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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Chapter 8, "Bringing the News," one of the main points that Foster wants to make about All the President's Men is what?
(a) Woodward and Bernstein faced serious obstacles in investigating the Watergate story.
(b) Woodward and Bernstein used too many anonymous sources.
(c) It is unusual for people to write about themselves in the third person.
(d) All the President's Men is a work of nonfiction.

2. In Chapter 4, "The Parts You Don't Read," what advice does Foster give about the copyright page?
(a) This information is just a legal notice and most readers should just ignore it.
(b) When reading as a part of research, never leave this page without recording the information it contains.
(c) This page is optional and readers should not expect to find it in every book.
(d) This page contains important information about where the author got pieces of information used in the text.

3. In Chapter 5, "It May Just Be Me, But..." what does Foster say about offering equal space and analysis to opposing arguments?
(a) It is confusing to the reader.
(b) It strikes the modern reader as dishonest.
(c) This is part of fair and balanced reporting.
(d) This can destroy a story.

4. In Chapter 8, "Bringing the News," Foster describes the Larry Nassar scandal as an illustration of what?
(a) The importance of community newspapers.
(b) The difficulties of investigative journalism.
(c) How major universities sometimes engage in cover ups.
(d) The ways in which trusted people can betray others.

5. In Chapter 4, "The Parts You Don't Read," what is a piece of information that Foster says we can infer from the notes?
(a) Potential biases.
(b) The intended audience.
(c) The author's purpose.
(d) The author's education.

Short Answer Questions

1. The section of this book called "The Books in the Book" is what part of the book?

2. In Chapter 6, "Source Code," what does Foster say is an advantage of using data as evidence?

3. In Chapter 2, "The Ecology of the Nonfiction Biosphere," what does Foster call the rules governing different forms of nonfiction?

4. In Chapter 6, "Source Code," what type of writing does Foster say relies heavily on eyewitness testimony?

5. According to "The Building Blocks of Arguments," what is the only form of nonfiction that is not argumentative?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 1, "The Structure of Nonfiction Information," what does Foster say is the purpose of his reader being asked to think like a writer, and what is one example of how this works?

2. Why, in Chapter 2, "The Ecology of the Nonfiction Biosphere," does Foster say that it is both good and bad news that all communication has a "grammar"?

3. In Chapter 6, "Source Code," what does Foster say that "expertise" is and is not?

4. On page 33 of "Building Blocks of Arguments," Foster compares claims and grounds to two people standing next to one another at a dance and says warrants are what "pins" them together so that they can "go steady." Explain his meaning.

5. In Chapter 8, "Bringing the News," why does Foster say that All the President's Men is "meta-journalism"?

6. In Chapter 4, "The Parts You Don't Read," what two kinds of notes does Foster discuss and what are their functions?

7. In Chapter 3, "The Power of the Prologue," Foster explains the origin of the prologue. What is its origin and how is that origin reflected in today's prologues?

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. Explain why, in Chapter 7, "All in How You Look at Things," Foster says that, even in narrative nonfiction, there is a difference between chronological order and structure.

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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