Technical Writing
Exam Solutions
Course Introduction
Technical Writing is a course designed to equip students with the skills necessary to communicate complex information clearly and effectively in professional and technical environments. The course covers principles of audience analysis, organization, style, and document design, emphasizing the creation of user manuals, technical reports, proposals, and instructions. Students also learn to incorporate visuals, adhere to ethical standards, and use collaborative tools to produce documentation that meets the needs of diverse audiences, preparing them for real-world technical communication tasks across various industries.
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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) 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
Q2) Which two things must you clearly understand in order to communicate successfully?
A) your audience and your purpose
B) your proposal and your audience
C) your documentation and measures of excellence
D) your software and your hardware
Answer: A
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Chapter 2: Understanding Ethical and Legal Considerations
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Q1) Chapter 2 lists four areas of law relevant to ethical issues in technical communication. One is copyright law. What are two others?
A) trademark law
B) international law
C) contract law
D) criminal law
E) martial law
Answer: A, C
Q2) What does liability law have to do with technical communication?
A) Liability law regulates the words and pictures available for use in sets of instructions.
B) Liability law says that a manufacturer or seller of a product is liable for injuries or damages caused by the use of that product.
C) Liability law puts the responsibilty for product safety onto consumers.
D) Liability law requires instructions to fit on a single printed page.
Answer: B
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4
Chapter 3: Writing Technical Documents
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Q1) Editing your documents is a way to show respect to your audience.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) A team of writers regularly collaborate to produce technical reports that have identical design specifications. Which of the following word-processing tools would best help them to work efficiently?
A) grammar checker
B) branching diagram
C) report template
D) thesaurus
Answer: C
Q3) Proofreading should precede the editing process.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q4) Templates are useful because they organize a document for you.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 4: Writing Collaboratively
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Q1) Which of these statements about working with someone from another culture is true?
A) A topic of discussion that is common in one culture might be considered highly personal in another culture.
B) People from other cultures are likely to find it easy to participate actively in group projects.
C) People from other cultures have a knack for delivering criticism to teammates.
D) People from other cultures are likely to find it easy to ask for help on a project.
Q2) 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.
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.
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Chapter 5: Analyzing Your Audience and Purpose
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Q1) a good way to learn about your readers' preferences is to read documents they have written.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Why are LinkedIn profiles a particularly useful resource for learning about one's audience?
Q3) When working with a reader who is hostile to your subject or to your approach to the subject, you should first state your position, followed by your rationale for that position.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Chapter 5 identifies seven categories of cultural variables "on the surface." One category is political. Which of these is NOT a category of surface cultural variables?
A) economic
B) social C) religious
D) philosophical
E) technological
Q5) Chapter 5 describes three categories of audience. What are they?
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Chapter 6: Researching Your Subject
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Q1) A periodical index contains lists of journal and magazine articles classified according to title, subject, and author.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which statement best compares the information found on a wiki with the information from an edited website?
A) The lack of editors on a wiki means that authors on the site can be trusted to speak the truth.
B) The lack of editors on a wiki means that authors on the site may mix truth with fiction.
C) The lack of editors on a wiki means that a wiki can be updated quickly. Faster is better.
D) Edited websites lack the accountability created when content gets "crowdsourced" on a wiki.
Q3) Primary research is the set of sources that you consult while you are in the document-planning stage.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What kind of information is found in a periodical index?
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8
Chapter 7: Organizing Your Information
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Q1) Chapter 7 explains that one challenge in using the cause-and-effect organizational pattern is that it is very difficult to prove a causal relationship between two factors.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which factor should influence the organizational pattern you choose?
A) your readers' expectations
B) your document's length
C) your number of section headings
D) All responses are correct.
Q3) one benefit of using a conventional pattern to organize technical information is that the pattern serves as a template or checklist, helping you remember which information to include where. According to the chapter, what is one benefit for your readers?
Q4) Which of the organizational patterns below depends on relationships that can be difficult to prove?
A) cause and effect
B) comparison and contrast
C) general to specific
D) spatial
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Chapter 8: Communicating Persuasively
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Q1) An argument using an appeal to pity is focused on what element?
A) logic
B) emotion
C) memory
D) the speaker or writer
Q2) 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.
Q3) What type of argument poses only two alternatives when in fact there might be more?
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Chapter 9: Emphasizing Important Information
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Q1) To test a title, you should ask whether readers will be able to paraphrase it in a clear, meaningful sentence.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Identify two coherence devices discussed in Chapter 9.
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) A heading eliminates the need for a transitional sentence such as "Let us now turn to the advantages of the mandatory enrollment process."
A)True
B)False
Q5) using Styles to design your headings can help you enhance the coherence of your document.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 10: Writing Correct and Effective Sentences
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Q1) The guidelines for preparing text to be translated are generally similar to the guidelines for writing clearly and concisely.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What is Simplified English?
Q3) To what does a pronoun need to refer?
A) its antecedent
B) its precedent
C) its antonym
D) its adverb
Q4) 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
Q5) Identify one of the four cases in which it is better to use passive voice than active voice.
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) Chapter 11 identifies five goals of document design. One goal is to make a good impression on readers. What are two other goals mentioned in the chapter?
Q2) Which design principle is especially important when creating accessing aids for your document?
A) repetition
B) alignment
C) proximity
D) contraction
Q3) What is the definition of queuing?
A) Queuing is a page-design technique in which two or three columns are distributed evenly across the page.
B) Queuing is a page-design technique in which visual patterns show levels of importance.
C) Queuing is a page-design technique in which text and graphics are arranged in a symmetrical pattern.
D) Queuing is a page-design technique in which text and graphics are arranged in a straight line, or queue.
Q4) What is the difference between a serif typeface and a sans-serif typeface?
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13
Chapter 12: Creating Graphics
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Sample Questions
Q1) Where is the stub located in a table?
Q2) 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?
Q3) Why is it important to either begin graph axes at zero or mark them clearly?
Q4) Graphics typically increase the costs of translating documents intended for international readers.
A)True
B)False
Q5) If a graphic is on the Internet, you may assume that you are free to republish it.
A)True
B)False
Q6) one way to create graphics is to modify existing graphics.
A)True
B)False
Q7) Besides using existing graphics, what is one other approach to producing graphics, according to Chapter 12?
Q8) what is the most important characteristic of an infographic?
Page 14
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Chapter 13: Reviewing, Evaluating, and Testing Documents and Web Sites
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Q1) Usability refers to five aspects of a person's use of an item. What are two of these factors?
Q2) which type of person is NOT typically involved in a usability evaluation?
A) subject-matter expert (SME)
B) user of the item being evaluated
C) informed-consent coordinator
D) usability expert
Q3) what does it mean to evaluate a draft?
Q4) One advantage of evaluating over reviewing is that you get the benefit of someone else's perspective.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Generally, it is best not to use company employees as participants in a usability test. A)True
B)False
Q6) what is a prototype?
15
Q7) Reviewing a document or website is the same thing as testing it. A)True
B)False
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Chapter 14: Writing Correspondence
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Q1) What is flaming?
Q2) In some cultures, a person is more likely to walk down the hall to deliver a brief message than to send an email, because doing so shows more respect.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Your company intends to open a new office on the other side of the country. The goal is to expand the company's operations and move into some newer, more exclusive markets. This is a major step for the company, and you want your shareholders to be impressed. Which type of correspondence should you use to communicate with your shareholders?
A) memo
B) letter
C) email
D) microblog post
Q4) Twitter tweets and Facebook posts are forms of business correspondence.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Provide an example of a letter cliché.
Q6) What does the notation "cc" stand for in a letter, memo, or email?
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Writing Job-Application Materials
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Q1) Chapter 15 describes a plain-text résumé. Which two of the following are forms of a plain-text résumé?
A) a résumé created in PowerPoint and submitted on disk
B) an ASCII résumé
C) a résumé posted to a Usenet newsgroup
D) a résumé posted on an Internet discussion board
E) a text résumé
Q2) As you develop your professional brand online, you should include keywords that employers look for in your field.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Chapter 15 lists six guidelines for building the foundation of your professional brand. One is to research what others have done. Name two other guidelines.
Q4) what does it mean to be a passive applicant?
Q5) what should you do after interviewing for a job?
Q6) Chapter 15 lists four ways to look for a job. One is through a job board on the Internet. Name two of the other ways to look for a job.
Q7) what is an elevator pitch?
Page 17
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Chapter 16: Writing Proposals
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Q1) In which situation might you present your proposal as a memo?
A) when your proposal is lengthy-more than 10 pages
B) when your audience is external
C) when your audience is internal
D) None of the responses are correct.
Q2) Formative evaluations are intended to assess the quality of a completed project.
A)True
B)False
Q3) 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
Q4) What do the initials RFP stand for?
Q5) Indirect costs are intangible expenses such as general secretarial and clerical expenses not devoted exclusively to any one project, as well as operating expenses such as utilities and maintenance.
A)True
B)False
18
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Chapter 17: Writing Informational Reports
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Q1) The primary purpose of a directive is to direct the reader to additional sources of information.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What are the five basic formats for informational reports discussed in Chapter 17?
Q3) A directive is an informational document, not a persuasive one.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which of the following statements best describes a progress report?
A) A progress report is an initial document that helps establish a project.
B) A progress report is an intermediate document produced while a project is ongoing.
C) A progress report is a summative document produced at the conclusion of a project.
D) None of the responses are correct.
Q5) It is appropriate to use a defensive tone in an informational report if something has not happened according to plan.
A)True
B)False
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Page 19
Chapter 18: Writing Recommendation Reports
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Q1) You should always avoid recommending a course of action that is inconsistent with the conclusions you derived.
A)True
B)False
Q2) decision criteria fall into two categories: necessary and imperative.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Into what two categories can criteria be classified?
Q4) If your report presents multiple recommendations, how should you consider presenting them?
Q5) What is the difference between the conclusions section and the recommendations section of a report?
A) The two sections are interchangeable.
B) Conclusions explain what the collected data mean, whereas recommendations list specific actions to take.
C) Recommendations explain what the collected data mean, whereas conclusions list specific actions to take.
D) Conclusions are directed toward your internal audience, whereas recommendations are directed toward your external audience.
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Chapter 19: Writing Lab Reports
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Q1) Which of these guidelines should you follow when writing conclusions?
A) Review the purpose of your lab and the hypothesis (or hypotheses) you tested.
B) Summarize the most important implications of your findings.
C) Do not introduce any new information or analysis in this section.
D) All responses are correct.
E) None of the responses are correct.
Q2) Ideally, what will the title and abstract of a report help readers do?
Q3) The introduction to a lab report should accomplish which of the following tasks?
A) Describe the hypothesis or question that your study attempted to answer and why this hypothesis or question is important.
B) Provide an extensive, detailed review of previous research relevant to your study.
C) Describe in detail the methods you used to find an answer to your research question.
D) Define the important terms and present the theoretical background concepts you expect your readers will need to know.
Q4) How familiar should you assume your audience will be with the particulars of your experiment?
Q5) What are author guidelines?
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Chapter 20: Writing Definitions, Descriptions, and Instructions
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Q1) In what way is the definition "In a bankruptcy action, a nonsecured debt is a debt that is not secured" flawed?
Q2) The introduction to a set of instructions should answer six questions, one of which is "Why should the reader carry out this task?" what is one other question?
Q3) Chapter 20 lists three steps in writing definitions. One is analyzing the writing situation. What are the other two steps?
Q4) 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"?
Q5) 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"?
Q6) A set of instructions is a type of definition.
A)True B)False
Q7) Placing definitions directly in the text is a common practice. what are two other logical locations for definitions?
Page 22
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Chapter 21: Making Oral Presentations
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Q1) What is an advance organizer?
A) a note card listing some of the major points of your presentation, prepared in advance as a memory aid
B) a stress-relief exercise that you perform in the last few minutes before you begin to speak, to shake off some of the nervousness that you will probably experience
C) an assistant or colleague who helps prepare the room to ensure that your audiovisual aids are working, the lighting and room temperature are appropriate, and sufficient seating is available for the audience
D) a statement that tells the listener what you are about to say
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) One technique a presenter can use to make his or her language more memorable is to involve the audience.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In an oral presentation, what is an advance organizer?
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