A writer’s company has just adopted a policy of tracking employee emails to determine
which employee is leaking confidential information. Because the writer knows that this
policy will be unpopular with company employees, which is the best strategy for
announcing the policy to employees in a memorandum?
A) Present the reasoning behind the new policy and then state the policy.
B) State the policy and then provide the reasoning.
C) State only the new policy.
D) State the reasoning behind the new policy and then state the policy in a follow-up
memorandum.
Hardy Grocery Store has published an RFP for the construction of a two-story
warehouse addition to its main store. The warehouse must be built on 5,000 square feet
of adjacent property, but it must have up to 9,000 square feet of storage space and have
loading platforms for both North and East Street entrances. R&F Architects has
responded with a proposal acknowledging the grocery’s property restrictions and space
requirements. R&F’s proposal includes a sketch of the warehouse they propose to build,
with multiple entrances to the exterior as well as entrances to the existing building. The
proposal has a chart showing the phases of the project, including the completion date,
and a section describing R&F’s staff and similar past projects. The proposal ends with a
bid. What should R&F add to the proposal to better compete with other organizations
bidding on the project?
A) a description of its quality-control measures
B) a listing of the research methods to be used
C) a description of the problem or opportunity
D) a clearer focus on the readers’ needs in an internal proposal
It is important to revise, edit, and proofread instructions to ensure that readers can
complete the task described safely.
A) True
B) False
Which statement accurately describes PowerPoint and Prezi, the presentation-slide
programs mentioned in Chapter 21?
A) Prezi is organized as a network or web, while PowerPoint is linear.
B) PowerPoint is organized as a network or web, while Prezi is linear.
C) Both PowerPoint and Prezi allow you to arrange your images in a web with seamless
transitions.
D) Both Prezi and PowerPoint require you to arrange graphics linearly.
Which word best describes the process of writing technical documents?
A) linear
B) nonlinear
C) static
D) fixed
Primary research is the set of sources that you consult while you are in the
document-planning stage.
A) True
B) False
According to Chapter 17, which two of the following organizational patterns are
frequently used in progress reports? (Select both answers.)
A) spatial pattern
B) time pattern
C) cause-and-effect pattern
D) task pattern
E) progression pattern
Which of these is NOT an effective statement of purpose for a document?
A) The purpose of this document is to help readers install the 3.0 update to our
Wizar-Tater software.
B) The purpose of this document is to help employees understand why they will have to
pay higher insurance premiums.
C) The purpose of this document is to change the landscape of enterprise software.
D) The purpose of this document is to explain whether the company should adopt a
health-promotion program.
Chunking is the practice of using visual patterns to distinguish types of information so
that readers can decide what they want to read.
A) True
B) False
For most employers, communication skills are less important than technical knowledge.
A) True
B) False
A commonsense argument is usually more persuasive than numerical data.
A) True
B) False
According to Chapter 12, one potential drawback of photographs is that they can
provide too much information.
A) True
B) False
According to Chapter 21, memorable language brings to mind things that people can
see, touch, or easily imagine.
A) True
B) False
Effective graphic design is an element of the tone of a document’s argument.
A) True
B) False
Which of these statements is true?
A) Writers who appeal to an audience’s sense of reason never use graphics.
B) Writers who appeal to an audience’s emotions usually do so dramatically.
C) Writers who appeal to an audience’s emotions usually do not appeal to their sense of
reason as well.
D) Writers who appeal to an audience’s emotions usually appeal to their sense of reason
as well.
The tags that people use to categorize information they find on websites must be
one-word descriptors without spaces or punctuation (such as “dallaszoo”).
A) True
B) False
Which statement best exemplifies a modest persona?
A) “I think the Hughes Security system will give us most of the features we are looking
for.”
B) “I know the Hughes Security system will give us the features we are looking for.”
C) “I researched all the options, and I am positive that the Hughes Security system is
the only reasonable option.”
D) “The president of Hughes Security is a personal friend, and I know they can’t
possibly let us down.”
Reviewing a document or website is the same thing as testing it.
A) True
B) False
If you don’t know whether to write too,two,or to, you should trust the spell-checker to
help you decide.
A) True
B) False
Graphics typically increase the costs of translating documents intended for international
readers.
A) True
B) False
What is the difference between the conclusions section and the recommendations
section of a report?
A) The two sections are interchangeable.
B) Conclusions explain what the collected data mean, whereas recommendations list
specific actions to take.
C) Recommendations explain what the collected data mean, whereas conclusions list
specific actions to take.
D) Conclusions are directed toward your internal audience, whereas recommendations
are directed toward your external audience.
In a passive-voice sentence, the subject of the sentence performs the action expressed
by the verb.
A) True
B) False
According to Chapter 21, you do not need to announce the end of your presentation.
Listeners can tell when you are ending.
A) True
B) False
Which statement best compares the information found on a wiki with the information
from an edited website?
A) The lack of editors on a wiki means that authors on the site can be trusted to speak
the truth.
B) The lack of editors on a wiki means that authors on the site may mix truth with
fiction.
C) The lack of editors on a wiki means that a wiki can be updated quickly. Faster is
better.
D) Edited websites lack the accountability created when content gets “crowdsourced”
on a wiki.
Companies sometimes use virtual worlds, such as Second Life, to conduct meetings and
conferences.
A) True
B) False
According to Chapter 18, the conclusions section of a typical recommendation report
provides a summary of the report.
A) True
B) False
You are interviewing the mayor of your city for a report on the prospects for high-tech
manufacturing there. Which of the following questions will be most effective in an
interview?
A) Are tax incentives helping to retain expanding companies?
B) How well are tax incentives helping to retain expanding companies?
C) How long have you been the mayor?
D) Do companies complain about the tax system here?
As you develop your professional brand online, you should include keywords that
employers look for in your field.
A) True
B) False
The essential questions answered in the introduction of a recommendation report are
similar to those answered when introducing what other kind of document?
A) a proposal
B) an incident report
C) meeting minutes
D) a job-application letter
Which of the following is NOT a technique for conducting usability evaluations?
A) surveying or interviewing users
B) conducting focus groups
C) crafting a persona of a subject-matter expert
D) using a commercial usability service
If the information on your rsum comes to just over one page, you should eliminate or
condense some material to make it fit onto one page.
A) True
B) False
The results section of a recommendation report is most likely to contain which of the
following kinds of information?
A) analyses
B) data
C) suggestions
D) summaries
Which of the following provides the best conclusion to a set of instructions on
assembling a toy airplane for children under age 10?
A) Have fun!
B) –End Of Page–
C) Use your toy carefully.
D) The propeller should turn as you roll the airplane’s wheels. If the propeller does not
turn, make sure the wheel axle is turning the gear on the motor.
Government publications are not usually listed in indexes or by abstract services.
A) True
B) False
Chapter 8 discusses the four broad goals of an audience. One is security. Name one of
the other three goals.
Your research leads you to the following information. What is the name for this kind of
information when it is presented in this fashion?
Title: ENVIRONMENT: THE THIRD DIMENSION OF THE LAND-USE
TRANSPORT INTERACTION
Author: WOOLLEY, JE; YOUNG, TM
Publication Year: 1994
Language: ENGLISH
Pages: 223″39
Journal Name: PAPERS OF THE AUSTRALASIAN TRANSPORT RESEARCH
FORUM, 1994, VOL 19, Journal Number: NA, Journal Volume: NA
Corporate Source: UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. TRANSPORT RESEARCH
CENTRE, PARKVILLE VICTORIA 3052 AUSTRALIA
This paper outlines some of the interactions and relationships between traffic/transport
systems, land-use, and environmental amenity, leading to a detailed discussion of a
PC-based environmental impact assessment system. The system consists of a traffic
network model, a vehicle energy and emissions (noise and air) model, a pollutant
dispersion model, and a land-use impact model. The vehicle energy and emissions
model estimates the energy used and the levels of noise and air pollution generated
from traffic streams. These traffic streams are a function of traffic flow, travel
conditions, vehicle type, and fuel type. The assessment system will allow the user to
predict and assess the environmental impact of road traffic, transport infrastructure, and
travel demand management schemes. The system has the ability to detect relative
differences in levels of pollution and energy use between alternative schemes, while the
schemes are still in the planning stage. Considerable community benefits will result
from the use of a method whereby route and facility location decisions can be made
with full knowledge of the possible impacts.
According to Chapter 2, using social media ethically entails avoiding false
endorsements. What are three other guidelines for the ethical use of social media?
Which organizational pattern works best when readers want to get to key information as
soon as possible?
Your company makes cell phones that are sold around the world. You have carried out
several focus groups of users in China, with the help of an excellent interpreter.
Unfortunately, although you are good at conducting focus groups, these focus groups
have not yielded as much useful information as you had hoped. What might be the
problem?
How familiar should you assume your audience will be with the particulars of your
experiment?
According to Chapter 2, what is the potential downside to whistle-blowing?
What does prepublication permit an author to do and what is it designed to take
advantage of?
Is email a synchronous or an asynchronous medium of communication?
What type of argument draws conclusions based on an insufficient number of cases?
Into what two categories can criteria be classified?
Which principle states that the human eye is drawn toand that the brain
interpretsdifferences in appearance between two items?
Chapter 3 lists eight steps that are often involved in planning a document. One is
generating ideas about your subject. What are two other steps listed in Chapter 3?
What two technologies make the collaborative writing process more efficient?
What two guidelines will help you to avoid causing confusion when using clusters of
adjectives?
Which type of graphic best shows the interdependence among various tasks in a
project?
An effective graphic for an oral presentation has five characteristics. One is that it
presents a clear, well-supported claim. What are two other characteristics mentioned in
the chapter?