WHITE PAPER
What is it?
A white paper is an educational or informational report that typically addresses an issue
(e.g. whether vaccines do or don’t cause autism), identifies problem areas, and offers
solutions.
It’s longer than an email, but nowhere near book length. It’s just a paper similar to those
you had to write when you were in school. Michael Stelzner (link:
http://www.stelzner.com/copy-HowTo-whitepapers.php) wrote a brief white paper on
how to write them and explains the term’s origin:
The term white paper is an offshoot of the term white book, which is an official
publication of a national government. A famous white paper example is the
Winston Churchill White Paper of 1922, which addressed political conflict in
Palestine.
A white paper typically argues a specific position or solution to a problem.
Although white papers take their roots in governmental policy, they have become
a common tool used to introduce technology innovations and products. A typical
search engine query on "white paper" will return millions of results, with many
focused on technology-related issues.
White papers are powerful marketing tools used to help key decision-makers and
influencers justify implementing solutions.
Athough the term originated in government, white papers are common among nonprofits
and can showcase your group’s expertise on various topics.
Uses
White papers may be used in educational packets, presentations, and backgrounder
information online or distributed by mailing or in person.
Please see Vaccines and Autism: The Evidence and the Law (link to it, we have it
downloaded as a pdf and have author’s permission to use it in this way) as an example of
a white paper.
Constructing a white paper
[Title]
You will want to title your paper, just as you would with any document you produce.
First Section - Introduction
These paragraphs should objectively introduce the topic. They should introduce the
various sides to the issue (if applicable) and explain where things stand today with each
side.
Second Section - Background
These paragraphs illustrate the background or history of the issue by explaining how we
got to where we are, what problems we face, significant events in the past that affected
the issue or exacerbated problems, and a summary of those problems.
Third Section - Solutions
These paragraphs explain the solutions to the problems identified in the previous section.
As there are usually multiple sides to the problems, there will likely be multiple solutions.
Fourth Section - Outlook
These paragraphs talk about the future and what hope it holds, cover the main points of
the paper, and indicate what the outlook is for each.
Fifth Section - Summary
These paragraphs summarize the paper. Your group’s commitment to the issue can also
be expressed, along with your group’s accomplishments in this area and any boilerplate
that you’d like to include.