White Paper Writing, Reviewing, and Presentation Tips

1. The primary audience for your written White Paper should be determined in partnership with your host. The audience can be readers of a journal or other publication, it can be a single individual in an organization, a committee, or an institution. Once you have a clear picture of your audience, many other details will become obvious.
2. Overall guidance -- be sure to carefully read the rubrics for EVS614 (on the web). They will provide guidance in preparing your White Paper. If you are not familiar with the purpose of a White paper, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_paper.
3. Length -- this is audience dependent. We do not have a minimum or maximum length requirement. We value clarity, succinct prose, and unambiguous writing style; the White Paper does not have to be long, just effective at addressing the target audience with focused information.
4. Format -- this is something you must work out to meet the needs of your audience. The White Paper can include tables, figures, photos, maps, and digital data (as you would provide with a CD insert).
5. Writing style -- this is audience-dependant. If you are writing for a newspaper or a popular publication, you need to tailor your remarks for a lay reader. If you are writing for a peer audience, the document can be very technical. It is always wise to review other articles published by your outlet to get a feel for their approach and style.
6. Review -- Before you send this to your host or the CIIP faculty for comment, have two of your CIIP Trainee peers read it first and offer critical commentary. You should arrange this on your own. You should have something to share with your colleagues by mid-April. Please acknowledge your reviewers in the document or when you send it to us.
7. Authors should provide their reviewers with a clear statement of who their readers are. Reviewers should evaluate the logic of the paper, clarity, organization, presentation (grammar, punctuation), and overall effectiveness.
8. White Papers are due April 30 when we meet at the large conference room, CI Bay Campus (9:00 AM). Please provide your documents in MS Word format. We will assume that it is okay to post White Papers on the CIIP web site. If this is NOT the case, be sure to let us know and explain why it is so. We also need a timeline as to when these materials may be made publicly available.
9. Please plan a 15-minute oral presentation of your White Paper on April 30. This will allow for 15 minutes of lively discussion and questions following your presentation. If you choose to use a PowerPoint presentation, bring it on a memory stick. Your presentation should describe what you did, why it is important, and what you found. Please remember to follow the standard rules of presentation and use the PowerPoint as a visual aid. Do not read to us. Hosts are invited. We will provide sandwiches for everyone at Noon.
10. The Spring Colloquium is both a challenging and an exciting time in which we discuss and celebrate your work. It is an important capstone event in the CIIP pedagogy.