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.
The context that gave me the best understanding of what a “White Paper” was the .pdf “Steak Behind the Sizzle”. This was had the most valuable information that can explains the use of a white paper. Essentially what I have gathered was that this document was mainly informative. This document style can cover broad spectrum of audiences. Or it can be created to target a specific group on explicit information. I find this document to be very informative to audiences and giving a lot of useful knowledge to allow the reader to have a deeper understanding. The white paper is written in a more technical terms allowing a consumer to be more educated and aware of certain aspects of a product before talking to a sales representative. This reading had good examples of how to write to whom and how a white paper will succeed or fail while providing a beneficial list to look at while writing and editing a paper.
The Thomson Handbook covers a big part of how a white paper should be formatted. The book has a list of essential information and the order that it appear in. This also has a detailed understanding for each topic that being covered.
From the Project Description, having the bullets that outline the parts covered in the White paper are a useful tips to keep in mind while writing. Also, with this reading it emphasizes to write to all the audiences and have the paper written in an easy reading text. The main thing that I have gathered from this text is to mainly be informative giving support and reasoning to a specific topic or problem.
Overall, I feel that this week’s readings have given us a good understanding of why a white paper needs to be written for and how it should be written and which audience a White Paper is written for.
The White Reading
I was in the same boat as you starting with this project. Actually I thought that the reading could have been clearer with what a white paper really is. The Thomson Handbook had two pages on what a white paper should include but I would have liked to see an example in the book. I am kind of confused on what a white page still is and have came to a conclusion that it is almost the same as an instruction manual with a few changes. It has more information and a more formal skeleton. I did like the “Steak behind the Sizzle” though because it did a lot better job with informing readers about white papers.
Miller's paper delivered
To me, and most others it seems, Elissa Miller's document did a great job of explaining the concept of a white paper. I found myself referencing it quite often when I was writing my response. I am still using it as a guide while my group and I piece together our proposal for the white paper project.
When you say you see similarities between a white paper and an instruction manual, I don't completely agree. I perceive a (marketing) white paper to be a thorough information guide attempting to persuade a reader to purchase a company's services. Basically, the company or outside sources ran tests or studies about how their service can be beneficial to you, and they are trying to sell it to you. Possibly similar to selling a patented idea to someone who can execute that idea for you. I do see why you would say that though. Bot documents are written to educate the reader; one is written to educate you about the product, and the other educates you on how to use the product.
themoreyouknow.jpg
I agree with what you said about a thorough white paper being a marketing tool. There is a misconception that in order to sell something it must be full of marketing and advertising. I think a well written informational guide or data report can be just as useful. Like you said, they are showing the customer the facts of their product with no bull. As a consumer I prefer to see this type of marketing, it shows me that the company knows what they are doing and I can trust their product. Who would have thought that a product could sell based on facts and not fancy marketing.
whitepapers
I'm on the same boat with not knowing what white paper really were. I thought it was a very complex concept document at first but after reading the “sizzle” article, I was able to grab a better grasp of the importance of it. The level is set higher with white paper writing wise. It's going to be a challenge to write unbiased information and make it attracted. In addition it's going to be tough to narrow down your audience but still reach out to the general audience. We are going to try not to write it in any form/tone of persuasive.