Higher education is important to the development of education in a country. Many critics have come out with arguments that will support and those that will disagree with the importance of higher education in the country. But, despite the concerns and the benefits of higher education, the truth is that in order to achieve higher education one must take different approaches that will allow for the process of acquiring higher education. Each article was clustered based on the similarities of the arguments and each argument was connected to the main topic of higher education. Barton, Klint, Irvin, Hurtado, Bartholomae and Haller have made different and similar propositions on the arguments regarding higher education.
Barton and Klint agree that higher education writing involves the use of groups to create a collaborative writing system. In addition, the authors suggest that the Internet provides assistance to students who face challenges with their writing. The authors further note that the Internet is the ideal way for students to share information without having to move from one place to another. As such, the students are able to complete a variety of tasks using the social media websites. In addition, Google docs allow students to collate information and share this information with others in their group (Barton & Klint 323). Social media websites allow students the chance to use the writing process in their writing process (Baton & Klint 329) and websites such as Facebook Chats allows for synchomonous chats that boost the sharing of information through online communication (Barton & Klint 329).
Irvin’s article reflects on the need for students to collect and think about the topic, develop drafts in order to present organized writing. The author’s arguments centered on the fears of the new college students who believe that they are incapable of writing at this level. But, Irvin believes that if students follow the writing process and are able to draw on their cultural, social, and physical (Irvin 6) content, then they will be able to interpret the material from other writers throughout the courses. Irvin further believes that the different techniques will help student to reduce their fears as the writers collect the pertinent material and carefully thins about the content that they are presenting. In other words, Irvin wants the readers to understand that higher education comes from the ways in which students assess their personal style of writing and how data is collected and analyzed.
Bartholomae argues that writing requires that students become inventive and creative in their writing even as students evaluate and argue the different ideas. Additionally, the author suggests that students should develop the skill of evaluating their arguments instead of simply regurgitating the information that is presented. In contrast to Hurtado’s believe that cultural diversity impacts the thoughts and writing of the students, Bartholomae believes that students are capable of evaluating and assessing their arguments if there is adequate use of the student’s ability to “mimic the language and writing style of other scholarly writers (Bartholomae 5).
In addition, Bartholomae argues that students must be able to “build bridges between his point of view and the readers” (5) by including specific ways of “knowing, selecting, evaluating, reporting, concluding, and arguing” (4) points of information. If students master this process, then there will be no barriers to excelling in higher education and will be able to achieve academic success.
Haller and Hurtado have different opinions on the topic of higher education. On the one hand, Haller suggests that students must use and cite pertinent sources in their writing and avoid plagiarism. Hurtado outlines the theoretical, practical and empirical rationale of connecting culture and cultural diversity to main educational and civic mission that one associates with higher education. The authors argue that the cultural challenges and the diversity of the different racial and ethnic groups impact the social, administrative, and physical spaces that are associated with higher education. The author further establishes that diversity is largely associated “with the central and educational and civic mission in higher education” (Hurtado 186). Based on empirical researches Hurtado concluded that the mission “emerges from the needs of a society where economic, racial, and religious differences are prevalent and inevitable” (Hurtado 186).
On the other hand, Haller argues that academic writing and higher education involves the use of different academic sources as a means of attaining higher education and therefore disputes Hurtado’s arguments that diversity has a significant impact on higher education. Nevertheless, the use of academic sources can become problematic if credit is not given to source from which the information is cited. Many students use other people’s work to gain an insight into the particular topic and fail to acknowledge the author’s work. In addition, students see the Internet as a means of gathering information without checking to see if the information is valid and reliable. In addition, the author suggests that the best source of information for academic purposes comes from university databases. Of course, simple web engines such as Google scholar will provide accurate information but the student must be aware of the address of the article and the validity of the content.
Haller’s strongest arguments center on the validity and the reliability of other person’s information to offset the student’s opinions. But, not all Internet websites are accurate with their information and not many students are aware of the issue of plagiarism as an unethical practice that goes against the policies of the institution. Haller reiterates the policies on using the Internet as a means of acquiring information and argues that sources can be found anywhere. However, these sources can be unreliable ad students must make the effort to distinguish the reputable sources from those that are not reputable. Books and articles provide information that is pertinent to achieving higher education. Haller reiterates this view and point out that books and articles published online are excellent sources of information as they allow students to create new meanings from older meanings (Haller 194).
In comparison, Hurtado’s arguments differ from those of Haller, but both can be combined to create a wealth of information base for the student. The personal experiences of individuals and their cultural beliefs allows the students to gather firsthand information, but this information make lack accuracy while the academic journals may provide more accurate information for the student who wishes to pursue higher education. But students pursuing higher education can also use social media websites effectively to enhance their learning.
Haller’s arguments are often practices in the educational institutions in the contemporary society as more students are leaning towards social media websites to have group chats and instant messaging that allows them to share information regarding their education. Each writer brings a different perspective to the goals of achieving academic success, but the truth is that when all these arguments are combined students would be better able to develop academic skills that will for excellence in writing as an academic and learning how to excel at higher education.
Works Cited
Bartholomae, David “Inventing the University” Journal of Basis Writing 1986, Vol 5 No. 1, PDF
Barton, Matt & Klint, Karl “A Student’s Guide to Collaborative Writing Technologies, Writing
in Spaces: Readings on Writing (2011) Volume 2, Library of Congress Cataloguing in publication Data, pp. 320 – 334. PDF
Haler, Cynthia “Walk, Talk. Cook, Eat: A Guide to Using Services” Writing Spaces: Readings
on Writing, Volume 2, 2011, Library of Congress Cataloguing – in – Publication Data,
PDF.
Hurtado, Sylvia, “Linking Higher Education with the Educational and Civic Missions of Higher
Education, The Review of Higher Education, Volume 30, Number 2, Winter 2007, pp. 185 – 196 (Article), The Johns Hopkins University Press, Web 17 Feb 2016 <http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/rhe/summary/vo30/30.hurtado.html>
Irvin, L. Lennie “What is Academic Writing” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 2,
2011, Library of Congress Cataloguing – in – Publication Data, PDF.
