NHTSA technical report
Links to an external site.
Research briefs on NHTSA 2021 data and NHTSA 2022 (Jan. to June) data (file)
Accident Analysis and Prevention academic article https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457521003559https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457521003559
Dangerous by Design report (file)
Not Just Bikes video on vehicle size https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEo
Not Just Bikes video on “stroads” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORzNZUeUHAMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORzNZUeUHAM
APA feature on traffic safety https://www.apa.org/monitor/2022/06/feature-traffic-safetyhttps://www.apa.org/monitor/2022/06/feature-traffic-safety
The intended readers of your white paper are people who work or serve in a relevant municipal body (e.g., TxDOT, a city council, etc.)–people who could take up the insight in your white paper and do something about it (launch a large-scale, formal study; educate the public through a PSA campaign; gather public input through surveys and/or in-person meetings; initiate strategic planning for a construction project, etc.).
Organizationally, your white paper should summarize relevant facts, discuss their significance, and forecast their significance in the future (Johnson-Sheehan 288). To explain the un/der-explored perspective or variable, you will need to have conducted additional, individual (secondary) research outside of these texts. That being said, the bulk of your data, facts, and information can/will come from the above-mentioned texts via the Research Memos.
Grammar and style/tone should be professional and engaging. Sources should be cited in IEEE. There should be a References page, which does not (as is typical) count toward the overall word count. You are not being provided a template. For document design, refer to the discussion and example of a white paper on pages 288-289 of Technical Communication Today by Johnson-Sheehan_Part16.pdf
Disciplinary Rationale
The world is messy. Time is money. Making sense takes time. The ability to quickly and effectively summarize, to make sense of complexity and complication, to orienteer through rows and columns and axes of data all the while avoiding oversimplification or mistaking correlation for causation–this is an invaluable skill.
Essentially an exercise is summary, the white paper genre bridges the P-TC divide. It tends to mean one thing in more technical/scientific circles and another in the business world. Regarding the latter, the Purdue OWL characterizes white papers as marketing documents because “corporations use white papers to sell information or new products as solutions that would serve their customers’ needs” (“White Paper: Purpose and Audience
Links to an external site.”). Regarding the former, Richard Johnson-Sheehan writes that white papers typically include the following.
“Summary of the facts
Discussion of the importance of the facts
Forecast about the importance of these facts in the future” (288)
Our approach will embody this more technically oriented approach.
Pedagogical Rationale
This assignment builds on the ChatGPT Email Thread, in that, you are being asked to not only engage with sources but to cite and reference them using a specific citation style. In addition, that assignment was largely an exercise in problem-based learning, whereas, this assignment is a foray into inquiry-based learning because you are being asked to identify and explain an un- or under-explored perspective or variable. Your paper should begin to answer a question. As a class, we’ve identified a lot of variables and perspectives on this topic–traffic fatalities increasing despite VMT decreasing in 2020–but you as an individual need to go one step further: What else do we need to understand to really do something about this problem?
Course Outcomes
Create written documents for specific rhetorical situations and diverse audiences
Incorporate into your writing information from a variety of sources
Employ a process-based approach to writing, including planning, researching, drafting, peer-reviewing, revising, and editing
Examine implications and consequences of various courses of action in ethical dilemmas in TPC
Apply sentence-level techniques to achieve clarity, concision, readability, and professional tone
Implement SAE conventions of grammar, punctuation, and word choice
Organize information ethically and effectively using document-design strategies