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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. In Chapter 2, "The Ecology of the Nonfiction Biosphere," Foster calls an expression a "bromide." What is he saying about this expression?
2. In Chapter 6, "Source Code," what does Foster say is an advantage of using data as evidence?
3. In Chapter 6, "Source Code," Foster talks about the change in value over time of a reporter's eyewitness testimony. What does Foster call this change in value?
4. In Chapter 1, "The Structure of Nonfiction Information," what does Foster say the first job of the writer is, on page one?
5. In Chapter 7, "All in How You Look at Things," what is the purpose of Foster's discussion of structure in Coming into the Country?
Short Essay Questions
1. At the end of "Building Blocks of Arguments," Foster discusses mistakes in claims, grounds, and warrants. He gives the example of someone born in American Samoa claiming to be a U.S. citizen. Since American Samoa is not a territory that the U.S. recognizes as conferring birthright citizenship, Foster says that this argument is mistaken in its grounds. Is it? Explain why or why not.
2. In Chapter 6, "Source Code," what does Foster say that "expertise" is and is not?
3. In Chapter 4, "The Parts You Don't Read," Foster discusses tables of contents and indexes. What is similar about these two things and what is different?
4. In Chapter 8, "Bringing the News," what does Foster seem to admire about the Lansing State Journal's coverage of the Nassar scandal?
5. In Chapter 8, "Bringing the News," why does Foster say that All the President's Men is "meta-journalism"?
6. In Chapter 1, "The Structure of Nonfiction Information," why does Foster call the organization of The Boys in the Boat "kaleidoscopic" (14)?
7. In Chapter 6, "Source Code," what does Foster say is the consequence of a "land without gatekeepers" (68)?
8. In Chapter 6, "Source Code," what does Foster say about biographies and the length of time that has passed since the lives of their subjects?
9. In Chapter 6, "Source Code," what two problems does Foster identify with the use of data as support?
10. In Chapter 4, "The Parts You Don't Read," what two kinds of notes does Foster discuss and what are their functions?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
In Chapter 4, "The Parts You Don't Read," Foster says that titles are important guideposts to meaning. Evaluate the effectiveness of the chapter titles that Foster has chosen for this book.
Essay Topic 2
In Chapter 2, "The Ecology of the Nonfiction Biosphere," Foster proposes that newspapers write the "first draft" of history, magazines write the "second draft," and history books write the "final draft." Argue for or against this claim--or accept it with qualifications.
Essay Topic 3
On page 89 of Chapter 7, "All in How You Look at Things," Foster makes the claim that "there are comparatively few books written that own nothing to the passage of time" (89). Explain his meaning here and then use factual evidence to evaluate the strength of his claim.
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This section contains 1,061 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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