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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 (1wanosman@ums.edu.my; 2annalynn@ums.edu.my)

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 cross-cultural 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

Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of Teaching and Learning (ICTL 2009)INTI University College, Malaysia

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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 writing-up an easy or hassle free process.” On top of the difficult task of writing, reading may also be

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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.

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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)

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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)

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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)

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D) Concluding Paragraph After the body paragraphs comes the last paragraph which is the concluding paragraph.

Table 6. The purpose of a concluding paragraph

(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.

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.

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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 TECHNIQUES 1 Change a word form from one part of speech to another 2 Use synonyms 3 Change numbers and percentages to different forms 4 Change the word order (e.g. change from active to passive and vice

versa, move modifiers to different positions) 5 Use different definition structure 6 Use different attribution signals 7 Change the sentence structure, and use different connecting words 8 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

Problems in writing an academic paper (via students project paper)

Perception on Learning and Teaching of

UB00402 (via questionnaire)

1. Organisation 2. Language 3. Content

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DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS PROCEDURE

Table 10. Data Collection Procedure

WK 1 Introduce module and task requirement

WK 2 – 9 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 DATA ANALYSIS Course Requirement, Outline and Instruction for Task

Document Analysis

Students’ Project Paper and Marking Scheme

Holistic and expression marking

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.

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Table 12. Grade obtained for PPIB English Language courses

Void: 11 respondents didn’t answer the question Grade Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 A 12 A- 3 3 B+ 3 9 B 10 4 2 B- 1 C 3 C+ 1

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.

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Table 13. Students’ Feelings towards Teaching of Writing

Item (Part A)

Statements on effectiveness of the teaching and learning of UB00402

Disagree Agree

1 Learning ways to write a specific essay is beneficial to me.

3 (11%) 24(89%)

2 Writing is taught through activities carried out in the classroom.

6 (22%) 21(78%)

3 Writing is an easy task. 27 (100%) 0 4 I am already very good in writing essay related

to academic writing. 25 (93%) 2 (7%)

5 I like writing because I can express myself. 17 (63%) 10(37%) 6 The skill in writing depends on revision and

practices. 3 (11%) 24(89%)

7 I can reflect on my previous way of understanding how to write an academic paper.

9 (33%) 18(67%)

8 I understand the techniques of writing an academic paper better now.

2 (7%) 25(93%)

9 I am glad I could write about this topic to develop my skill and talent in writing.

1(4%) 26(96%)

10 Certain things that I have learnt in the past are clearer now after learning how to write this type of essay.

8 (30%) 19(70%)

11 After attending this course, I could process the points on what to write easily.

11 (41%) 16(59%)

12 This technique of writing has helped me to write better now.

7 (26%) 20(74%)

13 I see “writing essay” the same now, as before learning this technique.

22(81%) 5 (19%)

14 I can produce an academic paper within the time frame given.

9 (33%) 18(67%)

Item (Part B)

Statements on skill of writing acquired Disagree Agree

15 I have been exposed to different types of techniques on how to write an academic paper.

6 (22%) 21(78%)

16 I am ready to act on what I learned in this writing class.

9 (33%) 18(67%)

17 I like the technique/approach used by my teacher.

5 (19%) 22(81%)

18 I gain extra credit because the technique has been valuable and meaningful to me.

7 (26%) 20(74%)

19 The genre-based approach to writing has improved my writing skill.

5 (19%) 22(81%)

20 The process of learning to write is a waste of time.

24 (89%) 3 (11%)

Item (Part C)

Statements on problems faced during the course

Disagree Agree

21 I always have problem starting my writing. 3 (11%) 24(89%) 22 I really did not know what I was writing about in

the writing. 23 (85%) 4(15%)

(adapted from Wan Hurani Osman, 2007)

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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.

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Table 15. Structure of an Academic Essay

Sub-heading Elaboration Availability in 1st draft

Availability in final draft

Introductory Paragraph

- stimulate your readers’ interest in your topic - provide brief information (about one to four sentences) about the topic - include a clear thesis statement that explains the focus of your paper

1/27 27/27 4/27

27/27 27/27 27/27

Background Paragraph

- include information that is factual and/or historical, explaining the background of the topic that readers need - 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.

10/27 2/27

2727 27/27

Body Paragraphs

- Usually two to six paragraphs for most assignment) For each body paragraph, - begin with a topic sentence that relates directly to the thesis statement and contains both a main idea and controlling idea(s) - illustrate the major ideas with specific examples and details - use logical organisers to show the relationship between ideas - include in-text citation for any sources used - end with a brief concluding sentence

2/27 11/27 15/27 4/27 25/27

0/27

27/27

27/27

27/27

27/27

27/27

14/27 Concluding Paragraph

- remind readers of the main points developed in your essay - relate the conclusion to remarks in the introduction - provide the reader with final comments on the topic - do not introduce more information or a new angle on the topic

27/27

0/27

4/27

27/27

27/27 6/27 20/27 27/27

End-of-Text Reference Page

- on a separate page, list all the sources referred to when you wrote your paper

20/27 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

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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).

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Table 16. Techniques to paraphrase

NO TECHNIQUES Availability in 1st draft

Availability in final draft

1 Change a word form from one part of speech to another

0/27 0/27

2 Use synonyms 6/27 14/27 3 Change numbers and percentages to

different forms 0/27 0/27

4 Change the word order (e.g. change from active to passive and vice versa, move modifiers to different positions)

7/27 13/27

5 Use different definition structure 0/27 7/27 6 Use different attribution signals 18/27 27/27 7 Change the sentence structure, and use

different connecting words 8/27 27/27

8 Do not change key terms or proper nouns

22/27 27/27

(Tunceren and Cavusgil, 2006, p.82-86)

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.

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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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Appendix B

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Appendix C