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I'd say the reason for the confusion lies in the nature of the document
itself. While we all pretty much know what a technical manual is, what goes
in an installation manual, etc., a white paper is harder to define. Many
use the white paper as a glorified marketing document. Others use it as a
means of offering a study of an industry, a technical overview of a
product, etc.
For a while (and perhaps still), labeling something as a white paper was
the "in" thing. When I first started writing white papers a few years ago,
I did a study of what I could find and made up a list of headings that I
felt was appropriate. Since that time, I have had a number of companies
come up with additional requests that have customized the white papers
according to the needs of the company.
Why so many? Because, just as you said, the white paper is easily defined
and then redefined and is therefore seen as the "first" document many
startup companies use to explain why they developed a product, what place
it has in the market, etc.
Paula
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Paula R. Stern
Documentation Manager
WritePoint Documentation Services
RoboHelp MVP
See our Web site at: www.writepoint.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-----Original Message-----
From: Ed [mailto:miraclewhip00 -at- hotmail -dot- com]
Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2002 8:15 PM
Subject: White Papers
Hi!
I'm a tech-writer grad student in SW Missouri and I thought I'd de-lurk for
a moment to ask a question :)
I'm preparing a document design guide on white papers. I've found quite a
bit of good info in the archives on white papers and on tech
writing/marketing in general(thanks for revamping the earch engine guys!
the
new one rocks!).
My question is: Does anyone have any insight into why there is so little
info on how to write white papers. they are a pretty common document type.
(A google search on 'white papers' returns 2.3 million hits ... a search on
Brittney Spears only produces 1.1 million ) I have perused dozens of
recent
tech writing text books and only one even mentioned white papers (in a
tabel
listing document types) and a text on tech writing for marketing only
mentions them twice (without defining the term or discussing them at
length). So...why the silence? White papers are neither that hard to
define nor and they so easy as to be safely ignored.
Any thoughts? Feel free to email me offlist if that seems more apropos,
and
I can post a summary later.
Many thanks
Ed
<relurk>
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