Question 1
Which of the following statements would be best to include in a letter turning down someone who applied for a job?
A. We are sorry to inform you that your credentials were not as impressive as those of the other candidates who applied for the position.
B. We think that you are talented, but feel the position would best be filled by a younger, more vibrant candidate.
C. Unfortunately, we were more impressed by the other candidates.
D. After much consideration, we have offered the position to another candidate.
Question 2
In the analyzing phase of creating a message, you think about the purpose, desired outcome, and business result of your message. Which of the following best articulates the purpose of your message?
A. to suggest the possibility of implementing a flex-time schedule in your office
B. to describe to your boss how your life would change with a flex-time schedule
C. to tell your boss how much your friend likes having a flex-time schedule
D. to improve employee productivity and job satisfaction by giving workers more balanced lives
Question 3
Which of the following statements about buffers is true?
A. A buffer is a closing statement that comes after bad news.
B. A buffer tends to worsen the adverse impact of bad news.
C. A buffer should obscure the fact that bad news may be coming later in the message.
D. A buffer can provide positive information that builds goodwill.
Question 4
During lunch with a friend, she tells you that her office recently implemented flex-time hours. It has been a positive change at her workplace, and you think that it would be great to have flex-timing at your office as well. You decide to approach your boss about this possibility. Which of the following would be best to include in an email to your boss suggesting the idea?
A. I think a flex-time schedule would be good for me.
B. Flex-time would give me more free time.
C. I bet everyone would love having a more flexible schedule instead of the typical 9-5 work schedule.
D. In other offices, the flex-time schedule has increased productivity and decreased turnover.
Question 5
Which of the following would likely require persuasion?
A. exchanging a sweater for one in a smaller size
B. getting an extension on a deadline
C. congratulating a co-worker on her promotion
D. giving a colleague the link to a website you think he'll find useful
Question 6
You need to write a letter to a customer denying a claim, as the customer is responsible for the problem that she is asking you to fix. In this situation, __________.
A. the direct approach is best to buffer the bad news
B. the direct approach is preferred so that you get right to the point without introductory pleasantries
C. the indirect approach alleviates the need to phrase the bad news tactfully
D. the indirect approach can provide introductory information so it can be understood by the reader
Question 7
If you communicate bad news ineffectively, you risk __________.
A. getting immediate feedback
B. losing customers, clients, or employees
C. having the news accepted as final
D. being blamed for the incident that led to the news
Question 8
If you phrase bad news __________, your audience is more likely to understand your message.
A. by sugarcoating it
B. in clear terms
C. through implication
D. using subtle hints
Question 9
Due to a family emergency, you will be unable to fulfill your contract to cater for a client's upcoming party. The event is several weeks away, but you know that the client will not be able to reschedule it. When you contact your client to share this news, you should __________.
A. not include an apology, since this emergency was beyond your control
B. tell the client that you will contact other catering companies to see if they can take over the job
C. inform them that you will be happy to cater the event if they reschedule it
D. wait a few days before actually canceling to try and soften the blow
Question 10
Which of the following medium options is recommended both for targeting a personal appeal to an individual and for communicating with large audiences?
A. email
B. memo
C. telephone
D. group meeting
Question 11
Your boss is in a hurry to leave, so she quickly delegates an assignment to you. She needs you to communicate some bad news to a number of people at different geographic locations. Though she wants the message to spread instantaneously, she wants to give the audience time to carefully consider a response. It's also a priority for her that the message doesn't come across as impersonal or evasive. After she has left, you realize that she didn't specify which medium she wants you to use for the message. Taking her considerations into account, you determine that a(n. __________ would be an appropriate medium to use.
A. newsletter
B. email
C. letter
D. blog post
Question 12
You need to send a persuasive message to a co-worker, but you want to receive the feedback immediately. Under these circumstances, which of the following would be the best medium for your message?
A. an email
B. an instant message
C. a phone call
D. a memo
Question 13
You need to email a co-worker to ask for her assistance on a project. In the context of this message, which of the following constitutes a refutation you could include in your request in anticipation of a possible objection?
A. I really need your help right now, as my department is short-staffed.
B. I won't be able to complete my project if you don't help me.
C. While this may sound time-consuming, I will only need one hour of your time.
D. If you decide to help me, then you will have to work overtime.
Question 14
Being persuasive __________.
A. is rarely required in your daily life
B. involves understanding why your audience may resist your ideas
C. means tricking your audience into doing what you want
D. is very unethical, and in some situations may even be illegal
Question 15
Angelina has to reject an employee's request for time off, and is trying to determine the best medium in which to deliver this message. She is also thinking about what the employee's reaction will be, and if there is anything she can say to soften the bad news. Angelina is engaged in which stage of the ACE process?
A. analyzing
B. addressing
C. composing
D. critiquing
Question 16
For which of the following reasons would making a telephone call be preferable to sending an email?
A. It allows you to reach large audiences.
B. It allows you to include additional arguments that may help your persuasive appeal.
C. It gives your audience time to consider your appeal before carefully responding.
D. It allows for immediate feedback so you can alter your appeal instantly, if necessary.
Question 17
In which of the following situations is the direct organizational method the preferred way to deliver bad news?
A. if the news is likely to upset or anger the audience
B. if the news is irrelevant to health and safety
C. if the news is difficult to explain or understand
D. if it is important that the audience hears the news immediately
Question 18
In persuasive situations, you will increase your chances of getting a positive response by __________ the analyzing phase of the ACE communication process.
A. devoting less time to
B. changing the order of
C. omitting
D. spending more time on
Question 19
Which of the following options is most likely to be used for reaching potential audiences you can't yet identify?
A. group meeting
B. email
C. telephone
D. blog
Question 20
A manufacturing company realizes that one of its products has a serious defect and wants to quickly disseminate this news to the public. Which of the following would be an appropriate way to accomplish this?
A. website
B. memo
C. telephone
D. letter
Question 21
At your company, a number of routine office tasks are loosely shared among entry-level employees, who perform these duties in addition to their specific job descriptions. This often results in tasks being done late, poorly, or not at all. You suggest to your boss that outsourcing this work might be a good idea. He is interested, so he asks you to research and recommend a service provider. Which of the following best articulates the research question you have been asked to explore?
A. Is it fair to make entry-level employees do this additional work?
B. How can we train the entry-level employees so that they can perform these tasks in a more efficient manner?
C. Which outsourcing service provider would be the best for us?
D. Is outsourcing the best solution to our problem?
Question 22
You work in a small office of fewer than 20 employees with no dedicated IT staff. As the resident technical expert, you are called on to deal with computer issues and technology-related decisions. Lately this has been taking up more and more of your time and you feel that it is no longer an efficient arrangement. You speak to your boss about contracting with an IT company to oversee these needs, and she tells you to research some options. You find a website with some interesting information about this topic, plus the author is a well-known expert in the field. There is some useful data, for which the author has taken care to provide citations. There also are some promising links, but when you try to click them, they are broken or unavailable. You find that the page was last updated over a year ago. How will you evaluate this source?
A. This source should be cited in your report, as it amply meets all three "A"s.
B. This source has some accuracy issues, so it should not be cited.
C. This source is not very recent, but given the nature of your research it is acceptable.
D. This source fares well regarding authorship and accuracy, but is not current enough to be cited.
Question 23
Using an online database like LexisNexis to search for articles on a topic __________.
A. is not as effective as doing a Google search
B. allows you to search publications not available through a Google search
C. is less expensive but more time-consuming than a Google search
D. leads you to articles that are less reliable than web pages
Question 24
When you are using a search engine, the main body of the results page is most likely to begin with sites __________.
A. that are least relevant to your search
B. that are being accessed by other users at that very moment
C. that are accessed least frequently
D. that are frequently accessed or that most closely match your search terms
Question 25
You enter the phrase flex-time schedule into Google and get about 313,000 results. Trying your search again, this time with quotation marks around the phrase, __________.
A. will not lead to an exact match
B. will likely dramatically increase the number of results
C. will result in a list of resources which include that exact match
D. will yield results that include any of those three words anywhere on the page
Question 26
Searching through which of the following is most likely to yield the narrowest search results?
A. LexisNexis
B. Standard and Poor's
C. New York Times Index
D. Hoover's
Question 27
When it comes to research, __________.
A. students should be discouraged from using books, as they are less credible than online sources
B. students often shun online information sources in favor of books
C. the drawback with online content is that it cannot be updated regularly
D. books are valuable resources, as they are often professionally written, reviewed, and edited
Question 28
When doing background research on your topic, the question "What else exists that serves similar purposes?" is about the topic's __________.
A. category
B. history
C. popularity
D. context
Question 29
You are working on your first research project at a new job; you discuss your work with a colleague who has been at the company for five years. She tells you that one of your sources will not be highly regarded by the professional audience to whom you will be presenting, and advises you to omit it. Which of the following sources is she most likely referring to?
A. The New York Times
B. The Wall Street Journal
C. U.S. Department of Labor data
D. Wikipedia
Question 30
Which of the following statements is true of primary sources?
A. Primary sources provide raw data.
B. Primary sources exclude surveys and interviews.
C. Primary sources include Wikipedia and various encyclopedias.
D. Primary sources are only qualitative.
Question 31
Putting quotation marks around the search phrase you enter into a search engine is most likely to __________.
A. yield fewer results, which will be more relevant to your search phrase
B. yield fewer results, which will be less relevant to your search phrase
C. yield more results, which will be more relevant to your search phrase
D. yield more results, which will be less relevant to your search phrase
Question 32
Which of the following aspects of determining what information you need is being targeted while doing background research to broaden your understanding of your topic's history, context, structure, and categories?
A. analyzing the research question and topic
B. identifying audience concerns and needs
C. establishing the scope of the research
D. defining research activities
Question 33
A deep web portal __________.
A. finds only that information which is aimed at the public
B. accesses free information exclusively
C. performs federated searches.
D. omits information in publications that require a subscription.
Question 34
Which of the following terms best describes a process that is designed to ensure that articles in academic journals are accurate and honest?
A. narrow casting
B. peer-reviewing
C. satisficing
D. social referencing
Question 35
At your company, a number of routine office tasks are loosely shared among entry-level employees, who perform these duties in addition to their specific job descriptions. This often results in tasks being done late, poorly, or not at all. You suggest to your boss that outsourcing this work might be a good idea. He is interested, so he asks you to research and recommend a service provider. In this case, which of the following is the best example of a primary source?
A. the website of an outsourcing service provider that you are considering
B. a Wikipedia article about the popularity of outsourcing
C. a journal article about the impact of outsourcing on a company's bottom line
D. a research report discussing the effects of outsourcing on the overall economy
Question 36
Considering whether any web links are broken is a part of evaluating the source's __________.
A. accuracy
B. authorship
C. age
D. clarity
Question 37
Which of the following questions is recommended for evaluating the authorship of a source?
A. Do other sources agree with this information?
B. Is the source published or sponsored by a reputable organization?
C. Does the author acknowledge and respond to opposing points of view?
D. How current is the information?
Question 38
Doing background research on your topic __________.
A. is not advised for business research
B. should not include information about your topic's history
C. is vital, since you are required to include it in your final presentation
D. can help you structure your research
Question 39
As you prepare to analyze a research question and topic, which of the following would be your best first move?
A. considering whether there are options other than outsourcing the work
B. asking entry-level employees how they feel about doing these tasks
C. calling a few outsourcing service providers to get quotes from them
D. finding out whether any of your competitors outsource this kind of work
Question 40
For which of the following question types are the responses most likely to vary?
A. yes/no
B. open-ended
C. Likert (agreement. scale
D. rating scale
E. open-ended
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