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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 2: Chapter 5, "It May Just Be Me, But..." through Chapter 8, "Bringing the News".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Chapter 3, "The Power of the Prologue," why is "foreward" spelled with an "e" instead of as we usually see it, "forward"?
(a) Foster is using an unconventional spelling to draw attention to the idea "fore," which means "ahead."
(b) This is a proofreading error in the text.
(c) Without the "e," the word means a direction; with the "e," it means a piece of writing that comes ahead of another.
(d) The spelling "foreward" is a British spelling, like "flavour," and is therefore an accepted alternate spelling.

2. In Chapter 7, "All in How You Look at Things," Whome does Foster say is "our greatest living thinker about writing nonfiction" (81)?
(a) Bob Woodward.
(b) John McPhee.
(c) Malcolm Gladwell.
(d) Michael Pollan.

3. In Chapter 6, "Source Code," what does Foster say is an advantage of using data as evidence?
(a) It can be manipulated to make it say what the author wants it to say.
(b) It is one of the only sources that people still believe in.
(c) The reader often isn't aware of whether the data is real or not.
(d) It exists independent of our will and beliefs.

4. What definition of "lede" does Foster give In Chapter 2, "The Ecology of the Nonfiction Biosphere"?
(a) A counterclaim to the main argument.
(b) A news item that also contains opinion.
(c) A brief summary of or tease for the event described in an article.
(d) A short introductory piece of writing by an author who is not the author of the longer piece that follows.

5. According to "The Building Blocks of Arguments," what are the "grounds" of a argument?
(a) Factual data and evidence.
(b) The backing of a rebuttal or qualification.
(c) The conclusions that an argument is based on.
(d) Explanations of the relationship between facts and claims.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Chapter 7, "All in How You Look at Things," Foster tells us that changing the structure of a story changes its what?

2. In Chapter 2, "The Ecology of the Nonfiction Biosphere," what does Foster call the "second draft of history"?

3. In Chapter 5, "It May Just Be Me, But..." Foster says that a source's quote can be "emended" (55). What happens to an emended quote?

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 2, "The Ecology of the Nonfiction Biosphere," Foster says that rules are determined by content, not codex. What does this mean?

(see the answer key)

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