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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 5, "It May Just Be Me, But..." what does Foster say is usually the difference between quoted anonymous sources and sources speaking "on background"?

2. In Chapter 7, "All in How You Look at Things," what does Foster say the term "Fake News" originally referred to?

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

4. In Chapter 6, "Source Code," what does Foster say about the proliferation of online sources?

5. In Chapter 6, "Source Code," what consequence does Foster say the rise of the internet has had?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 1, "The Structure of Nonfiction Information," what does Foster say is similar about the terms "narrative strategy" and "structural design," and what does he say is the difference?

2. 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?

3. 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.

4. 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?

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

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

7. In Chapter 1, "The Structure of Nonfiction Information," why does Foster call the organization of The Boys in the Boat "kaleidoscopic" (14)?

8. 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.

9. 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?

10. In Chapter 6, "Source Code," what two problems does Foster identify with the use of data as support?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose a passage of one of Hunter S. Thompson's essays to analyze. Explain the techniques Thompson uses that are more commonly associated with fiction than with nonfiction, and explain the relationship between your observations and Foster's remarks about Thompson's writing in Chapter 9, "Living the News."

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter 10, "From the Inside Out," Foster argues that the essay began with the Enlightenment. Many of the works that he cites were called "treatises" by their authors, however. Look up the similarities and differences between an "essay" and a "treatise." Then look up the writings of Ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle. Write an argument of definition in which you take a stand about whether the essay and the treatise are the same or different types of writing; in your essay, take a stand about when the "essay" becomes a distinct type of writing.

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 9, "Living the News," Foster discusses the work of Joan Didion. Write an essay in which you describe his tone in this discussion of Didion and then analyze how he creates this tone.

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