TECH WRITING FINAL
Chapter 1 describes six characteristics of a successful technical document. Here are four of the characteristics listed: 1) it addresses particular readers, 2) it helps readers solve problems, 3) it reflects the organization's goals and culture, and 4) it is produced collaboratively. What is one of the two remaining characteristics of a successful technical communication document?
It uses design to increase readability by being attractive and easy to use.
Which of the following is * not * one of the four examples of misleading technical communication described by Chapter 2? Select only one answer.
Lying by Omission
Based on the principles discussed in Chapter 9, 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
"Refer to the person first, the disability second" is one of the guidelines for using the people-first approach to writing about people with disabilities. Which of the following are other guidelines discussed in the chapter?
None of the responses are correct
Which of these statements about working with someone from another culture is true?
A topic of discussion that is common in one culture might be considered highly personal in another culture.
Chapter 10 suggests that the passive voice is generally more appropriate than the active voice in four circumstances. One is when the agent is clear from the context, as in "Students are required to take both writing courses," in which it is clear that the college sets the requirements. Under what other circumstance(s) is the passive voice generally more appropriate?
- agent is unknown - reference to the agent is embarrassing, dangerous, or some other way inappropriate - agent is less important than the action
Why should you avoid using unnecessary jargon when writing workplace documents?
- condescending - imprecise - confusing - intimidating ALL CORRECT
For a report on fast food, a writer has decided to organize her information by assigning fast-food items to categories. Which of the following sets of categories is most flawed?
- high-fat items - high-cholesterol items - high-calorie items
Which of the following can help you display your organizational pattern prominently?
- topic sentences to begin paragraphs - frequent section headings - detailed table of cont.
How many "basic modes of communication" are listed in Chapter 1 and what are they?
4 modes - writing, speaking, listening, and reading
According to Chapter 2, what steps should a company take to improve its ethical culture? (Select all that apply. Each correct answer must be selected in order for you to receive credit for this question.)
-The organization's leadership, supervisors, and peers can set good examples to act ethically. -The organization can create a code of conduct that is - among other things - specific, comprehensive, and enforceable.
In the section of Chapter 4 called "Setting Your Team's Agenda," which of the following is not a suggestion for helping your team work effectively and efficiently?
Appoint yourself leader beforehand to save time during the meeting
Chapter 4 offers seven suggestions for communicating diplomatically. Which of these is a suggestion from the chapter?
Ask pertinent questions.
In the section of Chapter 1 called "The Challenges of Producing Technical Communication," the author of our textbook describes multiple sets of factors that good communicators must consider. What are some of these factors that are specifically named in this section of the chapter?
Audience, purpose, and document related factors.
Which method of addressing opposing viewpoints is likely to be least effective?
Avoid discussing the opposing viewpoint
You are writing a report about new regulations that affect your company. Your primary audience of company executives is very busy and will read your report quickly, but secondary- and tertiary-audience members are likely to read more slowly and carefully. Which of the following options is most appropriate for your situation?
Break your report into sections and put highly detailed information in an appendix
You are writing a report analyzing whether your company should hire a new vendor to provide data-warehousing services. You have found a white paper online that looks promising. How can you judge the degree to which the authors are unbiased?
Check to see if the authors have a financial stake in the project
Chapter 4 lists and describes several disadvantages of collaboration. Which of the following is not one of the disadvantages described in Chapter 4?
Collaboration can lead to plagiarism from outside sources
Chapter 4 lists and describes several advantages of collaboration. Which of the following is not an advantage described in Chapter 4?
Collaboration helps certain employees prove they are the best leaders
Chapter 1 lists several "Measures of Excellence" for technical documents. Some of these measures are are honesty, clarity, and accuracy. What is another measure of excellence described in this section of Chapter 1?
Comprehensiveness, which means the document includes background, sufficient detail, and supporting materials (perhaps provided as attachments).
According to several reports cited in Chapter 1, employers hiring new employees focus primarily on candidates' field-based knowledge.
False - Candidates' communication skills are actually more important to employers than candidates' field-based knowledge.
Your company has completed an audience analysis for the manual you are writing for users of a new accounting system. The manual will be given to the 750 employees in the company's accounting department. Some members of the audience are experienced accountants and others are not; some have MBA degrees and others have bachelor's or associate's degrees; some were recently hired and some are long-term employees; some are managers and some are bookkeepers. How might you best accommodate your audiences?
Include different sections for the different audiences.
Which of these statements does NOT identify an advantage of turning a paragraph into a list?
It forces you to reorder the sequence
What does the symbol ® indicate about a word, phrase, or symbol?
It has been registered for trademark protection with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
What is Simplified English?
It is a set of about 1,000 English words used for writing documents in certain industries
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?
Present the reasoning behind the new policy and then state the policy
In the section of Chapter 4 called "Listening Effectively," which of the following is not a suggestion for improving your effectiveness as a listener?
Record the speaker so you can listen to them again later.
In the section of Chapter 4 called "Guidelines: Managing Your Project," which of the following is not a suggestion for keeping your project on track?
Report ineffective team members to a supervisor.
A writer is commenting on a first draft of a technical report written by another team member. Which of the following comments is most appropriate?
Section 3 does a great job of making a case for the importance of our usability testing. Perhaps we should also include a graph showing a decrease in customer-service calls since we started testing. We may also want to add a section on user feedback."
Which sentence below shows a comma splice?
The 728B polo shirt is our most popular model, it offers an unequaled blend of comfort and durability
Which of the following mistakes did McDonald's make when it printed takeout bags decorated with flags from around the world?
The bags showed a Saudi flag, which depicts holy scripture from the Koran. The Saudis were offended because these bags would be thrown out.
Which statement best compares the information found on a wiki with the information from an edited website?
The lack of editors on a wiki means that authors on the site may not be trustworthy.
According to Chapter 2, ethicists such as Manuel Velasquez (2011) argue that whistle-blowing is justified if three conditions are satisfied. One condition is that there is strong evidence that the organization is doing something that is hurting or will hurt other parties. What is another condition?
The employee has made an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the problem through internal channels.
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 following is likely to cause a team writing collaboratively to produce an inferior document?
The team engages in groupthink
A writer is developing a brochure for vacationers interested in taking an "Introduction to Kayaking" course offered by a rafting and kayaking company. Based on the principles discussed in Chapter 9, which of the following headings is most likely to appear in the brochure?
What Clothing Will I Need To Bring?
Which of the following is NOT a guideline for using social media ethically and legally, according to Chapter 2?
Work efficiently by repurposing pieces of content you wrote for one job at another job
How do you respond to a reader who is hostile to your subject or to your approach to it?
You could organize the document so that your recommendation follows your explanation of the benefits, in order for the reader to understand your argument rather than rejecting it out of hand.
Which of the following is an example of an informational constraint that you might confront when completing a project?
You have located advertising brochures and testimonials associated with the subject you're writing about, but you can't find reports on the kinds of controlled tests that would convince a skeptical reader
According to Chapter 5, which approach is best when writing for multiple audiences?
a modular approach
Which of the following are examples of technical communication described in Chapter 1?
a scientific journal, an infographic, a press release. (all answers are correct)
The following statement appears in a university's report to its board of regents: "Several other notable universities, including Stanford and Harvard, are offering massive, open online classes, or MOOCs. It is imperative for Old State University to keep pace in the educational marketplace." What type of reasoning does the passage display?
ad populum argument
A writer is considering revising the long paragraph below. Would the best place to start a second paragraph be at (1), (2), or (3)? GRAPHICS
at (2)
According to Chapter 10, sentences are often easier to understand and more emphatic if new information appears in which position?
at the end of the sentence
Which of the organizational patterns below depends on relationships that can be difficult to prove?
cause and effect
Which three of the following are elements of an argument, according to Chapter 8?
claim, evidence, reasoning
You are writing a long, complex document in which you need to explain a series of events that led to a problem, evaluate several possible options for solving that problem, and present the most important factors to consider in making a decision. Which pattern of organization would be most effective?
combo. of several patterns
Which quality in the list below is evident in the revised version of the following paragraph? Original: During our monthly meeting last month, we all came to the conclusion that overtime procedures are inadequate and that new procedures need to be initiated. I discussed this problem with our chief accountant, who was sympathetic and agreed to consider any changes we would like to make to the present procedures. Please bring your suggested changes to this month's departmental meeting scheduled for 2:30 P.M. next Wednesday afternoon. Revision: During last month's meeting, we concluded that our overtime procedures need revision. Our chief accountant has agreed to consider any changes we would like to make to the present procedures. Please bring your suggested changes to this month's departmental meeting scheduled for 2:30 P.M. next Wednesday.
conciseness
Chapter 6 offers an example of a website that offers RSS subscriptions. What organization's website is described in this example?
congress.gov
A team of writers is just beginning a new documentation project. The client for the team's last project complained that the completed document kept switching from active to passive voice and that the design of the headings was not visually consistent. Which of the following is the team's best approach to avoiding such problems on the current project?
create a style sheet
Which of the following is NOT a principle for using the problem-methods-solution pattern of organization?
describe your problem in general terms
how does culture affect the process of persuasion?
determines the structure and content of effective arguments
Chapter 8 discusses four broad goals of an audience. One is security. Which is NOT one of the other three goals?
fair-mindedness
Chapter 8 lists four characteristics that can help you establish an effective professional persona. One is cooperativeness. Which of the following characteristics is also mentioned in this brief list?
fair-mindedness
A euphemism is a bit of shoptalk - a word or phrase that has a precise meaning to members of a particular group, organization, profession, or occupation - that may have little meaning for people outside that group.
false
According to Chapter 9, long headings can confuse and distract readers; therefore, you should strive to write short headings of no more than three or four words
false
Chapter 7 states that one disadvantage of the problem-methods-solution organizational pattern is that you cannot alter the sequence of those three elements.
false
Secondary research is the process of creating technical information yourself, as opposed to collecting information that other people have discovered or created
false
When facing the challenges of producing technical communication documents, Chapter 1 asks you to consider factors such as audience, purpose, setting, document, and process-related factors. One example of a setting-related factor mentioned in this part of the chapter describes the issue of what hardware or software a technical writer has access to in his or her workplace. For instance, does the technical writer's employer own a color printer for in-house production of documents? Or will an outside printing service need to be arranged?
false
You should select research methods before determining what research questions to pursue
false
According to Chapter 5, what should you do once you have analyzed your audience and purpose?
getting management's approval
Why should you use an audience profile sheet for a writing project?
helps realize when u need to learn more about audience, prompts to consider various characteristics, helps summarize what you've learned about audience
Chapter 6 advises researchers to look for information that is current. What are two other characteristics of reliable information that the chapter says you should look for?
lack of bias comprehensiveness
According to Chapter 6, which of these is considered a "tool" (as opposed to a "source" or "resource") for secondary research?
library catalog
What level of formality does technical communication usually require?
moderately formal to highly formal
Which of the following is NOT a category of constraints on your ability to be persuasive in a workplace document?
partitional
Chapter 5 identifies seven categories of cultural variables "on the surface." One category is political. Which of these is NOT a category of surface cultural variables?
philosophical
Which of the following is an example of a coherence device?
repeating key words
Books are a common medium for publishing information. Chapter 6 identifies four other publishing media classified as "Secondary Research Sources." What are two other forms of media listed in the chapter?
social media websites
Your supervisor has asked you to write a brief description of an abandoned silver mine with a complex series of caves, some of which are slated for hazardous-waste cleanup. The audience for this document is the waste cleanup crew leader. Of the organizational patterns discussed in Chapter 7, which would be most logical and effective for describing the mine?
spatial
Which term below is used in Chapter 5 to describe a type of audience?
tertiary
According to Chapter 1, people who are good at communicating in the workplace possess multiple skills -- or abilities -- including the abilities to speak and write clearly and analyze information. Which of the following is another ability mentioned in this section of the chapter?
the ability to perform as a researcher
Chapter 2 lists four factors governing the fair-use exemption, which allows you to use copyrighted material without permission under certain conditions. One factor is the nature and purpose of the copyrighted work. What is another factor?
the effect of the use on the potential market for the copyrighted work
An effective topic sentence will reflect which of the following?
the organizational pattern of the document
Chapter 5 suggests that you consider five other individual characteristics of readers in addition to education. Which two of the following characteristics does the chapter suggest you consider?
the readers prof. experience the readers job responsibility
What is a lead-in?
the text that introduces a list
Chapter 2 lists four areas of law relevant to ethical issues in technical communication. One is copyright law. What is one other area of law discussed?
trademark law
A post hoc argument claims that because A preceded B, A must have caused B.
true
A sentence with a negative construction uses a word or phrase to describe what something is not. One example is the use of not many rather than few.
true
According to Chapter 6, a periodical index typically contains only citation information about journal and magazine articles, such as the title, subject, and author
true
Chapter 2 discusses ethicist Thomas Donaldson's concept of a "moral minimum," which describes the idea that companies working in cross-cultural situations are "ethically obligated not to reinforce patterns of discrimination in product information," though they "are not obligated to challenge the prevailing prejudice directly."
true
Government publications are classified according to the Superintendent of Documents system, not the Library of Congress system
true
In the section of Chapter 2 called "Using Social Media Ethically and Legally," several guidelines are offered. One of those guidelines is that you should avoid revealing unauthorized news about your own company. This section includes the following information: "A company that wishes to apply for a patent for one of its products or processes has, according to the law, only one year to do so after the product or process is first mentioned or illustrated in a 'printed publication.' Because courts have found that a photo on Facebook or a blog or even a tweet is equivalent to a printed publication (Bettinger, 2010), you could inadvertently start the clock ticking. Even worse, some other company could use the information to apply for a patent for the product or process that your company is developing."
true
Once you've determined the audience and the purpose for a document, the first step in comparing and contrasting two or more items is to determine the criteria: the standards or needs you will use in studying the items
true
Readers who can easily locate and understand important information in a document will be more likely to agree with its arguments
true
Some college students may wonder how likely it is that their future employer will have a formal social media policy by which they will need to abide. Chapter 2 explains that, according to a survey of more than a hundred companies, more than two thirds of employers have social-media policies.
true
The section of Chapter 1 called "Skills and Qualities Shared by Successful Workplace Communicators," offers you several guidelines for communicating professionally. Some of these guidelines are to be honest and self-disciplined. Another guideline mentioned here involves being able to read body language and facial expressions.
true
Which of the following is a run-on sentence?
vote for Pedro he will represent you well.
Which organizational pattern often occurs in a comparison-and-contrast discussion?
whole by whole
Which factor should influence the organizational pattern you choose?
your readers expectations
