Engineering Communication
Final Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Engineering Communication focuses on developing the essential communication skills required for success in the engineering profession. The course covers effective written, oral, visual, and interpersonal communication strategies tailored to technical audiences and multidisciplinary teams. Students learn to prepare professional technical documents, deliver engaging presentations, work collaboratively, and communicate complex engineering ideas clearly and persuasively. Emphasis is placed on the use of appropriate formats, technical language, and digital tools, while also addressing ethical considerations and the role of communication in project management and workplace interactions.
Recommended Textbook
Technical Communication with 2016 MLA Update 11th Edition by Mike Markel
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Introduction to Technical Communication
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Q1) Chapter 1 states that effective technical communication is honest. The chapter then presents three reasons it is important to be honest when communicating. Which of the following is NOT one of the reasons listed in Chapter 1?
A) It's the right thing to do.
B) If readers bring your dishonesty to the attention of your supervisor, your career may be negatively affected.
C) Readers can get hurt if you are dishonest.
D) You and your organization could face serious legal charges if you are dishonest. Answer: B
Q2) For most employers, communication skills are less important than technical knowledge.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Generosity and honesty are characteristics of effective technical communicators.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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3
Chapter 2: Understanding Ethical and Legal Considerations
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Q1) What does the symbol ® stand for, and what rights does it grant a company?
Answer: The symbol indicates a word, phrase, name, or symbol that the company has registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The company can use the ® symbol after the product name, thus alerting others to its status as a registered trademark.
Q2) When warning users about the dangers of products, writers should avoid using mandatory language such as must and shall.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Chapter 2 lists four areas of law relevant to ethical issues in technical communication. One is copyright law. What are two others?
Answer: The other three areas are trademark law, contract law, and liability law.
Q4) what is the potential downside to whistle-blowing?
Answer: Whistle-blowing is likely to hurt the employee, his or her family, and other parties. Whistle-blowers can be penalized through negative performance appraisals, transfers to undesirable locations, or isolation within the company.
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Writing Technical Documents
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Q1) Which of these best describes the process of revising a document?
A) reading closely to make sure you do not have errors in spelling and punctuation
B) changing your document to improve style, diction, and mechanics
C) reexamining your draft to see if it serves your audience and your purpose
D) developing an outline of major points you want to make
Answer: C
Q2) Templates are useful because they organize a document for you.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) In editing and proofreading a document, a writer should NOT do which of the following?
A) Consider the diction (word choice) in individual sentences.
B) Give the document to the eventual reader and ask if he or she understands it.
C) Check for problems with mechanics, such as the use of numbers and abbreviations.
D) Reread the draft out loud.
Answer: B
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5
Chapter 4: Writing Collaboratively
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Q1) one advantage of collaboration is that it can yield a more coherent document.
A)True
B)False
Q2) According to the research cited in Chapter 4, students from other cultures may be unwilling to respond with a definite "no" in a collaborative setting. What is one other behavior that students from other cultures might exhibit in a collaborative setting?
Q3) Which three of the following forms are discussed in Chapter 4 as tools to help ensure that a team's efforts will be successful?
A) work-schedule form
B) task-deadline form
C) self-evaluation form
D) team-member evaluation form
Q4) According to the research cited in Chapter 4, which two of the following behaviors might students from other cultures exhibit?
A) unwillingness to respond with a definite "no"
B) reluctance to initiate new tasks or perform creatively
C) unwillingness to meet at certain times
D) routinely arriving late for team meetings
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6
Chapter 5: Analyzing Your Audience and Purpose
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Q1) As you complete assignments, why should you consider not only your instructor's expectations but also the audience and purpose specified in those assignments?
Q2) You are writing a report advocating that your company increase its use of social media. Your manager has said several times that she does not like to mix social media and business. She has pointed out several social-media problems that other companies have created for themselves. Which purpose statement would be best for a report to your manager?
A) The purpose of this report is to show how the coolest social-media apps can deliver content to a hip, urban audience.
B) The purpose of this report is to prove that social-media disasters rarely happen and that social media are the wave of the future.
C) The purpose of this report is to demonstrate how the speed and flexibility of social media can help our company reach a growing audience of young adults with controlled, targeted messaging.
D) The purpose of this report is to show how our company can get on the social-media bandwagon before it is too late.
Q3) how do public agencies use social-media data?
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Page 7
Chapter 6: Researching Your Subject
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Q1) Print is a typical medium for publishing information. However, Chapter 6 identifies three other media. List them.
Q2) in which phase of the writing process is it best to conduct research?
A) editing
B) revising
C) proofreading
D) planning
Q3) Your manager has asked you to recommend which of two new types of digital camera to buy for your company's publications department. Which of the following is likely to be the best source of information for your report?
A) website
B) book
C) scholarly article
D) abstract service
Q4) one disadvantage of a questionnaire is that you cannot be sure the respondents are representative of the population you want to study.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What kind of information is found in a periodical index?
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Chapter 7: Organizing Your Information
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Q1) Of the options listed below, which is the most effective way to organize a document describing the events that led to an Internet company's bankruptcy?
A) classification
B) comparison and contrast
C) problem-methods-solution
D) chronological
Q2) Which organizational pattern works best when readers want to get to key information as soon as possible?
Q3) A proposal routinely makes use of which organizational pattern?
Q4) Which of these organizational patterns does NOT benefit from the use of "signposts" in your document?
A) more important to less important
B) comparison and contrast
C) general to specific
D) chronological
Q5) Why do writers sometimes place less-important information at the beginning of documents addressed to readers outside of their own organization?
Q6) what is partition?
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Chapter 8: Communicating Persuasively
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Q1) Which of the following is an example of an informational constraint that you might confront when completing a project?
A) You know that your proposal would help the company, but you also know that the company can't afford to act on your proposal.
B) Your document would be most effective if it used color, but your budget will allow for only black-and-white printing.
C) You have located advertising brochures and testimonials associated with the subject you're writing about, but you can't find reports on the kinds of controlled tests that would convince a skeptical reader.
D) All responses are correct.
Q2) in most cases the best place to state your claim is at the end of the argument because you may alienate your audience if you state it at the beginning.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Chapter 8 discusses the three elements of an argument. One is the claim. What are the other two?
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Chapter 9: Emphasizing Important Information
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Q1) turning paragraphs into lists has four advantages for the writer. One is that it forces you to look at the big picture. What are two other advantages listed in the chapter?
Q2) What is an advance organizer?
A) an outline of the document you are drafting, showing its content and organization
B) the text that introduces a list
C) any text that indicates the background, purpose, scope, and organization of the discussion that follows it
D) transitional words and phrases, such as first, therefore, furthermore, or consequently
E) None of the responses are correct.
Q3) Which of these statements provides an effective definition of a sentence list?
A) It is a list of all the parts of a sentence.
B) It is a list in which the bulleted or numbered items are words, phrases, or single sentences.
C) It is a list in which each bulleted or numbered item is a group of sentences.
D) It is a list of definitive statements about a sentence.
Q4) Where should you place a transitional word or phrase?
Q5) Identify two coherence devices discussed in Chapter 9.
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Page 11
Chapter 10: Writing Correct and Effective Sentences
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Q1) Chapter 10 describes six techniques for avoiding sexist language. What are two of them?
Q2) Per diem is an example of what type of phrase for accountants and human-resources personnel?
Q3) The guidelines for preparing text to be translated are generally similar to the guidelines for writing clearly and concisely.
A)True
B)False
Q4) "Refer to the person first, the disability second" is one of the guidelines for using the people-first approach to writing about people with disabilities. Which of the following are other guidelines discussed in the chapter?
A) Remember that handicap and disability are synonymous terms.
B) Refer to a person who uses a wheelchair as wheelchair bound or confined to a wheelchair.
C) Refer to people with disabilities as abnormal, as opposed to atypical.
D) All responses are correct.
E) None of the responses are correct.
Q5) What is Simplified English?
Q6) Which type of modifier lacks an antecedent?
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Designing Print and Online Documents
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Q1) One of the main challenges of document design is using as few pages as possible while still making the document easy to read.
A)True
B)False
Q2) You receive a progress report in which all of the first-level headings are in the same typeface and type size and have the same spacing and color. Which design principle do these characteristics reflect?
Q3) If you know the audience for your website is diverse, what should you do?
A) Provide more than one way to find specific content.
B) Avoid creating a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs).
C) Incorporate graphics of sports and use sports-related metaphors.
D) Use a high-tech, complex page design to impress site visitors.
Q4) Chunking is the practice of using visual patterns to distinguish types of information so that readers can decide what they want to read.
A)True B)False
Q5) An idiom is a phrase identified by linguists as universally understandable. A)True B)False
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Chapter 12: Creating Graphics
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Q1) graphics are important in technical communication because they can help you communicate information that is difficult to communicate in words. What is another reason graphics are important?
Q2) Graphics typically increase the costs of translating documents intended for international readers.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Chapter 12 suggests that you consider four factors when planning a graphic. One is audience. Name two other factors you should consider.
Q4) If a graphic is on the Internet, you may assume that you are free to republish it.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Saving space is not an ideal reason for cropping a photo to be used in technical communication. What is a better reason?
Q6) Why is it important to either begin graph axes at zero or mark them clearly?
Q7) A screen shot is a graphic showing what appears on a computer monitor.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 13: Reviewing, Evaluating, and Testing Documents and Web Sites
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Q1) Which of the following is the most important difference between observing users in a usability evaluation and observing them in a usability test?
A) In an evaluation, the users pick the tasks they do. In a test, users are assigned tasks to do.
B) In an evaluation, the users pick the location. In a test, users must go wherever the usability team is.
C) In an evaluation, user feedback is not very important. In a test, user feedback becomes very important.
D) There is no important difference between observing users in an evaluation and observing them in a test.
Q2) Your company makes cell phones that are sold around the world. You have carried out several focus groups of users in China, with the help of an excellent interpreter. Unfortunately, although you are good at conducting focus groups, these focus groups have not yielded as much useful information as you had hoped. What might be the problem?
Q3) what is a prototype?
Q4) Usability refers to five aspects of a person's use of an item. What are two of these factors?
Page 15
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Chapter 14: Writing Correspondence
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Q1) Chapter 14 describes two common letter formats. One is modified block. What is the other format?
A) full block style
B) modified block with enhanced formatting
C) simplified block
D) full-justified block
Q2) Which of the following best defines writing that projects the "you attitude"?
A) writing that clearly sets the responsibility for a problem on the reader
B) writing with the kind of tone and style that you would prefer in a letter you receive
C) writing that conveys defensiveness and self-protection
D) writing that addresses the reader as "you"
Q3) A salutation is a greeting at the beginning of a letter, traditionally consisting of the word "Dear," the reader's courtesy title and last name, and a colon.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What do you call a letter in which you respond to a claim and tell the author how you plan to handle the situation described in the letter?
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Page 16
Chapter 15: Writing Job-Application Materials
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Q1) If you write your own résumé instead of paying someone else to do it, you will be more likely to adapt the résumé to different situations.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In terms of how they are organized, what are the two major types of résumés discussed in the chapter?
Q3) Which of the following statements best displays appropriate levels of both confidence and politeness?
A) I hope you will have some time available to consider my qualifications for this position. Please contact me at (123) 555-5555 if you would be able to set up a time.
B) I am eager to meet with you to discuss my qualifications for this position. Please contact me at (123) 555-5555 to set up a time.
C) I am clearly a solid candidate for this position. Call me at (123) 555-5555 to get this thing going.
D) I hope you will be able to consider me for this position. Please contact me at (123) 555-5555 if you would be able to meet with me. Thank you for your time.
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Page 17
Chapter 16: Writing Proposals
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Q1) Formative evaluations are intended to assess the quality of a completed project.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following does the proposed program section of a proposal NOT customarily include?
A) an explanation of the work intended
B) references to appropriate research or scholarship
C) a justification of your claims
D) a budget
Q3) What are indirect costs?
Q4) Which type of graphic best shows the interdependence among various tasks in a project?
Q5) The proposed program section of a proposal contains an itemization of the costs associated with the project you are proposing.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Proposals have two kinds of deliverables. What are they?
Q7) In the sample internal proposal presented at the end of Chapter 16, what are the authors proposing to do?
Page 18
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Chapter 17: Writing Informational Reports
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Q1) A status report is usually organized according to task.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In writing a set of meeting minutes, you should interpret the events of the meeting for your readers.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A) Progress reports are similar to, but not identical to, status reports.
B) Correctly written meeting minutes record everything that occurs at the meeting.
C) Field reports may conclude with suggestions for future action.
D) Incident reports are appropriate for describing accidents that occur in the workplace.
Q4) Which of these is NOT a typical field report as described by Chapter 17?
A) a report on a visit to a potential building site for an office for a client
B) a report on maintenance performed on a broken piece of machinery in a shop
C) a report on an inspection conducted at a customer's site
D) a report on an experiment conducted in your company's laboratory
Q5) what is the primary purpose of a directive?
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Chapter 18: Writing Recommendation Reports
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Q1) The air-conditioning system of Marcus Department Store has not been adequately cooling the store's first-floor office pod. At this point, the problem is not serious because three large shade trees overhang this portion of the building and ceiling fans provide air circulation. Although slumping sales prohibit any large expenditures at this time, the store's owner still wants to find out the reasons for the cooling failure. Consequently, his staff should conduct a study that would provide which of the following?
A) a proposal
B) an informational report
C) a recommendation report
D) an incident report
Q2) What fundamental question does the conclusions section of a recommendation report answer?
Q3) A feasibility report is an argument that answers three kinds of questions. One kind is questions of possibility. What is one other kind of question?
Q4) You should always avoid recommending a course of action that is inconsistent with the conclusions you derived.
A)True
B)False
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Page 20
Chapter 19: Writing Lab Reports
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Q1) A written lab report is the primary evidence on which your audience will judge your credibility and skills as a researcher.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Readers of abstracts often ask some typical questions. Which of these is NOT one of those typical questions?
A) What questions motivated your study?
B) What answers did you discover?
C) What implications do your findings have?
D) How much did your equipment cost?
Q3) How should you present your data in the results section?
A) in text only
B) in graphics only
C) in a mix of text and graphics appropriate for your audience
D) None of the responses are correct.
Q4) In the context of a lab report, what does replicability mean?
Q5) The acknowledgments section of a lab report is typically used to identify and thank people who have assisted the author during a study or while preparing the report. What is another typical use of the acknowledgments section?
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Chapter 20: Writing Definitions, Descriptions, and Instructions
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Q1) You are a technical writer for Landson Toy Company. Landson has just designed a new, more durable swing set for 6- to 10-year-olds. Which of the following should you include in the Introduction to the swing-set installation guide?
A) a list of the tools the user needs to assemble the swing set
B) the reasons the user should carry out the instructions
C) the safety precautions the user must take
D) a list of parts included with the swing set for assembly
Q2) Descriptions are rarely incorporated into longer documents; instead, they usually appear as separate documents.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What technique is used to clarify the term inflammable in the definition "An inflammable substance is not a substance that cannot catch fire. To the contrary, an inflammable substance catches fire quite easily"?
Q4) What is the function of a conventions section?
Q5) What technique is used in the definition "RADAR originally stood for 'radio detection and ranging,' but these days it is rarely used as an acronym and instead appears as the noun radar"?
Page 22
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Chapter 21: Making Oral Presentations
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Q1) which factors should you take into account when using Prezi to prepare a presentation?
A) You will be able to access the free version only when you have access to the Internet.
B) You can collaborate with others on your Prezi presentation in real time.
C) You will need to pay a fee in order to present your Prezi presentation to the public.
D) Once you decide on a sequence for a specific presentation, you will need to use that same sequence each time you deliver the presentation.
Q2) To invite questions after your presentation, a simple "Any questions?" is appropriate. A)True
B)False
Q3) Chapter 21 lists a number of points to keep in mind if you become nervous before giving an oral presentation. One is to realize that you are prepared. What is one other mentioned in the chapter?
Q4) Inexperienced speakers encounter problems with five aspects of vocalizing. One aspect is volume. Name two other aspects of vocalizing that can be a source of problems.
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Page 23