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Higher Education

Writing by Choice, Second Edition: Chapter Eight

Instructions: For each question, click on the radio button beside your answer. When you have completed the entire quiz, click the Submit my answers button at the bottom of the page to receive your results.

Question 1:


a) A teenager arguing with her parents for a larger allowance.
b) A courtroom lawyer arguing a sophisticated point of law.
c) An advertisement urging customers to attend a sale.
d) A married couple engaged in a heated confrontation.

Question 2:


a) founded on reason
b) founded on emotion
c) founded on morality
d) All of the above.

Question 3:


a) It has taken on a range of meanings today.
b) It can have negative connotations.
c) It may refer to a person’s ability to speak and write skillfully.
d) All of the above.

Question 4:


a) The appeal to a reader’s reason and logic.
b) The appeal to a reader’s ethics.
c) The appeal to a reader’s emotions.
d) All of the above.

Question 5:


a) how readers judge the credibility of the writer
b) the writer’s use of ethical ideas
c) how writers conceive of the morality of their readers
d) None of the above.

Question 6:


a) The appeal to a reader’s reason and logic.
b) The appeal to a reader’s ethics.
c) The appeal to a reader’s emotions.
d) All of the above.

Question 7:


a) Argument tends to focus on feelings while persuasion focuses on logic.
b) Argument tends to focus on logic while persuasion focuses on feelings.
c) Persuasion is more applicable than argument to academic essays.
d) Argument and persuasion mean the same thing.

Question 8:


a) emotional appeals
b) avoiding generalizations
c) logical supports for claims
d) common ground, consensus

Question 9:


a) develop the justification for their argumentative claims
b) deploy the full range of emotional appeals to develop their claims
c) avoid justifying their ideas
d) avoid generalizations, which tend to be unpersuasive

Question 10:


a) strictly, as a form of rhetoric
b) narrowly, as a claim backed by evidence
c) widely, as a form of discourse with many purposes, including defending a point of view or drawing attention to an issue
d) None of the above.

Question 11:


a) solidify their relationship with readers who may already be in agreement with them
b) bring about a change of opinion in readers who strongly disagree with them
c) convince skeptical readers of the rightness of a value claim
d) None of the above.

Question 12:


a) the amount of research required
b) the writer’s experience
c) the length requirement of the text
d) the intended audience

Question 13:


a) reach a compromise
b) draw attention to a problem
c) defend a point of view
d) promote affiliation

Question 14:


a) argue only one side of an issue
b) explain and discuss both sides of an issue
c) use only opinion rather than fact
d) do not require a thesis statement

Question 15:


a) An arguable topic.
b) Subjective standards.
c) No opposing viewpoint.
d) All of the above.

Question 16:


a) specific
b) manageable
c) interesting
d) All of the above.

Question 17:


a) states clearly and precisely what a writer will be arguing
b) appeals to the emotions
c) leaves terms undefined
d) uses subjective standards

Question 18:


a) only hints at the essay’s major claim
b) includes more than one central claim
c) is longer than merely one sentence
d) includes a reference to the essay’s main points

Question 19:


a) harms the integrity of the claim
b) makes the claim appear hesitant
c) helps to narrow the claim, making it more specific and realistic
d) None of the above.

Question 20:


a) Making the claim very broad so that everyone will understand the claim.
b) Formulating the claim with a general audience in mind.
c) Formulating the claim with a specific audience in mind.
d) Using an “all or none” claim.

Question 21:


a) How interesting and specific the claim is.
b) How long the essay will be.
c) How much support is available to prove the claims.
d) All of the above.

Question 22:


a) They need realistic solutions, or at least suggestions that such solutions can exist.
b) They need to be sufficiently broad so that they will appeal to all members of the writer’s audience.
c) They need to be addressed directly to those in a position to make the change.
d) None of the above.

Question 23:


a) It can include facts.
b) It can include statistics.
c) It can include the testimony of experts.
d) All of the above.

Question 24:


a) it is often the strongest kind of evidence in the essay
b) it is only useful if it is very broad
c) it is only useful if it is very narrow
d) None of the above.

Question 25:


a) it directly supports your points
b) it indirectly supports your points
c) it depends on the use of expert opinion
d) it depends on the use of statistics

Question 26:


a) examples
b) examples
c) analogies
d) All of the above.

Question 27:


a) it can be used to help support value and policy claims
b) it should be carefully avoided in all arguments since it will suggest bias
c) it can be used if the writer conveys the experience through the third-person perspective (he, she, etc.)
d) it can be used in the conclusion of an argumentative essay after the main points have been given

Question 28:


a) Informed opinion and inductive reasoning.
b) Inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning.
c) Inductive reasoning and scientific reasoning.
d) Hard reasoning and soft reasoning.

Question 29:


a) It arrives at conclusions based on specific occurrences which are observed and recorded.
b) It accumulates evidence through controlled and objective methods of evidence gathering.
c) Errors can occur if the methods are faulty.
d) All of the above.

Question 30:


a) It arrives at a conclusion by assuming a general principle and applying it to a specific case.
b) It can often be represented by a major premise and a minor premise.
c) Both of the above.
d) None of the above.

Question 31:


a) a form of faulty reasoning
b) a three-part model that exemplifies deductive reasoning
c) the conclusion of a three-part model of deductive reasoning
d) the major premise of a three-part model of deductive reasoning

Question 32:


a) place the information about the opposing arguments in a dependent clause, and follow it with a main clause describing their own claims
b) place the information about the opposing arguments in a main clause, and follow it with a dependent clause describing their own claims
c) acknowledge the opponents’ arguments in a separate main clause
d) None of the above.

Question 33:


a) change their papers’ central claims
b) ignore the opposing arguments
c) include point-by-point refutations
d) merely acknowledge the opponents’ views

Question 34:


a) the syllogism
b) the minor premise
c) the audience you’re writing for
d) None of the above.

Question 35:


a) avoid any mention of an opposing argument
b) merely to mention rather than to refute an opposing argument
c) raise all the points of an opposing argument and rebut each one
d) None of the above.

Question 36:


a) an argumentative paper fails if it does not win the argument
b) the ultimate aim of an argumentative paper is not always to silence an opponent
c) they must avoid too much openness and flexibility of opinion
d) None of the above.

Question 37:


a) misrepresent the opponent’s ideas in order to argue a point
b) attack an opponent’s weakest ideas
c) mock the dissenting views
d) admit concessions

Question 38:


a) Demonstrate that you share basic values with your readers.
b) Demonstrate that you are a logical writer.
c) Demonstrate that you have used inductive reasoning.
d) Demonstrate that your major premise cannot be refuted.

Question 39:


a) reasonable and willing to compromise
b) weak-willed and ineffective
c) flexible, but also underhanded
d) None of the above.

Question 40:


a) with a strong opinionated tone
b) with a calm, objective, neutral tone
c) with fiery zeal
d) None of the above.

Question 41:


a) attempts to distract or sidetrack often by employing an ethical fallacy
b) argues in favor of something because it has become popular
c) accepts unquestionably the argument of an authority
d) involves a cause-effect fallacy

Question 42:


a) Hasty generalization
b) Straw man
c) False cause
d) “It does not follow.”

Question 43:


a) Authority worship.
b) False authority.
c) Either / or (false dilemma).
d) Filling the void.

Question 44:


a) False cause.
b) Fortune-telling.
c) Desk-thumping (dogmatism).
d) Hasty generalization.

Question 45:


a) Fuzzy categories.
b) Red herring.
c) Name-dropping.
d) Longevity.

Question 46:


a) Name-calling.
b) Red herring.
c) Name-dropping.
d) Tradition.

Question 47:


a) it is flowery, ornate language inappropriate for most arguments
b) it is language that reveals the writer’s bias
c) it is language that is too indirect to be of value in most arguments
d) None of the above.

Question 48:


a) they choose to use a classical five-part argumentative model
b) the essay uses strong emotional rather than logical claims
c) their refutation of opposing views will be very short
d) they anticipate strong opposition to their ideas