Syntax Literate : Jurnal Ilmiah Indonesia – ISSN : 2541-0849 e-ISSN : 2548-1398
Vol. 3, No 3 Maret 2018
Universitas Muhammadiyah Tangerang Email: abdulrohim[email protected]
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.
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.
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.
There are three students’ writings used as the data of this research. The writings are in the form of paragraphs with different topics. The students choose their own topic, such as, describing someone, attitude about something, and comment about something.
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.
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
subject given. Inconclusion, homework is not only essential for mastering new skills , but it also provides time for longer assignments.
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.
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