Naif Alawaji The Impact of the Internet on Higher Education

The joint-authored social science articleInternet andHigher Education, published in 2008, amply illustrates the Internet'shuge impact on American college students. A close examination of the language and structural features in the Internet and higher education shows the use of neutral verbs, indirect quotes, simple and complex sentences highlights that academic writers in social science field values clear headings and the use of tables that reflect how their research process is developed, objectivity, description and detailed content.

In social science discipline authors always try to convince their audience by being unbiased and objective. The article's structureis designed to be more objective and reliable as it have some tables, surveys besides the language used ensures objectivity,because the authors here usea lot of neutral verbs. Academic writing in social science values objectivity by usingsome statistic tables (p. 4) that presents numbers and facts related to the use of Internet. Meaning the authors cannot inject opinion into a table or survey, therefore,assuring objective analysis, e.g., the Survey Instruments (p.9).This survey consists of multiple choice questions offered to subjects who provide their own opinions about the Internet. This demonstrates in social science articles can feature direct audience input in a study, sogiving an opportunity to them is proving the objectivity of the article, because not only the authors perspective are influencing the content, but in fact even the audience are getting involve. Another example of the value

of objectivity in academic writing is usingplenty amount of neutral verbs, in the section of Results and discussion (line45) All students (92%) reported that they used e-mail to contact professors in this article the term, reported is utilized repeatedly, because it considered a neutral verb. Therefore authors in social science use neutral verbs, so their article become more reliable and not bias, because neutral verbs are always used to represents facts rather than personal arguments (perspectives).

Social science articles are replete with details supporting an inquiry process, by using complex sentences, and indirect quotes. The main reason behind using detailed language is to give the audience a clear explanation of the content, and the authors in social science values detailed language by using abundant of complex sentence. For example in the Result and Discussion line (40) Less than half (42%) reportedthat they received feedback via the Internet from professors on class assignments this is a complex sentence, which basically supports the idea by providing expanded explanation. In social science they use it a lot because, the majority of their audience read to expand their general knowledge about something, such as knowing the relationship between collage students and the Internet. Thus, this article's authors use a detailed languagestyle to inform audiences. Another example of the value of detail language in social science field is the use of indirect quotes, as in this example all students (92%) reported that they used e-mail to contact professors (67) A wealth of indirect quotes enables clearer understanding of the topic.