Business Communication Essentials, 6e (Bovee/Thill)
1) Which of the following reports contains data, facts, and feedback but not analysis or
recommendations?
A) policy implementation reports
B) investment proposals
C) due diligence reports
D) funding proposals
E) troubleshooting reports
2) Which of the following documents contains data, feedback, and other types of information,
including recommendations?
A) informational reports
B) personal activity reports
C) position papers
D) compliance reports
E) due diligence reports
3) ________ judge the merits of past decisions.
A) General project proposals
B) Feasibility reports
C) Compliance reports
D) Due diligence reports
E) Operating reports
4) ________ are documents which present persuasive recommendations to audiences, often
involving investments or purchases.
A) Position papers
B) Operating reports
C) General project proposals
D) Due diligence reports
E) Market analysis reports
5) ________ include reports to document progress, demonstrate compliance, and monitor and
control operations.
A) Informational reports
B) Market analysis reports
C) Due diligence reports
D) Troubleshooting reports
E) Feasibility reports
6) Ron needs to show the regulation authorities that his company meets stipulated requirements.
For this he needs to prepare a report to ________.
A) show project status
B) control operations
C) implement policies
D) demonstrate compliance
E) support decisions
7) ________ include reports to assess opportunities, solve problems, and support decisions.
A) Operating reports
B) Policy reports
C) Compliance reports
D) Progress reports
E) Analytical reports
8) Proposals which request decisions from parties outside the organization are ________.
A) grant proposals
B) project status proposals
C) trouble shooting proposals
D) diligence proposals
E) personal activity proposals
9) Fred has to prepare a detailed report on the status of his project. However, he is short on time
and energy, your suggestion to him would be to start ________.
A) with the recommendations and work his way up
B) by visualizing the finished product and listing sources
C) by analyzing the situation and develop a work plan
D) by selecting effective design elements and a suitable layout for a professional appearance
E) by defining his main idea and narrowing down his scope
10) The statement of purpose ________.
A) describes the structure and navigational flow of all the parts of a website
B) is an informal list of tasks and a simple schedule
C) explains why you are preparing the report and what you plan to deliver
D) is a logical interpretation of facts and other information that are provided in the report
E) is a customized graphical presentation of key performance parameters
11) “To identify potential markets for our new range of breakfast cookies,” is a good statement of
purpose for informational reports. Which of the following is a good statement of purpose for
analytical reports?
A) To provide feedback about the newly installed technical hardware.
B) To assess the benefits of investing in the manufacturing sector for the next quarter and include
possible improvisations.
C) To update the board of directors on the progress of the River Drive project.
D) To submit statutory information to the government agency.
E) To show auditors that the company meets compliance requirements.
12) “To update the board of directors on the progress of the research project,” explains why you
are preparing the report. This would typically be the ________.
A) title of the report
B) subject of the report
C) proposal statement
D) statement of purpose
E) executive summary
13) In which of these scenarios is a more detailed work plan most appropriate?
A) a short report which needs to be prepared and mailed in a day
B) an informal report providing feedback about the new coffee machine in the office
C) an automated report generated by a software which analyzes data
D) a report prepared by a team manager regarding the new guidelines for organizational wikis
E) a report that involves collaboration between three teams that are based in different cities
14) Executive dashboards are customized ________.
A) proposals, which are generated in real-time
B) tools, which help in drawing up plans
C) graphical presentations of key performance parameters
D) tools built on the concept of the three-step writing process
E) proposals, which report only highlights and cannot be electronically modified
15) Keeping in mind the importance of media requirements on her reports and how that reflects
on her skills, Susan dresses up a routine marketing report in extensive multimedia. This act
would be viewed as ________.
A) a confirmation of her technical skills
B) a good use of company resources
C) giving attention to detail
D) an expression of creativity
E) a waste of valuable company resources
16) Bill needs to organize information for his report and he has been told to follow the direct
approach. Bill should ________.
A) present the report’s recommendations followed by the conclusions that led to that
recommendation at the beginning of the report
B) present conclusions but no recommendations, at the end of the report
C) draw conclusions in the body of the report
D) present conclusions but no recommendations, in the body of the report
E) use the indirect approach if he is presenting only conclusions at the beginning
17) Which of the following is the first step in conducting effective business research?
A) locate the data and information you need
B) apply your findings
C) plan your research
D) process the data and information you located
E) manage information efficiently
18) Which of the following is the concluding step in the process of conducting an effective
business research?
A) efficient management of information
B) accurate referencing
C) search optimization
D) result visualization
E) data simplification
19) You can apply your research findings by ________.
A) planning a detailed work plan
B) phrasing a statement of purpose
C) selecting the right medium
D) explaining why you are preparing the report and what you plan to deliver
E) developing recommendations or drawing conclusions
20) As a researcher, Dan is aware of how his research tactics will affect the people from whom
he gathers data and information, the people who read his results, and the people who are affected
by the way he presents those results. Hence, Dan is aware of his ________.
A) work plan
B) research strategy
C) sources for information
D) ethical responsibilities
E) medium of research
21) Seamus has to conduct market research on the viability of his company’s new product. While
planning his research he needs to define its purpose—the conclusion he needs to reach at the end
of the process. He should therefore develop a(n) ________.
A) problem statement
B) work plan
C) objectives document
D) statement of scope
E) statement of purpose
22) Kathy has just completed primary research for the company’s pilot product, “Jovial Jingles.”
Her manager has asked her to include secondary research information as well. For this, she
should include ________.
A) information from research conducted using focus groups
B) information from research conducted only on specified core customers
C) information sourced from magazines, newspapers, public websites, books, and other reports
D) information from her review of the primary research
E) information from the repetition of the primary research and compare results
23) Which of the following sources would you use for primary research?
A) interviews
B) magazines
C) public websites
D) books
E) newspapers
24) Which of the following sources would you use for secondary research?
A) telephone interviews
B) surveys
C) public websites
D) experiments
E) questionnaires
25) Leo is evaluating his information sources, so that he can avoid embarrassing and potentially
damaging mistakes. To check if his material is current and complete, he should evaluate
________.
A) if the author is just someone with an opinion
B) if the entire source document was accessed or only a selection from it
C) if the sources are biased or unbiased
D) if the references support the research
E) the material stands up to logical scrutiny
26) Quoting a source means ________.
A) rewording the passage to enhance your argument
B) using your own sentence structures
C) reproducing the material exactly
D) listing references
E) sourcing information
27) Summarizing is similar to paraphrasing but ________.
A) it is generally used to conclude the document
B) it distills content to fewer words
C) it focuses only on relevant examples
D) it provides more details than conclusions
E) usually requires lesser source documentation
28) Linda wants to quote a source in her research. To mirror business language, she rephrases the
quotation in her own words while excluding unnecessary details. To keep the document short,
she avoids crediting the source. This is ________.
A) plagiarism
B) quoting
C) paraphrasing
D) summarizing
E) de-crediting
29) Instead of a logical interpretation of facts, Bertha concludes her report with these words—“I
propose, that we import only the ferrites required for the product and not the unprocessed
magnetite.” Here Bertha is giving her a(n) ________.
A) recommendation
B) conclusion
C) opinion
D) comparison
E) summarization
30) Which of the following is true of recommendations?
A) It interprets information without suggesting an action.
B) It is based on information outside the scope of the test.
C) It presents the gist of the material in fewer words than the original.
D) It suggests what to do about the information.
E) It is presenting someone else’s words as your own.
31) Rod is conducting secondary research for his report and has exhausted most of the online
resources available to him. Which other secondary source of information should he consider?
A) historians
B) trade fairs
C) advertisements
D) museums
E) libraries
32) ________ provide in-depth analysis coverage and analysis that often can’t be found
anywhere else, although they are less timely than newspapers, periodicals and online sources.
A) Directories
B) Almanacs
C) Business books
D) Government publications
E) Online databases
33) Internet research tools fall into two categories: search tools and ________.
A) search engines
B) multipurpose tools
C) monitoring tools
D) optimization tools
E) web directories
34) ________ help(s) boost website rankings in search results, but the ranking algorithms are
kept secret to prevent unfair manipulation of the results.
A) Strategically-placed website logos
B) Search engine optimization techniques
C) Real-time customer feedback
D) Aggressive advertising strategies
E) Boolean operators
35) Which of the following is a shortcoming of a conventional search engine?
A) time consuming nature of evaluation of quality of data
B) lack of better editing algorithms
C) inaccessibility to the hidden Internet
D) easy accessibility to the deep Internet
E) inability to compare multiple search engine data
36) Mark wants to overcome the differences in multiple search engines, so he decides to format
his search request for multiple search engines. For this he needs to use ________.
A) search engine optimization techniques
B) human editors
C) open directories
D) metasearch engines
E) online-databases
37) To define a query, the common Boolean operators used are ________.
A) AND, OR, IF
B) AND, OF, NOT
C) AND, OR, NOT
D) AND, OR, NO
E) AND, IF
38) Neville needs to conduct online research for “tips for creating reports/proposals, but not
presentations.” Using Boolean operators, his search string should look like ________.
A) tips for creating reports and proposals, but not presentations
B) tips OR creating AND reports OR proposals NOT presentations
C) tips AND creating AND reports OR proposals NOT presentations
D) tips AND creating AND reports AND proposals NOT presentations
E) tips AND creating AND reports AND proposals OR presentations
39) Apart from regular Boolean operators and natural language searches, forms-based searches
help you create powerful queries by ________.
A) using advanced Boolean operators
B) using metacrawlers which draw out hidden data
C) listing the specific steps needed to achieve the results
D) simply filling out an online form
E) providing keywords for searches
40) April firmly believes in the power of the Google search engine. She rarely ventures beyond
the first one or two pages of results though; this helps her save time and avoid getting
overwhelmed by the results. Your suggestion to April would be ________.
A) to follow the direct approach and include Boolean expressions
B) that the algorithm used to rank the results might not reflect her priorities, so the first few hits
might not be the best for her project
C) to use fewer search terms to find more results; use more search terms to find fewer results
D) to try variations of other search terms
E) to read the instructions, before using the search engines
41) Which of the following is an important function achieved by documenting one’s sources?
A) They help avoid plagiarism.
B) They help readers relate to the material.
C) They help readers explore the topic in more detail, if desired.
D) They help take advantage of the source documentation tools.
E) They are the logical conclusion to online research.
42) Pam needs to conduct primary research on the effects of networking in organizations. Which
of the following techniques is suitable for this?
A) electronic databases
B) trade journals
C) statistical databases
D) surveys
E) directories
43) A survey is valid, if it ________.
A) produces identical results when repeated in different situations
B) measures what it is designed to measure
C) produces distinct results in similar conditions
D) captures only the opinions of people who want to participate
E) includes compound questions
44) A survey is valid and reliable, if it ________.
A) produces distinct results in similar conditions
B) includes compound questions
C) includes immeasurable variables and coefficients
D) captures only the opinions of people who want to participate
E) produces identical results if repeated under similar circumstances
45) In a survey questionnaire, if we need to formulate questions to provide answers that are easy
to analyze, we should ________.
A) not provide instructions
B) include leading questions
C) ask for opinions
D) base answers on numbers and facts
E) include compound questions