White paper use appears to be increasing White papers offer opportunities to examine the complementary relationship between information and...

White paper use appears to be increasing White papers offer opportunities to examine the complementary relationship between information and persuasion. White papers offer unique opportunities for the exploration of document design For these reasons, a more thorough examination of white papers and practice writing white papers would be warranted in any technical writing curriculum. The important issues to examine will be two-fold: what white papers are and what white papers do. What Is a White Paper? In this paper, I have tried to showthrough a thorough investigation of the history of white papers, an examination of the relevant literature on white paper production, and by exploring their use in various situationsthat white papers are hybrid documents that maintain a careful balance between information and persuasion. At their best, white papers provide a solid foundation for decision making and influencing opinion; at their worst, they are manipulative propaganda. In all situatio