Which of the following is true regarding the amount of time novice business writers should ideally spend on each stage of the writing process?

Description

Business Communication A Problem Solving Approach Kathryn Rentz 1st Edition – Test Bank

 Sample Questions

Instant Download With Answers

Chapter 02

Writing Effectively for Your Audience, Purpose, and Medium

True / False Questions

1. Good business writing skills are important because writers essentially have no safety net.

True    False

2. Business writers should think of the three stages of writing as strictly chronological or separate.

True    False

3. Relatively inexperienced business writers should spend roughly a third of their writing time in each of the three stages of writing.

True    False

4. Information is gathered and analyzed during the planning stage of the writing process.

True    False

5. While it is necessary to plan your message keeping your audience in mind, concentrating on the audience’s interests in later stages will impede the writing process.

True    False

6. If you have information that your readers will consider routine, neutral, or positive, present such information at the end of your message.

True    False

7. A Venn diagram is commonly used to identify all the tasks needed to complete a project and to determine how much time each task will take.

True    False

8. If your reader’s software is not compatible with your version of Microsoft Word, saving to an earlier version will preserve all your formatting and styles.

True    False

9. Careful proofreading is still in order after a document has been checked with a spelling checker.

True    False

10. Letters are the best channel of communication for business people to use when communicating with someone they do not know well.

True    False

11. Business letters always use the most formal level of language and forms of address.

True    False

12. Memos are primarily used for corresponding with people outside of an organization.

True    False

13. The high costs associated with using email are the reason why most businesses do not use it for communicating with their internal audiences.

True    False

14. The “Bcc” field in an email message stands for “backup confidential copy.”

True    False

15. Using initialisms, such as “BTW” and “ASAP,” is acceptable in informal business emails.

True    False

16. You should avoid the use of informal language in business email messages, especially when writing to people you know only on a business basis.

True    False

17. Businesses use text messaging primarily for data reporting purposes.

True    False

18. It is best to avoid the use of abbreviations when composing text messages.

True    False

19. On the job, companies often monitor employees’ computer activity to detect inappropriate or unethical behavior or disclosure of proprietary information.

True    False

20. Cloud computing makes it possible for nearly everyone in a business to have access to essential programs such as Microsoft Word.

True    False

Multiple Choice Questions

21. Which of the following is true of written communication?
A. The punctuation used in written communication is characteristic of the object or concept that it represents.
B. The alphabets used in written communication are characteristic of the object or concept that they represent.
C. Representing something in words is relatively easier than representing it with a photograph.
D. In written communication, writers cannot rely on their tone of voice to make up for ambiguous wording.
E. Writing is, in every way, less difficult to do well than other kinds of communication.
22. Which of the following is true about the process of writing?
A. The stages involved in the writing process are strictly chronological.
B. Preparing to write and improving what you have written are not as critical to success as the drafting stage.
C. Writers should spend most of their time on drafting and little time on the other two stages, planning and revising.
D. The stages involved in the process of writing are independent of one another.
E. The three stages involved in the process of writing are recursive and interrelated.
23. Which of the following is true regarding the amount of time novice business writers should ideally spend on each stage of the writing process?
A. They should spend an approximately equal amount of time on each of the three stages.
B. They should spend an equal amount of time on drafting and planning and skip revising.
C. They should spend most of their time on drafting and revising and skip planning.
D. They should spend most of their time on planning and less time on drafting and revising.
E. They should spend most of their time on revising and less time on planning and drafting.
24. The first step in the process of writing is
25. Regarding the writing process, which of the following steps is typically included as part of the planning process?
B. determining your goals
D. proofreading your documents
E. getting feedback from others
26. Which of the following statements about the planning stage of the writing process is true?
A. The planning stage is the last stage in the writing process.
B. A business writer should spend more time on drafting and less on the planning stage.
C. The planning stage is independent of the drafting stage.
D. This stage involves the convergence of a writer’s business and writing goals.
E. A business writer should spend more time on planning and skip revising.
27. As director of the human resources department, Alex has to write an email to employees requesting them to volunteer at the company’s annual United Way fund raiser. After determining the purpose of his message, which of the following steps should Alex take next in planning his message?
A. Alex should analyze and organize the information.
B. Alex should analyze his audience.
C. Alex should choose an appropriate channel.
D. Alex should gather information.
E. Alex should choose a document format.
28. Which of the following constitutes formal research in the context of gathering information for a message?
A. finding past correspondence
C. reviewing sales records
D. consulting with employees
E. reviewing product descriptions
29. Which of the following is the best practice to follow when writing messages?
A. Organize information in the order that will draw the most positive reaction from your readers.
B. Gather information through formal research rather than relying on memory or imagination.
C. Analyze your audience early in the planning process before determining the goal of your message.
D. Present information that you think could run the risk of evoking a negative response at the beginning of your message.
E. Ensure that your business goals and writing goals are disparate and do not influence each other.
30. The direct order plan of organizing information will be the most effective when you are writing
A. an email to employees announcing mandatory evening and weekend overtime.
B. an email to a pharmaceutical company informing it of the termination of its license.
C. a memo to an employee informing him of his dismissal from the company.
D. an email to the HR manager asking her how to access the new forms for reporting vacation time.
E. a letter to a vendor apologizing for a late payment.
31. In which of the following cases will the indirect order plan of organizing information be most effective?
A. in an automated email response to emails sent to a work email ID
B. in a letter to a government official requesting the renewal of one’s work permit
C. in an email to a supplier asking for a fresh supply of raw materials
D. in an email to a supplier about the organization’s plan to start using a different supplier
E. in an email containing the weekly newsletter, which describes the activities of the organization
32. William wants to communicate information to a client, but he thinks that the information runs the risk of evoking a negative response. In this context, which of the following formats should William use to organize the information in his message?
33. You examine your sentences to see if they pace the information in such a way that the reader can easily follow it, if they emphasize the right things, and if they combine pieces of information coherently. You are doing the _____ level of the revision process.
34. Which of the following should ideally be avoided during the drafting stage of the writing process?
A. creating a flexible draft that can be changed over time
B. focusing on creating a perfect draft on the first attempt
C. focusing on the primary purpose of the message
D. moving forward at a reasonably steady pace with as little stalling as possible
E. working on a draft when productivity is the highest
35. Michael is in the process of writing a message. He is trying to find out whether the words he has used to describe his goals emphasize the right things and if there are better, more concise ways of structuring his sentences. In the context of the different stages involved in writing, Michael is _____ his message.
36. In the proofreading stage of the writing process, you are most likely to
A. examine your sentences to see if they emphasize the right things.
B. choose the right channel for transmission.
C. analyze your audience.
D. select an appropriate medium for delivering your message.
E. check the mechanical and grammatical elements of your message.
37. As part of a product development team, Renata needs to collect information about the target market, potential suppliers of components of the new product, sites for producing the product, and projected labor costs. Which of the following technology tools will help her organize her notes as she does her research?
D. multimedia presentation software
E. collaboration software
38. Julio has been researching various vacation policies for his employer. Now that he has gathered his information, he needs to organize it, but he does not feel ready to start creating an outline. Which of the following technology tools would be best for helping him experiment with ways to group information?
C. collaborative software
D. multimedia presentation software
E. a concept-mapping program
39. In Microsoft Word, which of the following tools can be used to create a table of contents?
40. Keiko wants to include a flowchart in her Microsoft Word document. Which of the following tools will help her to do that?
41. During the process of editing her report, Lexi discovers that she has consistently misspelled the name of a major customer. The most efficient way for Lexi to fix this mistake would be to use the ______ tool.
42. Which of the following statements about grammar checkers is true?
A. Recent versions of grammar and style checkers are much more flexible than older versions.
B. Writers who use grammar checkers do not need to make grammatical decisions.
C. Grammar checkers are always correct in their assessment of writing.
D. Grammar checkers are still in preliminary development and do not offer much help.
E. Grammar checkers must be purchased separately from most word processing programs.
43. _____ are the oldest form of business messages.
44. A(n) _____ is primarily used to represent the writer and his or her topic rather formally to an external audience.
45. Which of the following statements about the use of letters is true?
A. Letters are primarily used to communicate information that is not routine or neutral.
B. Letters that are formal are required to include the attention line and subject line.
C. Letters are often the most appropriate form to use when corresponding with an external party whom you do not know well.
D. Letters have become less conversational over time and have replaced other forms of communications like email and memos.
E. Letters are used primarily for corresponding with people inside your organization.
46. Which of the following is a commonly used complimentary close in today’s business letters?
47. Qing is writing a cover letter to a prospective employer, Chris Ryan, a sales manager at Durable Gasket Company. Qing took the name from the job posting, so he is unsure of Chris’s gender. Even a search of the company website proved unhelpful. How should Qing address Chris in his letter?
A. Dear Durable Gasket Company
B. To Whom It May Concern
48. Which of the following about memos or memorandums is true?
A. Memos, at present, are used instead of emails as a means of communicating within a business.
B. Memos are primarily used to communicate with external audiences.
C. Memos have the same form as other messages.
D. Memos most often use casual or informal language.
E. Memos are especially useful for communicating with employees who use computers in their work.
49. Memorandums can be distinguished from other messages primarily by their
50. Which of the following lists the four most common headings used in memorandums or memos?
A. Company, Address, Date, Subject
B. To, From, Subject, References
C. Date, Address, From, Subject
D. Date, To, From, References
E. Date, To, From, Subject
51. In today’s business world, _____ are the most widely used form of written communication.
52. Which of the following statements about emails is true?
A. Writers can use only a limited number of characters in an email.
B. Email is the best channel for highly sensitive or difficult communication.
C. Emails can be archived and filed for easy access to a written record of correspondence.
D. Emails offer a great deal of confidentiality.
E. Emails are the least widely used means of written communication at workplace.
53. With respect to the email format, Cc stands for
54. Which of the following is an advantage of email over text messaging, instant messaging, and social media?
A. Email provides the option of using images.
B. Email can be sent to internal and external audiences.
C. Email is relatively faster than the other modes of communication.
D. Email is less expensive to use than the other modes of communication.
E. Email does not limit the number of characters that can be used in a message.
55. With respect to email format, the link “Bcc” or “blind courtesy copy” is used when the sender
A. wishes to stress that one or more of the recipients are not primary contact persons.
B. wants the recipient to forward the email to a specific set of people.
C. wants to forward copies of the email without the knowledge of the primary receiver.
D. does not want the recipients of the email to get in touch with each other.
E. wants to attach files to the email for the primary receiver to download.
56. If someone other than the primary recipient is to receive a copy of the message in such a way that the primary recipient will know who else has received a copy of the message, the sender should use the _____ field.
57. In which of the following situations is it appropriate to use casual language in a business email?
A. inviting all department members to a meeting
B. asking for an appointment with one’s supervisor
C. inviting a coworker who is also a friend to lunch
D. inquiring whether a coworker will meet a deadline
E. requesting vacation time
58. Which of the following statements about informal writing is true?
A. It does not share any of the characteristics of casual writing.
B. It uses colloquialisms but more selectively than in casual writing.
C. It makes use of long, complex sentences to get the point across.
D. It has the effect of conversation and sounds like chitchat.
E. It entirely avoids the use of personal pronouns and contractions.
59. Casual language and informal language are similar in that they
A. do not use personal pronouns.
B. have the effect of conversation.
C. do not use colloquialisms.
D. are primarily used to communicate with unknown external audiences.
E. avoid using contractions.
60. In the context of writing email messages, a formal style of writing
A. maintains a shorter distance between writer and reader than an informal style.
B. makes extensive use of personal references and contractions.
C. uses sentences that are well structured and highly organized.
D. uses sentences that are short, unstructured, and incomplete.
E. uses mechanical emphasis devices and initialisms.

Chapter 04

Communicating with Visuals

True / False Questions

1. Visuals are constructed to help the intended reader understand the information more quickly, easily, and completely.

True    False

2. When information is presented using a visual, it doesn’t have to be supplemented with writing or speaking.

True    False

3. All of the visuals in a document should be of the same size.

True    False

4. Pull quotes, clip art, and other decorative visuals in a document need to be numbered.

True    False

5. The title of a visual needs to contain all of the information necessary to answer the five Ws.

True    False

6. A source acknowledgment is the top-most component of a visual.

True    False

7. Footnote references to numbers in a table should be keyed with asterisks (*), or a similar symbol, instead of numbers.

True    False

8. Column totals are generally placed at the top of the column, but they may be placed at the bottom when the writer wants to emphasize them.

True    False

9. The use of formal tables is the only way to present tabular information in a business report.

True    False

10. The widths of the bars or columns in a simple bar or column chart may be varied to show differences in quantities.

True    False

11. A clustered bar chart can be used to effectively compare the quantities of five or more different values.

True    False

12. If you need to compare subdivisions of columns, you should use a bilateral column chart.

True    False

13. When using a stacked column chart to compare the percentages of subdivisions across different variables, the bars can vary in length.

True    False

14. In constructing a pictograph, you must make all the picture units equal in size.

True    False

15. A line chart is the type of chart most frequently used to compare subdivisions of a whole.

True    False

16. A scatter diagram can be used to understand the strength of the relationship between the variables on its X- and Y-axes by examining the position of the points on the diagram.

True    False

17. Three-dimensional visuals facilitate the analysis of large data sets with more than two variables.

True    False

18. Scale distortion occurs when the scale begins at some number other than zero.

True    False

19. Visuals should never be placed in an appendix.

True    False

20. If a chart is supposed to show store sales over a period of three years, but the Y-axis is labeled Sales (US dollars) and the X-axis is labeled Store Locations, an error of format was made in creating the chart.

True    False

Multiple Choice Questions

21. Which of the following guidelines should be followed when selecting visuals for a document?
A. You should look for complex information that visual presentation can make clear.
B. You should place all the visuals in an appendix to improve readability.
C. You should avoid using visuals to cover information that is too detailed.
D. You should plan the visuals for your document before you organize your findings.
E. You should use visuals to convey the main points in your message instead of words.
22. Which of the following should typically be covered through visual presentation?
B. information that is not essential to the text
C. simple information that can be easily conveyed through words
D. information that is too detailed to be covered in words
E. supporting material for your main points
23. Angelique is writing a report in which she discusses, in detail, how the company’s capital expenses have changed over the past 10 years. What type of visual would be most helpful to her readers as part of this discussion?
A. a visual with summarizing data
B. a visual designed to persuade
C. a visual to provide interest
24. Which of the following is true about visuals in a document?
A. The size of a visual is independent of its contents and importance.
B. Visuals that occupy a full page must be given borders.
C. Some visuals can stand alone, but others only supplement the writing or speaking.
D. Visuals depicting detailed information should be presented using a quarter of the page.
E. Color and cross-hatching tend to make complex visuals too busy and hinder comprehension.
25. Which of the following is true of the factors involved in the presentation of visuals?
A. The size of a visual is arbitrary and is based on convenience.
B. The size of a visual is determined by its contents and importance.
C. Visuals that are simple should be presented on a full page.
D. Visuals that occupy less than a full page do not need borders.
E. Color and cross-hatching tends to distract readers from the main message of visuals.
26. Which of the following statements is true regarding the construction of visuals in a document?
A. All the visuals in a document should be included in an appendix or attachment to improve readability.
B. The type used in visuals throughout a report should generally be consistent in terms of style and font.
C. If a document contains visuals that fall into two or three categories, one must avoid numbering each of these categories consecutively.
D. The borders of visuals should be extended beyond the normal page margins.
E. The orientation of a visual in a document is not determined by its size or contents.
27. When creating and placing a visual, rules can be
A. used to highlight key information within the visual.
B. placed around the edges of the visual to set it apart from the text.
C. placed below the visual to explain items found within it that require elaboration.
D. used to distinguish one section of the visual from another.
E. used to indicate whether the visual is horizontal or vertical.
28. Which of the following statements about color and cross-hatching is true?
A. They help readers see comparisons and distinctions.
B. They are more likely to harm than help your professional image.
C. They have no place in a professional business document.
D. They add interest, but can hinder comprehension and retention because they are distracting.
E. They should be reserved for logos and photographs.
29. Which of the following is true of the construction of visuals in a document?
A. Visuals that are created to present extremely complex and involved information are typically displayed using half a page.
B. The type used in visuals throughout a report should generally vary in terms of style and font.
C. Research has found that color in visuals makes it more difficult to comprehend, retain, and extract information.
D. It is mandatory to number pull quotes, clip art, and other decorative visuals in a document.
E. Color in reports can improve reader comprehension, retention, and extraction of information.
30. When constructing visuals in a document, you should
A. always place borders around visuals that occupy less than a full page.
B. use a quarter page to display visuals presenting complex or detailed information.
C. determine the size of visuals primarily based on their importance.
D. use borders to distinguish one section of a visual from another.
E. use background colors that provide high contrast with the data in the document.
31. Which of the following needs to be numbered?
B. a lone table in a document
E. a series of decorative visuals
32. Which of the following is true about numbering visuals in a document?
A. Even when you have a single table or figure in a document, it has to be numbered.
B. Pull quotes, clip art, and other decorative visuals have to be numbered.
C. All visuals have to be numbered according to the order in which they appear in a document.
D. If your visuals comprise a wide mixture of types, you may number them in two groups: tables and figures.
E. Irrespective of the types of visuals you have, there is only one scheme of numbering available for writers.
33. Which of the following is true about numbering visuals in a document?
A. A lone table or figure in a document has to be numbered.
B. It is essential to number the decorative visuals in a document.
C. Visuals should be numbered based on their importance to the document’s topic, with the most important having the lowest number.
D. By convention, tables are numbered separately from figures, which includes all other types of visuals in a document.
E. Irrespective of the types of visuals you have, there is only one scheme of numbering available for writers.
34. Which of the following is true regarding the construction of titles and captions for visuals?
A. The use of captions is mandatory for all the visuals within a document.
B. Captions are generally placed above tables and other visuals.
C. The titles and brief captions for visuals should be typed using sentence case.
D. Titles must always specify the five Ws: who, what, where, when, and why.
E. The titles or captions of each visual should concisely describe their contents.
35. Which of the following is true of titles for visuals?
A. A title must always specify the five Ws: who, what, where, when, and why.
B. Titles are only required if the reader will need them to interpret or better understand the visual.
C. Titles are always placed above tables, but they may be placed below other visuals.
D. A title is used to give a substantial description of the visual.
E. When typing titles, you may opt to use sentence case.
36. Which of the following is true regarding the construction and placement of titles and captions for visuals?
A. All visuals within a document should have both captions and titles.
B. Captions and titles should always be placed below their associated visuals.
C. Brief captions and titles should be typed in sentence case.
D. Captions and titles for tables should be placed above their associated visuals.
E. Short captions and titles for visuals must be typed using title case.
37. Which of the following is true of footnotes?
A. Footnotes are placed above the captions if the visuals contain captions.
B. Footnotes are detailed explanations placed below the visual by means of a subscript number or symbol.
C. Footnotes, by convention, appear above the tables or visuals that they refer to.
D. Footnotes are keyed to the parts that they explain by means of a superscript number or symbol.
E. Footnotes are the top-most components of a visual.
38. Which of the following is true about source acknowledgments?
A. Source acknowledgments must always specify the five Ws: who, what, where, when, and why.
B. Source acknowledgments are used to give credit to anyone who helped you to create the your visual.
C. Source acknowledgments, by convention, are typed in title case.
D. Source acknowledgments are keyed to the part that they explain by means of a superscript number or symbol.
E. Source acknowledgments are the bottom-most components of a visual.
39. When you have created a visual based on data that you or your staff gathered
A. you may omit a source acknowledgment.
B. you must specify this in a source acknowledgment.
C. you must specify this in a subtitle.
D. you must specify this in a caption.
E. you must specify this as part of the title.
40. Visuals for communicating report information fall into two general categories: those that communicate primarily through visual elements (charts and graphs) and those that communicate primarily through
E. diagrams and pictures.
41. A _____ is an orderly arrangement of information in rows and columns.
42. Which of the following is a visual that communicates primarily through textual content?
43. Where should the row heads be repeated if the rows in a table are long?
44. Which of the following is typically used to indicate missing data in a table?
45. Which of the following rules should be followed when constructing tables?
A. The question mark sign should be used to indicate unavailable data.
B. Footnote references to numbers within tables should be keyed with superscript numbers.
C. A title and subtitle should appear above every table.
D. Totals and subtotals should always appear either at the right or at the bottom of tables.
E. Tables should clearly mention the units in which their data are recorded.
46. Tomoyuki has added a simple table to his document. The table is meant to be read with the text and has column heads and borders, but no title. What type of table is Tomoyuki using?
47. Which of the following is true of pull quotes?
A. They are pictorial representations of facts, figures, and statistics.
B. They are bar or column charts that use bars made of pictures.
C. They are usually created by enlarging key sentences from the text and enhancing them via formatting.
D. They are subsets of larger tables with no titles or rules.
E. They are used to present tabular data as part of the text of a document.
48. Which of the following is true of bulleted lists?
A. Bulleted lists should always be presented with titles.
B. Bulleted lists are used to list points and sub-points within the text.
C. The secondary bullets should have the same color, size, shape, and weight as the primary bullets.
D. Bulleted points should do not need to be grammatically parallel.
E. Bulleted lists are textual visuals that should be set off from the main body of the documents in which they appear.
49. Which of the following best defines a flowchart?
A. A flowchart is a chart that shows the hierarchy of levels and positions in an organization.
B. A flowchart is a chart that shows the sequence of activities in a process.
C. A flowchart is a visual presentation that shows planning and scheduling activities.
D. A flowchart is a chart that is used to show comparisons of qualities at a moment in time.
E. A flowchart is a chart that is used to compare the subdivisions of percentages.
50. Which type of chart shows the hierarchy of levels and positions within a business or group?
C. an organizational chart
51. Sylvia wants to compare her company’s sales figures for the last five years using a visual representation. Which of the following types of charts best suits Sylvia’s purpose?
D. an organizational chart
52. A company that manufactures and sells three different types of tires wants to compare its yearly sales of each type of tire for the last four years. What type of graph or chart would best suit this purpose?
C. a component part line chart
D. an organizational chart
53. Tam is an office manager in charge of ordering and managing the use of office supplies. Lately, the office has been going through boxes of paper and copier ink very quickly, so Tam wants to compare the number of copies made during each of the last three months using the printing codes of the three executives in the office. Which type of chart would best help Tam make this comparison?
A. a bilateral column chart
C. an organizational chart
54. Roberta works for a company that manufactures furniture. Over the last year, a couple of the company’s plants have ramped up production, while others have slowed production. Roberta wants to compare the increase or reduction in production as a percentage of last year’s production numbers for each plant. Which type of chart would be fit her purpose?
A. a simple bar or column chart
B. an organizational chart
C. a bilateral column chart
55. If you need to compare subdivisions of columns, you should use
A. a stacked column chart.
C. a bilateral column chart.
D. a clustered bar chart.
E. an organizational chart.
56. Which of the following is a defining characteristic of a stacked (subdivided) column chart?
A. It compares differences in quantities using differences in the lengths of the bars to represent those quantities.
B. It compares the quantities of five or more different values in one chart.
C. It contains columns that are divided into parts and distinguished by different colors and cross-hatching.
D. It contains columns that begin at a central point of reference and either go up or down.
E. It is especially good for showing percentage changes and any series that includes plus and minus quantities.
57. A special form of _____ is used to compare the subdivisions of percentages.
D. bilateral column chart
58. Which of the following is true of a pictograph?
A. All the picture units in a pictograph should be made equal in size.
B. A pictograph is a pie chart whose slices are made of picture units.
C. A pictograph is intended to show trends or changes in information over time.
D. A pictograph does not need a title or a caption.
E. Varying the size of the picture units in a pictograph helps compare differences effectively.
59. Which of the following is true of a pie chart?
A. It compares the quantities of two or three different values in one chart by clustering points together.
B. It compares differences in quantities using differences in the lengths of the bars to represent those quantities.
C. It contains columns that begin at a central point of reference and either go up or down.
D. It is the most frequently used chart in comparing the subdivisions of wholes.
E. It is used for any series in which plus and minus quantities are present.
60. Which of the following is the best method for emphasizing a slice in a pie chart?
A. placing the piece at the 12 o’clock position
B. deleting the piece from the pie
C. deleting other pieces from the pie
D. pulling it out from the pie or enlarging it
E. placing the piece at the 6 o’clock position

In which part of the writing process should business writers spend most of their time?

Experienced writers usually spend the most time on the third phase of the writing process. a. analyzing the purpose of the message and anticipating the needs of the client.

What is the first step of the writing process?

INTRODUCTION: Prewriting is the first step of the writing process.

What is the first stage of writing business?

Writing is a process that can be divided into three stages: Pre-writing, drafting and the final revising stage which includes editing and proofreading. In the first stage you research your topic and make preparatory work before you enter the drafting stage.

What are the three stages of the business writing process quizlet?

-The three stages of effective business writing are planning, writing, and reviewing.