How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor Test | Mid-Book Test - Medium

Thomas C. Foster
This set of Lesson Plans consists of approximately 191 pages of tests, essay questions, lessons, and other teaching materials.

How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor Test | Mid-Book Test - Medium

Thomas C. Foster
This set of Lesson Plans consists of approximately 191 pages of tests, essay questions, lessons, and other teaching materials.
Buy the How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor Lesson Plans
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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. The section of this book called "The Books in the Book" is what part of the book?
(a) An appendix.
(b) A preface.
(c) The introduction.
(d) A foreward.

2. In Chapter 1, "The Structure of Nonfiction Information," what are the "four Ps" that Foster discusses?
(a) Problem, promise, program, and platform.
(b) Problem, proposal, program, and plan.
(c) Purpose, proposal, program, and plan.
(d) Purpose, paraphrase, platform, and paragraph.

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?
(a) It is verified.
(b) It is updated.
(c) It is shortened.
(d) It is withdrawn.

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

5. Which form discussed in Chapter 3, "The Power of the Prologue," is generally not written by the author of the main piece of writing?
(a) Prologue.
(b) Preface.
(c) Foreward.
(d) Introduction.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Chapter 3, "The Power of the Prologue," Foster mentions a "squib." What is a squib, in this context?

2. Based on Chapter 2, "The Ecology of the Nonfiction Biosphere," how would Foster sum up the place of newspapers in today's world?

3. In Chapter 5, "It May Just Be Me, But..." what does Foster say about offering a source the chance to correct themselves if they claim that they misspoke?

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

5. In Chapter 3, "The Power of the Prologue," Foster uses the word "etymologically" to describe what?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 8, "Bringing the News," what does Foster seem to admire about the Lansing State Journal's coverage of the Nassar scandal?

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

3. In Chapter 6, "Source Code," what relationship does Foster point out between reportorial presence and time?

4. 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?

5. 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"?

6. 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?

7. On page 21 of Chapter 2, "The Ecology of the Nonfiction Biosphere," Foster says, of Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, "This is First Contact with Aliens." What does Foster mean by this, and how do we know?

8. 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.

9. In Chapter 7, "All in How You Look at Things," what does Foster compare to "wrestl[ing] an octopus," (81), and why does he make this comparison?

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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