STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN DESIGNING RESEARCH PROPOSAL

(A CASE STUDY AT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT STUDENTS

OF UIN AR-RANIRY)

THESIS

Submitted by

PUTRI ISLAMIAH
NIM. 150203204
Student of Fakultas Tarbiyah dan Keguruan
Department of English Language Education

FAKULTAS TARBIYAH DAN KEGURUAN

UNIVERSITAS ISLAM NEGERI AR-RANIRY
BANDA ACEH
2020 M / 1441 H
PUTRI ISLAMIAH
NIM. 150203204
i
i
 AKNOWLEDGMENTS

First of all, I would like to express the deepest praises and thanks to Allah

Azza Wa Jalla, the lord of the universe who has given mercy and blessings to this

world. Peace and salutation be upon to the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him,

together with his family and companions who have brought the enlightenment into

human life. There are no more words to show my feeling now. I am very proud and

satisfied because I have finished my thesis.

As the second mandatory thank, I would like to express my sincere gratitude

to my supervisors, Dr. Maskur, MA and Syarifah Dahliana, M. Ag.,M. Ed.,Ph. D for

their invaluable help, guidance, encouragement, motivation, and suggestion. Also, I

want to thank all of English language education lecturers who have inspired, lectured

and assisted me during my study in this department. May Allah grant them heaven

and make ease your way.

The most prestigious thanks and love are addressed to my family, the best

support system in my life. To my father and mother, M. Said and Irfayanti, thanks for

always motivating me, supporting me, giving me much love and giving strength to

live in this tough life. I also dedicate my love and thank to my beloved sister and

brother, Nurfalinda Yanti and Usman Shiddiq for always supporting and loving me.

i
 May Allah SWT always bestow them grace, health, and blessings in the world

and in the hereafter

My appreciation and thanks are also addressed to my beloved friends: Evie,

Puput, Shalichina, Ilham, Nada, Cut, Neli, Isna, Dwi, Marfitrah, and Elma who

always lend me their back and listen to my complaints. Finally, I am forever thankful

to all of my wonderful friends of Unit 06, who always support each other and

hopefully last till eternity. I am sorry for cannot mention your names one by one,

thank you for assisting me in finishing my thesis, you guys are priceless for me. May

Allah, the Almighty, bless and reward your heaven. Aamiin.

Banda Aceh, April, 28th 2020

The Writer,

Putri Islamiah

ii
 ABSTRACT

Name : Putri Islamiah

NIM : 150203204
Faculty : Fakultas Tarbiyah dan Keguruan
Major : Department of English Language Education
Thesis title : Students’ Difficulties in Designing Research Proposal (A Case
Study at English Department Students of UIN Ar-raniry)
Main Supervisor : Dr. Maskur, MA
Co-Supervisor : Syarifah Dahliana, [Link].,Ph.D.
Keywords : Students’ Difficulties, Research proposal

This research discovers the students’ difficulties in designing a research proposal. It

aims: (1) to find out the students’ difficulties in designing a research proposal; (2) to
propose possible solutions to solve the students’ difficulties in designing a research
proposal. This research used a qualitative descriptive, and the data were collected
through the interview method. The participants are six undergraduate students batch
2015 from Department of English Language Education, Tarbiyah Faculty, UIN Ar-
Raniry. This research found that the students’ difficulties in designing research
proposal includes finding the title and topic or problem to be studied, lack of English
ability, finding adequate reference sources, understanding research proposal,
developing ideas, designing research methodology, and understanding the article of
international journal as they often use the advanced word; (2) The solutions that are
used by the students in designing research proposal involves reading a lot of
international journals, articles and books, finding a lot of materials and reference
sources, asking for help from the lecturers and friends, using some techniques in
developing ideas, and improving academic language.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY
ACKNOWLEDGMENT ............................................................................................... i
ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................. iv
LIST OF APPENDIES.................................................................................................. vi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 1

A. Backgrounds of the Study ........................................................... 1
B. Research Question ...................................................................... 5
C. Aims of Study ............................................................................. 5
D. Significance of the Study ............................................................ 6
E. Limitation of Study ..................................................................... 6
F. Terminologies ............................................................................. 7

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................... 9

A. Definition of Research Proposal ................................................. 9
B. The Purposes of Research Proposal ........................................... 11
C. The Format of Research Proposal .............................................. 13
D. Research Proposal as an Academic Writing .............................. 18
E. The Factors Affecting the Difficulties in Designing Research
Proposal ..................................................................................... 21
F. The Solutions to Solve Students’ Difficulties in Designing
Research Proposal ..................................................................... 23

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................. 25

A. Research Design ........................................................................ 25
B. Research Site and Participants ................................................... 26
C. Data Collection .......................................................................... 27
D. Data Analysis ............................................................................ 28

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CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ................................................... 29
E. Research Finding ....................................................................... 29
1. The students’ Difficulties in Designing a Research
Proposal .......................................................................... 29
2. The solutions of Students’ Difficulties in Designing a
Research Proposal ........................................................... 40

F. Discussion ................................................................................. 53

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION .......................... 55

G. Conclusions ............................................................................... 55
H. Recommendation ....................................................................... 56

REFERENCE ............................................................................................................. 58
APPENDICES
AUTOBIOGRAPHY

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 LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix A Appointment Letter of Supervisor

Appendix B The Recommendation Letter for Conducting Research from

Fakultas Tarbiyah dan Keguruan Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-
Raniry Banda Aceh

Appendix C Confirmation Letter of Conducting Research from Department

English Language Education

Appendix D Interview Questions

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 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter consists of several points. The background of the research, the

research questions, the aim, the significance, and the terminology of this research will

be elaborate in the following sections.

A. Background of Study

The research proposal is a brief explanation of the planned research to be

carried out. In higher education, writing a proposal is a mandatory final assignment

for a student if they want to complete an education level. All students who will

complete their education will certainly face the stages of designing a research

proposal, and for students who have fulfilled the requirements can submit research

proposals in accordance with the provisions that apply to their respective colleges.

This is the first step of the long stage of research that will be carried out by students

in conducting research.

In designing research proposals, students must be able to show that they have

the competence to carry out the research. This can be indicated by the mastery of the

problem and good research themes. From the presentation given, students should be

familiar with the themes and topics of the research to be conducted. For that reason,

students are required to understand what will be learned. Therefore, the English

Department has provided many subjects to ensure that students have many

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knowledge to support them in designing a research proposal. These subjects include

English Reading Comprehension, English Academic Writing, English Language

Research, English for Academic Purposes, and Research Methodology. Nevertheless,

students still have difficulty in designing research proposals even though they have

taken all subjects given to prepare a research proposal accurately. Many students

complain about the difficulty of designing a proposal, starting from finding the topics

or problem to be studied, setting proposals in terms of text layout, section and sub-

section titles, writing and finding adequate reference sources, stages of research

methodology, and lack of understanding in designing research proposal (Slamet,

2003).

The problems usually faced by students in the process of writing thesis

proposals include difficulties in finding literature, not accustomed to writing

scientific works that make them unable to design a research proposal, less familiar

with scheduled work systems with such tight time management and problems with

supervisors (Darmono & Hasan, 2005). From the initial survey that has been done,

the researcher gets a picture of what difficulties experienced by students when

designing a proposal. They experience difficulties starting from chapter I introduction

to chapter III research methods with varying levels of sensitivity.

Several studies have revealed that many English department students have

difficulties in designing research proposal. As described in a study entitled “The

Analysis of The Factors Affecting Undergraduate Students’ Difficulties in Writing

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Thesis” conducted by Dwihandani (2013) at English Department of Mahasaraswati

University, Singaraja Indonesia. In her study, the writer investigated the factors

affecting undergraduate students’ difficulties in writing thesis. The findings of the

study identified three major factors that affected undergraduate students’ thesis

writing. First, psychological factors that comprised lack of confidence in deciding

thesis title, having prior knowledge due to thesis topic, and writing a good thesis.

Second, sociocultural factors that covered ability to connect and form each sentence

into meaningful thesis writing, to have an understanding about the culture department

of the university regarding the format of the thesis writing. Finally, the third factors is

the linguistic factors that consisted of difficulties in minimalizing grammar error, and

in knowing and deciding the grammatical items which should be deleted, replaced,

supplied and reordered.

The second studies conducted by Baiq Rani Swarni, (2016) entitled

“Students’ Problem in Writing Thesis in The English Department Students of

Mataram University”. In this study, it was found that there are five elements of

problems for students in writing their thesis. The first one is students’ difficulties in

finding relevant references and resources which are appropriate with their thesis. The

second is students’ lack of idea in writing the research background in introduction

chapter. The third problem is difficulties in presenting the result of the research in

discussion chapter. The fourth one is determining compatible methodology to the

thesis. The last one is to create brief sentences in writing conclusion chapter.
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Another previous study was conducted by Muh Yusuf (2013) in state institute

for Islamic studies of English Education Department, Sunan Ampel Surabaya by the

title of “Students’ Problems in Writing a Research Proposal”. In this study, he

analyzed the problems in writing research proposal and its causes. It was found that

there are three problems in writing research proposal, those three problems are in the

methodology, introduction, and literature review. The causes of students’ problems in

writing research proposal are students do not understand the methodology, students

feel difficult in composing good introduction and students are confused in

determining literature review.

There a lot of studies in analyzing students’ difficulties in writing research

proposal as the researcher mentioned above. The similarities of this study and

previous studies are concerned with the same topic and problem. Yet, the difference

between this study and previous study is none of those studies has taken research at

English Department Students of UIN Ar-raniry Banda Aceh related to Students’

Difficulties in Designing a Research Proposal. In addition, based on the researcher

experience when interviewed the undergraduate English students of UIN Ar-raniry,

the researcher found that Most of the students mention that developing ideas is the

most difficult cause in designing a research proposal. Almost half of the student state

that it is difficult to find adequate reference sources, and some of the students also

mention that lack of English ability becomes the source of the problems in designing

a research proposal. Additionally, even though the English Department has provided
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many subjects to ensure that students have many knowledge to support them in

designing research proposal, but most of students still faced the difficulties in

designing research proposal. Therefore, this study intends to fill in the gap by taking

participants at English Department program students of UIN Ar raniry batch of 2015.

B. Research Question

Based on the background of study above, the researcher is intended to analyze

difficulties in designing research proposal at English department student of UIN Ar-

Raniry. The research questions are as follows:

a. What are the the students’ difficulties in designing research proposal?

b. What are possible solutions to solve the students’ difficulties in designing

research proposal?

C. Aims of Study

According to the research question above, the aim of this study are as follows:

a. To find out the students difficulties in designing research proposal.

b. To propose the possible solutions to solve the students’ difficulties in

designing research proposal.

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D. Significant of Study

The result of the research can be used as a stimulant information to conduct

further research in analyzing students’ difficulties in designing research proposals.

The beneficial of this research are for the lecturers and English study program

students, which can be stated as follows:

1. For the lecturers

For the lecturers, the results can be used to help them understand the

problems faced by students so they can provide more meaningful feedback to their

students and they can find ways to solve the students’ difficulties in designing

research proposal and can give students better analytical tools in designing research

proposals.

2. For students

For the students, the results of this research can be used to improve their

ability in designing a research proposal and as an additional knowledge for the

students to provide information with better understanding on how they organize a

research proposal.

E. Limitation of Study

This study is a case of undergraduate English Department students of UIN Ar-

raniry batch of 2015 who designing a research proposal. It uses text analysis and in-

dept interview to investigate the students’ difficulties in designing a research

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proposal. The analysis focuses on the elements in the research proposals and attempts

to identify the students’ difficulties in designing research rpoposal and the possible

solutions to solve students’ difficulties in designing a research proposal.

F. Terminology

There are some terms in this study which should be defined in order to avoid

misunderstanding. The terms are:

1. Students’ Difficulties

The word ‘students’ in Cambridge dictionary means a person who is learning

at university or other place of higher education. The word ‘difficulty’ in Oxford

dictionary means a thing or situation that causes trouble and hard to accomplish, deal

with, or understand. Therefore, Students’ difficulties is a condition experienced by

students who have difficulty in understanding a thing or situation caused by a

problem.

In this research, students’ difficulties refers to a problem that faced by

students during designing a research proposal. The problems usually faced by

students include difficulties in findings the topics and literature, stages of research

methodology, participants and sources, and methods for collecting and analyzing

data.

2. Research Proposal
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According to Kabir (2016) research proposal is a document written by a

researcher that provides a detailed description of the proposed program. It is like an

outline of the entire research process that gives a reader a summary of the information

discussed in a project. According to Meloy (1994) research proposal is the key

element to the successful thesis, as such the most important step in the whole process.

Based on those definitions above, research proposal in this study refers to the

work of English Department students on a detailed study of a particular subject

interest after completing all their requirement courses.

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CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews some literature related to the variable of the study. It

includes several primary concerns: the definition of the research proposal, the

purpose of the research proposal, the format of the research proposal, the research

proposal as an academic writing and the factors affecting the difficulties in designing

a research proposal. All points will be discussed in this chapter.

A. Definition of Research Proposal

Samuel (2015) states that the research proposal is a fundamental part of the

process of thesis production. Once the research proposal has been finalized, then start

on the actual thesis. The more rigorous the proposal, the easier the writing of thesis.

Robson (1994), as cited in Samuel (2015, p.5), described “research proposal as an

opportunity to persuade the academic community that researchers know what they are

going to write about their research. That is worthwhile to take a risk and give them

licence to get on with it”. Whereas, according to Korner (2001), proposal is a research
 10

design that usually has a form with a variety of specific standards such as the use of

language, punctuation, quotation, etc.

Research proposal is a key requirement for students about a brief description of

the research plan to be conducted to obtain a bachelor when they finish their study

from university or college, it determines the specific areas of research, states the

purpose, scope, methodology, overall organization and limitations of the study.

Dunleavy (2003) states that the research proposal is a document that provides

information to others about the project the researcher proposes to undertake as part of

their study for a higher degree. According to Samuel (2015, p.4), “the research

proposal is a planning document about a research problem and describes what is to be

studied and how. The research proposal helps you to focus your research aims, clarify

the importance and the need, describe the methods, predicted the problems and

outcomes, and plans alternatives and interventions”. Arsana & Nawangpuli (2012)

infers that research proposal is also the key element to the successful thesis, as such,

the most important step in the whole process.

The research proposal usually has five chapters with a well-established section

in each chapter. According to some studies (e.g., Kabir, 2016; Baron, 2008; Joyce,

2004), research proposal tells the reader what, why, how, where, and to whom the

research will be done and shows the benefit of doing research. It is the initial stage of

a research plan to conduct in the form of a thesis or dissertation. Karanja (2016) cited

in his article in distinguishing between a thesis and a dissertation, “a thesis is a

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product of scholarly professional study at the master degree level by graduate

students, usually a document in a format and style specified by the particular

university. While a dissertation is a product at the doctoral level, distinguish from

thesis chiefly by its steeper, more comprehensive, mature, professional, and scholarly

treatment of the subject” (p.3).

Preparation of research proposal is needed because it facilitates the smooth

sailing of the various research operations, thereby making research as efficient as

possible, yielding maximal information with minimal expenditure of effort, time, and

money. According to Nawangpuli & Arsana (2012), a good research proposal must

have an interesting title, the background must be clear and support the research, the

research statement must be delivered clearly and supported by purpose and aims,

there are strong reasons why the research is important to be researched and supported

by previous literature studies. Thus, “a good research proposal will help you define

and formulate your research question, narrow down the study to a manageable form

within the prescribed time limits, structure and development of our writing, and avoid

wasting time in the literature search and data collection stages of the project”

(Samuels, 2012, p.5).

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B. The Purposes of Research Proposal

As stated by Karanja (2016) on his book entitle “A Guide to Research Proposal

and Thesis Writing”, research proposal is a comprehensive plan for a research

project. It is a written description of a research plan that has to be undertaken, it

determines the specific areas of research, states the purpose, scope, methodology, and

overall organization and limitations of the study. According to Kabir (2016) the

proposal aims to provide a description of an activity plan in a complete, clear,

concise, and easy to understand as a consideration for supervisors who give approval

for the proposed activity.

The research proposal serves several purposes. As it is prepared by the students

for conducting their study, it communicates their intentions by stating the purpose of

their intended study and its importance together with step by step plan for conducting

the study. It is also provides sufficient information to enable the reader to evaluate the

proposed research and provide the reader with a clear indication of what the students

are expecting to do, how, when, and why. In other words, it can be said that “a

research proposal is the first step in producing a graduation thesis and intends to

convince a supervisor or academic committee that the students’ topic and approach

are sounds, so that they gain approval to proceed with the actual research and write

their graduation thesis” (Swales and Feak, 2012, p. 102).

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According to Samuel (2015, p.5) “the purpose of research proposal is to give a

basic idea to your supervisors about your research paper. A research proposal should

include an outline of chapter headings, introduction, literature review, description of

methodology, research results, analysis, summary and conclusions”. Yet, a proposal

is not merely a mini research paper. It should have a specific and narrow topic. The

topic should be interesting and original. Generally, the thesis statement is in one or

two sentences. The part of the introduction of the research explains the purpose for

the study, it describes the goals and objectives. According to Caldman (2002), as

cited in Paltridge & Starfield (2007), “The main purpose of a research proposal is to

convince the reader of the value of the project and research competence. The

researcher have to prove that they have a plan of work and that project will be

successful” (p.62).

C. The Format of Research Proposal

Prior to conducting research, every researcher must prepare a research proposal

properly. “A research proposal composed of three chapters preceded by the cover

page containing the title of the research, the author, and the Department, university

name, and the year the research will be conducted. The title should explain the focus

of the research and easy to understand by using the key words in the intended field of

study” (Arsana & Nawangpuli, 2012, p.15).

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In addition, Kabir (2016) believes that chapter I consist an Introduction as a

brief description about the research proposal, it is usually composed of background of

study, research question, aim of study, significant of study, and terminology. Besides,

in chapter II contains a literature review as result of previous studies related to the

topic and the research questions. Furthermore, chapter III consist of research

methodology. Basically in this chapter all the steps that need to be done in answering

the research should be elaborated in detail. This chapter composed of research design,

population and sample, data collection, data analysis and followed by the list of

references.

According to Arsana & Nawangpuli (2015), a research proposal usually consist

of cover page, introduction and background of study, research question, the aim of

study, literature review, research methodology, instrument and data collection, data

analysis and references. Furthermore, Khuriyah (2016) mentions that the standard of

research proposal structure has three sections: an introduction, a review on related

study and research methodology. The sections are connected to each other and some

of them may contain more than one chapter. The structure of the proposal which must

be followed by students of UIN Ar-raniry in writing a research proposal are:

a. Title

Samuels (2015, p.15) stated that after identifying a research problem, a

suitable title of the research should be given. The title should be brief and

provide a good idea about the focus thesis, specific, convey clearly,
 15

meaningful, easy to understandable, succinctly the topic being research, and

not more than two lines. Most accurately represent the objective and indicate

the purpose of the study.

b. Introduction of study

This is a brief description of what the research proposal is about. According to

Arsana & Nawangpuli (2012, p.13), introduction of study should be clear,

concise directly to the focus of research and should lead up to the statement of

the problem which introduces the study and states the focus of the study,

begins with background information regarding the problem under

investigation. The introduction should have 5 aspects, there are:

1) Background of study

Arsana & Nawangpuli (2012, p.13) also emphasize that background of

study have the choice of a specific subject for research begins in its wider

context, comprising a variety of issues. This background or context helps

to understand the specific problems addressed by the researcher.

2) Research question

The research question begins with a research problem, it describe the

questions that the researchers want to answer through their project, and

briefly outline what answers are expect to find on the basis of previous

research and theoretical background. Good research question seek to

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improve knowledge on an important topic, and usually narrow and

specific (Kivunja, 2016, p.167).

3) The aim of study

Joyce (2004, p.5) infers that a research aim expresses the intention of the

research study, it summarizes in one sentence what the researcher hopes to

achieve by the end of the research project. The aim should be specific in

such a way as to make it possible to identify when it have been achieved.

4) The significant of study

This section describes the potential value of the study and findings to the

social science or the field of education. Therefore, Samuels (2015, p.16)

believes that the researcher should identify the audience for the study and

how the result will be beneficial to them.

5) Terminology

Based on Independent Learning Resources, terminology provides

definitions for terms used in the proposal that are unusual or not widely

understood. In addition, common terms that have special meaning in the

study should be defined in terminology.

c. Literature review

According to Baron (2008), “The purpose of Chapter II is to provide the

reader with a comprehensive review of the literature related to the problem

under investigation. The review or related literature should greatly expand

upon the introduction and background information presented in Chapter I.

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This chapter may contain theories and models relevant to the problem, and

significant research data published about the problem. The first section of

Chapter II generally indicates how the chapter is organized and explains the

subsections that comprise the chapter.” (p.9).

d. Research Methodology/Research design

Generally, “Chapter III present a discussion of the specific steps used in the

literature review and collection of data for the study. This chapter begins with

a restatement of the research problem and usually includes accompanying

hypotheses or research questions. The information regarding methodology

should be comprehensive and detailed.” (Baron, 2008, p.11). The research

methodology have a few aspects, they are:

1) Population and sample

According to Sugiyono (2010, p.177), population and sample are very

important step in conducting a research. Thus, in this section describes the

population used in the study and the process used in selecting samples. The

sample must accurately represent the population to obtain conclusions from

the sample results.

2) Data collection

Data collection explained in detail how the data and the techniques will be

obtained and the schedule involved in data collection (Arsana &

Nawangpuli, 2012, p.17).

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3) Data analysis

Data analysis describes in detail the treatment and analysis of the collected

data. Taylor (1975, p.79) defines that methods of data analysis are

determined by the hypotheses to be tested or research question to be

answered which also determine the format of the instrument and how the

data are gathered.

e. References

Kiranja (2016, p.11) argues that the use of good references is one of the

important things to show the ability and experience of the author in

conducting research and making a valid reporting. The characteristic of

references are use conventions recommended by them supervisor, or use the

APA style guide, or follow the conventions in a prestigious journal in the

field.

In brief, a research proposal describes what the researchers will investigate,

why it is important, and how they will do the research. The format of a research

proposal varies between field, but most research proposals should contain at least

with cover page, introduction, literature review, research methodology/research

design and reference list. There may be some variation in how the sections are named

or divided, but the overall goals are always the same.

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D. Research Proposal as an Academic Writing

Writing is one of the four basic skills in learning English as a second language

and has an important role in the context of English teaching as foreign language.

White and Arndt (1991) describe writing as “a form of problem-solving which

involves such processes as generating ideas, discovering a voice with which to write,

planning, goal-setting, monitoring and evaluating what is going to be written as well

as what has been written and searching for language with which to express exact

meaning”(p.3).

Therefore, writing is so important skill in written communication that contains

information and ideas to reader. In writing, the writer tries to express their ideas in

written form using grammatically correct sentences for the purpose of communication

and demand to pay attention to some aspect of the production of the written text

which involves the content, organization, vocabularies, grammatical, spelling and

punctuation (Jones, 2012).

Academic writing is any writing done to fulfill a requirement of college or

university. It plays an important role in higher education and is the main form of

communication in individual academic disciplines (Woro, 2013). Besides, academic

writing is what students should do for their university courses (Slovakia, 2010).

Academic writing refers to the types of expression that researchers use of define the

intellectual boundaries of their disciplines and specific areas of knowledge.

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Based on its used in academic skills, Jones (2012) infers the characteristics of

academic writing include using a third-person perspective rather than a first-person

perspective (as a rule), a clear orientation to the research problem being studied, and

the right choice words. Like specialist languages adopted in other profession, such as

law or medicine, academic writing is designed to convey the agreed meaning of

complete ideas or concepts to group of scientific experts. Reisinger, Scalia, Hicks

(2013), mention ten types of academic writing as follow:

a. “Case Study

Purpose: Write down the details of a particular event or decision and respond.

b. Critique (sometimes called review or critical response)

Purpose: Summarize and evaluate the work of others, such as articles, books

or films.

c. Essay

Purpose: Establish an extended academic paper supporting the paper and draw

conclusions with this support.

d. Exegesis Paper

Purpose: Explore the meaning of the passage from Scripture.

e. Homily/Sermon

Purpose: Explain the meaning of a biblical text and its application for the

people of God today, within the context of worship-necessary.

f. Journals
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Purpose: Show the development of a students’ thinking as a result of readings,

lectures, experiences, etc.

g. Pastoral Narrative

Purpose: Describe the experience and its impact of the pastoral.

h. Reflection Paper

Purpose: Narrative, examine, and evaluate the writer’s personal observations

and experiences of a subject.

i. Research Paper/Thesis

Purpose: The writers of research papers choose a topic, formulate a question

to answer, collect information from various sources, and present the answer to

the question in written form.

j. Verbatim

Purpose: Reproduce a conversation related to ministry and explore the content

and meaning of this conversation” (p.5).

In brief, it can be concluded that writing the research proposal is the first

formal stage in writing the preliminary chapters of students’ thesis for a higher degree

with an educational establishment.

E. The Factors Affecting the difficulties in Designing a Research Proposal

Designing a research proposal in English for foreign language students is not

easy, because the students must consider the content and organization of the thesis
 22

and they also have to be aware of using the language. The ideas, structure, lack of

vocabularies, and rewrite or paraphrase are some examples of the difficulties

commonly faced by students in designing a proposal.

There are many factors affecting the difficulties in designing a research proposal.

The first factors is students feel difficult in finding the topics or problem to be

studied. Choosing a research topic can be considered as one of the most difficult part

when undertaking research. It is fact that thinking of or selecting a topic which is

researchable difficult. If students do not have enough knowledge in the area they

intend to make a research on, they would have difficulty in making a proposal

(Anson, Rachel, Smith, 2004).

According to Slamet (2003), many undergraduate students face some difficulties

in designing their research proposal; starting from the finding the topics or problem

to be studied, setting proposals in term of text layout, section and sub-section titles,

writing and finding adequate references sources, stage of research methodology, and

lack of understanding in designing research proposal.

Darmono & Hasan (2005) state that the problems usually faced by students in the

process of writing research proposal include difficulties in finding literature, not

accustomed to writing scientific works that make them unable to design a research

proposal, less familiar with scheduled work systems with such tight time management

and problems with supervisors.

 23

Evangelista & Hernandez (2009) mention other factors that affecting by

students’ difficulties in designing research proposal included in “organizing the

presentation and interpretation of findings, discussing the findings in the context of

the literature base reviewed in Chapter II, conceptual framework, research question

and hypothesis, presenting the data accurately using tables, figures or charts,

formulating conclusions concisely, and rewriting the proposal into a final research

format” (p.94).

However, there are further studies of other factors for obtaining foreign

language as the main factors for analysis by researchers. For second language

especially, the problem factors in obtaining a second language may also be

encountered by undergraduate students, which makes the students feel difficult to

design a proposal (Brown, 2007).

F. The Solutions to Solve Students’ Difficulties in Designing Research

Proposal

Before doing writing a thesis, students are required to start with writing a

research proposal as a part fulfillment of their degree. The research provides an

avenue for students to gain in-depth experience learning and conducting with topic

related to their specific field of study (Daisy, 2019). In addition, research proposal in
 24

this study refers to the work of English Department students on a detailed study of a

particular subject interest after completing all their requirement courses.

Designing a research proposal for the first time is especially difficult for English

Department students of UIN Ar-raniry, because the students must consider the

content and organization of the thesis and they have to be aware of using the

language. Moreover, many students still faced the difficulties of designing research

proposal even though they have taken all subjects that provided by English

Department given to prepare a research proposal accurately.

Students’ difficulties is a condition experienced by students who have difficulty

in understanding a thing or situation caused by a problem. Students’ difficulties in

this study refers to a problem that faced by students during designing a research

proposal. The problems usually faced by students include difficulties in findings the

topic and literature, stages of research methodology, participants and sources,

methods for collecting and analyzing data.

There are many solutions that can be proposed to solve students’ difficulties in

designing a research proposal. In this study, the researcher found the solutions to

solve students’ difficulties in designing research proposal based on the interviews

from the students and the lecturers. The possible solutions will be discuss in chapter

IV as the findings and discussion of the study.

 25

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter explains and provides information about the research

methodology for the study. It consists of a detail description of research design,

research site and participants, data collection and data analysis.

A. Research Design
 26

In conducting research, we need a research design. The research design refers

to the strategy to integrate the different components of research projects in cohesively

and coherently. According to Creswell (2009, p.3), research design refers to the plans

and the procedures for research into specific data collection methods and data

analysis. In this study, the researcher used qualitative research to analyze students’

difficulties in designing a research proposal.

According to Evelyn (2001, p 52), qualitative researchers explore, describe,

and study social phenomena involving people or cases of interest. As stated by

Creswell (2009, p.4), in his journal, that qualitative method is the process of

collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and writing the results of a study. It involves

emerging questions and procedures, the data are usually collected in the participants’

settings, and the researcher interprets the meaning of data. The final written report of

qualitative research has a flexible structure and focus on individuals. Moreover,

Cropley (2019) states that the core property of qualitative research is that it examines

the way people make sense of their own concrete real-life experiences in their minds

and their own words. This information is usually expressed in everyday language

using everyday concepts.

Therefore, in this study, the researcher uses qualitative research to analyze

students’ difficulties in designing a research proposal. This method is suitable to give

a complete description and explanation in this research.

 27

B. Research site and participants

This study was carried out at the undergraduate English Department students

in UIN Ar-raniry. It is located on Jalan Lingkar Kampus, Darussalam Banda Aceh.

This research site has been chosen because students still faced difficulty in designing

research proposals even though they have taken subjects such as English reading

comprehension, English academic writing, English language research, English for

academic purposes, and Research methodology to support them in designing a

research proposal. Therefore, this research aimed to discover the difficulties faced by

the English students in UIN Ar-raniry and the possible solutions to solve the

problems in designing a research proposal.

The participants of the study were two lecturers who teach English Language

Research (ELR) subject and six undergraduate English Department students of UIN

Ar-raniry batch of 2015 who designing a research proposal. The technique in

selecting the participants in this study was random sampling. According to Arikunto

(2010, P.177), random sampling is a sampling technique which all subjects in the

population are given the same opportunity to be selected as a sample.

C. Data Collection

In this research, the author uses the interview to collect the data. By using this

technique, the researcher can collect the data easier because it can provide many data;

interview also allows the researcher to read non-verbal cues from respondents, clarify
 28

questions, clarify doubts, add new questions, build relationships and motivate

respondents (Creswell, 2012, p. 204). This data collection method is quite popular,

particularly in case of big enquiries and used to collect data from a small group of

subjects on a broad topic. In this method, the researcher used the open-ended question

to the two lecturers who teach English Language Research (ELR) subject and six

undergraduate English Department students of UIN Ar-raniry batch of 2015 who

designing a research proposal.

D. Data Analysis

Data analysis is the review process, sorting, and grouping data in order to

formulate working hypotheses and lifted it into conclusion or theories in the research

findings, (Bakri, 2003, p.162). To answer the research problems, the researcher

analyzed the data through qualitative data analysis. Creswell (2008, p.37) said that

qualitative analysis is an approach to exploring and understanding a central

phenomenon. The central phenomenon is a concept or a process that is explored the

qualitative research in-depth. To understand the central phenomenon, the researcher

interviewed the participants by asking general and rather broad questions.

The researcher analyzed the data; first, the participants were interviewed using

a voice recorder through several questions. Second, after the conversation recorded,

the researcher transcript the answers of the participants. Third, the researcher

analyzed the data by using thematic analysis. After analyzing the data, the researcher
 29

found the results and explain it descriptively in the form of a written report. At last,

the researchers re-observed the findings and conclude the study. In this step, the

students’ difficulties in designing a research proposal from the whole part will be

detected.
 CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS AND DISSCUSSION

This chapter discusses the findings of data interview analysis. The purposes of

this study are to discover the possible causes of the students’ difficulties in designing

a research proposal and to find out the possible solutions to solve students’

difficulties in designing a research proposal.

A. Research Finding

The researcher uses interview as the data collection to answer the research

questions. The participants are two lecturers and six undergraduate English

Department students of UIN Ar-raniry. Based on the interview, the findings can be

divided into two points. namely; (1) The students’ difficulties in designing a research

proposal; (2) The solutions to solve students’ difficulties in designing a research

proposal. The results of the interview are displayed and categorized based on the

focus of the research. To simplify the data, the researcher uses the particular code for

each lecturer (L1-L2) and students (S1-S6). For example, L1 meant lecturer 1, and L-

2 for lecturer 2. S1 meant student 1, S is student 2, and so on.

1. The students’ difficulties in designing a research proposal

There are nine main problems that cause the students’ difficulties in

designing research proposal, they are finding the title, finding the topic or

problem to be studied, lack of writing skill, lack of English skill, finding

30
 31

adequate reference sources, lack of understanding research proposal, developing

ideas, methodology, and the advanced words used in the articles of international

journal.

a. Finding the title

Six interviewed students gave different answers when they questioned

about the difficulties in designing a research proposal. Therefore, three of them

said they felt difficult in finding the title because it is their first time in doing a

research. Thus, it makes them confused to choose the best title to be their

research. S1 said:

“It is difficult to finding a title because it is my first time in designing a

research proposal and that makes me not accustomed to it. Although I

founds the title I wanted to be studied, but it is hard to convince my

supervisor to approve the title that I choose.”

S3 agreed that:

“I do not know where I have to asking for help and the suggestions about

the title of my proposal because it is my first time in doing a research. I

also got confused in choosing the great title to be studied”

S4 added:

“I think, it is difficult for me to finding the title because of lack of reading

books, journals and articles.”

 32

From the explanation above, it can be concluded that finding the title of

the research is one of the problems why students felt difficult to design a research

proposal because it was their first time doing a research. Besides, lack of reading

books, journals or articles also became a factor in why students felt difficult to

find ideas in choosing a title.

b. Finding the topic or problem to be studied

There are four participants from six students said finding the topic or

problem to be studied is one of their difficulties in designing a research proposal.

This is because they do not have enough ability in doing research. In the same

way, designing a research proposal is something new to them. S1 said:

“It is difficult to finding the title as well as determining the topic or

problem to be studied. Even though I have learned about many subjects

that provides by English Department to support me in doing a research,

but designing a research proposal is not my habit. I got confused and not

accustomed to it because it is my first time in doing a research.”

S3 states that:

“I do not know how to start my research, because of lack of

understanding the research proposal itself. It is difficult for me to finding

the topic or problem to be studied because it is my first time in designing

a research proposal and I do not have enough reference to reading an

international journals or articles based on my topic.”

 33

S4 agreed that:

“Designing a research proposal is the first time for me, and I got so much

problems. One of them is finding the topic, it is difficult to finding the

ideas of topic or problem to be studied because of lack of reading books,

journals or articles.”

S6 continued:

“The difficulties that I found while doing my research proposal is in

findings the topic and problem to be studied. I got so much confused

because this is the first time for me in designing research proposal.”

According to the results, finding the topic or problem to be studied also

become one of the difficulties for some students in doing their research. Besides,

designing research proposal is something new for students and they do not have

enough reference to reading books, journals or articles based on their research

which makes it difficult to find a topic.

c. Lack of English Ability

From the six students, there are four students mention that the cause of

their difficulties in designing a research proposal is lack of English ability. One

of the English abilities that affected them in doing research is the ability in

writing skill. S1 said:

 34

“Even though I have learned many subject such as Academic writing and

Grammar Comprehension, but then when it comes to proposal, still I

found that lack of writing skill being my difficulties in writing my

research. Because, it is not just about writing but arranging your words

and sentences to be a great paragraphs. So we need a good knowledge

such as grammar and vocabulary in writing to make a good proposal.”

S2 explained that:

“I realized I had lack of confidence in English ability caused of the lack

of practice in English. It is so much effect on writing my research

proposal. I think we need to have a good knowledge in English skill,

because with a good English skill it is easier to understand international

journal or articles that use high level of language.”

S4 added that:

“The cause of difficulties in designing a research is lack of confidence

and practice in English skill. Therefore it makes me difficult in writing

and arranging the sentence because I had difficulties in writing skills,

especially in elements of writing such as in vocabulary and grammar.”

 35

S5 agreed that:

“I got difficulty in writing my proposal caused lack of English ability

such as writing skill. Sometimes, it is become a problem to make a good

sentences caused of lack in writing skill itself, and lack of vocabulary.”

Based on the explanation above, English ability can give difficulties in

designing a research proposal especially in writing skill, vocabulary, and

grammar because students felt difficult in writing their research proposal caused

of lack of vocabulary, grammar, and lack of English ability.

d. Finding adequate reference sources

There are four from six students said that it is important to find good

reference sources and materials based on their selected topic to make a good

research proposal. However, they felt it is difficult to find adequate reference

sources. S2 said:

“In fact it is difficult for me to find another research and adequate

reference sources that support my research proposal.”

S3 states that:

“One of the obstacle that I felt in designing my research proposal is in

finding reference sources. It is quite difficult to make a keyword based on

my topic, because I think my research has not been studied by the

 36

previous studies. Thus, I can not found adequate research that can support

my research.”

S4 added that:

“It was difficult to finding reference sources because at the first time in

doing a research, I do not using a specific method to searching another

research that support for my topic.”

S6 explained that:

“For me it is difficult to finding adequate reference sources that match for

my proposal because of lack in reading journals or articles.”

As explained above, adequate reference sources have an impact on

students to support them in doing their research. It is important to find a good

reference that is related to their research. In fact, it is difficult for students to

finding adequate reference sources because sometimes it needs a specific

keyword to find another research that matches for their study.

e. Lack of understanding research proposal

From the six students, three of them had the same answer. The data from

the students’ interviews revealed that lack of understanding the research proposal

being one of their difficulties in designing a research proposal. S3 said:

 37

“I do not have idea how to start my research caused lack of understanding

the research proposal itself, it is makes me confused even how to finding

the title, topic or problem to be studied, how to developing ideas, and to

finding adequate reference sources.”

S4 added that:

“It is my first time in designing a research proposal, even though I have

learned so many subject related to the English research, but still I found

so many difficulties and got confused when beginning the research caused

lack of understanding the research proposal itself.”

S5 agreed that:

“It is true that lack of understanding the research proposal can influence

in the process of designing research proposal. And that become one of my

difficulties when beginning my research.”

Based on the interview conducted by the researcher, it can be concluded

that some students lack of understanding the research proposal. As a result, it

made them confused how to start designing the proposal.

f. Developing ideas

Three of six students stated that it is difficult to develop ideas when

writing the research proposal. S3 states that:

 38

“I think it is difficult for me in developing ideas when I start to writing

my research caused lack of reference sources that related to my study. A

good reference so much help me in finding the ideas, but I had only few

references that match with my study.”

S4 explained that:

“I found so many difficulties in designing research proposal, and

developing ideas become one of them. It caused I had lack of ability in

reading and understand international journals articles.”

S5 added that:

“I god difficulties in developing ideas in writing because I did not put a

lot of time in reading journals or articles.”

As explained above, developing ideas became one of the difficulties for

some students in designing research proposal. It happened because the materials

or references related to their study were inadequate to help them develop the

ideas and some students said that they did not read a lot of books, journals or

articles and they had lack of ability in reading and understanding international

journals or articles.
 39

g. Research Methodology

Among six students, three of them had the same answer. They choose

research methodology as one of their problems in designing a research proposal.

S2 said that:

“In the research methodology, it is difficult because in this chapter

explains and provides the information about the research methodology for

the study. So we have to make a detail description base on our topic, the

populations and sample, the great data collection and data analysis.”

S3 added that:

“I think it is hard to developing the research methodology because in this

chapter we have to presenting the research method of the study that

covers of the detail description of research design, population and sample,

data collection and data analysis. It is difficult because we have to make it

clearly and detail so it is will easier the progress of our research.”

S6 agreed that:

“I think it is difficult to design the research methodology because in that

chapter we have to found the right method for the study.”

Based on the opinions above, it can be concluded that research

methodology is one of the difficulties chapter in designing a research proposal.

 40

This is because research methodology become an important stage in the research

proposal to choose the right method used in collecting and analysing the data.

h. The advanced words used in the articles of international journals

From six participants, only two students mentioned that the advanced

words used in the article of international journals were the cause of their

difficulties in designing research proposal. S2 said that:

“It is related to my English ability that lack of English ability can affect

me on writing my research proposal and to understand the international

journals articles that use high level of language.”

S6 agreed that:

“For me, sometimes it is so much difficult to understand the international

journals and articles that use the high level of language and that makes

me confused to analyse it by myself.

Based on the responses above, the advanced words used in the articles of

international journals affected students in designing their research proposal.

 41

2. The solutions of the students’ difficulties in designing a research proposal

After interviewing the students about the causes of their difficulties in

designing the research proposal, the researcher asked them about the possible

solutions for those problems. Each of these solutions is used to help them in

completing their research proposal on time. Besides, the researcher also

interviewed the lecturers about the possible solutions to help the students solve

their difficulties in designing a research proposal.

There are six main points of the solutions used by students in designing

research proposal, they are; read a lot of international journals, articles, and

books, find a lot of materials and reference sources, ask for help from the lecturer

and friends, use some techniques to develop ideas, improve academic language,

make a target and fight laziness.

a. Read a lot of international journals, articles, and books

Every student has their own answer about the solutions that they can use

to solve the problems. The lecturers and all of the students said that it needs to

read a lot of international journals, articles, and books to give them ideas in

designing their research proposal. L1 said:

“Students need to read a lot of international journals or articles and books

to adds their knowledge about how to designing a research proposal.

 42

Moreover, by reading a lot of journal or books can help students in

finding the ideas, topic or problem to be studied.”

L2 states that:

“I think the main problem that makes students unable to make a research

proposal is in finding the title or topic. They get confused to choose the

best title, so I always suggest that they need to read a lot of journal, article

and books to help them in finding the ideas, topic or problem to be

studied. Though if they still find a good title or topic, I usually asked

them to go to the Department to check whether the title is ok and not

taken by somebody else. They can also discuss it with graduated students

or even their friends.”

S1 said that:

“Some solutions to solve my difficulties are read a lot of international

journal and articles. I also read some books to add knowledge to help me

in finding the ideas for my proposal. By reading a lot makes me more

focused and knows many things such as being able to know vocabulary

that I did not know before, increasing my memory, and giving lots of

inspiration.”
 43

S2 and S3 almost giving the same answer, S2 states that:

“I tried to found and read a lot of journals, articles, and books which

relevant to my proposal form the internet, web, or library.”

S3 explained that:

“I found out by myself the way to solve my problems through the

internet. I tried to found and read a lot of journals, articles and online

books.”

S4 and S5 agreed that:

“One of the solutions for my problems in designing research proposal is

read a lot of journals, articles, and books. It can help me to finding ideas

by reading a lot of materials or reference sources that connect to my

proposal.”

S6 said that:

“I tried to spend more time in reading a lot of international journals,

articles or books to give me more ideas and improving my English ability.

I realized by reading a lot of international journals or articles increase my

vocabulary and my analytical skill.”

Based on the responses above, it can be analysed that reading many

articles from international journals and books are one of the strategies students
 44

use to solve the problem or difficulties in designing a research proposal.

Reading many international journals makes students being able to know new

vocabularies that they can use in writing their proposal, it can also help them in

finding ideas and give them more inspiration in designing their research

proposal.

b. Find a lot of materials and reference sources

From six students, there are five students mention that they need to find a

lot of materials and reference sources to support their research proposal. L1

said:

“Besides reading a lot of journal and books, students need to find a lot of

materials or reference sources that match to their study. Those reference

sources can be used as a handle to support their research proposal.”

L2 added that:

“Referencing is a way to provide evidence to support the assertions and

claims in your own assignments. Thus, students need to find a lot of

reference sources or relevant materials to support and strengthens the

argument in their study.”

 45

S1 said that:

“I think research proposal is difficult to design because it’s my first time

in doing a research, so I got a little bit confused how to design it. But I try

to find a lot of materials and reference sources that connected to my study

to support my proposal, read a lot of journals and books to find ideas and

try to mastering the theory how to write a good research proposal.”

S2 added that:

“I tried to find a lot of materials and reference sources that relevant to my

study. By reading a lot of materials can help me in finding ideas, and I

can use the reference sources to support my proposal.”

S3 states that:

“One of the obstacle that I felt in designing my research proposal is in

finding reference sources. It is quite difficult to make a keyword based on

my topic. But I tried my best and do not give up, I found out by myself

the way to solve my problems through the internet. I tried to found

reference sources, journal, and article based on my title as many as

 46

possible to help me in finding ideas, literature, and support my research

proposal.”

S5 explained that:

“I tried to find materials that support my proposal and try to find more

references related to my research to help get some ideas.”

S4 agreed that:

“With a lot of materials and reference sources that connected to my

research, it can help me in developing ideas and designing my research

easier.”

As the above explanations, it could be concluded that the students used

many material to findings idea and reference sources to support them in

designing their research proposal.

c. Ask for help from the lecturer and friends

Based on the interview, all of the students mention that asking for help

and suggestions from the lecturer and friends can be a solution to their problem

in designing a research proposal. L1 states that:

“Research proposal is a mandatory final assignment for students if they

want to complete an education level. Therefore, students must have the

ability to design a research proposal. Ability means talent or skill to do

 47

something, and ability in designing research proposal is need to help them

in carry out the research. But actually, when students have to do the

research proposal they get some problems or difficulties because it is the

first time for them in designing a research proposal, even they already

forgetting a lot about what they had learned. Thus, we as supervisor have

to remains the students and give them suggestions if they come to

discussing their proposal. They can also discuss it and asking for help

from graduated students or their friends to help them in doing a research.”

S1 said that:

“I often discuss and asking for help my research proposal with my smart

friends because I think talking with friends is more comfortable and I can

ask anything based on my research and what I cannot understand without

worrying.”

S2 explained that:

“I usually discuss my research proposal with my thesis supervisor and

asking for help from my smart friends who understand how to designing a

research proposal well because I think they know how to designing

research proposal better that me.”

 48

S3 added that:

“I often discuss and asking for help with my friends to ask for the

suggestions and then discuss it with my supervisor.”

S4 agreed that:

“Yes I do discuss and ask the suggestion from my supervisor and also my

friends help me more understand about how to designing research

proposal.”

S5 states:

“If I feel difficult, and do not understand or need some suggestion about

my research proposal then I will asking for help from my friends. I think

it is more comfortable when we talking to friend and ask for their help

and suggestions.”

S6 said that:

“When I think I need some suggestions or help that lead to my research

proposal, I will ask it with my supervisor and friends. I think both is

important in helping me to finishing my research proposal.”

From the opinions above, it can be concluded that all of the students

agreed that they need to ask for help from the lecturer or their supervisor and
 49

friends when they get confused or need to solve their problems in designing

research proposal.

d. Use some techniques in developing ideas

Two from six students mention that they use some techniques or

strategies to help them in developing ideas when writing their research

proposal, such as mind mapping.

S3 states that:

“I found out by myself the way to solve my problem in designing

research proposal, one of the difficulties that I feel is in developing ideas,

so I try to use some techniques in developing ideas such as mind

mapping, write a proposal step by step, plan my work and make a note of

the important things, get to know well the general structure of a proposal

and improving my analytical skill. Thus, it really help me in developing

ideas.”

S5 added that:

“I got difficulty in developing ideas in writing my proposal because I did

not put a lot of time in reading journal or books and I admitted that I lack

in writing skills. But then I try to used strategies to help me in developing

 50

ideas, that is mind mapping. I also try to find and read a lot of article,

journal and books to help me in developing ideas.”

Based on the opinion above, it can be concluded that some students use

mind mapping as a technique to develop their ideas in writing a research

proposal and that techniques really help them in developing ideas.

e. Improve academic language

From six students, only three of them mention that improving

academic language can help them in designing their research proposal. S3

states that:

“I try to improve my academic language while my research proposal on

progress by reading a lot of international journal or article, because I

think academic language such as grammar, vocabulary and English skill

affect in writing research proposal. With a good English skill, it can help

me in arranging the sentence and the grammar. It also can help me

understand international journals that use the advance words. So, by

improving my academic language can help me to solve my difficulties in

designing research proposal.”

 51

S4 said that:

“Some solutions that I use to solve my difficulties in designing my

research proposal is improving academic language especially in English

skill by trying to spend more time in practicing reading, and writing.”

S5 added that:

“As an English Department student I have to use fully English in writing

my research proposal that give so much difficulties to me, so it is

important to have a great academic language ability. And improving

academic language by spent more time in reading become one of my

solutions to solve my difficulties in writing a research proposal.”

Based on the responses above, it can be analysed that improving

academic languages such as grammar, vocabulary, writing, and English skill

can help students in designing their research proposal.

f. Use some particular strategies

Based on the interview, all of the students mention that one of the

solutions to solve their difficulties on completing their research proposal is by

using some particular strategies such as make a target and not be lazy while

designing their research proposal. S1 said that:

 52

“I use some particular strategies to completing my research proposal on

time such as make a target, set deadlines, making “to do” list to ease

getting in and out of my work, write continually and do not be lazy.”

S2 states that:

“Do not be lazy and set deadlines, do revisions and make a direction note

of my supervisor’s suggestions. I always spent my time to read a lot of

international journal or article that relevant to my research. By that way, I

can get ideas to designing and writing my proposal.”

S3 added that:

“I do use some particular strategies to help me in finishing my research,

such as make a target and to do list to make my work easier and, find a lot

of reference sources, journal and article based on my title as many as

possible. Reading a lot of journal and book, and practicing my writing

skill.

S4 explained that:

“The strategies to finishing my research on time are make a target step by

step, write continually and do not be lazy at least open my laptop and

write my proposal and keep writing 1 hour per day. Find motivations and
 53

talk about my ideas with my friends and asking for they suggestions, take

a not the important things that leads to my research.”

S5 added that:

“The strategies I used to completing my proposal on time is to always

remember my parents, and my graduated friends. I also try to find some

motivation that can give me passion to finishing my proposal. I always

convince myself like “don not quit” and “I can do it”, even if it thoughtful

but I can pass it. I also make a target and take at least an hour per day to

finishing my research proposal.”

S6 said that:

“Besides pushing myself to not be lazy and always open my laptop to

finishing my proposal on time for a few hours per day, I also get exercise,

adequate sleep and eat well to keep my body and mind healthy. Make a

target and set deadlines, ask for help and motivations from friends. Often

to do revisions and met supervisor to discuss my research proposal.”

From the opinion above, it can be concluded that all of the students have

their particular strategies as the solutions to solve their difficulties in finishing

their research proposal on time. In this research, all of students mention that one

of the particular strategies used to help them completing their research on time

is to make a target.
 54

B. Discussion

This discussion is provided to answer the research questions of this

research. The purpose of this research is to find out the students’ difficulties in

designing a research proposal and the solutions to solve the students’ difficulties

in designing a research proposal. While gathering the data, the researcher did not

find any obstacle. Both lecturers and students were very helpful and well

cooperating.

The first research question was asking about what are the students’

difficulties in designing a research proposal. After interviewing the lecturers and

the students, the researcher found some difficulties that are faced by students in

designing their research proposal, they are: finding the title, topic or problem to

be studied, lack of English ability, difficulty in finding adequate reference

sources, lack of understanding research proposal, difficulty in developing ideas,

research methodology, and the advanced word used in the international journals

and articles. This finding is similar with Slamet (2003), many students complain

about the difficulty of designing research proposal starting from finding the

topics or problem to be studied, setting proposals in terms of text layout, title,

writing and finding adequate reference source, stage of research methodology,

and lack of understanding in designing a research proposal.

 55

The second research question was about the possible solutions to the

students’ difficulties in designing a research proposal. After the researcher

interviewed the students and the lecturers, the researcher discovered some

solutions used by students to solve their problems in designing a research

proposal, they are read a lot of international journals, articles and books, find a

lot of materials and reference sources, ask for help from the lecturer and friends,

use some techniques in developing ideas such as mind mapping and analytical

skill, improve academic language and use some particular strategies such as

make a target, set deadlines, making “to do” list and not be lazy. All of the

students also said that reading a lot of articles from international journals and

books helps them a lot to develop ideas in designing their research proposal. In

brief, students need to find adequate reference sources to support and strengthens

their research proposal (Slamet, 2003).

 CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATON

After conducting the research, this chapter presents the conclusions of this

study and offers some suggestions. This chapter is divided into two parts, with the

first part aims to give conclusions on students’ difficulties in designing a research

proposal, and the second part contains suggestions for further research on the

related topic.

A. Conclusions

Based on the research findings and discussions in the previous chapter, the

researcher would like to present some conclusions about students’ difficulties in

designing a research proposal. The conclusions are as follows:

1. The students’ difficulties consist of eight points, they are finding the title,

topic or problem to be studied, lack of English ability, difficulty in finding

adequate reference sources, lack of understanding research proposal,

difficulty in developing ideas, research methodology, and the advanced

word used in articles of the international journals. Most of the students

mention that developing ideas is the most difficult cause in designing a

research proposal. Almost half of the student state that it is difficult to find

adequate reference sources, and some of the students also mention that

56
 57

lack of English ability becomes the source of the problems in designing a

research proposal.

2. The solutions that are used by students in designing research proposal

consist of several points, they are: read a lot of international journals,

articles and books, find a lot of materials and reference sources, ask for

help from the lecturer and friends, use some techniques in developing

ideas such as mind mapping and analytical skill, improve academic

language and use some particular strategies such as make a target, set

deadlines, make “to do” list and not be lazy. All of the students’ respond

that reading many articles from international journals and books can help

them to develope ideas in designing their research proposal. Less than half

of students give opinion that they use some techniques or strategies to

develop ideas when writing their research proposal.

B. Recommendation

After analysing the data gained from interview, the researcher would like

to present some recommendation. They are as follow:

1. The students should learn adequately all the subject provided by

English Department such as Reading Comprehension, English

Academic Writing, English Language Research, English for Academic

Purposes, and Research Methodology to support them in designing a

research proposal.
 58

2. The students should enrich their knowledge by reading books that

refers to research proposal and reading a lot of articles from journal to

help them in developing ideas and designing their research proposal

properly.

3. The students have to meet their supervisors to discuss their proposal as

soon as possible to know the best suggestions and the mistakes of their

research.
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 List of Interview

For students:

1. How is your research proposal? Do you find any difficulties in designing

research proposal?

2. What are the difficulties you found in designing research proposal?

3. What are the reasons for those problems?

4. What are the solutions for those problems?

5. What do you do when you face the difficulties in designing research proposal,

will you discuss it with your thesis supervisor, friends, or other lecturer

besides your thesis supervisors?

6. In your opinion, why is research proposal difficult to design?

7. Does English language ability affect you in designing research proposal, why?

8. Do you think learning how to designing research proposal is important, why?

9. What is the most difficult part in designing research proposal? Why?

10. Do you have any particular strategies in completing your proposal in time?
For lecturers:

1. What do you think about English students’ ability in designing research

proposal?

2. Does English subject such as English Reading Comprehension, English

Academic Writing, English Language Research, English for Academic

Purposes and Research Methodology are effective to help students in

designing their research proposal?

3. In your opinion, what are the factors that make students’ feel difficult to

design their research proposal?

4. What are the possible solutions to solve the students’ difficulties in

designing research proposal?

5. Are those solutions effective for students to help them designing their

research proposal?