A Look at Educational Quality in the Higher-Ed System - Essay Example

Pierce Butler ENG 111 Amanda Thiel 4-2-09 Critical Reflection: A Look at Educational Quality in the Higher-Ed System Writing in the world of higher academia requires the writer to read, analyze, comprehend, and then add to or connect such discussions. Attempting to connect academic discussions to one another as to add to the effectiveness and credibility of one’s own writing is what creating an academic multi-source piece is all about. Our assignment in English 111 was to create a synthesis paper which focused on a specific problem encountered in the area of higher education. Our class readings from the Norgaard text started everyone thinking about learning and education, especially factors that lead to the differences between styles of education and how these are affected by or affect the different learning styles. There is no doubt that there are a lot of problems inherent within today’s higher education system, but a problem has to be substantial enough to find credible support for it in the form of academic sources. After investigating a variety of issues that concern higher education, more specifically education at colleges and universities, I discovered that educational quality was an important issue that needed to be addressed. Due to the fact that an effective synthesis essay requires the development of a theory or argument in correlation with the educated opinions of others, I will discuss the plan of action that I took and the strategies I used in writing my synthesis essay. The first step that I had to take to begin my synthesis essay dealt with one of the most powerful rhetorical strategies in communication, which is making yourself, as the author, appear credible. I have several of my own personal experiences that I wanted to use in my essay pertaining to college, yet I must acknowledge that I am no expert on education or on adult learning. I began researching for academic articles using a library database specifically related to education. What I found is that there were hundreds of articles relating to higher education but only a handful that I could relate to my specific problem with higher education. The first article I came across was called “Seeking Higher-Ed Accountability” by Ann D. Neal. This source was important to my argument because it pointed out reasons why one should be concerned with the quality of the education offered by the college or university they attend. Neal’s logos strategy of using statistics to show the extent of the issue was also important to my argument because it provided quantified amplitude to my topic. Although there were a number of outside sources I could have used, I found the articles in our Norgaard text were some of the most influential to the topic of my essay. For example, Freire’s theory of the “banking concept” of education can be tied in with Meizerow’s theory of communicative learning, which all relates to the problem I was trying to point out within the higher education system. Recognizing that my own credibility was lacking as an expert in college education, I relied on the credibility of others through my outside sources to give my own ideas the credibility they required. The purpose of my synthesis essay was to analyze and discuss a problem in higher education but I really needed it to relate to my audience. A reader who may have already attended college or never plans to attend college would not greatly benefit from reading my essay with the exception of gaining insight into the viewpoints of others. I made the assumption that the audience that would most greatly benefit from my essay would be those who are attending or plan on attending an institution of higher education. My strategy to emphasize the issue was to use a negative tone when discussing many colleges and universities that offer low-quality education and I attempted to spotlight what elements of their program weakened their educational program. I feel as though the reasoning and logic I used when describing each point I was trying to make was relatively effective, mainly because I tried to think all of my ideas through before writing. My overall focus was to be able to connect myself, the subject of my discussion, and the audience together. By relating the elements I discovered to my own life, I was able to relate it more to the target audience I assumed would be reading my article and thus achieve my purpose to make the article meaningful while exploring an important issue. An effective academic multisource essay requires the compilation of a variety of information from credible sources, assessment of that information, and a writing style that will emphasize the writer’s purpose. I have used a multitude of rhetorical strategies to aid in the effectiveness of my synthesis essay, yet from feedback on my essay I have discovered ways in which I can make it even more effective. One of the problems that were pointed out about the first draft of my synthesis essay was making sure that I gave “quality” and “effectiveness” a proper definition for the context of my discussion. This was especially important to grasp because much of my topic involves how educational quality leads to educational effectiveness. My assumption writing the first draft was that these terms were relatively universal among readers, but the feedback demonstrated to me that these terms are ambiguous. Defining the terms more specifically ensures that my readers are approaching the discussion with similar assumptions and conceptual ideas. Feedback on my essay also proposed ways in which I could include further sources, in this case the work of Mike Rose. Not only was I able to add an additional credible source to my discussion, but this suggestion also opened up ways to make further connections between my other sources and my own ideas. Although there were a variety of issues that needed to be resolved in terms of my synthesis essay that came as a result of feedback, there were also a variety of problems that I encountered before, during, and after my first draft. For example, I knew that an effective rhetorical strategy is to build the importance of the discussion as the audience reads. This relies on the manipulation of writing structure and organization, something that I attempted to do starting with the first draft. I knew after the completion of my first draft that my organization was not perfect and this was reflected in the feedback I received. Not only were there changes to make with the initial organization, but after adding new sources and ideas and revising old ones, re-structuring needed to be completed again. Another issue that I encountered was attempting to remain focused on my central subject. As I wrote my essay and developed ideas, I continued to develop new ideas and identify associated aspects related to my subject worthy of investigation. This is considered to be a positive aspect of the writing process, but at times it almost overwhelmed me with thoughts of what to include and what not to include. Crafting my first synthesis essay has to be one of the most difficult writing projects I have had in all of my 16 years of formal education. It requires much more thought and idea development than any other form of writing I have been involved in. I knew from some of the very first readings of the Norgaard text that discussions in academia require a special set of skills to actively and effectively participate in the discussion. This is something that through the development of my essay I have come to realize. Regardless of a writer’s intent to persuade, inform, or compare, there are also many strategies, such as the use of persuasive or rhetorical appeals, which are very important in getting a message to the audience. In spite of the difficulty I experienced, I felt that I was successful in using a number of rhetorical strategies to support my argument regarding educational quality in higher education. As I wrote and revised, I feel my argument became more effective and my skills had developed. Equally important to rhetorical strategies employed in my piece was my ability to analyze and comprehend the works of others. If I was unable to do this at least to some extent, then I would not be ‘entering the conversation’ effectively. I hope that I am able to take what I have learned about this type of writing for the first synthesis essay and use it to produce higher quality, academic quality documents well into my future. Read More