Home
Up
The White Paper

One of the primary activities of the Tucson Corporate LGBT Coalition is to prepare a resource packet of information that allows Tucson businesses to create tailored awareness workshops for their workforce. And primary among the information in the resource packet are the white papers on selected LGBT topics.

These white papers are currently the main task before the Coalition. Our plan is as follows:

Topics assignments have been made as follows:

Resources

How do we find resources for our topics? We have begun to flesh out some of our topics in our Coalition meetings. Another useful activity is to do some research to examine the breadth of material already out there on our topics. Certainly, if your topic has already been researched by someone else and is publicly available, go for it! Avoid hearsay or unsubstantiated information, however. We are looking for facts.

Many of these sites sell their studies. If you purchase some information, the Coalition can reimburse you! Let's set a limit of $20 per person for now. If you purchase something, let Phil Moul know to avoid duplicate purchases. We'll start our own library.

Outline Preparation

The next step after basic research is to prepare the outline for your white paper. Please read and become familiar with the treatise, How to Write a White Paper, prepared by Amanda Simpson. Concentrate on the Organization section. A sample outline is included. For the next meeting, flesh out your topic by including a sentence for each aspect or paragraph you want to cover.

If you're comfortable working alone, fine, but don't hesitate to form your own committee to attack your topic! Use other Coalition members, your friends, and whatever services are at your disposal to help you get information and put it in a reasonable format. If your business supports your participation in the Coalition and offers its services, use them!

We will review the white paper outlines in our April 24 meeting. Please bring 15 copies of your outline to the meeting, or email to Phil Moul and I'll have copies made.

White Paper Preparation

Once your outline has been reviewed and everyone feels it will adequately cover your topic, the writing begins! We are budgeting six to eight weeks for the preparation of the drafts.

Originality is not important! We are not doing these for a grade! Feel free to copy and borrow information you find on the web or elsewhere. But be sure to keep a list of references for everything you find. 

But quality is! We are looking for as factual of data as possible. It is okay to include a few experiences that illustrate a point, but the thrust of our white papers is to present documented research. It is outside the scope, budget and schedule of the Coalition to conduct its own research, so we must depend on the research of others. It is out there but we must find it!

I hope this is enough information to get everyone started. If anyone has problems, ask a Coalition member for help or bring it up at the next meeting.

Phil Moul

This page last updated: Sunday, October 10, 2004 .