Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of Teaching and Learning (ICTL 2009)
INTI University College, Malaysia
LEARNING TO WRITE AN ACADEMIC PAPER AMONG
MEDICAL STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SABAH
Wan Hurani Osman1 and Anna Lynn Abu Bakar2
Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia ([email protected]; [email protected])
ABSTRACT
The present study is carried out to investigate the effectiveness and problems in writing an academic paper faced
by medical students undergoing the English for Academic Reading and Writing (UB00402) paper offered by
Pusat Penataran Ilmu dan Bahasa (PPIB), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). Writing an academic paper is
compulsory for all undergraduates. An academic paper is not easy to produce because it has a few requirements
to fulfill. This study employs a content analysis method in investigating the project paper; i.e., academic paper
written by the undergraduate students based on the UB00402 course module taught. A convenient sampling of
27 English for Academic for Reading and Writing medical students in Semester 2, session 2008/2009, was
involved. The study was conducted for a period of fourteen weeks. Besides the use of elements of an academic
paper, the use of language was also analysed. A questionnaire was distributed to gather data regarding students’
background and their comments on the teaching and learning of academic writing and the course as a whole.
The findings showed that the majority of the students found the course beneficial to them in learning how to
write an academic paper but conceded that the main problem in writing was grammar and vocabulary. The
content analysis showed that in the writing aspect, the writing of the background and supporting details with
proper in-text citation seems to be a difficult task for them and in the language aspect, they were weak in
paraphrasing.
KEYWORDS
Academic paper, Process writing, Perception, In-text citation, Background paragraph, Paraphrasing, Quoting
INTRODUCTION
Why are students asked to study English in Universities? One of the reasons is that the
language is very useful in their studies. It is a common knowledge that most of the academic
references found in the library of this country are still being written in English. Besides that,
students would usually surf the internet to get the latest information from on-line journals and
publications. This is also mostly written in the English Language. For example, as mentioned
by Baldauf (1986) in Swales (1990), based on his research on four leading journals on crosscultural psychology published from 1978 to 1982, 97% of the publications were in English.
Students need references to complete their assignments or to write an academic paper such as
a dissertation, thesis or project paper.
Teaching and learning the English Language is basically focused on grammar and the four
main skills of the language: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Of the four, writing is
the most difficult skill to master. Weigle (2002) stresses that if the writing task involves a
genre that is unfamiliar to the writers, some writers who are otherwise skilled, may not be
1
able to perform well. Therefore, insufficient experience with a range of genres is one of the
major difficulties students face in writing the texts.
The ability to write effectively has become increasingly important in the global community,
and instruction in writing is thus assumed to have an increasing role in the second language
education. Writing has also become more important as principles of communicative language
teaching – that is, teaching language as a system of communication. Writing is the last and
perhaps the most difficult skill students learn, if they ever do. In the past, writing is only seen
as a way to reinforce oral skills (Weigle, 2002).
In all Malaysian public universities, English has been a compulsory subject unless a student
has done extremely well in his SPM English or MUET or TOEFL, than he is exempted from
learning English. In Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), beginning semester 1 2008/2009, first
year students who have gotten band 4, 5 & 6 for MUET have to only sit for one English
paper, i.e. either English for Academic Reading and Writing or English for Research
Purposes or Grammar in Context, in the first semester and then take another three semesters
of foreign language. For students with Band 1, 2 and 3 for MUET, they have to take four
papers of English which are Communicative English Grammar, English for Oral
Communication, English for Reading and Writing, and lastly, English for Academic Reading
and Writing. Before this, all students had to take four levels of English; i.e. English for Oral
Communication, English for Reading and Writing, English for Occupational Purposes and
English for Academic Reading and Writing.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
A graduate is expected to be knowledgeable and has a critical mind. Conducting and writing
a research paper cum academic paper while in university or while working shows that a
graduate is advancing himself, is knowledgeable and has a critical mind. Thus, writing an
academic paper is important for an individual and also the society involved. However,
according to Paulston (1972), writing is the last and perhaps the most difficult skill students
learn.
According to Lim (2008), “Teaching second language learners how to read and write research
reports or dissertations often constitutes an essential part of a programme in English for
Academic Purposes (EAP) at tertiary level. In South East Asia, in particular, large numbers
of undergraduate and postgraduate students need to present their research reports in English.
Teaching these tertiary students how to read and report findings may therefore be an
important task to accomplish in an EAP programme.”
Many students come into Universities or Colleges after high school “…relying on writing
strategies that served them well in high but that won’t serve them well here. Old formulae
such as the five-paragraph theme, aren’t sophisticated or flexible enough to provide a sound
structure for a college paper.” (What is an Academic Paper?)
Writing an academic paper is not that easy because it is usually technical and the researcher
has to be careful in convincing the reader and also in presenting his findings or views.
According to O’Leary (2004), “I have not come across many students who consider writingup an easy or hassle free process.” On top of the difficult task of writing, reading may also be
2
a problem to local university students because to write an academic paper, students have to
read up on past research and facts to support their present writing. Students would rely on
journals, thesis and textbooks to complete their literature review section of an academic
paper.
As mentioned earlier, writing is not an easy task, what more to write in English which is to
most Malaysian university students, their second language. The problem with writing in
English; not only to produce an academic paper but to produce a grammatically error free
paper; is quite a task for most students who are not too proficient in the language. Adding to
the problem of writing in English, reading reference books is another problem because most
references are still in English: especially journals and textbooks. The main cause to the
problem is not the knowledge of the subject but language. Because of the language obstacle,
teaching students to write an academic paper and also for the students to produce an
academic paper in English is a problem.
This paper specifically looks at the English for Academic Reading and Writing Module
(UB00402) offered by PPIB, UMS. It is hope that this paper will bring light to the problem
areas in learning to write an academic paper faced by medical students of UMS, Kota
Kinabalu. Students and also lecturers can use the findings to know their weaknesses in
writing this specific genre and also on the best method and approach to teach it.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
There are two main objectives for doing this research which are:
a) to identify the problems of organisation, language and content that medical students
face in producing a research paper.
b) to assess the effectiveness of teaching how to writing academic paper via the
UB00402 course.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
From this research, it is hoped that the problems to produce an academic paper by the
students of UMS can be discovered. Consequently, this study is also important to determine
the usefulness of the module that teaches students to write and also read academically.
Students would also benefit from the findings because they are able to identify the elements
required to produce a good paper and also they would know the areas of the English language
that need attention. Lastly, this study is significant because it is to suggest ways of solving
problems in the present UB00402 module and help improve the syllabus.
3
ORGANISATION OF ACADEMIC ESSAY
There are many models that have been proposed by different people on the ideal academic
essay. For the UB00402, the model used is based on the model proposed by Tunceren and
Cavusgil (2006) in their book College Writing 4.
Generally, according to Tunceren and Cavusgil (2006), an academic essay has about 5 to 9
main paragraphs, i.e. introductory paragraph, background paragraph, body paragraphs and
concluding paragraph. What makes it different from other genres is that it has a background
paragraph, in-text citation and end-of-text reference page.
A) Introductory Paragraph
Table 1. The purpose of an introductory paragraph
“Readers form impressions about your topic when they
read the introductory paragraph of your essay, so it is
important to have an interesting, clear opening to your
essay. Introductory paragraph in academic essays have
three main functions. An introductory paragraph should:
- stimulate your readers’ interest in your topic
- provide brief information (approximately one to four
sentences) about your topic
- include a thesis statement that explains the focus of
your essay
(Tunceren and Cavusgil, 2006, p. 37)
Based on Table 1 above, it can be said that the introductory paragraph is very important
because it helps readers to be engaged in the text, it gives a preview to your topic and it has a
thesis statement that helps readers see the direction of the text. How does one begin an
academic essay? Tunceren and Cavusgil (2006) in their book College Writing 4 (p. 37), has
given seven ways on how to begin.
Table 2. How to begin an introductory paragraph?
Introductory paragraphs can begin with:
- a question that you answer in your essay
- a quotation related to your topic
- an interesting brief story
- a fact or statistic that is interesting and relates to your topic
- a definition of an important term or concept discussed in your essay
- a general non-controversial statement about the topic
- a provocative or interesting statement
(Tunceren and Cavusgil, 2006, p. 37)
4
After beginning the introductory paragraph with one of the suggested method, a writer must
think of the thesis statement which “… normally occurs at the end of the introductory
paragraph.” (Tunceren and Cavusgil, 2006, p.23). A thesis statement is very important
because it is the ‘heart’ of the text. By looking at the thesis statement, readers can guess the
main idea(s) of the whole essay. According to Tunceren and Cavusgil (2006, p.23), “A thesis
statement states the main idea of an entire essay. It is a guide for the development of your
topic…. A thesis statement includes a topic and controlling ideas that direct and control the
entire essay.”
B) Background Paragraph
Table 3. What is a background paragraph?
“A background paragraph follows an essay’s introduction. The
purpose of the background paragraph is to prepare readers for the
material that is presented in the essay. Deciding what to include in
background paragraph depends largely on:
- the topic
- your audience
- the purpose of the assignment
- the research you conduct
No matter what the topic is, however, the background paragraph is
generally composed of fundamental concepts, terminology,
processes, facts, and /or theories that familiarise readers with the
topic.”
(Tunceren and Cavusgil, 2006, p.29)
Looking at Table 3 above, it can be summarised that a background paragraph is the history of
the topic and by having this paragraph, the topic becomes clearer because here words,
concepts, facts or theories are explained before moving on to the specific topic or issue of the
paper.
According to Tunceren and Cavusgil (2006), an introductory paragraph gives brief
information about the paper’s topic and the information includes important terms and the
definitions, whereas background paragraph is usually the history of the topic.
C) Body Paragraphs
After the introductory paragraph and background paragraph is the body paragraphs. This is
the only section that has more than one paragraph. It all depends on the main idea and
controlling ideas. However, usually it will be between two and six paragraphs (Tunceren and
Cavusgil, 2006).
Tunceren and Cavusgil (2006) said that a body paragraph will begin with a topic sentence. A
topic sentence is a sentence “… that relates directly to the thesis statement and contains both a
main idea and controlling idea.” (p.18)
5
Table 4. What are body paragraphs?
“Body paragraphs are often considered the “meat” of an essay. It is in
the body paragraphs that you develop and explain each of the
controlling ideas mentioned in your thesis statement. Most academic
essays contain between two and six body paragraphs. For each body
paragraph in your essay, you should:
begin with a topic sentence that expresses the main idea of that
paragraph and contains both a main idea and a controlling idea
introduce your first major supporting point
explain and illustrate that point with specific examples and
details
use logical organisers to show the relationship between ideas
introduce your second major supporting point
explain and illustrate that point with specific examples and
details
end with a brief concluding sentence
include in-text citations for any sources used”
(Tunceren and Cavusgil, 2006, p. 33)
To produce a strong and persuasive academic writing, Tunceren and Cavusgil (2006) have also
suggested a few ways to support ones opinion. Among the suggested ways are by using facts
and statistics, examples, experts, research results and interviews.
Besides that, they also say that “…to convince your readers to believe your claims or
opinions…use certain language structures to control the strength and validity of the claims.”
(p.134). Words used can make the claim valid or invalid. “When claims are too strong, readers
may consider your opinions inaccurate or invalid and may not be persuaded to agree with you.”
(Tunceren and Cavusgil, 2006). There are various language structures that control the strength
of a generalisation. Certain modal auxiliaries, expressions of quantity, verbs, adverbs of
frequency, adverbs, adjectives and phrases can control the strength of generalisation. (Tunceren
and Cavusgil, 2006)
6
D) Concluding Paragraph
After the body paragraphs comes the last paragraph which is the concluding paragraph.
Table 6. The purpose of a concluding paragraph
Just like your introductory paragraph, your concluding paragraph has
different purposes:
a) it reminds your readers about the main points developed in your essay
by summarizing those ideas.
b) it provides final comments about your topic.
Readers expect to see the main points that were made in the essay
repeated in the conclusion. The conclusion is shorter than your body
paragraphs because you do not use supporting details. Instead, you
should write overall comments about your topic. However, do not
surprise readers by taking a new direction or introducing a new idea in
your conclusion.
(Tunceren and Cavusgil, 2006, p. 41)
Table 7. A successful concluding paragraph
A successful concluding paragraph is to make a clear reference to a
specific idea from the introduction. Mentioning an example or detail
from the start of your essay gives your paper a sense of wholeness
and finality. For example:
- if you started with a quotation, return to that quote or add another
relevant one by the same person in your conclusion
- if you started with a brief story, you might relate how the story ends
- if you used numbers or statistics in your introduction, you can
mention those in your conclusion as well
- if you developed your introduction in a chronological manner, you
might end with a prediction for the future
- if you began with an interesting statement or comment, you might
state the action you want the readers to take
- if you focused on a problem, you can suggest solution to that
problem
(Tunceren and Cavusgil, 2006, p. 41)
Tunceren and Cavusgil (2006) have suggested that the concluding paragraph can be related to
the introductory paragraph. For example, if one begins with a story, one may end the story in
the concluding paragraph.
7
QUOTING AND PARAPHRASING
What makes academic writing different from other genres? An academic writing is usually
written to report a research finding which can be a secondary or primary research. To support
the research, taking ideas from other people is very important. However, one has to do it
correctly to avoid plagiarism. Thus, the proper format and technique to quote and paraphrase
is very important. Tunceren and Cavusgil (2006) said that “Although you can occasionally
use a direct quotation in your writing, one convention of academic writing is to paraphrase
more frequently than quoting.” (p.82). They have also listed eight ways to paraphrase.
Table 8. Some techniques to paraphrase
NO
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
TECHNIQUES
Change a word form from one part of speech to another
Use synonyms
Change numbers and percentages to different forms
Change the word order (e.g. change from active to passive and vice
versa, move modifiers to different positions)
Use different definition structure
Use different attribution signals
Change the sentence structure, and use different connecting words
Do not change key terms or proper nouns
(Tunceren and Cavusgil, 2006, p.82-86)
Besides knowing the proper techniques and format of quoting and paraphrasing, proper citing
of outside sources is also important. Tunceren and Cavusgil (2006) have used basically the
APA style. However, it is mentioned that “The APA (American Psychological Association)
style is commonly used by the social sciences (e.g., economics, psychology, political
science). The MLA (Modern Language Association) style is often used in humanities courses
like literature or history.” (p. 10)
METHOD
Qualitative research utilising the content analysis method was used to examine the academic
paper written by UMS students who are taking the UB00402 module. All second year
students who had taken and passed the English Level 1, 2 and 3 offered by PPIB must sit for
this paper. For Semester II, 2008/2009, the population is divided into 58 sections. From the
population, only 27 samples were selected as they are the only respondents in the sections
who represent the same course and school.
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DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS PROCEDURE
The study began in January 2009 and ended early April 2009. At the beginning of the
semester, the students were briefed on the objective of the course. After that, students were
told about the academic paper that they had to produce as part of the coursework. The
students were required to produce a complete academic paper based on their major.
The students had ten weeks to complete the task. Every week, the tutor explained and taught
the students how to write an academic paper and the appropriate language to be used. The
students had to submit a draft of each paragraphs for editing. At the end of Week 10, students
submitted their academic paper and a questionnaire was given to each student in Week 14,
primarily to find out about the students’ views towards teaching and learning of writing
throughout the course. The students’ work was marked according to the marking scheme
provided by the module chairperson. Finally, the scores of the project paper and also the
questionnaire were recorded for data analysis using the content analysis method.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Table 9. The process of English for Academic Reading and Writing Module
Students
taking
UB00402
(mostly
sem 2/yr
2& final
yr
students)
UB00402
English for
Academic
Reading
and
Writing
Teaching
and
Learning to
write an
academic
paper
Focus of the Module
1. Organisation
2. Language
3. Content
Problems in
writing an
academic
paper (via
students
project
paper)
Perception on
Learning and
Teaching of
UB00402 (via
questionnaire)
9
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS PROCEDURE
Table 10. Data Collection Procedure
WK 1
WK 2 – 9
Introduce module and task requirement
Teaching and Learning of an academic paper structure
and language convention for each section.
Drafts of each section
WK 10
Submit the final draft of the project paper
WK 14
Questionnaire
WK 15 -16
Analysing the project paper and questionnaire.
Table 11. Data Analysis Procedure
INSTRUMENT
Course Requirement,
Instruction for Task
Outline
DATA ANALYSIS
and Document Analysis
Students’ Project Paper and Marking Holistic and expression
marking
Scheme
Questionnaire
Demographic information
and Percentages
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Respondents’ Demographic Information
There are 27 respondents involved in this research majoring in Medicine. Their ages ranged
from 20 to 21 years old. Majority of them are Malay (67%), others (22%), Chinese (7%) and
Indian (4%) of the participants. The distribution of gender is 22% male and 78% female. The
school chosen for this research is one out of the twelve schools at the UMS main campus.
From the findings, the spoken language of the respondents is mostly Malay at 74%, followed
by English at 15%, Chinese at 7% and only 4% of the respondents use Tamil language
frequently.
In terms of their English Language performance, all of the respondents obtained a Band 3 for
MUET in the year 2006.
10
Table 12. Grade obtained for PPIB English Language courses
Void: 11 respondents didn’t answer the question
Grade
Level 1
Level 2
A
A3
B+
3
9
B
10
4
B1
C
3
C+
1
Level 3
12
3
2
In the three other levels of English offered by PPIB, most of the respondents scored grade B
(comprised of B+, B and B-) for three levels. It shows that the respondents fall under the
category of average students for English.
Based on the question number 8 of the questionnaire, respondents are asked of their level of
skill for writing and majority (89%) said they are intermediate and 11% of the respondents
say they are beginners.
Students’ Feelings Regarding Teaching of Writing
There are thirty questions in Section B; Students’ feelings regarding teaching of writing.
However, for the purpose of this research, only 22 questions are used in the analysis. Section
B is further divided into three parts; i.e. statement on effectiveness of the teaching and
learning of UB00402, statements on skill of writing acquired, and Statements on problems
faced during the course.
11
Table 13. Students’ Feelings towards Teaching of Writing
Item
(Part A)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Item
(Part B)
15
16
17
18
19
20
Item
(Part C)
21
22
Statements on effectiveness of the teaching
and learning of UB00402
Learning ways to write a specific essay is
beneficial to me.
Writing is taught through activities carried out in
the classroom.
Writing is an easy task.
I am already very good in writing essay related
to academic writing.
I like writing because I can express myself.
The skill in writing depends on revision and
practices.
I can reflect on my previous way of
understanding how to write an academic paper.
I understand the techniques of writing an
academic paper better now.
I am glad I could write about this topic to
develop my skill and talent in writing.
Certain things that I have learnt in the past are
clearer now after learning how to write this type
of essay.
After attending this course, I could process the
points on what to write easily.
This technique of writing has helped me to write
better now.
I see “writing essay” the same now, as before
learning this technique.
I can produce an academic paper within the time
frame given.
Statements on skill of writing acquired
I have been exposed to different types of
techniques on how to write an academic paper.
I am ready to act on what I learned in this
writing class.
I like the technique/approach used by my
teacher.
I gain extra credit because the technique has
been valuable and meaningful to me.
The genre-based approach to writing has
improved my writing skill.
The process of learning to write is a waste of
time.
Statements on problems faced during the
course
I always have problem starting my writing.
I really did not know what I was writing about in
the writing.
Disagree
Agree
3 (11%)
24(89%)
6 (22%)
21(78%)
27 (100%)
25 (93%)
0
2 (7%)
17 (63%)
3 (11%)
10(37%)
24(89%)
9 (33%)
18(67%)
2 (7%)
25(93%)
1(4%)
26(96%)
8 (30%)
19(70%)
11 (41%)
16(59%)
7 (26%)
20(74%)
22(81%)
5 (19%)
9 (33%)
18(67%)
Disagree
Agree
6 (22%)
21(78%)
9 (33%)
18(67%)
5 (19%)
22(81%)
7 (26%)
20(74%)
5 (19%)
22(81%)
24 (89%)
3 (11%)
Disagree
3 (11%)
23 (85%)
Agree
24(89%)
4(15%)
(adapted from Wan Hurani Osman, 2007)
12
Findings from Section B of the questionnaire indicate that the learning and teaching of
writing has been successful and fruitful for the students. From the table above, it can be said
that most items that consist of positive responses towards the teaching and learning of writing
in UB00402 for example items 10, 11, 12 and 13 shows that students agree with them. Most
respondents agreed that learning to write is beneficial as this develops their skill and talent in
writing, the writing technique teaches them to write and reflect more effectively and after
attending the course they became better writers as they acquired a different view of and
greater interest in writing.
Table 14. Students’ Feedback towards the Course
Part C
Like
1. gain extra knowledge/ improve writing skills/ learn new vocabulary
2. have more confidence to write
3. essay topic related to the course
Dislike
1. feel bored because have to write the whole semester
2. teaching does not focus on grammar
3. hate writing essay
The result from the questionnaire i.e. the opinions of the respondents regarding the problems
that they faced is presented in Section C of the administered questionnaire. This section
describes the students’ feedback regarding the course. The feedback can be summarised in
Table 15 above by examining the most popular responses of respondents.
Based on the table above, it can be concluded that the reasons the students like the course is
because it helps them in their writing skills as well as in improving their English. The number
of students who expressed positive opinions is greater than the students who gave negative
feedback on the course. In short, the course has indeed helped the students in improving their
writing skill.
ORGANISATION OF ACADEMIC ESSAY
Students were given an assignment to produce an academic paper based on their field which
is medicine. Students had to produce drafts per sub-heading. The drafts were mostly done
once unless the students have major errors such as plagiarism and inappropriate content.
13
Table 15. Structure of an Academic Essay
Sub-heading
Introductory
Paragraph
Background
Paragraph
Body
Paragraphs
Concluding
Paragraph
End-of-Text
Reference Page
Elaboration
Availability
in 1st draft
1/27
- stimulate your readers’ interest in
your topic
27/27
- provide brief information (about one
to four sentences) about the topic
4/27
- include a clear thesis statement that
explains the focus of your paper
10/27
- include information that is factual
and/or historical, explaining the
background of the topic that readers
need
2/27
- ask yourself information questions,
like Who? What? When? Where?
Why? and How?. Responses to these
questions and citations of sources
where you found the answers may be
included
in
your
background
paragraph.
2/27
- Usually two to six paragraphs for
most assignment)
For each body paragraph,
11/27
- begin with a topic sentence that
relates directly to the thesis statement
and contains both a main idea and
controlling idea(s)
15/27
- illustrate the major ideas with specific
examples and details
4/27
- use logical organisers to show the
relationship between ideas
25/27
- include in-text citation for any
sources used
0/27
- end with a brief concluding sentence
27/27
- remind readers of the main points
developed in your essay
0/27
- relate the conclusion to remarks in the
introduction
4/27
- provide the reader with final
comments on the topic
27/27
- do not introduce more information or
a new angle on the topic
- on a separate page, list all the sources
20/27
referred to when you wrote your paper
Availability
in final draft
27/27
27/27
27/27
2727
27/27
27/27
27/27
27/27
27/27
27/27
14/27
27/27
6/27
20/27
27/27
27/27
(Tunceren and Cavusgil, 2006, p. 18)
Based on the table above, it can be said that at the end of the semester, students learned how
to organise their academic writing properly and in accordance to the format required.
However, this does not mean that the paper is error free. All students were able to produce
14
the end product required but the problem arises in the writing skills; i.e. cohesion, quotation
and paraphrase.
For all the sub-headings, all 27 students had to submit more than one draft. The main problem
for all the students is the management of the content. The students get confused especially
between the introductory and background paragraph and background and body paragraph
(refer to Appendix A for sample of students’ work). According to Silber (2008), one of the
good practices of writing is to “…revise extensively. Rather than writing a single draft and
then merely editing its sentences one by one, they attend to the whole essay and draft and
redraft – rearranging the sequence of its larger parts, adding and deleting sections to take
account of what they discover in the course of composition.”
Of the five sub-heading, concluding paragraph is the least problematic with only 9 students
who did not need to submit a second draft.
Besides the organising of the points, another difficult part was to use the proper vocabulary
and sentence structure. Basically, this is because the students’ foundation in the language is
not strong (refer to Appendix B for student’s work). Looking at the students’ semester 2
English Language result; i.e. English for Reading and Writing, no students scored A for the
paper. In addition, the content of the textbook and the course syllabus do not include the
teaching and learning of grammar in detail. As mentioned by Kim and Kim (2005) in their
article Teaching Korean University Writing Class: Balancing the Process and the Genre
Approach, students fail to see the connection between grammar form and function because
they are taught grammatical features separate from the context. Thus, students are not able to
use their grammar knowledge in their writing. Realising this, Hicks (1997) says that genre
theory is asking for grammar instructions to be considered but at the level of text where the
typical rhetorical forms used to achieve particular social purposes.
QUOTING AND PARAPHRASING
As mentioned earlier, what makes an academic paper different than other genres is the
existence of in-text citation and end-text citation. As for the in-text citation, the technique of
quoting and paraphrasing is very crucial. If it is done wrongly, it will affect the strength and
validity of the paper and may be considered a plagiarised paper (refer to Appendix C for
student’s work).
15
Table 16. Techniques to paraphrase
NO
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Availability Availability
in final draft
in 1st draft
Change a word form from one part of
0/27
0/27
speech to another
Use synonyms
6/27
14/27
Change numbers and percentages to
0/27
0/27
different forms
Change the word order (e.g. change
7/27
13/27
from active to passive and vice versa,
move modifiers to different positions)
Use different definition structure
0/27
7/27
Use different attribution signals
18/27
27/27
Change the sentence structure, and use
8/27
27/27
different connecting words
Do not change key terms or proper
22/27
27/27
nouns
(Tunceren and Cavusgil, 2006, p.82-86)
TECHNIQUES
Looking at the table above, it can be concluded that majority of the students have learned a
few of the techniques suggested by Tunceren and Cavusgil (2006) in their book College
Writing 4. However, 3 students have played it save by using a lot of quotation compared to
paraphrasing after sending the first draft.
According to Monash University in
http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/general/academic/7.xml among the common
problems in academic writing are ineffective paraphrasing (i.e. patchwork paraphrasing), and
too many quotes.
CONCLUSION
The study shows that the UB00402 course (English for Academic Reading and Writing), has
benefited the students in terms of learning how to write an academic paper. The students are
more aware on how to organise and use the proper format especially on quoting and
paraphrasing and the language of an academic paper. Nevertheless, the study reveals that not
all students got an ‘A’ for the task given. This is mainly due to problems with using English
grammar correctly. It is very difficult for students to produce a 100% error free introduction
section.
In general, the main cause of errors is not due to the course structure but to the students’ own
level of English proficiency, both written and spoken. Students did find that being taught how
to write an academic paper has been beneficial to them. However, because of the language
problem, both writing and reading for main ideas and supporting details in the background
paragraph and also body paragraphs has hindered the students from writing a perfect paper.
16
This research paper has helped the researchers to understand the problems students faced in
writing an introduction for a research paper. This study too, has provided the researchers with
better insight into the needs of the students who will enrol in the course for the coming
semester. Obviously, more attention should be paid to paraphrasing and grammar. In
addition, the aspect of citation and vocabulary also needs serious attention. It must be stressed
in the course so that plagiarism does not occur especially in the background paragraph and
body paragraphs wherein the theoretical thinking of the writer of the study lies. Furthermore,
a list of common words used in an academic paper must be given to the students to assist
them in writing. The list should also contain example sentences to show the different uses of
the words, and synonyms can also be given to help demonstrate formal and informal usage of
words.
REFERENCES
Kim, Y and Kim, J. 2005 Teaching Korean University Writing Class: Balancing the Process
and the Genre Approach. In: Asian EFL Journal, 7. Retrieved June 16, 2009, from
mhtml:file://E:\Asian EFL Journal English Language Teaching and Research Articles.mht
Lim, J.M.H. 2008 Analyzing Recommendations for Future Research: An Investigation into a
Hybrid sub-genre. In: Wilkinson, R. & Zegers, V. (eds.) Realizing Content and Language
Integration in Higher Education. Maastricht: Maastricht University, pp 131-154
Hicks, D. 1997. Working Through Discourse Genres in School. Research in the Teaching of
English, 31, p. 459-485
Monash University, http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/general/academic/7.xml.
Retrieved July 1, 2009.
O’Leary Z. 2004. Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Publication
Paulston, C.B. 1972. Teaching Writing in the ESOL Classroom: Techniques of Controlled
Composition. TESOL Quarterly, 6, 1, p. 33-59
Silber, C.A. 2008 Some General Advice on Academic Essay Writing Retrieved April 20,
2009 from http://www.utotonto.ca/writing/essay.html
Swales, J. 1990. Genre Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tunceren, L. & Cavusgil, S. 2006. College Writing 4. New York: Houghton Mifflin
Company:
Wan Hurani Osman 2007 Learning to Write Introduction for a Research Report: A Case
Study among Students from the School of Business and Economics,UMS MA dissertation
for partial fulfillment of Masters (TESL) UMS
Weigle, S. C. 2002. Assessing Writing. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. pp 1 –
13, 35, 96
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What is an Academic Paper? Retrieved April 20, 2009, from
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/ac_paper/what.shtml
Appendix A
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19
Appendix B
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Appendix C
21