Technical Communication
Question Bank
Course Introduction
Technical Communication is a course designed to equip students with essential skills for effectively conveying complex information in professional, scientific, and technical settings. Emphasizing clear, concise, and audience-focused communication, the course covers a variety of formats including technical reports, instructions, proposals, emails, and presentations. Students learn to analyze their audience, organize information logically, use appropriate documentation and visuals, and apply standards in grammar and style. Through practical assignments and collaborative projects, students develop the ability to communicate technical concepts accurately and efficiently, preparing them for diverse workplace environments.
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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Sample Questions
Q1) To make it easy for readers to find the information they need, many technical documents are made up of small, independent sections.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Which statement best explains how the concept of company branding is related to technical communication?
A) Branding is concerned with making money, and employees are paid to help companies make money.
B) Branding is concerned with the image that a company presents to the world, and that image includes its documents.
C) Branding is largely concerned with color choices, so a document must contain the company's colors.
D) Branding is concerned with slogans, and you might have to write a slogan for your department.
Answer: B
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Chapter 2: Understanding Ethical and Legal Considerations
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Q1) Under the concept of work made for hire, anything written on the job by an employee being paid by the organization is the property of the organization-provided that the employee agrees after the document is written to surrender his or her copyright.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) The standard of utility is concerned with what?
Answer: The standard of utility is concerned with the positive and negative effects that an action or a policy has, will have, or might have on others.
Q3) 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.
Q4) Plagiarism is a legal issue and not an ethical issue.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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4
Chapter 3: Writing Technical Documents
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Sample Questions
Q1) Chapter 3 lists eight steps that are often involved in planning a document. One is generating ideas about your topic. What are two other steps listed in Chapter 3?
A) analyzing your purpose
B) proofreading
C) freewriting
D) devising a schedule and a budget
Answer: A, D
Q2) Why is it important to plan your document before you start drafting it?
A) Planning can make the writing process more efficient.
B) Planning can make your final document more effective at fulfilling its purpose.
C) Planning can help you create a realistic schedule.
D) All responses are correct.
Answer: D
Q3) If you don't know whether to write too, two, or to, you should trust the spell-checker to help you decide.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 4: Writing Collaboratively
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Sample Questions
Q1) Chapter 4 offers seven suggestions for managing projects. Which of the following is NOT a suggestion from the chapter?
A) Break a large project into several smaller tasks.
B) Put your decisions in writing.
C) Monitor the project regularly.
D) Follow your original schedule strictly to avoid falling behind.
Q2) Chapter 4 discusses five aspects of conducting meetings, one of which is setting your team's agenda. What are two of the other aspects?
A) minimizing scheduling conflicts
B) creating a style sheet
C) defining tasks for each member
D) none of the above
Q3) Chapter 4 contains examples of three forms that collaborative teams can use to help ensure that the team's efforts will be successful. List the forms.
Q4) Videoconferencing allows two or more people in separate locations to see and hear each other simultaneously. What other two activities does videoconferencing allow participants to perform?
Q5) Is email a synchronous or an asynchronous medium of communication?
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Chapter 5: Analyzing Your Audience and Purpose
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Q1) Which phrase best defines the purpose of a workplace document?
A) what you want to accomplish with the document you are producing
B) what you propose to do when you receive permission
C) what you want to display in words or images
D) what you want to document for clarity
Q2) Which of the following mistakes did McDonald's make when it printed takeout bags decorated with flags from around the world?
A) The bags showed a pair of hands holding a flag in a way that customers in some cultures would interpret as an obscene gesture.
B) The bags showed a Saudi flag, which depicts holy scripture from the Koran. The Saudis were offended because these bags would be thrown out.
C) The writing on the bags was in English, which offended numerous nonnative speakers.
D) All responses are correct.
Q3) Interviews are great for learning from your audience but not for learning about your audience.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 6: Researching Your Subject
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Sample Questions
Q1) You should select research methods before determining what research questions to pursue.
A)True
B)False
Q2) When obtaining information on products and services from websites, discussion boards, and blogs, it is important not to assume that vendors' claims are accurate.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Chapter 6 suggests that you do two things after conducting an interview. What are they?
A) Transcribe the audio recording of the interview.
B) Write down the important information from the interview.
C) Ask for a follow-up interview.
D) Send a brief thank-you note to the respondent.
Q4) Chapter 6 lists five characteristics to consider when evaluating print and online sources. Name two of them.
Q5) Chapter 6 advises researchers to look for information that is current. List two other characteristics of reliable information, according to the chapter.
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Chapter 7: Organizing Your Information
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Sample Questions
Q1) Signposts are especially useful for readers of passages written according to the spatial pattern of organization.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Chapter 7 notes that using headings liberally is one way to display the organization of your document prominently. What is another way?
Q3) In describing your company's product, you should not compare it with a competitor's product because the competitor will sue your company for misrepresentation.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The general-to-specific pattern is effective for explaining the factors that led to a specific problem.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Your supervisor has asked you to write a completion report about a project you completed to improve the employee onboarding program at your company. Of the organizational patterns discussed in Chapter 7, which would be most logical and effective for describing the project?
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Chapter 8: Communicating Persuasively
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Sample Questions
Q1) When used as evidence, what does an effective example do?
A) It makes concrete ideas more abstract.
B) It makes abstract ideas more concrete.
C) It makes concrete ideas more figurative.
D) It makes abstractions less didactic.
Q2) What type of argument is one made against the writer, rather than against the writer's argument?
Q3) Which are the four categories of evidence to which people usually respond favorably?
A) numerical data, examples, commonsense arguments, and celebrity testimony
B) expert testimony, ideologies, numerical data, and commonsense arguments
C) examples, commonsense arguments, numerical data, and expert testimony
D) verbal data, numerical data, expert testimony, and implications
Q4) An argument using an appeal to pity is focused on what element?
A) logic
B) emotion
C) memory
D) the speaker or writer
Q5) What type of argument states that a claim is valid because many people think it is or act as if it is?
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Emphasizing Important Information
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Q1) A writer at ColdTec Accounting has just completed a draft of an internal report describing a recent drop in enrollment in a training course for new employees entitled "Web Linking and Publishing with Microsoft Excel 2007." Which of the following titles would be most appropriate for the report?
A) The Changing Needs of New Employees at ColdTec
B) Choosing a Training Class: "Web Linking and Publishing with Microsoft Excel 2007"
C) An Analysis of Declining Enrollment in "Web Linking and Publishing with Microsoft Excel 2007"
D) Declining Enrollment in Training Classes Offered at ColdTec
Q2) Chapter 9 discusses three techniques for dividing long paragraphs. One is to make the topic sentence a separate paragraph and split the supporting information into separate paragraphs. What are the other two techniques?
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.
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Chapter 10: Writing Correct and Effective Sentences
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Sample Questions
Q1) A sentence using negative construction expresses bad news or the writer's dissatisfaction or unhappiness.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Sentences are often easier to understand and more emphatic if new information appears in which position?
A) at the beginning of the sentence
B) in the middle of the sentence
C) after a semicolon
D) at the end of the sentence
Q3) What is the past perfect tense used to describe?
Q4) Where do real or conceptual subjects often get "buried" within confusing sentences?
A) in dangling modifiers
B) in prepositional phrases before weak verbs
C) in prepositional phrases following weak subjects
D) None of the responses are correct.
Q5) Which type of modifier lacks an antecedent?
Q6) Identify one of the four cases in which it is better to use passive voice than active voice.
12
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Chapter 11: Designing Print and Online Documents
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is chunking?
Q2) A writer for a company headquartered in Texas is designing a 100-page report, the text of which will be single-spaced to reduce printing costs. If she wants the report to be as easy to read as possible, which of the following should the writer NOT do?
A) Place the top-level headings along the left margin and indent each subsequent level by several spaces.
B) Use full justification.
C) Use a heading at each significant change of topic.
D) Use chunking to separate paragraphs.
Q3) You are working on a brochure about your business. The type for the body text will be black and that for the section headings will be blue. What document-design principles are you implementing with these color choices?
A) proximity and alignment
B) alignment and repetition
C) contrast and alignment
D) contrast and repetition
Q4) What is queuing?
Q5) In typography, what is leading?
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Chapter 12: Creating Graphics
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Sample
Questions
Q1) Chapter 12 offers six principles for using color in graphics. One is "Don't overdo it." Which of the following principles is also mentioned in the chapter?
A) Use color to create patterns.
B) Use as many colors as possible.
C) Use dark colors to make objects look smaller.
D) All responses are correct.
Q2) Many Western hand gestures, such as the "okay" sign, are considered obscene in other cultures.
A)True
B)False
Q3) one way to create graphics is to modify existing graphics.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Chapter 12 discusses five principles for making a graphic clear and understandable. One principle is that the graphic should have a purpose. What is another principle for making an effective graphic?
Q5) Chapter 12 offers six guidelines for using color in graphics. One is to use contrast effectively. Name two other guidelines mentioned in the chapter.
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Chapter 13: Reviewing, Evaluating, and Testing Documents and Web Sites
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Sample Questions
Q1) In usability testing, what is informed consent?
Q2) what does it mean to evaluate a draft?
Q3) 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?
Q4) Evaluation refers to having other people read your document or use your website and then communicate with you about its strengths and weaknesses.
A)True
B)False
Q5) what is a prototype?
Q6) Proofreading is the process of looking again at your draft to see if your initial assumptions about your audience, purpose, and subject still pertain, then making any necessary changes.
A)True
B)False
Q7) What is an SME?
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Chapter 14: Writing Correspondence
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Q1) What does it mean to "link generously" when posting to a microblog at work?
A) Post links to websites and articles that are relevant to a subject you are discussing online.
B) Post links to as many online articles about your company as possible.
C) Post links for opportunities to give to charities.
D) Post links to a competitor's website after each link to your own company's information.
Q2) Chapter 14 describes two common letter formats. One is modified block. What is the other format described in the chapter?
Q3) which of the correspondence types below is generally considered the least formal?
A) letters
B) email
C) memos
D) microblogs
Q4) Chapter 14 states two reasons language errors in correspondence are unprofessional. One is that they suggest a lack of respect for your reader and for yourself. What is the other reason?
Q5) What is flaming?
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Chapter 15: Writing Job-Application Materials
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is most important to convey in the employment section of your résumé?
A) information about your successful accomplishments on the job
B) information about how to contact your previous managers
C) information about relevant courses you took during your academic career
D) information about the size of each company you have worked for
Q2) what is an elevator pitch?
Q3) The chronological résumé is popular among job candidates who are re-entering the workforce or who have changed jobs frequently.
A)True
B)False
Q4) If the information on your résumé comes to just over one page, you should eliminate or condense some material to make it fit onto one page.
A)True
B)False
Q5) It is safe to assume that former employers in your recent past will serve as references for you.
A)True
B)False
Q6) what are the four main steps in planning a job search?
Page 17
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Chapter 16: Writing Proposals
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Q1) You are writing an internal proposal to suggest that your company purchase a new ticket-tracking system, called Tick-Track, for the company's information-technology help desk. Which of the following is the best point to make in the introduction of your proposal?
A) Tick-Track is made by a company that was just bought by Google.
B) Tick-Track is designed to take advantage of the latest developments in database-search technology.
C) We estimate that the response delays caused by our current ticket-tracking system are costing the company $1,000 per day in lost productivity.
D) Tick-Track is a web-based system.
Q2) What do the initials RFP stand for?
Q3) what is a common name for the leader of a proposed research project?
A) principal investigator
B) research lead
C) investigator-in-principle
D) project principal
Q4) Proposals have two kinds of deliverables. What are they?
Q5) In the sample internal proposal presented at the end of Chapter 16, what are the authors proposing to do?
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Chapter 17: Writing Informational Reports
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Q1) What course of action should you take if you find that you will not be able to meet your original deadline for delivery of a report?
Q2) Chapter 17 notes that in writing meeting minutes, you should be comprehensive and clear. According to the chapter, what else should you do?
A) Be objective.
B) Record emotional exchanges between participants.
C) Be diplomatic.
D) Create a planning document for use in preparing for the group's next meeting.
Q3) what are the two organizational patterns frequently used in progress reports?
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) A directive should include the reasoning behind a new policy or procedure so that readers will be persuaded that the new policy or procedure is desirable or at least necessary.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 18: Writing Recommendation Reports
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Q1) In the recommendations section of a recommendation report, you should avoid recommending that the organization take no action, or no action at this time.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What fundamental question does the results section of a recommendation report answer?
Q3) In the results section of a recommendation report, you should interpret or comment on the data you have compiled.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In what order should definitions relevant to a report be presented in a glossary?
Q5) a report does not need a letter of transmittal if the writer and the reader work in the same organization.
A)True B)False
Q6) If your report presents multiple recommendations, how should you consider presenting them?
Q7) Into what two categories can criteria be classified?
Page 20
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Chapter 19: Writing Lab Reports
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Q1) In describing your methods, you might include a picture of the equipment in your lab as you used it.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Why should a scientist or engineer avoid introducing new information in the conclusion section?
A) The results section exists so that writers can reveal information they collected.
B) It is illogical to introduce new information in a section that serves a different function.
C) It is ineffective to introduce new information in a section that serves a different function.
D) All responses are correct.
Q3) You should write the sections of a lab report in the order in which they will appear in the report.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Ideally, what will the title and abstract of a report help readers do?
Q5) In the context of a lab report, what does replicability mean?
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Chapter 20: Writing Definitions, Descriptions, and Instructions
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Q1) Which of the following is the most effective title for a set of instructions on bicycle repair?
A) Caliper Brake Shoe Yaw Angle Adjustment
B) Adjusting the Yaw Angle of Caliper Brake Shoes
C) Fixing Caliper Brake Shoes
D) How-to Adjusting Brake Shoes Yaw Angle
Q2) Which of the following is an effective sentence definition?
A) Cardiovascular exercise equipment is used by people to exercise their cardiovascular system.
B) A canteen is a clear Nalgene bottle used to hold liquids such as water, lemonade, soda, and sometimes hot beverages.
C) Velo binding is when two plastic strips are placed on either side of the document and bound together with heat.
D) Thermography is a printing process in which a special powder is added to the wet ink on the surface of the paper and then heated.
Q3) A set of instructions is a type of definition.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What are the three types of descriptions discussed in Chapter 20?
Page 22
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Chapter 21: Making Oral Presentations
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Q1) an effective 20-minute presentation could take 13 hours to prepare.
A)True
B)False
Q2) An effective graphic for an oral presentation has five characteristics. One is that it presents a clear, well-supported claim. What are two other characteristics mentioned in the chapter?
Q3) To invite questions after your presentation, a simple "Any questions?" is appropriate.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Chapter 21 lists a number of techniques for overcoming nervousness and releasing nervous energy before giving an oral presentation. One is to remind yourself that you are prepared. What are two other techniques mentioned in the chapter?
A) Jog rapidly in place for a few minutes.
B) Talk with someone for a few minutes.
C) Take several deep breaths, exhaling slowly.
D) Drink two or three 8-ounce glasses of water.
E) Focus your gaze on the far wall for the first few minutes of your presentation.
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