English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

White papers are quite useful. They are well written and well reviewed papers that go into depth about a topic. For this reason, they can also be a lot of work.

Companies can use white papers to sell their products. The white papers allow them to educate others and spread the word about their products. There are a lot of cases when people would feel much better about buying a product if they had more in depth knowledge about it.

OK, I follow the idea of “White Papers” are created to inform and offer unique value to an organization, which is a term I had not crossed until this assignment. However, the idea they provide , as Elissa Miller states in the steak behind the sizzle, “…unbiased information and analysis” is a perplexing issue to me.

This week’s reading on white papers had a very practical and informative affect on me. Through the past years I’ve dealt with white papers and found them to be very useful. However, I am simply but one type of audience. The biggest thing, once again, for a successful white paper is to clearly know your audience before the end product and address all of their needs through this end product.

After reading what we are supposed to be talking about I had no idea what it was that white papers were. After reading through some of the examples I was able to get some what of an idea of what white papers are. What I was able find out was that white papers are used as a medium to explain a certain topic or idea. White papers usually include a lot of different aspects. White papers include facts, statements, and persuasive information or statements that will help sell an idea.

Personally, I have never heard of a White Paper before and I can imagine I am not the only one. After reading through the readings, I am still left with one question, why is it called a White Paper? Did I miss something in the readings? Anyhow, after completing the readings, I realized not only have I read a lot of White Papers, it is actually the ideal document I look for when I need information on a topic. I look for these because not only do they contain lots of information, but they typically contain both pros AND cons to a subject.

This week’s readings focus on the subject of our final class project: white papers. A white paper is a document to assist decision-makers in their decision-making product. The concept of a white paper can be universally applicable, be it to assist a CEO on implementing a new business strategy, inform a government official about a pressing issue, or outline how a new product or technology creates solutions. White papers serve as unbiased collections of information and data that outline solutions in an objective way.

I'm one of the many in this class to whom "white paper" is a new term. I think the only times I've read or heard about "white papers" were in blog posts and/or comments earlier in the semester in this course.

I found it interesting that the steak behind the sizzle white paper stated that for a white paper to be successful it must contain “compelling prose.” I find that this will be a challenge for creating a white paper. I realize that all of the success really comes down to how well you can incorporate technical knowledge, experience and “compelling prose” into a white paper. I find that it may be somewhat hard to create a white paper that isn’t bias. This sounds like an area that working in a group will come in handy.

Before reading the context for this project, I had no idea of what a white paper was. I rarely knew the term let alone what kind of information was being presented. What is their purpose? Who reads them? Who doesn’t? These were questions I had when first becoming aware that we were writing “White Papers”. Reading through the context I began to understand the importance and use of the papers, as well as who needs them and who doesn’t.

I have never heard of the term “white paper” before this project, although I have read quite a few. From just reading the phrase “white paper,” I figured it to be some kind of unbiased government research paper. Reading “The Steak behind the Sizzle”, by Elissa Miller, shed a lot of light on this type of document. Miller does a great job explaining what a white paper is, in a white paper, and even subtly plugging her own company at the same time.