Document Development Exposition: White Paper

ENGL 2116 | Spring 2018

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

Planning
This was the first technical writing assignment that I have ever done. While planning, I felt
like I had no idea what I was doing. I was really struggling on determining what
issue/solution I would present. Eventually, I discovered an article on Chronic Wasting
Disease that sparked my interest. I had not even heard of this disease before, but it sounded
like an issue that was serious enough to discuss. After further research, I determined that this
would be my topic as it presents a clear issue. The next issue while planning that I ran into
was determining the perspective that I would write from. I eventually decided to write from
the perspective of the U.S. Fishing and Wildlife Services as CWD is a national issue.

First Draft
Writing the first draft of my white paper was a struggle. This was the first time that I have
ever tried technical writing. I noticed that it was extremely difficult to write in the perspective
of a government agency. The first draft used mostly my voice rather than the voice of the U.S.
Fishing and Wildlife Services. Writing this first draft made me realize how difficult it is to
write clearly and concisely. This was something that I would eventually become better at with
time and practice. A final challenge that I encountered while writing was formatting. All of
the essays that I had written prior to ENGL 2116 did not require much formatting. I found
that formatting documents was something that I became better with later in the class.

Second Draft
After finishing my second draft of the document, I still felt completely clueless. The first
main issue with my second draft was that it did not present a clear problem and solution.
Looking back, I believe that my inexperience with technical writing was to blame. My
document lacked clarity and conciseness, resulting in not being in the genre of a white paper.
I did not clearly describe why CWD is an issue or what the solution to it is. The second major
issue with my white paper was formatting. I used the same font for headings and body text
throughout the paper. This resulted in a paper that was not only difficult to read, but difficult
to look at.

Final Draft
I made major revisions in my final draft. The most notable was directly stating why Chronic
Wasting Disease is an issue and giving a single, clearly defined solution. This made my
document fit the genre of a white paper and helped with the overall readability of it. Another
major change that I made was the formatting. In my final draft, I chose a different font for the
headings than the body text. This greatly improved the visual aspects of my document and
helped make it easier to read. I also made many small but necessary changes. This includes
adding page numbers, making a proper table of contents, and referencing my figures in the
text. Overall, I feel much better about my final draft than I did my second.