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Problems and Strategies in Developing Writing Undergraduate Thesis:
A Study in EFL Students
Siti Sa’diah1*, Yazid Rukmayadi2, Khoiriyah Shofiyah Tanjung3, Novi Puji Lestari4, Andi Rizki5
1,2,4,5 Department of English Education, Faculty of Education and Teacher Training
Universitas Islam Negeri Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin Banten, Indonesia Jl. Jendral Sudirman No. 30 Kota Serang, Banten 42118
3 College of Human and Social Futures, School of Education University of Newcastle, Australia
Submission Track:
Received: xxxx xx, 20xx Revised: xxxx xx, 20xx Accepted: xxxx xx, 20xx Keywords:
Problems, strategies, writing, thesis
*Corresponding Author:
siti.sa’diah@uinbanten.ac.id Copyright@20xx (author/s)
Abstract: The research aimed at finding out the problems faced by undergraduate students and strategies they used to overcome problems during the process of research and writing thesis. This research generally employed a qualitative approach, but some data were analyzed quantitatively. The sample of the research involved the eighth and tenth semester students of English Education Department at Islamic State University of Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin Banten. The data were obtained through questionnaire and interview. The result revealed that most of the students got problems in how to begin the research while only few students got difficulty in working with the advisors. In addition, strategies mostly used by the students to overcome the problems were reading many books, journals and articles related to the topic whereas the strategy of asking somebody to analyze the data was at the lowest rate. Therefore, it could be concluded that the students could be able to solve their problems they faced during the thesis writing process by applying the strategies.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA license
INTRODUCTION
Writing a research paper (hereinafter called a thesis) for undergraduate students is one of the requirements to have graduation from a university. Writing a thesis is an activity conducted by a researcher to declare the results of the research in a written language (Hardling, 2004). This idea is supported by Budiharso (2009) that the purpose of writing a thesis is to carry out a research examination and to train writing a research result. In a word, to write a thesis is about doing research and reporting the findings.
In writing a thesis, there are major elements that must be considered. First, an abstract describes the summary of the thesis. Second, the introduction covers the rationale why the study should be conducted by determining the research question and objective of the study. Third, review of related literature presents the theory that is relevant to the topic
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of the study. Fourth, the research method discusses what design is used, where the study takes place, who the participants are, and how the data are obtained and analyzed. Fifth, Finding and Discussion describes the result of the study and the elaboration and comparison of the results obtained with the previous studies. Last, the conclusion presents the explicit implication of the findings (Halifudin, 2014).
Besides, Murray (2006) described factors that can influence in writing a thesis come from internal and external. The internal factor derives from the students’ knowledge while the external factor is associated with the environment. Therefore, the students’
competencies both intellectuality and social, could determine the quality of their thesis.
Writing the thesis also requires the students to take some stages such as looking for topics, indicating problems, maintaining the problems, as the beginning point, to advisors to reassure that the topic is visible and to get approval to proceed with the actual research (Brotowidjoyo, 1997); researching; and making a research report (Reid 1993). Those stages, for most students, are difficult to get through (Shahsavar&Kourepaz, 2020). In addition, Nurlaili (2018) mentioned that the students get difficulties in accomplishing their thesis, for example, they get confused to determine a thesis statement; they fizzle to achieve coherence among the sentences; they do not put sufficient relevant information to support the paper, and they fail in making citation. In another study, researchers conveyed that the students get difficulty in finding the title for their thesis and in arranging the meeting time with their advisors (Irwandi&Arisanti).
According to Saehu (2013), the problems faced by the students in writing their thesis were divided into procedural, academic, and non-academic problems. To solve the procedural and academic problems, reading, consultation, and peer-collaboration were applied while taking rest and managing time were used as the strategies used to overcome the non-academic problems. The similar ideas were also conveyed by Lestari (2020). She declared that the students’ difficulties in writing their theses covered English proficiencies, time management, knowledge in research methodology, co-advisor relationship, plagiarism, personalities, motivation, and advisor workload. Among those difficulties, English proficiency was the most problematic faced by the students.
Furthermore, the problems also occurred in the English Education Department of UIN Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin Banten. Based on the preliminary research, it is found that the students get difficulty in gaining the topic and formulating into an eye-catching title, they get confused in stating the research questions, they fail in determining the research method,
133 they get difficulty in arranging the sentences cohesively and coherently, they do not provide their understanding after describing the theory, they put lack of relevant information or argument to support the theories, and they are confused to cite the sources correctly.
Given the importance and problems of writing thesis described, many studies have evidenced the problems encountered by the students in writing their theses but only few studies discuss the problems in developing writing thesis and solutions or strategies to solve the problems. Moreover, most of the studies only employed either questionbaire or interview. To fill this gap, this study tried to identify the problems faced by the students in developing writing their theses and to figure out the strategies done by the students to overcome the problems through the two instruments.
METHOD
This research was a descriptive research which investigated students’ problems and strategies in writing undergraduate theses. The descriptive research was a research intended to investigate a condition, situation, or other event, then the results would be presented in the form of a research report (Arikunto, 2019). The research was generally qualitative research which presented the data in the form of words, but some data was presented quantitatively in the form of numbers (percentage). The eighth and tenth semester students of English Education Study Program, Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, UIN Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin Banten were the subject of the research. Data were gained through questionnaires and interviews. The questionnaires were developed based on the theories proposed by Linda Childers Hon’s. They were constructed into closed and opened questions and covered the students’ problems and strategies in writing their thesis. The questionnaires were distributed by utilizing the google form so it could be more effective.
However, the interviews were addressed to the students in order to obtain comprehensive and deeper data regarding students’ problems and strategies in writing their undergraduate thesis.
Furthermore, the data obtained through the questionnaire and interviewwere managed, read, classified, described, and interpreted. The questionnaires were analysed quantitatively. They were broken down into each item and calculated for its percentage.
Whereas, the interviews were analysed qualitatively. The questions were described critically to get more understanding.
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RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The students’ problems and strategies in writing their undergraduate thesis were obtained by questionnaires and interviews. There were 39 students who filled in the questionnaires and the results showed that there were several problems faced by the students in writing their undergraduate thesis. The problems were covered as being seen in the below table.
Table 1. Students’ Problem in Writing Undergraduate Thesis No Students’ Problems in Writing
Undergraduate Thesis Number of
respondent (of 39) Percentage (%)
1 Problem with beginning the thesis 34 87.2
2 Problem in determining research purpose and formulating research questions
22 56.4
3 Problem in searching relevant literature to build to research theoretical
framework
29 74.3
4 Problem in finding out prior/previous research which is relevant to students’
research topic
22 56.4
5 Problem in finding someone (fellow or supervisor) that helps students develop their research
15 38.4
6 Problem in constructing research
instruments 22 56.4
7 Problem to work with advisors 10 25.7
8 Problem in collecting and analyzing the
data 24 61.6
9 Problem in writing up the findings and
composing the final chapter 17 43.8
10 Problem in hiring (asking for help) someone or assistant to help students do data entry, coding, and analysis
25 64.1
11 Problem in following the institution’s
thesis guidance 20 51.3
The above table described that most of the students faced difficulty in beginning their thesis which reached 87,2 %. The other problem that the students mostly faced was on problem in searching relevant literature to build to research theoretical framework which got 74,3 %. The problem in finding out previous research which is relevant to students’ research topic and problem in constructing research instruments have got the same percentage which was 56,4%. Whereas, the lowest level was on problem to work with advisors which obtained 25,7%.
Furthermore, based on the interview data the problems faced by the students in developing writing their thesis: 1) problem in starting the thesis, 2) problem with the advisor, 3) problem in determining the instrument, 4) problem in making the instrument, 5) problem
135 in validating the instrument, 6) problem in searching reference about the topic, 7) problem in analyzing the data, and 8) problem in following university guidance book.
Referring to the data above, it can be said that the interview data confirmed the data gained through the questionnaire. The problem mostly faced by the students is how to start writing the thesis.
Concerning the problems arosed, there were eleven strategies done by the students to overcome them. The strategies are displayed in the following table.
Table 2. Students’ Strategies in Writing Undergraduate Thesis
No Students’ Strategies in Writing
Undergraduate Thesis Number of respondent
(of 39) Percentage (%) 1 Begin to find the topic by conducting
observation, interview, and searching information from many references
36 92,1%
2 Interpret observation and interview result
to find the topic and research questions 35 89,7 %
3 Reading literature and collecting relevant
information or theories 37 94,9 %
4 Formulating the objectives of the thesis
then writing the thesis proposal 35 89,7 %
5 Having consultation with the advisors or
colleagues 36 92,4%
6 Having someone to assist the research 16 41%
7 Developing research instruments and making informed consent after the instruments are developed
31 79,5%
8 Validating the instruments before using
them 31 79,5 %
9 Asking someone to help them in
analyzing data 19 48,7 %
10 Asking someone to proofread thesis
writing 23 59%
11 Reading and applying the institution’s
guidance in writing a thesis 35 89,8%
The above table showed that majority of the students used strategy of reading literature and collecting relevant information or theories which reached 94,9 %. However, there were two strategies that had not been applied by the majority of the students (less than 50%), they are; having someone to assist the research (41%) and asking someone to help them in analyzing data (48.7%). It means that the two strategies had not been familiar to be applied by students in writing their undergraduate thesis.
Moreover in line with the questionnaire data, the strategies came up through the interview were 1) Consulting with advisors about the problems in conducting research and writing thesis papers, 2) Reading many references regarding the topic of research for finding
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the topic and theories either online or offline references, 3) Reading many previous studies about the related topic, 4) Looking for information from the internet, 5) Comparing the paper with other students’ papers which have the same methodology and topic, 6) Consulting with the teachers in school about the appropriate instrument for students, 7) Sharing with other students, 8) Looking for other university guidance, and 9) Building the supporting environment.
As the last assignment in undergraduate degree, all participants stated the same perception that the thesis is a challenging process due to a lot of problems including internal and external problems they faced during finishing the paper. With the existing problem appearing during finishing the thesis paper, students are required to do some strategies to overcome the problems.
The findings explained above are in line with the result of the study conducted by Lestari (2020) in which in writing the thesis, the students must be concerned about their capability in English, the understanding in research methodology, and the good communication with the advisors as well. Besides, the similar strategies were also found in which to overcome the problems, the students tried to get the references from a lot of sources, had more supervision, and followed the steps in the institutions’ guidance book for writing a scientific paper (Nurlaili, 2018).
In addition, to make the data more various is needed to get more sample involving more than one university either state or private. This can be done by the future researchers who are interested in doing the similar research.
CONCLUSION
Regarding to the findings of the study, it could be concluded that the students mostly have got difficulty in starting the research. They were confused what activity should be done first, second, and so on. Whereas, the problem to work with the advisor was in the lowest rate chosen by the students. In other words, they could be able to manage and negotiate the time for the supervision. Besides, even though there were various problems encountered, the students had got the solutions or strategies to solve them. They mostly used their time to read a lot of literatures from any sources and consult with both the mates and advisors.
137 REFERENCES
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