark,
at the 7:43 mark, and at the
7:58 mark.
Post in Peer
review
discussion
Area: Sunday of
week 6,
Peer review: week
7.
Due
Date for grading after
revision: Tuesday of
Week 8
