ENG2601
Assignment 3
Due 4 August 2025
,ENG2601
Assignment 3
DUE 4 August 2025
Question: The Impact of Tone and Structure on the Academic Effectiveness
EXCEPTIONAL ANSWERS
Articles Analyzed: Academically Adrift (Arum & Roksa, 2011)
Is College Really Worth It? (Alexander W. Martin, 2015)
Is College Worth It? (Richard Fry, Dana Braga and Kim Parker, 2024)
, The Impact of Tone and Structure on the Academic Effectiveness of Academically
Adrift (Arum & Roksa, 2011)
Introduction: A Provocation Hidden in Measured Prose
Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses by Richard Arum and
Josipa Roksa (2011) is more than a critical report—it is a disciplined disruption of higher
education's most cherished assumptions. On the surface, it reads with the restraint of a
neutral research monograph. Beneath that calm, however, it offers a searing indictment
of American undergraduate education’s failure to produce intellectual growth. The real
academic power of this work lies not just in the severity of its findings but in its precise
tone and methodical structure. These two elements coalesce to make the book not only
effective as scholarship but enduring in its policy influence and pedagogical utility. This
analysis explores how Arum and Roksa’s rhetorical strategies elevate their work into a
masterclass in critical academic writing.
1. Tone: Reserved, Authoritative, and Data-Centric
1.1 Measured Language Enhances Credibility
Arum and Roksa avoid alarmist rhetoric. Rather than declaring systemic collapse, they
present controlled observations: “a significant proportion of students demonstrate no
significant improvement in a range of skills” (Arum & Roksa, 2011, p. 36). Such
understatement intensifies the findings’ impact by inviting the reader to reach their own
(often sobering) conclusions. In academic communication, this kind of linguistic restraint
fosters trust and analytic distance.
Academic benefit
A measured tone protects the work from ideological critique. This restraint positions it as
an empirical anchor across ideological divides—useful for policy analysts, faculty
unions, and institutional leaders alike.
Assignment 3
Due 4 August 2025
,ENG2601
Assignment 3
DUE 4 August 2025
Question: The Impact of Tone and Structure on the Academic Effectiveness
EXCEPTIONAL ANSWERS
Articles Analyzed: Academically Adrift (Arum & Roksa, 2011)
Is College Really Worth It? (Alexander W. Martin, 2015)
Is College Worth It? (Richard Fry, Dana Braga and Kim Parker, 2024)
, The Impact of Tone and Structure on the Academic Effectiveness of Academically
Adrift (Arum & Roksa, 2011)
Introduction: A Provocation Hidden in Measured Prose
Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses by Richard Arum and
Josipa Roksa (2011) is more than a critical report—it is a disciplined disruption of higher
education's most cherished assumptions. On the surface, it reads with the restraint of a
neutral research monograph. Beneath that calm, however, it offers a searing indictment
of American undergraduate education’s failure to produce intellectual growth. The real
academic power of this work lies not just in the severity of its findings but in its precise
tone and methodical structure. These two elements coalesce to make the book not only
effective as scholarship but enduring in its policy influence and pedagogical utility. This
analysis explores how Arum and Roksa’s rhetorical strategies elevate their work into a
masterclass in critical academic writing.
1. Tone: Reserved, Authoritative, and Data-Centric
1.1 Measured Language Enhances Credibility
Arum and Roksa avoid alarmist rhetoric. Rather than declaring systemic collapse, they
present controlled observations: “a significant proportion of students demonstrate no
significant improvement in a range of skills” (Arum & Roksa, 2011, p. 36). Such
understatement intensifies the findings’ impact by inviting the reader to reach their own
(often sobering) conclusions. In academic communication, this kind of linguistic restraint
fosters trust and analytic distance.
Academic benefit
A measured tone protects the work from ideological critique. This restraint positions it as
an empirical anchor across ideological divides—useful for policy analysts, faculty
unions, and institutional leaders alike.
