Writing in the Professions Mock Exam
Course Introduction
Writing in the Professions is designed to equip students with essential communication skills required in diverse professional environments. The course focuses on principles and practices of effective written communication tailored to specific industries, such as business, healthcare, science, law, and the nonprofit sector. Through practical assignments, students learn to produce a range of professional documents, including emails, memos, reports, proposals, and digital content. Emphasis is placed on audience analysis, clarity, accuracy, and ethical considerations, preparing students to convey information persuasively and professionally in their chosen field.
Recommended Textbook
Technical Communication 11th Edition by Mike Markel
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Introduction to Technical Communication
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Q1) 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
Q2) As used in Chapter 1, what does accessibility mean?
Answer: Accessibility refers to the ease with which readers can find the information they seek.
Q3) Companies hiring technical professionals such as engineers, scientists, and programmers focus primarily on the technical abilities of the candidates they consider for employment.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q4) As used in Chapter 1, what does correctness mean?
Answer: Correctness refers to a document's adherence to conventions of grammar, punctuation, spelling, mechanics, and usage.
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Chapter 2: Understanding Ethical and Legal Considerations
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Q1) Chapter 2 states that you have five obligations to your employer. One obligation is honesty and candor. What are two of the other obligations?
Answer: The other four obligations are competence and diligence, generosity, confidentiality, and loyalty.
Q2) 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.
Q3) 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.
Q4) Contract law affects technical communication because technical documents sometimes contain warranty statements.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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4
Chapter 3: Writing Technical Documents
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Q1) Even though cultures differ, technical documents tend to be written in a similar way no matter where you go.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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) Templates are useful because they organize a document for you.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q4) Editing your documents is a way to show respect to your audience.
A)True
B)False Answer: True
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Chapter 4: Writing Collaboratively
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Q1) What is an advantage of collaboratively creating a document in a shared workspace rather than working collaboratively on a document via email?
A) A shared workspace will create an archive of all the changes made by all team members.
B) A shared workspace ensures that only one person can read a document at a time.
C) A shared workspace will create backup files once per day.
D) A shared workspace ensures that only one format of a file will be available.
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) one advantage of collaboration is that it helps acclimate new employees to an organization.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In what way does collaboration allow an organization to grow?
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Page 6
Chapter 5: Analyzing Your Audience and Purpose
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Q1) Which of these is NOT a variable "beneath the surface" of daily life in a culture?
A) distance between ranks
B) need to spell out details
C) prevalence of technology
D) distance between business and private life
Q2) Which of these is a cultural variable "on the surface" that is easily observed?
A) tolerance of uncertainty
B) distance between ranks
C) distance between business and private life
D) prevalence of religion
Q3) In some cultures, it would be considered rude to create a document that contains information the audience already knows.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Chapter 5 suggests that, in addition to education, you should consider five other individual characteristics of readers. What is one other individual characteristic listed in the chapter?
Q5) how do public agencies use social-media data?
Q6) for what primary purpose do private companies use social-media data?
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Chapter 6: Researching Your Subject
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Q1) Which source reflects the highest degree of authority on the subject of shale-oil deposits in North America?
A) an article in an encyclopedia
B) an article in a national newspaper
C) an article in a journal for geological research
D) an article in a journal on public policy
Q2) Primary research is the set of sources that you consult while you are in the document-planning stage.
A)True
B)False
Q3) You are writing a report about technical methods used for desalination of seawater. Which of these resources is least likely to provide the technical information you need?
A) a website for professional water-treatment engineers
B) a book about industrial desalination
C) a discussion board about ecology
D) a blog by a leading expert in desalination
Q4) Chapter 6 suggests that you do three things when concluding an interview. What is one of them?
Q5) What is the difference between secondary research and primary research?
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Chapter 7: Organizing Your Information
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Q1) 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?
Q2) Of the options below, which is the most effective way to organize a discussion highlighting the most important events in your company's 31-year history?
A) partition
B) comparison and contrast
C) spatial
D) chronological
Q3) Which pattern of organization would be most helpful for organizing the work-experience section of your résumé?
A) spatial
B) chronological
C) partition
D) comparison and contrast
Q4) Why are cause-and-effect relationships difficult to describe?
Q5) A proposal routinely makes use of which organizational pattern?
Q6) what is classification?
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Communicating Persuasively
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Q1) What type of argument is one made against the writer, rather than against the writer's argument?
Q2) Which method of addressing opposing viewpoints is likely to be least effective?
A) Point out any problems in the logic of the opposing viewpoint or the facts used to support it.
B) Try to reconcile the opposing viewpoint with your own.
C) Avoid discussing the opposing viewpoint.
D) Show that the opposing viewpoint is less strong and attractive than your own.
Q3) Ethical constraints arise from applicable laws on labor practices, environmental issues, fair trade, consumer rights, and so forth.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Chapter 8 discusses four broad goals of an audience. One is security. Which is NOT one of the other three goals?
A) fair-mindedness
B) recognition
C) growth
D) connectedness
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Chapter 9: Emphasizing Important Information
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Q1) using Styles to design your headings can help you enhance the coherence of your document.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A writer is developing a brochure for vacationers interested in taking an "Introduction to Kayaking" course offered by a rafting and kayaking company. Which of the following headings is most likely to appear in the brochure?
A) Ferries, Peel-Outs, and Eddy Turns
B) What Clothing Will I Need To Bring?
C) How To Perform Z-Drag Extractions of Pinned Boats
D) 1.0 Water
Q3) A local bank uses this slogan in its advertising: "Integrity. Experience. Trust. Local." What about this slogan violates readers' expectations?
A) The items in the list are not parallel.
B) The list does not follow the general-to-specific pattern.
C) The hierarchy of the list is confusing.
D) None of the responses are correct.
Q4) what are the two types of paragraphs?
Q5) Identify two coherence devices discussed in Chapter 9.
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Chapter 10: Writing Correct and Effective Sentences
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Q1) The following passage exhibits which of the characteristics listed below?
Not many rescuers are trained to handle hazardous materials. Provide care only when safe to do so, establish a safe zone, and call for help. When a rescuer commences patient care, he should focus on basic life support and finalize his plan to decontaminate the patient.
A) sexist language
B) dangling modifier
C) negative construction
D) fancy words
Q2) What is Simplified English?
Q3) What level of formality does technical communication usually require?
A) very informal to informal
B) informal to moderately formal
C) moderately formal to highly formal
D) None of the responses are correct.
Q4) To what does a pronoun need to refer?
A) its antecedent
B) its precedent
C) its antonym
D) its adverb
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Chapter 11: Designing Print and Online Documents
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Q1) 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.
Q2) What is chunking?
Q3) 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?
Q4) In typography, what is leading?
Q5) Text printed in uppercase letters is easier to read than text set in a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters.
A)True
B)False
Q6) What is the difference between a serif typeface and a sans-serif typeface?
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Chapter 12: Creating Graphics
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Q1) Graphics typically increase the costs of translating documents intended for international readers.
A)True
B)False
Q2) what is the most important characteristic of an infographic?
Q3) Which of these graphics would be effective for illustrating visual and spatial characteristics?
A) organization chart
B) screen shot
C) pictograph
D) table
Q4) 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?
Q5) If a graphic is on the Internet, you may assume that you are free to republish it.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Where is the stub located in a table?
Q7) Why is it important to either begin graph axes at zero or mark them clearly?
Page 14
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Chapter 13: Reviewing, Evaluating, and Testing Documents and Web Sites
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Q1) During which phase of usability testing is it important to tabulate the information?
A) in the first phase, preparing
B) in the last phase, interpreting and reporting
C) in the middle phase, testing
D) after the final phase
Q2) what is a prototype?
Q3) The first phase of usability testing is preparing for the test. What is the final phase?
A) conducting the test
B) interpreting and reporting data from the test
C) telling participants which parts of the test they got wrong
D) thanking participants for their time
Q4) The purpose of debriefing after a usability test is to thank the participant for giving you information.
A)True
B)False
Q5) what does it mean to evaluate a draft?
Q6) In usability testing, what is informed consent?
Q7) What is an SME?
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Chapter 14: Writing Correspondence
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Q1) it is inappropriate to use headings in informal documents such as memos or email.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Chapter 14 offers several guidelines for writing inquiry letters. One is to explain who you are and why you are writing. What is another guideline?
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) In what situation should you use an attention line in a letter?
A) You hope your letter will attract the reader's attention.
B) You want to convey a sense of urgency.
C) You do not know the name of a specific person at the company you are writing to, so you do not know who will read the letter.
D) You want to identify the subject of your letter.
Q5) Chapter 14 describes two common letter formats. One is modified block. What is the other format described in the chapter?
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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) The chronological résumé is popular among job candidates who are re-entering the workforce or who have changed jobs frequently.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following statements is true about applying for jobs outside the United States?
A) Information disclosed in job applications is standard and universal around the world.
B) You might have to include information about your marital status.
C) With the prevalence of the Internet, the job-application process is standard around the world.
D) None of the responses are correct.
Q4) 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.
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17
Chapter 16: Writing Proposals
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Q1) 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
Q2) To be persuasive, proposal writers must demonstrate that they understand readers' needs. what other two things must they demonstrate?
Q3) The proposed program section of a proposal contains an itemization of the costs associated with the project you are proposing.
A)True
B)False
Q4) A task schedule is almost always drawn in one of three graphical formats: table, bar chart, or network diagram.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Proposals have two kinds of deliverables. What are they?
Q6) 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) 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.
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 is NOT a typical informational report?
A) an incident report about the response of your company's security team to an unauthorized visitor on your property
B) a proposal to study why a piece of your company's machinery failed at a customer's site
C) a directive about where employees should park while a construction crew will be blocking some parking spaces
D) meeting minutes recording decisions reached during a committee meeting
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19
Chapter 18: Writing Recommendation Reports
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Q1) Which of the following questions would be answered in a feasibility report?
A) Which university has the most prestigious business school?
B) Which truck has more of the options we want, the Ford or the Chevrolet?
C) Is it ethical to pursue this course of action?
D) Is it practical to pursue this course of action?
Q2) Which of these is a limitation of a decision matrix?
A) It is less effective with decision criteria that are primarily qualitative and not quantitative.
B) It is less effective with decision criteria that are primarily quantitative and not qualitative.
C) Some readers may resist the bottom-line presentation of scores.
D) None of the responses are correct.
Q3) Which of these questions does NOT need to be answered in the footnotes or discussion following a decision matrix?
A) Why did you assign that particular weight to each criterion?
B) What are the most significant findings?
C) Why did you choose each criterion-or omit one the reader might have expected to see?
D) Why did you assign that particular rating to each option?
Q4) In a decision matrix, which factor demonstrates a criterion's importance?
Page 20
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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) How familiar should you assume your audience will be with the particulars of your experiment?
Q3) In the context of a lab report, what does replicability mean?
Q4) Science and engineering journals usually instruct authors to use the Modern Language Association (MLA) style guide.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The references section of a lab report should contain which of the following?
A) references for all of the sources you consulted, whether or not you cited them in the report
B) references for only the sources you cited in the report
C) references for only the sources you cited in the body of the report
D) None of the responses are correct.
Q6) What are author guidelines?
Page 21
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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) You are writing a manual for a deep fryer designed for home cooks. Which statement would be appropriately set off with Note as a signal word?
A) Corn balls will be very hot when removed from the oil.
B) The fry zone is very hot when the power is on. To avoid serious burns, do not touch the fry zone while it is heated.
C) The fry basket can hold 4-6 small doughnuts at a time.
D) Do not attempt to fix the deep fryer while it is connected to a power source.
Q3) many companies are uneasy about using instructional videos and rely on printed documentation instead.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 21: Making Oral Presentations
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Q1) memorable language brings to mind things that people can see, touch, or easily imagine.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Usually, your audience is more aware of your nervousness than you are.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Chapter 21 describes four types of oral presentations, including impromptu presentations. What are the other three?
A) contemporaneous presentations
B) extemporaneous presentations
C) scripted presentations
D) prescriptive presentations
E) memorized presentations
Q4) you do not need to announce the end of your presentation. Listeners can tell when you are ending.
A)True
B)False
Q5) In an oral presentation, what is an advance organizer?
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