Government & Business Correspondence:
Writing Business Reports and Proposals — Thill/Bovee 11



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This quiz is based on Business Communication (activebook 2.0) by John V. Thill and Courtland L. Bovee.

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  1. Reports typically take all of the following forms except:
    video tapes
    letters
    memos
    manuscript
  2. Writers of business reports often combine the direct and indirect approaches.
    True
    False
  3. Which of the following structures would be best for a report in which you are discussing a sequence of events that occurred in March, April, and May?
    spatial orientation
    category
    geography
    chronology
  4. Because skeptical audiences don't want to spend a lot of time reading reports with which they don't agree, analytical reports aimed at such audiences typically offer recommendations quickly and with little discussion of the rationale behind them.
    True
    False
  5. A report organized according to the _________ approach discusses the hypothetical solutions to a problem one by one:
    scientific method
    2 + 2 = 4
    yardstick
    recommendations
  6. Once your report is finished, you may have to revise your outline.
    True
    False
  7. Reports should have a lot of visual aids, because most information can be communicated in graphic form.
    True
    False
  8. A _______, systematically arranged in columns and rows, is one of the best visual aids for presenting detailed, specific information.
    pie chart
    area chart
    line chart
    table
  9. If you need to show physical or conceptual relationships, you should use a pie chart.
    True
    False
  10. You should use ________________ when you need to show how something looks or works.
    drawings and diagrams
    flowcharts and organizational charts
    word tables and maps
    bar charts and surface charts
  11. A graphic that realizes the design principle of ________ exploits the fact that culture and education condition people to expect things to look a certain way.
    experience
    continuity
    contrast
    simplicity
  12. You should place visual aids in an appendix at the end of your the report so the text is not cluttered.
    True
    False
  13. The opening of a report should accomplish all of the following except:
    introduce the subject
    indicate why the subject is important
    present evidence in support of the main idea
    preview the main ideas and the order in which they'll be covered
  14. One advantage of headings above the subdivisions of the text is that they help readers see at a glance how the report is organized.
    True
    False
  15. "For example," "in other words," and "however" are examples of:
    logical appeals
    previews
    transitions
    headings


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