Parent Learners white paper

We need to write a paper that gave voice to an underrepresented group of learners.

Entangled Solutions collaborated with Imaginable Futures on a big research project into the lives and challenges of non-traditional college students.

The research team asked me to write a white paper that highlighted their findings.

Approach

The body of research was large and complex. To cut through it, I needed to:

  • read key background documents and research findings

  • create an outline and began populating it with raw content

  • redraft and refine the writing

  • keep the SME team in the loop throughout

Challenges

I wasn’t familiar with a lot of the terms particular to this topic. Plus the team had generated a number of neologisms along the way.

I assembled a glossary to serve as a common reference. This enabled us to identify possible misunderstandings and establish consistent usages.

Outcomes

The white paper was widely disseminated, and helped advance the team’s research, leading to the development of a thought-leadership prize in this domain called the Rise Prize.

The team also asked me to write the paper on that one too!