Feasibility
Report




Title:
How
to
Write
the
Introduction
of
a
White
Paper



Testing
Plan

I
interviewed
a
group
of
colleagues
and
friends
via
phone
and
IM
about
their

understanding
and
use
of
white
papers
to
determine
their
suitability
for

participation
in
the
test.

Those
who
were
selected
were
asked
to
read
5
statements

and
rate
the
degree
to
which
they
agree
or
disagree
with
them.

Participants
could

select
one
of
four
choices—Strongly
Disagree,
Disagree,
Agree
or
Strongly
Agree.

I

chose
not
to
include
“Neither”
or
“Neutral”
because
I
do
not
believe
these
answer

choices
elicit
constructive
information.



I
emailed
each
test
participant
a
copy
of
the
latest
draft
of
my
How‐To
article
and
a

list
of
the
5
test
questions.

The
draft
included
the
following
sections:
Table
of

Contents,
Introduction,
Sections
1‐2
and
summaries
of
the
information
to
be

covered
in
the
remaining
sections.

The
email
also
included
instructions
for

answering
the
test
questions
and
returning
them
to
me
via
email.

The
text
of
the

email
is
shown
below.



[Participant’s
Name],




Thanks
for
agreeing
to
participate
in
this
usability
test.

Your
feedback
will

help
me
to
improve
my
article
and,
hopefully
get
an
“A”.

I
have
attached
a

draft
of
my
article,
How
to
Write
the
Introduction
of
a
White
Paper.

Please

read
the
article
and
follow
the
directions
provided
to
answer
the
questions

below.





Directions:
Read
each
statement
and
select
the
answer
that
most
closely

reflects
your
opinion.

Use
the
following
scale
to
answer
questions
#1­#4.
The

answer
choices
for
question
#5
are
listed
beneath
that
question.

Feel
free
to

add
additional
comments.





Strongly
 Disagree
 Agree
 Strongly
 Neither
Agree

Disagree
 Agree
 Nor
Disagree


 
 
 
 



1. The
article
is
easy
to
read
and
understand.

2. The
examples
were
helpful
to
me.

3. The
article’s
beginning,
or
introduction,
made
me
want
to
read
further.

4. Using
only
the
information
in
the
article,
I
feel
confident
I
could

write/revise
the
Introduction
of
a
white
paper.

5. This
draft
can
be
improved
by…(Select
up
to
3).
 

  Organize
sections
  Using
fewer
statistics

differently
(Please
 or
quotes
from
experts

explain)
  Including
more
“tips”

 Making
the
article
  Including
fewer
“tips”

shorter,
more
concise
  Deleting
section
__

 Adding
more
detail
 (insert
section
#)

 Adding
more/better
  More
clearly
defining

examples
 terminology

 Using
more
statistics
  Other:

_________________

or
quotes
from
experts



Testing
Subjects
and
Process

I
initially
targeted
colleagues
with
whom
I’d
either
previously
discussed
white

papers
or
whom
I
assumed
wrote
or
used
white
papers
to
market
their

products/services.

I
contacted
them
via
Facebook’s
instant
messenger
and
phone.


I
interviewed
7
colleagues,
but
selected
only
5
to
participate
in
the
test.

The
five
I

selected
had
each
read
at
least
one
white
paper
in
the
past
12
months.

Two
were

regular
white
papers
readers
whose
organizations
regularly
published
white

papers.

Two
had
attempted,
or
were
now
attempting,
to
write
a
white
paper
and

one
was
new
to
white
papers
but
interested
in
using
them
to
market
her
services.



Test
Subjects:

• Cynthia
M.
–
Small
business
owner
and
B2B
marketer;
new
to
white
papers,

has
read
a
couple,
thought
they
were
persuasive
and
wanted
to
learn
how
to

produce
them
to
sell
her
companies
products
online



• Marita
S.
–
CEO
of
an
interactive
advertising
firm;
regularly
reads
white

papers
to
discover
new
products/services,
keep
current
on
thought
leaders,

firm
publishes
white
papers
to
sell
services
and
position
them
as
thought

leaders



• Shawn
B.
–
Sales/marketing
consultant;
uses
newsletters
to
sell
products
and

services
via
mail
and
online,
reads
white
papers,
considering
writing
white

papers
to
sell
new
business
services
to
companies
as
team‐building



• Tameka
J.
–
B2B
marketer,
software
as
a
service
(saas);
markets
technology

products/services
online
and
directly,
works
with
sales
and
writers
to
create

white
papers,
interested
in
improving
white
papers




• Yvonne
W.
–
Talent
management
executive;
regularly
reads
white
papers
to

discover
latest
trends
in
human
resources,
talent
and
performance

management
techniques,
products
and
services,
attempting
to
write
one
now

for
publication





Test
Questions

Test
participants
were
emailed
the
questions
listed
below
and
asked
to
return
their

answers
via
email.



1. The
article
is
easy
to
read
and
understand.

Strongly
 Disagree
 Agree
 Strongly
 Neither
Agree

Disagree
 Agree
 Nor
Disagree


 
 
 
 



2. The
examples
were
helpful
to
me.

Strongly
 Disagree
 Agree
 Strongly
 Neither
Agree

Disagree
 Agree
 Nor
Disagree


 
 
 
 



3. The
article’s
beginning,
or
introduction,
made
me
want
to
read
further.

Strongly
 Disagree
 Agree
 Strongly
 Neither
Agree

Disagree
 Agree
 Nor
Disagree


 
 
 
 



4. Using
only
the
information
in
the
article,
I
feel
confident
I
could

write/revise
the
Introduction
of
a
white
paper.

Strongly
 Disagree
 Agree
 Strongly
 Neither
Agree

Disagree
 Agree
 Nor
Disagree


 
 
 
 



5. This
draft
can
be
improved
by…(Select
up
to
3).

 Organizing
sections
  Using
more
stats
or
quotes

differently
(Please
 from
experts

explain)
  Including
more
“tips”

 Making
the
article
shorter,
  Including
fewer
“tips”

more
concise
  Deleting
section
___
(insert

 Adding
more
detail
 section
#)

 Adding
more/better
  More
clearly
defining

examples
 terminology

 Using
fewer
stats
or
  Other
_____________________
quotes
from
experts



Conclusions
Based
on
Test
Results

1. The
article
was
easy
to
read
and
understand.

2. Some
terms
need
further
definition,
i.e.
difference
between
white
papers

and
articles.

3. The
examples
were
helpful,
but
test
participants
believe
a
few
more

examples
may
be
needed
before
they
could
write
an
introduction
of
their

own.

4. The
introduction
of
the
How‐To
article
was
strong,
though
one

participant
thought
I
should
“play
up
the
recession‐white
paper

connection
more”.

5. Most
(3
of
5)
participants
believed
they
could
write
a
white
paper

introduction
after
reading
the
article.

The
two
who
thought
they
could

not
faulted
their
writing
ability
versus
the
article
content.

6. Participants
requested
more
instruction
on
writing
a
complete
white

paper,
but
that
is
beyond
the
scope
of
my
article

7. Participants
most
wanted
more/better
examples
and
more
detail
on
how

to
“tell
a
good
introduction
from
a
bad
one”.



QUESTIONS
 RESPONSES
 

Subject
 Cynthia
M.
 Marita
S.
 Shawn
B.
 Tameka
J.
 Yvonne
W.


The
article
is
easy
to
read
 Agree
 Strongly
Agree
 Strongly
Agree
 Strongly
Agree
 Strongly
Agree


and
understand.


The
examples
were
helpful
 Strongly
Agree
 Agree
 Agree
 Strongly
Agree
 Strongly
Agree


to
me.

Summary
of
Results


The
article’s
beginning,
or
 Strongly
Agree
 Agree
 Agree
 Strongly
Agree
 Strongly
Agree


introduction,
made
me

want
to
read
further.


Using
only
the
information
 Disagree
 Disagree
 Agree
 Strongly
Agree
 Strongly
Agree


in
the
article,
I
believe
I
 I
would
need
a
lot
 I’m
not
a
writer.

could
write/revise
the
 more
practice,

introduction
of
a
white
 lessons.

paper.


This
draft
can
be
improved
 Adding
more
detail
–
 Adding
more
detail
 Adding
more/
 Including
more
 Other:
“Play
up


by…(Select
up
to
3)
 “about
white
papers
 Adding
more/
 better
examples
–
 tips

 the
fact
that

and
the
way
they
 better
examples
 “More
examples,
 white
papers

should
be
written”
 “Would
need
a
lot
 the
better”

 are
better
in
a

Adding
more/
better
 more
examples
if
 Including
more
 recession”

examples
 I’m
going
to
write
 tips
–
“I
like
quick

More
clearly
defining
 anything.

I’m
a
 tips
I
can
use
to

terminology
 finance
person”.
 tweak
my


 writing“

Action
Steps

1. Insert
additional
sample
introduction
paragraphs
(examples
of
bad
and
good

introductions).

2. Add
an
additional
sample
of
a
complete
white
paper
to
the
appendix

3. Ensure
introduction
is
clear—this
is
not
an
article
on
writing
white
papers

but
on
writing
the
introduction
section.

4. Add
links
to
writing
resources
to
“tips”
sidebar.

5. Review
introduction
and
sections
to
ensure
that
I
“play
up”
the
timeliness
of

the
article—how
white
papers
are
perfect
for
a
recession
because
they
are

cheaply,
quickly
produced
and
credible,
providing
solutions,
not
just
sales

pitches.

6. Strike
balance
between
giving
a
writing
lesson
and
a
lesson
on
writing
a

white
paper
introduction.

Action
Plan
for
Completing
the
How­To



How­To
Doc
Action
Plan

Task
 Complete
Date

Conduct
usability
testing
(12
hours)
 4/17/09

Write
feasibility
report
(4
hours)
 4/19/09

Create
How‐To
index
(3
hours)
 4/20/09

Post
feasibility
report.

 4/21/09

Incorporate
feedback
from
usability
testing
 4/24/09

into
current
draft
(16‐24
hours)

Research
and
write
section
3
of
the
How‐To
 5/1/09

article
(8
hours)

Research
and
write
section
4
of
the
How‐To
 5/8/09

article
(8
hours)

Submit
current
draft
for
peer
coaching.
 5/10/09

Write
tips
for
optimizing
the
Introduction
(2
 5/11/09

hours)

Edit
a
complete
draft
of
the
How‐To
article
 5/14/09

(12
hours)

Finalize
TOC,
graphics
and
layout
of
article
 5/16/09

(8
hours)

Incorporate
coaching
feedback,
make
last‐ 5/18/09

minute
changes,
correct
issues
and
discuss

final
questions
with
Kalo.

Post
final
How‐To
article.
 5/19/09