ENGL1033 50 - TECH REPORT WRITING-Chapter 9
A writer at ColdTec Accounting has just completed a draft of an internal report describing a recent drop in enrollment in a training course entitled "Web Linking and Publishing with Microsoft Excel 2013," which is offered to new employees. Which of the following titles would be most appropriate for the report?
An Analysis of Declining Enrollment in "Web Linking and Publishing with Microsoft Excel 2013"
Which of the following words or phrases should be used in the excerpt below to signal to readers that because land-use problems are causing high bacteria levels, landowners must take action. Bacteria levels are often above state standards and are due to localized, specific land-use problems. _______, landowners must take action to address these problems and reduce the high bacteria levels.
Consequently
Which pair of sentences shows the most effective transition from the first sentence to the second?
Demand for kettle chips is down by 15 percent. As a result, we have laid off 12 production workers.
You are writing a report about sales of your company's products over the past three months. Sales are not growing, but appear to be steady. You have identified three factors contributing to this situation. Which of the following is the most effective lead-in for a paragraph list discussing these factors?
I have identified three factors that are contributing to the plateau of product sales.
What kind of relationship do the transitional phrases for example, for instance, and in other words express?
Illustration
Which of these statements does NOT identify a benefit of turning a paragraph into a list?
It forces you to reorder the sequence.
Which of these statements provides an effective definition of a sentence list?
It is a list in which the bulleted or numbered items are words, phrases, or single sentences.
Which of these examples shows the most effective transition from the first sentence to the second?
New screening techniques are being developed to combat computer viruses. These techniques are the subject of a new research effort at Big State University.
What advice would you give to a writer considering revising the long paragraph below? (Numbers were inserted to identify the sentences; they will not appear in the finished document.) (1) Although graphics can enhance a website, they can also serve as a distraction. (2) Having too many graphics that do not contribute to the content of the site may make your company appear unprofessional, as well as contributing to slow download times. (3) Your site, for example, has thirty moving images. (4) Such images do not reflect the serious nature of your business. (5) When it comes to graphics, we suggest you adopt a "less is more" approach. (6) Another troublesome feature of your site is the scrolling banner used as a navigation element. (7) To reach certain pages on your site, users must quickly click the links scrolling across the banner. (8) If they miss a link, they must wait another 20 seconds until the link scrolls by again. (9) Because this site is not designed to be a game but rather a place for customers to learn more about handling hazardous materials, you should not use a scrolling banner as a navigation element. (10) We recommend that you use standard navigation buttons aligned along the left margin or across the top of the page. (11) Also, you may want to include a text-only navigation element at the bottom of the page.
Start a new paragraph at (6)
A local bank uses this slogan in its advertising: "Integrity. Experience. Trust. Local." What about this slogan violates readers' expectations?
The items in the list are not parallel.
Which of the changes listed below would make the following paragraph more coherent? As an undergraduate student, you can satisfy the university writing requirement and meet an important graduation requirement by scoring a 4 or 5 on either of the advanced placement English exams (Language & Composition or Literature & Composition). You can also meet this requirement by receiving transfer credit for an approved college-level writing or writing-intensive course you have taken elsewhere and in which you have received a grade of B or higher. Finally, you can meet this requirement by taking and receiving a passing grade in a writing course at this university. The following two courses, for example, are dedicated primarily to the development of writing skills and can be used to meet the writing requirement: English 205 (Technical Communication) or English 200 (Rhetoric and Writing). If you have any further questions, please call Professor Lee Klein, Director of Writing Programs, in the Department of English at (518) 555-8122.
Turn the paragraph into a list.
Which of the following is the best lead-in for a sentence list?
We offer three main advantages over the competition:
A writer is developing a brochure for vacationers interested in taking an "Introduction to Kayaking" course offered by a rafting and kayaking company. Which of the following headings is most likely to appear in the brochure?
What Clothing Will I Need to Bring?
What type of sentence states, summarizes, or forecasts the main point of the paragraph?
a topic sentence
What is an advance organizer?
any text that indicates the background, purpose, scope, and organization of the discussion that follows it
What kind of transition would be most helpful to readers of these two sentences? Mr. Polk accomplished each objective he had for his term of office. He did not seek a second term.
cause-effect
To create an effective title for your document, what should you focus on?
key words that describe the document's subject and purpose
What kinds of words are especially valuable to use in section headings and titles?
precise words
Which of the following is an example of a coherence device?
repeating key words
An effective topic sentence will reflect which of the following?
the organizational structure of the document
