Ultimate Technical Writing Trivia Quiz!
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- 1.How is technical writing different from novel-, poetry- or journal-writing?
- A.
Technical writing uses a lot of figurative language.
- B.
Technical writing mainly records personal experience.
- C.
Technical writing requires a dialogue between writer and reader.
- D.
Technical writing requires no action on the part of the reader.
- 2.Journal writing would be an example of what type of writing?
- A.
Expository writing
- B.
Fictional writing
- C.
Expressive writing
- D.
Technical writing
- 3.When writing a technical document, which of the following should you do?
- A.
Always describe things in technical terms.
- B.
Write for your readers.
- C.
Describe things exactly as they're described to you by subject matter experts.
- D.
Include everything you've learned.
- 4.Choose the type of writing that is NOT considered technical communication.
- A.
Travel report
- B.
Maintenance procedures
- C.
Resume
- D.
Newspaper editorial
- 5.Why is consistency in your technical documentation important?
- A.
It helps readers learn complex or new information more quickly.
- B.
It allows you to be more creative when writing your document.
- C.
It makes it easier for you to write your document.
- D.
All business managers require it.
- 6.How do training guides differ from user manuals?
- A.
Training guides have pictures; user manuals don't.
- B.
Training guides don't cover as much information as user manuals.
- C.
Training guides are read from front to back; user manuals are used to look up information.
- D.
Training guides typically are better organized than user manuals.
- 7.What is the number one rule of technical writing?
- A.
Be consistent.
- B.
Be innovative.
- C.
Use technical terms.
- D.
Use few graphics.
- 8.What two items work together to create the tone of a document?
- A.
Spelling and punctuation
- B.
Theme and topic
- C.
Organization and coherence
- D.
Purpose and audience
- 9.Select the false statement about writing:
- A.
Writing is an extension of your interpersonal communication skills at work.
- B.
Good writing tells your audience that you can think logically and communicate your thoughts clearly.
- C.
Your writing ability will never affect your job performance.
- D.
Poor writing reveals that you can neither think clearly nor communicate your thoughts effectively.
- 10.Why should you use white space on your pages?
- A.
So the pages in your document are more inviting and easier to read.
- B.
So you can fit more words on the page and make your document shorter.
- C.
So the printer can see more easily how the pages in your document are laid out.
- D.
So readers can see the page numbers more easily in your document.
- 11.On average, what percentage of a documentation project's time is spent gathering information?
- A.
05-10%
- B.
15-20%
- C.
25-35%
- D.
40-60%
- 12.What does the term "graphics file format" refer to and why is it important?
- A.
It refers to the format used to create the original graphic. It's important to know this so you know what program to use to modify it.
- B.
It refers to the way information in a graphic is saved to a file. It's important to know which formats work best for specific types of graphics.
- C.
It refers to the color palette that is used in a graphic. It's important to know this so you can be sure the graphic is compatible with your printer.
- D.
It refers to the arrangement of the pixels in a graphic. It's important to know what this is so all of your graphics will print correctly in your document.
- 13.How can you avoid using paragraph styles in Microsoft Word?
- A.
You can't. A paragraph style is attached to everything you type, whether you do anything or not.
- B.
By just typing and not applying any paragraph styles to any of your text.
- C.
By switching off the paragraph styles.
- D.
By manually formatting all of your text so that the paragraph styles are overridden.
- 14.What do templates do?
- A.
Templates make sure that everyone does everything exactly the same way. Templates strictly control how a document is created and formatted.
- B.
Templates provide guidelines for the formatting of a document.
- C.
Templates basically write documents for you.
- D.
Templates can be used only for short, simple documents.
- 15.Which of the following best describes the difference between proofreading and editing?
- A.
They're the same thing. There aren't any differences.
- B.
The purpose of proofreading is to find mechanical errors, while editing is done to polish the content and style of the document.
- C.
The purpose of proofreading is to make sure the content of the document is correct, while the purpose of editing is to make sure the formatting is correct.
- D.
The purpose of proofreading is to make sure the document is complete. The purpose of editing is to make sure all of the mechanics are complete.
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