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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 12, "Life from the Inside," Foster calls Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation "pointillist" (179). What quality is he saying this book has?

2. In Chapter 12, "Life from the Inside," what does Foster suggest that Ambrose loses by choosing to focus on Lewis?

3. In Chapter 10, "From the Inside Out," which claim does Foster make about thesis statements?

4. In Chapter 9, "Living the News," what does Foster say is the main difference between New Journalism and immersive journalism?

5. In "Interrogating the Text," Foster says that he himself tends to "eschew" notes. He is saying what about his use of notes?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 12, "That Is So Last Year," what difference does Foster explain between primary and secondary sources?

2. In Chapter 9, "Living the News," what does Foster admire about the writing of John McPhee?

3. In "Interrogating the Text," where does Foster suggest that readers focus their interrogative effort, and why?

4. In Chapter 9, "Living the News," why does Foster say that Woodward and Bernstein do not belong in the category of New Journalism?

5. In Chapter 13, "On the Stump," what are the three categories that Foster says outsider exposés fall into, and why does he say that they are more reliable than insider's writings?

6. In Chapter 14, "The Universe of Ideas/Ideas of the Universe," what are the three types of science writing that Foster describes, and what are the differences among them?

7. In Chapter 10, "From the Inside Out," what does Foster list as the three criteria of Ezra Pound's criticism?

8. In Chapter 13, "On the Stump," what concern does Foster say that other journalists have about Wolff's work?

9. In Chapter 15, "Reading Internet Sources," what does Foster say is problematic about the internet and web?

10. Explain why, in Chapter 11, "Life from the Inside," Foster says that the narrators of nonfiction can be just as unreliable as the narrators of fiction.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay in which you define and describe a form of writing found exclusively on the Web. Be sure to cover the "grammar" and purpose of the form in your description.

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 2, "The Ecology of the Nonfiction Biosphere," Foster proposes that newspapers write the "first draft" of history, magazines write the "second draft," and history books write the "final draft." Argue for or against this claim--or accept it with qualifications.

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