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 not all nonfiction is narrative in nature

Because "narrative design" is an old and outdated term

Because nonfiction is the only type of literature that possesses clear structural patterns
3 Which two books does Foster use to introduce his discussion of structural design?
Seabiscuit and The White Album

Seabiscuit and The Audacity of Hope

Seabiscuit and Hidden Figures

Seabiscuit and The Boys in the Boat
4 What qualities distinguish a feature story from a hard news story?
Features are typically longer and softer in terms of subject matter

Features can only be written by a journalist with specific credentials

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?
Ground

Claims

Merit

Warrant
6 In A Higher Loyalty, what does James Comey title his introductory material?
Author's Note

Envoi

Preface

Prologue
7 Which explorer(s) is the focus of Stephen Ambrose's book Undaunted Courage?
Lewis and Clark

Christopher Columbus

Sir Edmund Hillary

Vasco da Gama
8 Which of the following is typically true of a foreword?
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

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

Latin

High German

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

Evolutionary Biology

The Watergate scandal

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

Michael Pollan

Ron Chernow

Daniel James Brown
12 Foster references an article written by Hannah Arendt, focusing on which poet?
W.H. Auden

Ezra Pound

William Butler Yeats

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

Victor Hugo

Jane Austen

Virginia Woolf
14 What was Foster's first job related to writing?
Writing for the Yale Law Review

Editing college admissions essays

Writing book reviews for The New Yorker

Covering high school sports for a local newspaper
15 To whom does Mark Twain attribute the quotation about lies, damned lies, and statistics?
George Washington

Cardinal Newman

Benjamin Disraeli

Henry David Thoreau
16 Whom does Foster cite as the greatest living writer?
Stephen King

Cormac McCarthy

Jonathan Franzen

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

A definition

An anecdote

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

First-year college

9th-11th grade
19 Which university experienced a scandal centering on their gymnastic team?
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Howard University

Michigan State 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?
In Cold Blood

Silent Spring

All the President's Men

Between the World and Me
22 Which of the following does Foster NOT list as one of the four key books of New Journalism?
Hunter S. Thompson's Hell's Angels

Mailer's The Armies of the Night

Capote's In Cold Blood

The White Paper
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?
Mark Twain

Hemingway

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Balzac
25 What subject is the focus of the book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men?
The 1939 Yankees team

American vice-presidents

Impoverished farmers

the lives of Catholic saints

How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

Study Guide for How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor

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.

Read the Study Guide for How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor…