Week3
The last writing assignment in our class will be a white
paper. This discussion thread is
designed to help you get started in thinking about this assignment.
Please watch the following video from the Purdue Owl. The video is entitled, “White Papers: An
Introduction to the Genre and Its Expectations.”
The video is 9:44 long.
White Papers: An Introduction to the Genre and Its
Expectations
After watching the video, please respond to the following
two tasks.
1. Describe a possible white paper for an internal
audience. You may consider your
workplace or a community organization you belong to. What might be a possible white paper topic
that could be written for this audience?
For example, let us consider an example of an individual
named Arnold. He coaches soccer for his local soccer team. The soccer league does not have a Facebook
page. He could write a white paper to
the board of his soccer league discussing why social media presence might be
helpful to the league and why Facebook in particular might be a form of social
media the league should consider.
This would be an example of an internal audience, as Arnold
is familiar with the individuals on the board, coaches for the league, and is
involved in the organization.
2. Describe a possible white paper for an external
audience. You may consider your
workplace or any other organization.
For example, let us consider an example of a person named
Sharon. She works for a company that has
developed a new method of taking care of outdoor turf for athletic fields. She could write a white paper for athletic
leagues in her area. The white paper
might compare current methods of treating turf to the new method.
This would be an example of an external audience, as Sharon
is not familiar with the individuals who will read her white paper, does not
work for or volunteer for these athletic leagues, and is not involved in these
organizations.
In this discussion task, you will consider your own work or
community situation. What would
represent an issue, problem, or development that you might respond to with a
white paper to an internal audience? And what would represent an issue,
problem, or development that you might respond to with a white paper to an
external audience?
Whatever ideas you come up with in responding to this
discussion thread, you are not bound to any of these ideas for your last
writing assignment. The purpose of this
discussion thread is to help you start your thinking process for the last paper.
DQ2
your company, FlashExpress. However, he
was 17 years old and not of age to apply for one on his own.
Please read pages 74-79 from the article, “Using
Problem-Based Scenarios to Teach Writing,” by Hicks et al (please refer to
your eReserves). Then answer the
following questions.
1. This article provides three possible responses to Mr.
Riley. How is response #2 an improvement
over response #1? Please write two to
four sentences in your response.
2. How is response #3 an improvement over both responses #1
and #2? Does response #3 read like a
“bad news” letter? What
strategy did Paula Persuader use in her response to Mr. Riley that was
different from those of the two other writers?
Please write two to four sentences in your response.
3. Please describe a situation in which you had to write a
message of bad news. Without giving
away names or personal information, please describe in as much detail the
situation you encountered. This could be
a denial of a request from a customer, a note to a contractor that you no
longer want his or her services, a message to a company indicating that you are
returning a product, etc. Did you apply
any of the principles outlined in this article?
The authors in this article state that not all “bad news”
situations are necessarily bad. In Todd
Riley’s situation, it was turned into an opportunity by Paula Persuader. You might comment on whether you used this
type of language in your personal situation.
