1. WHITE PAPERS:
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE GENRE AND ITS EXPECTATIONS
What is a white paper or “backgrounder” report? What contents make
up white papers, and who reads them? This vidcast explains the genre
and expectations of this style of report-writing.
By Katie Trauth Taylor
In cooperation with the
Purdue Online Writing Lab

2. No matter our profession, we educate ourselves
about breaking issues in our fields by doing
background research. Our research might be formal
or informal, conducted in the library or at the
conference table by asking other people in our field—
or in related fields—what they’ve heard about new
topics and trends.

3. White papers provide background for decisions. The
white paper is intended to update long-term
professionals on current trends and developments. It is
often written by newly graduated professionals who
bring new research from their university training. So
there’s a good chance you’ll want experience writing
white papers before you start your first post-college job.

4.  Since white papers are written
about a variety of topics—from
economic approaches to marketing
strategies, from new social media
trends to legal and governmental
updates—they are often profoundly
influenced by the particular
discipline that they are written
within or written for.
 White paper reports can be
internal—which means they are
written for people in a private
business setting with the goal of
informing the company about a
current trend in research, or
external—which means they are
written to inform a public audience
within a particular discipline or
field.

5. At your first post-college job, for example, your employer might
ask you to write a white paper on new social media trends that
the company could use to stay relevant and up-to-date in your
field. In the resulting white paper, you would inform—or update—
your company about new online collaboration software like
LinkedIn, Twitter, PB Works, Skype, or Google Docs, asking:
 How is this new social media changing the nature of business
communication and how business is conducted within and outside of my
company?
 How can we (our company) not fall behind in this changing technological
landscape?

6.  If you wrote this report internally for your
company only, you might overview your
particular company’s previous approaches to
social media, including their mistakes or
embarrassing moments.
 If, however, you wrote this report for an
external audience of people in your entire
field (or even publicly for your potential
customers), you would likely speak more
generally about social media in your
field, and avoid discussing your company in
any negative light.
 For this reason, it’s important to be rhetorical
about external white papers, anticipating
negative associations that your research
might have on your company. For
example, you wouldn’t want to write an
external white paper about marketing
strategies that successfully manipulate
people. This would represent your company
in a potentially negative way to the general
public or to your field.

7. Some businesses—like marketing and research firms that are hired by larger
companies—create informative white papers that are really meant to attract
business customers. Such corporate white papers function more like
advertisements, telling you as a business owner or worker why your company needs
to hire their firm. This approach to white papers isn’t necessarily “sneaky,” but it
does remind us to question the information presented in white papers—because
they’re often written by companies who have some kind of investment in the topic
they’re presenting on. In other words, white papers are sponsored by businesses
and companies, and therefore, we should be cautious of viewing all white paper
reports as neutral or objective informative research.
• Take, for instance, this white paper written by Best Buy’s CEO about his use of Twitter as a
business leader. In this external white paper published in the Harvard Business Review, the CEO
writes about his caring interactions with customers and employees, emphasizing the positive
aspects of his company.

8. What does an excellent white paper do?
• It takes a unique and clear approach to a specific topic
or trend, sharing research that is up-to-date.
• It is written to a specific audience using
arguments, claims, and information that work well to
inform that audience of the topic of trend under
discussion.
• It provides thorough research, including at least five (5)
diverse sources through a variety of research
approaches (including internet, magazine, newsletter
and book searches, as well as interviews or discussions
with professionals in the field).

9. White papers differ
from recommendation
reports and feasibility
reports because they
do not reach a
decision about what
action a group should
(or should not) take.
Instead, they offer
backgrounds upon
which decisions can be
made, thus
functioning somewhat
like research papers.

10. What are the sections of a white paper?
Executive Summary
•The “executive summary” should briefly introduce and summarize your research, as well as establish reader expectations for what is to follow. Make
sure to state clearly here how your research topic is relevant or useful, either generally to businesses in your industry, or specifically to your
company. Give me a good reason—as a company executive—why I should bother reading this.
Introduction
•Your introduction should prepare your readers in more detail for the main issues of the paper. You may choose to begin by defining the major terms
in your report, or by giving a specific anecdote of how this topic is important to your company or industry. Avoid “road-mapping,” by which I mean
just stating the section headings of the report. Set up your audiences’ expectations for the whole report and especially make its purpose and
relevance clear.
Previous Approaches
•Overview of previous strategies or approaches to the topic, either at your company (for an internal report) or in your larger field (for an external
report). For example, if you’re informing your company about new techniques for sampling groundwater, you will need to discuss the techniques
that are used most frequently or traditionally in your field. If you’re informing your company about social media trends, you might explain how team
members currently collaborate (maybe they use email primarily), and how these strategies could use improvement (maybe there are more organized
ways to work online as a team that you plan to introduce in your white paper).
New Findings
•Your job in the report is to both present and interpret the data on your topic for your audience. Data or research does not speak for itself; it requires
that you explain its relevance clearly and directly in a way that is understandable to them, but also respectful of them. What is most important for
your ethos and credibility as a researcher is that you make it clear in the report where data has come from (including infographics) and that you
integrate it into the report by explaining how it is relevant to your report's stated purpose.
Conclusion
•This section of the white paper discusses the research findings in comparison to the previous approaches. Although conclusions of white papers
don’t have to suggest specific strategies or solutions, they should offer insight into the topic or concern that instigated the research in the first place.
Sources/Bibliography
•Be sure to list all of your sources and reference materials in a section at the end of your white paper. These can be designed to fit unobtrusively near
the conclusion of your report, or can be given their own page. The idea is to make sure that your readers can find the same articles, websites, and
books that you cited in your text. While it’s not required that you follow a citation style guide like MLA or APA, such a guide is often familiar to
readers and can help them recognize the format and find your sources more quickly.

11. Overall, your sections don’t
have to have these boring
titles—get creative! Name the
section according to the
information you will present
within in. For example, instead
of “Previous Approaches,” you
might write, “Previous
Strategies for Collaborating
Online” or “Previous
Techniques For Sampling
Groundwater.” Your sections
should reflect the knowledge
that people in your field share
and recognize, and inspire
them to read each section
carefully.

12. THIS HAS BEEN A PRESENTATION OF
“WHITE PAPERS”
WRITTEN AND PRODUCED BY | KATIE TRAUTH TAYLOR
BROUGHT TO YOU IN COOPERATION WITH
THE PURDUE ONLINE WRITING LAB
Works Cited
Porter, James E., Patricia Sullivan, Johndon Johnson-Eilola (2009). Professional Writing Online
3.0. Available from: http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/product/Professional-
Writing-Online-Version-30/9780205652129.page.
Credits
Music:
“Rhetoric Tranquility” written and performed by Z. Koppelmann, 2011.
Images (used with permission):
Purdue Business Writing Student White Paper Examples
Public Domain and Creative Commons