Education Expert Q&A

The first step in comparing and contrasting two or more items is to determine the criteria: the standards or needs you will use in studying the items.

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.

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.

The following statement appears in a university's report to its board of regents: "Several other notable universities, including Stanford and Harvard, are offering massive, open online classes, or MOOCs. It is imperative for Old State University to keep pace in the educational marketplace." What type of reasoning does the passage display?

A) arguing from ignorance
B) circular argument
C) ad hominem argument
D) ad populum argument

Which are the four categories of evidence to which people usually respond favorably?

A) numerical data, examples, visual evidence, and celebrity testimony
B) expert testimony, ideologies, numerical data, and commonsense arguments
C) examples, numerical data, visual evidence, and expert testimony
D) verbal data, numerical data, expert testimony, and implications

The following statement appears in a proposal to install a large pond near an amphitheater: "Jones Company is an expert in pond preparation. We installed our first pond at Jameson Park earlier this year." What type of reasoning does the passage display?

A) post hoc reasoning
B) inadequate sampling
C) arguing from ignorance
D) arguing from authority

Which characteristic of an attractive professional persona does the writer of the following excerpt NOT exhibit? As you probably already know, we have a problem with our current documentation. Users cannot easily locate the serial numbers necessary to complete the online registration step. The solution below will help us address this problem and eliminate the customer-support calls we get. It will also solve a few other problems. Last week, others suggested different solutions. However, I know they will not work. The best course of action is to prominently display the serial numbers at the start of the chapter labeled "Registering Your Product." Our users expect to find the numbers in this chapter.

A) cooperativeness
B) moderation
C) fair-mindedness
D) modesty

In the following excerpt from a proposal seeking funding to upgrade a police department's crime lab, which of the techniques listed below for making a persuasive case does the writer use? In the past four years, the department's crime lab has experienced an increase in fingerprint evidence for comparisons. The increase in volume is a result of submissions from other rural agencies in the state. However, because our agency cannot access data maintained within the state's Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) , submissions are limited to manual searches of the files maintained by our department. You can imagine the likelihood of missing a fingerprint match while looking through thousands of fingerprints by hand. In fact, Harlan Andrews, a Senior Investigator at the Federal Bureau of Investigation's laboratory, reports that manual searches often fail to find matches when in fact fingerprint matches exist. To prevent such errors, our department needs to upgrade its computer system to allow access to AFIS.

A) visual evidence
B) examples
C) expert testimony
D) numerical data

How does culture affect the process of persuasion?

A) It determines the content of effective arguments but does not affect how they are structured.
B) It determines the structure of effective arguments but does not affect the content.
C) It determines what makes an argument persuasive and how to structure an argument.
D) Culture is unrelated to the process of persuasion.

An argument using an appeal to pity is focused on what element?

A) logic
B) emotion
C) memory
D) the speaker or writer

When used as evidence, what does an effective example do?

A) It makes concrete ideas more abstract.
B) It makes abstract ideas more concrete.
C) It makes concrete ideas more figurative.
D) It makes abstractions less didactic.

What are readers likely to conclude if they notice that a report you have written contains several logical fallacies?

A) The reasoning used in your report is supported by several effective examples.
B) The reasoning used in your report is logical and trustworthy.
C) The reasoning used in your report is illogical and untrustworthy.
D) The reasoning used in your report follows an effective pattern used in other good arguments.

Which of the following is NOT a category of constraints on your ability to be persuasive in a workplace document?

A) partitional
B) personnel
C) financial
D) political

Which of the following is NOT one of the elements of an argument?

A) claim
B) persona
C) evidence
D) reasoning

Statistics are more persuasive when they are based on a sample of an adequate size.

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

It is most effective to present emotional appeals in isolation rather than in combination with other types of evidence.

According to Chapter 8, in most cases the best place to state your claim is at the end of the argument because you may alienate your audience if you state it at the beginning.

People who write proposals are the only technical writers who need to be concerned with persuasion.

Graphics and design elements are relatively unimportant in communicating persuasively.