Engl317 project4 slidedoc3_technical_whitepaper

How to write-up UX test findings in a
Technical White Paper
1
Deliverable 1:

2
Table of Contents
Types of White Papers ............................................................................................................................................... 3-7
White Papers and Document Design.......................................................................................................................... 8-12
Requirements and Guidelines for Your Technical White Paper .................................................................................. 13
Required Pages and Structure.......................................................................................................................... 14
Title Page ............................................................................................................................................... 15-17
Table of Contents................................................................................................................................... 18
Introduction........................................................................................................................................... 19-21
Methodology or Methods ..................................................................................................................... 22-23
Results.................................................................................................................................................... 24-25
Recommendation(s) / Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 26
Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 27
Appendix................................................................................................................................................ 28

Types of White Papers
• Position White Papers
• Marketing White Papers
• Technical White Papers
3

Position White Papers
• The term white paper was originally used to describe a
report that states the social or political position of an
organization or think tank
4

Marketing White Papers
• Offer to solve problems for a client or customer. They are
persuasive documents aimed at selling features of products.
5

Technical White Papers
• Technical White Papers present the results of tests or
research findings and also aimed at solving problems.
6

7
White papers are composed in a
variety of formats and for delivery
across multiple platforms.

White Papers and Document Design
• Because white papers are
written to external
audiences they become
part of the communication
that businesses and
organizations use to present
a brand image.
• Creating cohesive and
consistent communication
across platforms is
important.
8

Structured Authoring
9
is a way of separating content from format and document
design in order to produce communication products that
have a consistent look and feel. Adobe FrameMaker is a
popular tool used for this purpose.

10
Notice how tableau’s website
and white papers have a
common look and feel.
There is some variation in the
pages of these white papers, but
the design and structure is
consistent.

These are examples of data sheets by
SEL. These sheets describe the features
and benefits of the products.
Notice they have a consistent look and
feel that supports the brand.

Structured Authoring and Your White Paper
• You will not be using structured authoring technology, but
you will be able to practice structured authoring
conceptually.
• I will require a rule for how to organize the body of your
white paper. This rule is use IMRaD structure to organize the
body of the paper, and it would be similar to a rule used in a
structured authoring tool for any white paper content.
12

Deliverable 1:
Requirements and Guidelines for
Your Technical White Paper
13

Required pages and IMRaD sections.
• Title (Page)
• Table of contents (Page)
• Use IMRaD structure for major section headings.
14
Introduction
Methodology or Methods
Results
Discussion/Conclusion
or Recommendations
• Bibliography (Page)
• Appendix (Page)

Title Page: use document design to create
visual interest but pay attention to what you learned
previously about graphic design.
15
Notice how these
choices of color
do not support the
white paper’s
purpose. In fact, they
work against it.

Title Page: effective designs.
16
Color choices and
design elements
support the
purpose of these
white papers.

17
Comparing
Wix and Weebly
A Cognitive Walkthrough
and Analysis
by Elizabeth Hernandez
Examples of title pages
by former students.

Table of Contents
18
• Use dot leaders.
• Right-align page numbers.
• This example organizes the
results by task, but there are
other ways to organize the
results.
• Try using the automatic
feature in Word.
!
Ii!
!
TABLE!OF!CONTENTS!
!
INTRODUCTION!............................................................................................................![#]!
METHODOLOGY!...........................................................................................................![#]!
! Tasks!.......................................................................................................................!!
! Environment/Equipment!..........................................................................................!!
! Metrics!.....................................................................................................................!!
RESULTS!.......................................................................................................................![#]!
! Task!1:![name!of!task]!.........................................................................................![#]!
! Task!2:![name!of!task]!.........................................................................................![#]!
! Task!3:![name!of!task]!.........................................................................................![#]!
! Task!4:![name!of!task]!.........................................................................................![#]!
! Task!5:![name!of!task]!.........................................................................................![#]!
! Task!6:![name!of!task]!.........................................................................................![#]!
! Task!7:![name!of!task]!.........................................................................................![#]!
! Task!8:![name!of!task]!.........................................................................................![#]!
! Task!9:![name!of!task]!.........................................................................................![#]!
! Task!10:![name!of!task]!.......................................................................................![#]!
RECOMMENDATION(S)/CONCLUSION!.......................................................................![#]!
!BIBLIOGRAPHY!............................................................................................................![#]!
APPENDICE!
! Appendix!A:!Data!Collection!Completed!Forms!or!Spreadsheet!.........................![#]!
!(NOTE:!!Page!numbers!must!be!right]aligned.)!

Introduction
• Rhetorically, the
introduction of a
technical white paper
creates a record of what
was tested and why.
19

Rhetorical moves for the introduction.
Option 1: start with a purpose statement that includes the
definition of the product or website.
20
Example:
This white paper describes the findings from a usability
test of two free blogging tools: Tumblr and Blogger.
Example:
This white paper evaluates how Gimp, a free cloud
computing tool, compares to its pricey counterpart:
Adobe Photoshop.

Option 2: start with a phrase or sentence definition and then
move to a purpose statement.
21
Example 1:
Weebly and Wix are popular website-builder tools. This white
paper presents the results of a usability test that compared
how well the tools performed in five component standards
that define usability.
Example 2:
Image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop often have
steep learning curves, deterring most novices from trying
them. This white paper describes the findings from a
comparison of two image editing products aimed at novice
users: [name the two products].

Methodology (or Methods)
• Just as in an engineering tests
or scientific experiments, the
methodology section explains
the design of the test or
experiment.
• Rhetorically, it explains how
you designed the test.
22

Methodology: What to include.
• Tasks. Create a list of the tasks and use a parallel structure.
• Test Environment. State when you did the test, where,
and anything else that helps a reader understand the testing
methods you used such as type of computer (laptop,
desktop, PC or Mac etc.?). Version of the products tested
etc.
• Evaluative Criteria/Rating Scale. List the five criteria
statements and include a numerical Likert scale with labels.
23

Results
• Rhetorically, the results
present the findings and
what the findings mean.
• How you organize this
section is your choice, but
the organizing pattern
should take readers logically
through the findings.
24

Results need to include:
• Clear, concise technical descriptions of what happened when
you did the task and how you evaluated usability.
• Incorporate visuals to help reader follow the test findings:
• screenshots that support descriptions.
• graphics that represent
the scoring data either in the
results and/or at the end in a summary.
• you may also choose to include
the criteria statements with
Likert scale in the results’ section.
And, if needed, make
• suggestions about how to improve the
product or website for each task.
25

Recommendation(s)/Conclusion
• Rhetorically, this section should make
an overall conclusion about how the
products compared.
• The recommendations in this section
should list, in order of importance,
any suggestions you made in the
results section for how to improve the
website or product.
26

Bibliography
• Include for website(s) or fully online
products you tested.
• Include the URL for any specific
information you cited when
considering how a feature worked,
such as claims made on the
product’s website etc.
• You may find an endnote system (i.e.
superscript that refers to bibliography
end note page) is easiest to use but
any documentation style is fine.
27

Appendix
• You will need to include the raw data
in this section, which is the
completed data collection forms or
spreadsheet.
• Consider multiple forms to be pages
of a single appendix. See the next
page for how to move from portrait
to landscape when inserting a
collection form made in landscape.
28
Appendices is the plural of appendix. Since you have only one
appendix (consider data collection forms to be one appendix
with multiple pages), use Appendix in the title of yours.

Engl317 project4 slidedoc3_technical_whitepaper

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