Universitas Riau

A THESIS
An Analysis of Students Difficulties in Writing
Informative Abstracts in Jurnal Online Mahasiswa
Universitas Riau

By:
Cindy Sasnia Putri Ananda Kadir
1805110983

Consultant I : Consultant II :
Dr. Eliwarti, M. App. Ling. Drs. Masyhur, M. Ed.
NIP. 19631217 199002 2001 NIP. 19611012 199502 1001
 General Overview
• Background
• The Formulation of The Problems
• The Objectives of The Research
CHAPTER I • The Needs of The Research
• The Definition of Terms

CHAPTER II • Theoretical Review

• Review of Relevant Study

• The Research Design

• Time and Place of The Research
CHAPTER III • Data and Source of Data
• The Data Collection Technique
• The Research Instrument
• The Technique of Data Analysis

• The Results of The Research

CHAPTER IV • The Discussions of The Research

CHAPTER V • Conclusions
• Suggestions
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CHAPTER I (INTRODUCTION)

Background

InAbstracts
fact, writingare
is the most challenging
common to be skill
found to learn. Alfiani (2013)
in journal articles,
states that conference
theses, it is difficult to write because
papers, the writer
and others. It ismust include
because the
abstract
containing process such as plan, organize, revise and present the
is the primary reason to be read after the title and before the
meaning of a word or sentence. So, it needs competencies of many
introduction.
language aspects, including grammar, diction, cohesiveness, and
vocabulary to express the opinions, ideas, knowledge, and feelings
While informative abstract is one type of abstract that is a
of the writer.
brief summary of all the information in a scientific paper.

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CHAPTER I (INTRODUCTION)

Background

Unfortunately,
In fact, writing ismany students
the most still findskill
challenging it difficult
to learn.and challenging
Alfiani (2013) to
write informative
states abstracts
that it is difficult for research
to write because thejournal articles
writer or theses.
must include theThis
iscontaining
due to lackprocess
of awareness
such asinplan,
compiling
organize,therevise
steps of
andscientific writing.
present the
Writing
meaning informative
of a word or abstracts
sentence. should be more
So, it needs systematic
competencies and well
of many
organized. Based on
language aspects, the experience
including grammar,ofdiction,
some alumni students
cohesiveness, andof the
English Department
vocabulary to express theStudy Program
opinions, ideas,atknowledge,
UniversitasandRiau who ofhad
feelings
written an abstract thesis, they the stated
writer.that when writing abstract, they
had difficulties, like the components of abstract, the structures of
abstract, and many other difficulties.

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CHAPTER I (INTRODUCTION)

Background

In fact, writing is the most challenging skill to learn. Alfiani (2013)

As far as the writer knows, the research related to the
states that it is difficult to write because the writer must include the
analysis
containingof student
process such asdifficulties
plan, organize,inrevise
writing informative
and present the
abstracts
meaning of aiswordstillorrarely
sentence.done
So, itin Indonesia.
needs It makes
competencies of manythe
languagedecide
writer aspects,toincluding
conductgrammar, diction,that
research cohesiveness,
focuses andon an
vocabulary to express the opinions, ideas, knowledge, and feelings of
abstract framework the thatwriter.
is commonly known as
rhetorical structure or moves.

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CHAPTER I (INTRODUCTION)
The Formulation of
The Formulation of
The Problem
The Problems
1. Are the abstracts written by
1. Are the abstracts written by
students appropriate with
students in appropriate with
the abstract framework?
the abstract framework?
2. How is the students' abstract
2. What are the students'
writing ability on Jurnal
abstract writing difficulties
Online Mahasiswa?
on Jurnal Online
Mahasiswa?
The Formulation of
The Objective of The
The Problem
Research
1. To analyze students‘
1. Are the abstracts written by
understanding on abstract
students in appropriate with
framework.
the abstract framework?
2. How is the students' abstract
2. To find out the difficulties
writing ability on Jurnal
of students in writing
Online Mahasiswa?
informative abstracts in
Jurnal Online Mahasiswa.
 For the writer and next
1.
writer

2. For students

The Needs of
The Research

3. For all the readers

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 The Definition of Terms

In this context, the difficulty of the research can be

Difficulty defined as the challenge that is faced by students in
writing informative abstracts.

Toyo, et al. (2012), state that writing is the expression of

ideas in the form of letters, symbols, or words.
Writing

In this research, abstract can be interpreted as a main

Abstract summary of a study written by students in their thesis.

Jurnal
Online Jurnal Online Mahasiswa is a collection of scientific articles
Mahasiswa from a college written by students and published online.

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 REVIEW OF
CHAPTER II
Writing L I T E R AT U R E

The Formulation The Formulation

The Process of The Aspects of
of The Problem of The Problem
Writing Writing

There are 9 aspects of writing (Theory of

1.Planning  Drafting
Are the abstracts 
written by 1.Hyland):
Are the abstracts written by
1. Use formal vocabulary
students in
Revising appropriate
Editing with students in appropriate with
2. Use formal verbs
the abstract framework? 3. the
Use abstract
full verbs framework?
(Based on Richards &
2. How is the students' abstract 2.4. How is the
Use formal students'
grammar abstract
structures
Renandya (2002),
writing ability on Harmer
Jurnal 5. writing
Use statements
ability on Jurnal
6. Use impersonal language
(2004), and
Online Mahasiswa? Langan 7. Online Mahasiswa?
Be precise
(2008)). 8. Use hedging statements
9. Use transition words
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Abstract
The Definitions of Abstract The Types of Abstract

According to Graf (2008), 1. Indicative Abstract

the abstract is the most 2. Descriptive Abstract
important part of an article. 3. Informative Abstract
It is the most read, and it
covers all the main points.

Model of Abstract Moves

The Purposes of Abstract
1. CARS or Swales Model
2. Bhatia’s Model
Save time for readers to collect 3. Hyland’s Model
and select information.

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 Universitas Riau
Related Studies
No Title Author(s) Year Conclusion
1. Rhetorical Moves of English Ahmad Akrom 2020 This research shows that
Thesis Abstracts of Education Anakib students already know about
Student at UIN Sunan Ampel the elements of rhetorical
Surabaya. moves in the abstract, but
they already have variations
in structuring the elements.

2. Rhetorical Moves Students’ Zeyhan Lembara 2018 There are differences in the
Thesis Abstract Wulandari sequence of rhetorical moves
in abstracts written by
students. This is due to the
lack of knowledge of
English students in abstract
writing according to the
rules

3. Representation of Rhetorical Lailatul 2015 This study shows that

Move of Thesis Abstracts in Fajriyah there are differences in
English Teacher Education rhetorical moves in
Department
student abstracts.
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY

The Research
Time and
Design
Place
This research was carried out on
Mei 2022 – July 2022
This research approach was qualitative.
The research design was content or
document analysis.

English Study Program of

Universitas Riau

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METHODOLOGY

Data Source of
Data

The main data on this research

was taken from a students' From Jurnal Online
abstract framework on research Mahasiswa undergraduate.
journal articles in English. This research identified 40
research journal articles.

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 The Data Collection Technique

The data collection method

that was used by the writer
was content or conducting
document study of English
research journal articles by
students on Jurnal Online
Mahasiswa Universitas Riau.

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 The Research Instrument by Hyland’s Model
Rhetorical Structures (Moves) in Students Writing Abstract on Jurnal Online Mahasiswa
MOVES STEPS ✓/X
Step 1: Discussing the dominant research topic.

Step 2: Making the topic generalization.

Move 1 (Introduction) Step 3: Defining terms, objects, or processes of the
research.
Step 4: Identifying a gap in current knowledge.

Move 2 (Purpose) Step 1: Discussing the purpose directly.

Step 1: Describing the participants.
Move 3 (Method) Step 2: Describing the instruments.
Step 3: Describing the procedure or conditions.

Move 4 (Product) Step 1: Describing the product or main features.

Step 1: Stating the conclusion of the research.

Move 5 (Conclusion) Step 2: Evaluating value of the research.
Step 3: Giving a recommendation.
 As a research design,
content analysis was one
of the techniques that can
be used in analyzing data.

The Technique of Data

Analysis

Data
Data Display
Reduction

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 RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

Move 1: Introduction

Findings
Move 1 (Introduction)

On this move, the total number 7

of students that used it were 7 6

students out of 40. In the part of
5
the introduction, there are four
steps, which are: discussing the 4

dominant research topic, 3

making the topic generalization,
2
defining terms, objects, or
processes of the research, and 1

identifying a gap in current 0

knowledge Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4

The Number of Move 1 (Introduction) in Informative

Abstracts of Jurnal Online Mahasiswa
MOVE 1 : INTRODUCTION

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

Shows that there are 6 It can be There are 4 students who

students who wrote the determined that followed step 3 in the
Step 1 in their there are 5 introduction. Step 3 is
informative abstract. In students who called defining terms,
the student abstract followed step 2
documents, numbers 1, 4,
objects, or processes of the
(making the topic
6, 16, 20 and 31 clearly generalization) in research. The documents
discuss the dominant their abstracts as numbers 1, 6, 13, and 20.
topics which are the main an introduction.
focus of student research

It can be seen that none of the students wrote this in the

Step 4 introduction section of their informative abstracts. Step 4 is
concerned with identifying gaps in current knowledge.
 Based on the 40
abstract documents
MOVE 2 : PURPOSE that were sampled for
this research, the
writer found that 39
students wrote the
purpose of their
abstracts.
 MOVE 3 : METHOD

Move 3 (Method)

In this study, there are 39 40

39
out of 40 abstracts that 38
followed Move 3 37

"Method". In this case, 36

35
there is only 1 student 34
(abstract document 33

number 5) who did not 32

write the method in his 31

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

informative abstract. The Number of Move 3 (Method) in Informative

Abstracts of Jurnal Online Mahasiswa
 Step 1 MOVE 3 : METHOD
Based on the chart, it can be
seen that there are 39 students
who followed step 1
(describing the participants).
Step 3
There are 34 abstract
documents that have step 3 in
the method section.
Meanwhile, the other 6
abstracts (9, 16, 28, 32 and 34)
used steps 1 and 2 to explain
the method part of the
research
Step 2
The data shows that there are 3
abstract documents that do not
have step 2. These abstracts are
numbers 5, 16, and 34.
MOVE 4 : PRODUCT
Based on the 40 abstract documents
that were sampled for this research, the
writer found 38 documents included
the product in the abstract while the
other 2 abstract documents (numbers 5
and 9) do not describe the product or
main features.
 STEP 1
It can be seen that there are 33
students who followed step 1
(stating the conclusion of the
research) in their abstracts. Move 5 (Conclusion)
STEP 2 35

Only 3 abstract documents 30

followed step 2 in writing the 25
conclusion of their abstracts. As
20
for the other 37 documents, the
15
writer found that the abstract of
the document only used steps 1 10
and 3. 5

STEP 3 0
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3
It can be seen that there are 19
The Number of Move 5 (Conclusion) in Informative
students who followed step 3
Abstracts of Jurnal Online Mahasiswa
(giving a recommendation) in
their abstracts.
 Percentage of
Rhetorical Move Analysis
From the 40 data of the research,
almost all document abstracts
Percentage of Rhetorical Move Analysis contain moves 2, 3, 4, and 5.
120% Meanwhile, based on the chart, the
97,5% 97,5% 97,5%
total documents using moves 2, 3,
100% 95%
and 5 are 39 abstracts. It means that
80% only 1 abstract that does not use
60%
those moves. While move 4 has a
small percentage difference from
40%
moves 2, 3, and 5, this is because
20%
20% only 2 abstracts do not use this
move. However, compared to the
0%
Move 1 (In- Move 2 Move 3 Move 4 Move 5 four moves above, move 1 has the
troduction) (Purpose) (Method) (Product) (Conclusion)
smallest percentage of 20%. It
means that only 8 document
abstracts have move 1.
The Difficulties of Students Writing
Informative Abstracts on Jurnal
Online Mahasiswa Universitas Riau

Total Abstract
No Aspects of Writing Percentage (%)
Documents

1 Use formal vocabulary 32 80%

2 Use formal verbs 32 80%

3 Use full verbs 32 80%

Use formal grammar

4 19 47.5%
structures

5 Use statements 31 77.5%

6 Use impersonal language 21 52.5%

7 Be precise 25 62.5%

8 Use hedging statements 30 75%

9 Use transition words 28 70%

The Percentage of Aspects of Writing
 The Discussions of The
Research
Based on the findings above,
most of the 40 abstract documents of
English education students who have
written informative abstracts in Jurnal
Online Mahasiswa Universitas Riau of
the last 4 years (2019 – 2022) have
difficulty in certain sections such as
move 1 (introduction).
It also backs up with findings of
research by Hashemi & Saboori
(2013). They found out that move 1
has smallest of total document. It
means that not all writers understand
all the steps in an abstract framework.
Based on the findings above, most of
the 40 abstract documents of the English
Department who had written informative
abstracts had difficulties in several aspects,
such as formal grammar structure (47.5%),
using impersonal language (52.5%), and
being precise (62.5%).
However, it is clear that the formal
grammar structure is the most difficult aspect
experienced by English Study Program
students at Universitas Riau in writing
informative abstracts. This is also in line with
previous research, which explains that
grammar structure is one of the most difficult
things faced in academic writing.
 CONCLUSIONS SUGGESTIONS
CHAPTER V
Based on the results of this
research, it can be seen clearly
that the difficulties experienced
by students of the English For the next writers
Department Study Program at
Universitas Riau in writing
informative abstracts are in the For students
preparation of the abstract
framework, especially in Move
1 (introduction). For universities

For the second of formulation of For the management of Jurnal

the problem, Formal grammar Online Mahasiswa Universitas
structure is the most difficult Riau
aspect experienced by English
Study Program students at the
Universitas Riau in writing
informative abstracts.
THANK YOU