2/28 Blog

A white paper is a report that helps inform the reader about a complex topic. Its purpose is to help the reader understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. Majority of the time a white paper is written by a subject matter expert. These paper are written for anyone that would like help or would like to learn more about a certain subject. The rhetorical purpose of a white paper is to try and influence a customer. This is usually present in a white paper with a commercial purpose. White papers do not really have a specific way that they need to look. A white paper has to be well written, well structured, and well designed. These are written to get peoples attention. If you just have a boring website or a page with words on then people are not going to be intrigued to read your white paper. You want to make it look interesting. To do this, you might add some color or some picture throughout the paper. White papers are meant to be informative and factual. You shouldn’t go on and on about information that is irrelevant to the point that you are trying to get across. If you do this then your paper will be too long and the reader might not get the main message that you are trying to get across.

For my white paper, I have chosen the profession of mechanical engineering. In engineering, people don’t care if you have a story to tell. While they are reading something that you have written, they want to see things like what you are accomplish, how you are going to accomplish, and why it is going to work. They don’t want to read about what lead you to your thought process about what you are trying to do or make. Although it may be important to you, they most likely could not care less about it.