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?

Problem

Position

Program

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

Because "narrative design" is an old and outdated term

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
3 Which two books does Foster use to introduce his discussion of structural design?

Seabiscuit and Hidden Figures

Seabiscuit and The White Album

Seabiscuit and The Boys in the Boat

Seabiscuit and The Audacity of Hope
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?

Claims

Ground

Warrant

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

Preface

Envoi

Prologue

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

Christopher Columbus

Lewis and Clark

Vasco da Gama

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

It is almost exclusively written by a scholar with expertise in the subject matter

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

It is typically 2 pages or less in length

It is usually written at the same time as the main work
9 From what language is "Appendix" etymologically derived?

Greek

Old French

Latin

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

The Watergate scandal

Food

Evolutionary Biology

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

Michael Pollan

Margot Lee Shetterley

Daniel James Brown

Ron Chernow
12 Foster references an article written by Hannah Arendt, focusing on which poet?

William Butler Yeats

Ezra Pound

W.H. Auden

T.S. Eliot
13 Foster attributes the invention of "free indirect speech" to which author?

Virginia Woolf

Victor Hugo

Jane Austen

Gustave Flaubert
14 What was Foster's first job related to writing?

Covering high school sports for a local newspaper

Writing book reviews for The New Yorker

Editing college admissions essays

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

George Washington

Cardinal Newman

Henry David Thoreau

Benjamin Disraeli
16 Whom does Foster cite as the greatest living writer?

Cormac McCarthy

Stephen King

Jonathan Franzen

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

An anecdote

A provocative statistic

A definition

A flashforward
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

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Howard University

Duke University
20 The Boston Globe story Spotlight focused on what events?

Systematic abuse within the Indian Residential school system

Suppression of medical evidence by tobacco companies

Sexual abuse scandals within the Catholic Church

Rising tuition costs and increasing student debt loads
21 What does Foster cite as arguably the most important nonfiction book of the twentieth century?

Silent Spring

In Cold Blood

Between the World and Me

All the President's Men
22 Which of the following does Foster NOT list as one of the four key books of New Journalism?

Mailer's The Armies of the Night

The White Paper

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 MFA thesis

As an entry in a contest

As an essay in a collection of travelogues

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

Hemingway

Mark Twain

Balzac

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

The 1939 Yankees team

American vice-presidents

the lives of Catholic saints

Impoverished farmers

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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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