Use of jargon and Question on White paper -Reply

[Bill Sullivan <bsullivan -at- EMAIL -dot- EXIDE -dot- COM>]

>>is it acceptable for a white paper to have a glossary?

It is not unacceptable, but I would wonder why you would find it
necessary.

Typically, a white paper is a purpose paper. You write one because you
want something from the people you write it for. Where most of us are
employed, white papers are often marketing tools.

So my question for you is: If you want something from your readers,
why bore them with text that is so full of jargon or argot or cant or
dubious lingo that you feel you must accompany your paper with an
explanatory reference document? If someone was writing you a white
paper and wanted you to spend your money on their product or service,
would you be moved to buy if every second or third sentence was
totally unintelligible without consulting a special glossary?

To put it another way, you might pick yourself a model such as a
periodical that publishes technical or semi-technical articles and manages
to make them understandable. I am thinking of the Wall Street Journal and
Scientific American. And some of the camera magazines I often read. Or
the geology book I was perusing this morning. You may have others.

I think it is possible to write about a technical topic so that educated
people can understand it even if they are not in or of the discipline. I
would suggest you make that your goal. Think of it as an upscale
variation on the KISS theme.

Bill Sullivan
San Diego, California