How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor Quizzes

How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor Quiz 1

1 Which of the following is NOT one of the 4 Ps mentioned by Foster?

Program

Promise

Problem

Position
2 Why does Foster use the term structural (rather than narrative) design when discussing nonfiction?

Because nonfiction has features that are different and unique from other forms of writing

Because nonfiction is the only type of literature that possesses clear structural patterns

Because not all nonfiction is narrative in nature

Because "narrative design" is an old and outdated term
3 Which two books does Foster use to introduce his discussion of structural design?

Seabiscuit and The Boys in the Boat

Seabiscuit and The White Album

Seabiscuit and The Audacity of Hope

Seabiscuit and Hidden Figures
4 What qualities distinguish a feature story from a hard news story?

Features can only be written by a journalist with specific credentials

Features are typically longer and softer in terms of subject matter

Features are typically shorter and involve a topic being researched over a long period of time

Features require consultation from subject matter experts
5 Which of the following is NOT one of the three central terms Foster mentions related to argument?

Warrant

Merit

Ground

Claims
6 In A Higher Loyalty, what does James Comey title his introductory material?

Preface

Prologue

Author's Note

Envoi
7 Which explorer(s) is the focus of Stephen Ambrose's book Undaunted Courage?

Vasco da Gama

Lewis and Clark

Christopher Columbus

Sir Edmund Hillary
8 Which of the following is typically true of a foreword?

It is usually written at the same time as the main work

It is typically 2 pages or less in length

It is usually not written by the author of the main work

It is almost exclusively written by a scholar with expertise in the subject matter
9 From what language is "Appendix" etymologically derived?

Greek

High German

Old French

Latin
10 Before his 2018 book, Michael Pollan was best known for writing on what topic?

The Watergate scandal

Military History

Evolutionary Biology

Food
11 Lin Manuel Miranda's musical Hamilton was inspired by a biography written by which author?

Michael Pollan

Daniel James Brown

Ron Chernow

Margot Lee Shetterley
12 Foster references an article written by Hannah Arendt, focusing on which poet?

Ezra Pound

W.H. Auden

T.S. Eliot

William Butler Yeats
13 Foster attributes the invention of "free indirect speech" to which author?

Jane Austen

Gustave Flaubert

Virginia Woolf

Victor Hugo
14 What was Foster's first job related to writing?

Writing book reviews for The New Yorker

Editing college admissions essays

Covering high school sports for a local newspaper

Writing for the Yale Law Review
15 To whom does Mark Twain attribute the quotation about lies, damned lies, and statistics?

Henry David Thoreau

Cardinal Newman

Benjamin Disraeli

George Washington
16 Whom does Foster cite as the greatest living writer?

Cormac McCarthy

Jonathan Franzen

Stephen King

John McPhee
17 According to Foster, Malcolm Gladwell typically begins his book with what device?

An anecdote

A provocative statistic

A flashforward

A definition
18 News journalism is usually written at what reading level?

3rd-5th grade

A level that someone new to learning English can comprehend

9th-11th grade

First-year college
19 Which university experienced a scandal centering on their gymnastic team?

Michigan State University

Howard University

Duke University

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
20 The Boston Globe story Spotlight focused on what events?

Suppression of medical evidence by tobacco companies

Systematic abuse within the Indian Residential school system

Rising tuition costs and increasing student debt loads

Sexual abuse scandals within the Catholic Church
21 What does Foster cite as arguably the most important nonfiction book of the twentieth century?

Silent Spring

Between the World and Me

All the President's Men

In Cold Blood
22 Which of the following does Foster NOT list as one of the four key books of New Journalism?

The White Paper

Mailer's The Armies of the Night

Hunter S. Thompson's Hell's Angels

Capote's In Cold Blood
23 Where did Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas get its start?

As an entry in a contest

As an essay in a collection of travelogues

As an MFA thesis

As a magazine assignment
24 Foster draws a stylistic parallel between Joan Didion and which other author?

Balzac

Mark Twain

Hemingway

F. Scott Fitzgerald
25 What subject is the focus of the book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men?

the lives of Catholic saints

American vice-presidents

Impoverished farmers

The 1939 Yankees team

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How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor study guide contains a biography of Thomas C. Foster, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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