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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. What researcher from Syracuse University showed that of the three major news outlets, Peter Jennings showed a bias in the presidential elections of the 1980s?

2. What researcher from Johns Hopkins University blames the syphilis epidemic in Baltimore on the breakdown of medical services in the city’s poorest neighborhoods, according to the author in Chapter 1?

3. What does the author consider to be the first of the three rules of epidemics?

4. Where is Lois Weisberg from?

5. Howard Levanthal distributed pamphlets to seniors about what kind of vaccinations, according to the author in Chapter 3?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who was Gaeton Dugas? What was his role in the spread of HIV?

2. Why do connectors start trends while normal people do not, according to the author?

3. What popular parlor game does the author use to describe connectors in Chapter 2?

4. What test did the author develop to determine a person’s likelihood to be a connector?

5. What example does Malcolm Gladwell use first in Chapter 1 to illustrate his ideas? What premise does he begin with?

6. How does the author describe mavens in Chapter 2?

7. What did Howard Levanthal deduce from his study?

8. What example does the author use in the introduction to describe his theories?

9. How would you describe the voice and tone of the Introduction to the book?

10. How does Gladwell introduce the book? What three rules for the tipping point does the author give in the introduction?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss the advertising campaigns of Winston cigarettes and Winston’s competing brands, including Camel, Marlboro, etc. How do the ads differ? Why did the Winston ads appeal to smokers more than Camel or Marlboro ads? What made the ads “stick”?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Baltimore’s syphilis epidemic in the 1990s. Where did the author obtain his information regarding the epidemic? What statistics are recorded regarding the outbreak? How do the author’s three rules of epidemics apply to the Baltimore epidemic?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and discuss the experiments led by Ed Palmer and Barbara Flagg for Sesame Street and analyze the findings of their research. How did episodes of Sesame Street evolve with this new information? What other uses have their methods been implemented for?

(see the answer keys)

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