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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 2, "The Ecology of the Nonfiction Biosphere," Foster notes that the expectation for a writer to be engaging does not apply to which types of writing?
(a) Technical.
(b) Political.
(c) Informational.
(d) Academic.

2. In Chapter 3, "The Power of the Prologue," what does Foster say distinguishes the prologue from a preface?
(a) The word preface is generally only used for fiction.
(b) The word preface is generally only used with narratives.
(c) The word prologue is generally only used with narratives.
(d) The word prologue is generally only used for fiction.

3. In Chapter 6, "Source Code," what does Foster say about the proliferation of online sources?
(a) They democratize media.
(b) They offer marginalized voices a chance to be heard.
(c) They are often carefully sourced.
(d) They make everything seem like nonsense.

4. In Chapter 4, "The Parts You Don't Read," what part of a text does Foster say is "under-read"? (39).
(a) Titles.
(b) The index.
(c) The table of contents.
(d) Introductions.

5. According to Chapter 8, "Bringing the News," at what level are most news stories written?
(a) The twelfth grade level.
(b) The ninth to eleventh grade levels.
(c) The college sophomore level.
(d) The fourth to sixth grade levels.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Chapter 4, "The Parts You Don't Read," what is a piece of information that Foster says we can infer from the notes?

2. According to "The Building Blocks of Arguments," what are the "grounds" of a argument?

3. In Chapter 8, "Bringing the News," Foster describes the Larry Nassar scandal as an illustration of what?

4. 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?

5. In Chapter 7, "All in How You Look at Things," what does Foster say beginning writers often get too caught up in?

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

3. In Chapter 7, "All in How You Look at Things," what are the ways that Foster suggests chronological order can be modified, and why would a writer choose to do this?

4. In Chapter 8, "Bringing the News," what problem does Foster identify with creating a point of view for All the President's Men, and how do Woodward and Bernstein solve it?

5. 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.

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

8. In Chapter 1, "The Structure of Nonfiction Information," why does Foster say that focus and telos can change if the structure of a work is changed?

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

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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