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AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENT’S PARAGRAPH WRITING

Article  in  Syntax Literate Jurnal Ilmiah Indonesia · March 2018

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Universitas Muhammadiyah Tangerang
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ANANALYSIS OF STUDENT’S PARAGRAPH WRITING

Abdul Rohim
Universitas Muhammadiyah Tangerang
Email: [email protected]

Abstrak
Paragraph writing is a subject which is taught in most english writing university
classes. A paragraph is a group of sentences that develops a single topic or
idea.The purpose of this research is to recognize and analyze the paragraph
writing that will be expected in academic writing. This research uses the
descriptive qualitative research with the aim of exposing student’s paragaraph
writing. The subject of this research is the assignment made by the fourth semester
students of English Department, Faculty of Teacher and Training Education
Muhammadiyah University of Tangerang. The objects of this research are the parts
of paragraph and unity and coherence of paragraph.
Kata Kunci: Paragraph, Academic Writing.

Introduction
English is very importance language in real communication in the world, so
many people are interested in learning this language. There are four skills in English:
reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Writing which is one of four parts of skill has
become an element of importance basic study of English. Writing is used for
communication. Before writing, we need to determine what we write, we should have
something meaningful to convey. To put forward our message successfully, we, the
writers, apply a number of writing strategies. These strategies are not talent – oriented.
Every writer can learn and apply them in her or his writing. Every learner is than
encouraged to keep on practicing. In other cases, we realize that many students get
problems to know how to write well. They can write but the result is far from the
greeting well, so usually in the final test the result is not good enough. The students
usually make mistake in deciding topic sentence and other part of paragraph. Finding
the main idea is very useful.

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In writing, the main idea gives unity and order to our paragraph. In addition to
unity, coherence becomes important role in making a paragraph.. A coherent paragraph
consists of interrelated sentences which have in such a smooth way. Many mistakes are
also frequently found when the students start to write. They tend not to obey the rules
in writing and say that writing is a complicated skill, that this skill is concerned with the
talent. Writing is not easy. It involves much work and practices. Trying to puts our ideas
on paper in just the way we want them is never easy. When we write, we have to think
of several things at the same time. In addition, it should be kept in mind that the writer
has the right to present the readers with easy-to-understand writing.
This article may be useful for students as a reference in their writing process and
their assignments as well. They are expected to be able to write good paragraphs in
academic circumstances. This article will present the definition of writing, the writing
process, and writing a paragraph.

Methodology
This research uses the descriptive qualitative research. Arikunto (1996:114)
says that data source means a subject form which the data are obtained. Data are the
most important items in research because the information about problems which are
discussed could be achieved from the data. The data of this research were taken from
the assignments of fourth semeste students of English Department, Faculty of Teacher
and Training Education Muhammadiyah University of Tangerang. To collect the data,
the researcher gives an oppurtunity for students to write a paragraph. They were given
90 minutes to do the instruction in the doing an assignment. The instructions are: 1)
each student has to make a writing which consists of one paragraph with his/her own
topic, 2) the students must finish their writings in 90 minutes.

Findings and Discussion

Syntax Literate, Vol. 3, No. 3 Maret 2018 13

The student’s paragraph writing will be analyzed and identified to know parts of
paragraph, unity, and coherence.
Now let us analyze two paragraph examples which have been written by the
fourth semester students of English Department, Faculty of Teacher and Training
Education Muhammadiyah University of Tangerang.

Paragrapah one
My Father
The person whom i can learn everything is my father. He takes care of me
very well when i am in trouble. He is a technician in a computer company. He is
the good adviser in my family, every family member takes advice from him whenever
they get problem. He always keeps telling me about truth. He teaches me to be
better person in life. I am very grateful for having father like him.

Analysis
From above paragraph it can be seen the topic sentence is the first sentence “The
person whom i can learn everything is my father”. It consists of topic (My father) and
controlling idea (The person whom i can learn everything). That paragraph also consists
of supporting sentences (sentences 2,3,4,and 5) that support topic sentence. That last
sentence in that paragaraph is called by concluding sentence that gives summary about
the topic sentence.
The paragraph has one sentence that doesn’t support the topic sentence.
Sentence  (He is a technician in a computer company ) is irrelevant that is not
necessary in that paragraph. That paragraph also lacks coherence because it overuses the
pronouns so much (He) that it may cause some difficulties in comprehension.
Paragrapah two

Homework
Homework is an important part of the learning process in Senior High School.
One reason is that homework gives students additional practice of skills at home .
Another reason for homework is that it provides time to complete longer assignments.
Finally, the most important reason for homework is that student can review the

14 Syntax Literate, Vol. 3, No. 3 Maret 2018

subject given. Inconclusion, homework is not only essential for mastering new skills ,
but it also provides time for longer assignments.

Conclusion
From above paragraph it can be seen the topic sentence is the first sentence
“Homework is an important part of the learning process in Senior High School”. It
consists of topic (Homework) and controlling idea (An important part of the learning
process in Senior High School). That paragraph also consists of supporting sentences
(sentences 2,3, and 4) that support topic sentence. That last sentence in that paragaraph
is called by concluding sentence that concludes the topic sentence.
The paragraph has an important element, it is unity because all supporting
sentences support the topic sentence. That paragraph has coherence because the
sentences hold together; that is, the movement from one sentence to the next looks
logical and smooth. There no sudden jumps. Each sentence flows smoothly into the next
one.

Syntax Literate, Vol. 3, No. 3 Maret 2018 15

REFERENCES

Arikunto. 1996. Prosedur Penelitian Suatu Pendekatan Praktek. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta.
Brown, Douglas. H. 2001. Teaching by principle. New York: Addison Wesley
Longman Inc
Hyland, K. 2004. Genre and Second Language Writing. Ann Arbor, University of
Michigan Press.
Luman, R. 2001. Power point presentation by Ruth Luman. Retrieved from
http://www.mla.org/scholarly_pub
https://www.slideshare.net/carlachavezs/writing-processppt
Oshima,A., Hogue, A.2006. Writing Academic English(4th ed.), USA: Pearson
Longman
Zemach, D., Islam, C. 2005. College Writing From Paragraph to Essay, Oxford,
England.: Macmillan Publisher.
Zemach, D., Rumisek,L.A. 2003. Paragraph Writing, Oxford, England.: Macmillan
Publisher

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