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Last month, I had to write three white papers ipso facto for our products.
Like other from the list, I searched online for standards and found none.
The only examples I came up with were various white papers about IT
products. It appeared to me that by definition, a white paper is a concise
technical paper selling a given product, i.e. a technical marketing
brochure.
Here are the conclusions I came to, after having dabbled in writing white
papers. I hope they can be useful to you:
1. Length: a white paper should be concise, since it strives to globally
explain the mechanics of a given technology; contrarily to a tutorial, its
aim is not to educate on the topic. In my opinion, a white paper should
have about 8 pages.
2. Standards: since a white paper is meant to be succinct, its layout
should be simple and clear. No table of contents or index. Some authors
occasionally append a short glossary at the end of their white paper.
3. Content: a white paper should present the elements inherent to a given
technology, and explain why it is different from similar ones that already
exist on the market.
-----Original Message-----
From: Brijesh Bhaskaran [SMTP:Brijesh_B1 -at- verifone -dot- com]
Sent: Friday, November 19, 1999 7:55 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Whitepaper! Whitepaper..
Hi,
I have been asked to write a white paper on a companies new technology that
is
going to be released in public in about a months time.
Now, how do I go about writing a whitepaper?
- are there any standards/formats to write a whitepaper [w.r.t.layout and
style]
- what are the typical contents of a whitepaper
- what is the min and max length [pages]
I would be happy, if any 'gurus' out there can help me out of this.
Cheers!
Brijesh
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