Document Development Exposition: White Paper

Explain in detail your document’s development from planning to finish, describing your
challenges, how you overcame them, and what you learned.

Planning
I put a lot of work into the planning of my white paper. There was a lot of research to be done! First,
I had to read my Reaktion book, Water, by Veronica Strang. To streamline my process, I tried to look
over the assignment before I finished my book so that I could read with what I needed in mind and
make notes as I read. In addition to reading my Reaktion book, I also had to settle on an initiative to
write about and do research on that front as well. Since I settled on water scarcity (as it relates to
water quality and sanitation), I did a lot of research on the World Health Organization and its
partners, like UNICEF, and what they do. Not only did I have to understand these organizations and
what their goals were, but I also had to understand their process and how they accomplish their
goals.

First Draft (for peer editing)

I always try to complete my drafts to the best of my abilities so that I have less to work on later on. I
had to decide how to format my images, which was pretty difficult. I’m just not sure there is any
great way to format these images. They correspond to the paragraphs, but they don’t look to do so
at first glance. I just didn’t want them to be floating on their own in the body text, so I formatted
them to wrap around the text along the right side of the page. I will admit, though, that they do look
a little cramped.

Second Draft (for your packet)

The most frequent piece of feedback that I got from my peers was that some of my wording needed
to be revised in order to not sound like I was repeating myself or to sound more organized. I really
appreciated this feedback because it really does help me make my writing better. Thankfully, they
said my use of color and formatting were good, so I didn’t make many changes in that respect. By my
own accord, I reformatted my table of contents and changed my body text font as I was inspired by
some of the options I saw in my peers’ white papers, and thought mine could benefit from these
updates!

Final Draft (for your portfolio)

Per my feedback from Ms. Sindelar, I got rid of my indentations at the beginning of my paragraphs. I
should have been following block style from the beginning as technical writing usually follows block
style regardless. Additionally, I reformatted my images so that they are easier to read. I not only
enlarged them, but I also placed them below the corresponding paragraph, which I think was my
best option. This made some of my other formatting not look as nice (i.e. a few sentences on the last
page). I took a lot of time and care to tailor my writing for my second draft, so I know there is not
much else I can do without taking out key information!