Velocity contributor Geir Magnussen Jr has written an excellent overview Start up the Velocity Template Engine. His article outlines the template language and introduces the design philosophies of Velocity.

The Velocity website provides a short case-study comparing JSP and Velocity for email-formatting illustrating the equivalent template code for both systems in the space of one page.

The Java Developer's Journal article comparing the two template system is essentially a re-working of Jon's You make the decision article on the Velocity website where he explains the Velocity MVC philosophy and the “server-pull” technique. It's important to realize that Velocity is not just a simpler syntax, but a religious design philosophy drawing a stark line between the View and the Model/Controllers.

WebTechniques 09/01 Getting up to speed with Velocity is an impartial comparison from someone who, like me, prefers to use the right tool for the right job.

JavaWorld 07/01 Fast Track to Text Generation discusses how Velocity can be used in a variety of text-formating situations; we've used Velocity for website templates, email formatting, to generate dynamic XML for webservices and even for formatting HTML headers