Belajar Bahasa Inggris: Keterampilan Menulis (Writing Skill)
The term composition or writing can mean a short story or a poem, as well as an essay. A composition, according to Vincent Ryan Ruggiero (1981:2), is a brief essay that expresses the writer’s thoughts and feelings in direct prose statement. As Vincent Ryan Ruggiero (1981: xi) said: “… composition is an art whose mastery depends on disciplined practice … and our society has little regard for practice and less for discipline. Then, … learning to write well is a slow process involving the building of good habits over a period of years …
If we have come to think of a composition as a specified number of words about some topic, with a title, introduction, body, and conclusion, it will be helpful for us to reflect on the root meaning of the word, composition. About a composition, Vincent Ryan Ruggiero (1981:3) said:
To compose means to select, shape, and arrange. It means to take the raw material and work it as the sculptor does his stone, the potter does his clay, turning random thoughts into focused thoughts, rough sentences into polished sentences, disorganized paragraphs into organized paragraphs.
Perhaps, we had never heard or written before what is said by Peter Elbow (1998:12) about writing:
People without education say, “If only I had education I could write.” People with education say, “If only I had talent I could write.” People with education and talent say, “If only I had self-discipline I could write.” People with education, talent, and self-discipline--and there are plenty of them who can’t write--say, “If only …” and don’t know what to say next.
Mellie John et. al. (1979:222) said: “A good writing is simple and exact,” and then he said completely:
As in all expression, the word is the beginning. If you can use words simply, exactly, and forcibly to carry your ideas, you can express yourself well. Even such a writer as John Ruskin had to learn that good writing is simple and exact. There are numerous ways of making your ideas vivid and real with the use of words and phrases.
Diagram
It’s important to emphasize here the appropriate time to proofread. Have someone else proofread your text, if possible. If time allows, put your composition away, and proofread later, or even better, the next day. We said that we ask our students to proofread just before they submit their papers for evaluation. That is, when they are generating and developing their ideas - getting started and then figuring out what they want to say - we don’t ask for or expect perfect texts. It’s because writing is a recursive rather than linear process. So, the typical sub processes of writing process (gathering ideas, ordering ideas, ideas to text, reviewing, editing) can be applied to narrative writing. For a clear understanding of writing steps, notice the above diagram.
The above steps of writing are according to what is said by Pat Belanoff (1993:2):
Writing is a
recursive rather than linear process; that is, writers don’t go straight from
drafting to revising to editing without backtracking or repeating any steps. We
imagine the process as something like the diagram above. The writer starts with
the core of the idea, moving outward and then back, passing through revision
and drafting and editing repeatedly, but with drafting and then revising
receiving less attention as editing becomes the focus. But at the early stage,
when writers are concentrating on ideas, they don’t have time to worry about
punctuation and verb tenses.
Paragraph and Essay
As
in any piece of writing, your paragraphs should respond to the questions: “What
do I want to say?” “To whom do I want to say it?” “How do I want to say it?”
These questions, as always, respond to the largest question: “Why do I want to
say it?” What is your goal, and have you constructed a paragraph that will
accomplish that goal?
An essay is a collection of paragraphs unified by a controlling goal and purpose. Paragraphs are the building blocks of essays. To put it another way, we can think of a paragraph as rather like a miniature essay. Paragraph problems often arise from three interrelated sorts of difficulties: trouble with unity, trouble with coherence, and trouble with development.
A unified paragraph has a single clear focus, and all its sentences relate to that focus. The focus for a paragraph is achieved by means of a controlling idea, just as the focus for a whole essay is achieved by means of a controlling goal. In an essay, that idea appears in the thesis, either clearly implied or explicitly stated. Similarly, in a paragraph the controlling idea is clearly implied or, more commonly, explicitly stated in the topic sentence. The topic sentence sums up the central idea of the paragraph. It serves as your guide for developing that idea and as the reader’s guide for understanding it.
Once students have put together ideas in a way which shows relationships between them, they can consider other methods of achieving coherence such as repeating key words and phrases, using parallel grammatical structure, using transitional markers (signals), and using old information to introduce new information.
Writing an essay is no more difficult than writing a paragraph except that an essay is longer. The principles of organization are the same for both - so if you can write a good paragraph, you can write a good essay. Let take a look at a paragraph. About a paragraph Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue (1999:16) said that a paragraph is a basic unit of organization in writing in which a group of related sentences develops one main idea. A paragraph can be as short as one sentence or as long as ten sentences.
And then about an essay Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue (1999:100) said that:
An essay is a piece of writing several paragraphs long instead of just one or two paragraphs. It is written about one topic, just as a paragraph is. However, the topic of an essay is too complex to discuss in one paragraph. Therefore, you must divide the topic into several paragraphs, one for each major point. Then you must tie all of the separate paragraphs together by adding an introduction and a conclusion.
Further understanding of an essay, Furaidah et al. (2008:4.3) said that:
An essay is a group of paragraphs that develops one central idea/one topic, just as a paragraph does. However, the topic of an essay is too long and too complex to discuss in one paragraph. Therefore, you must divide the topic into several paragraphs, one for each major point. Then you must tie all of the separate paragraphs together by adding an introduction and a conclusion.
In other words, an essay has three main parts:
1. An
introductory paragraph
2. A
body (at least one, but usually two or more paragraphs)
3. A
concluding paragraph
Now, let us see the designated function
of each part in an essay.
Introduction.
The introduction is usually one paragraph (sometimes two or more) that
introduces the topic to be discussed (general statements) and the central idea
(the thesis statement) of the essay. Thus, the introductory paragraph consists
of two parts: a few general statements about your subject to attract your
reader’s attention and a thesis statement to state the specific plan of your
essay. A thesis statement for an essay is just like a topic sentence for a
paragraph: It names the specific topic and the controlling ideas of the topic.
Body Paragraph.
These paragraphs develop the various aspects of the topic and the central idea
which is already expressed in the thesis statement. In other words, the body
consists of one or more paragraphs. Each paragraph in the body develops a
subdivision (major point) of your topic. So, the number of paragraphs in the body
will vary with the number of subdivisions (major points). In fact, each of the
developmental paragraphs should have a controlling idea that relates to the
central idea in the thesis statement. The paragraphs of the body are like the
main supporting points of a paragraph.
Conclusion.
The conclusion in an essay is like the concluding sentence in a paragraph. The
final paragraph in an essay is the conclusion, which tells the reader that you
have completed an essay. First, you write a summary of the main points
discussed in the body of the assay or rewrite the thesis statement in different
words. Then you add your final comment on the subject-food for thought
(something to think about). Take this opportunity to make strong, effective
message that the reader will remember. Thus, the concluding paragraph concludes the
thoughts which you have developed in the essay. It is the closing word. Be sure
to introduce the concluding paragraph with a conclusion transition signal.
Another additional element in an essay is the linking expressions between the paragraphs of the body. These are just like transitions within a paragraph. We use transitions within a paragraph to connect the ideas between sentences. Similarly, we use transitions between paragraphs to connect the ideas between the paragraphs.
Transition signals are important not only within paragraphs but also between paragraphs. Think of transitions between paragraphs as the links of a chain. The links of a chain connect the chain; they hold it together. Similarly, a transition signal between two paragraphs links your ideas together. Two paragraphs are linked by adding a transition signal to the topic sentence of the second paragraph. This transition signal may be a single word, a phrase, or a dependent clause that repeats or summaries the main idea in the first paragraph.
Introductory Paragraph.
It
seems that the most difficult part of writing is getting started. How much time
do you often waste to think of your first sentence? Getting started, or writing
an introduction, can be easy if you remember that an introduction has four
purposes:
1. It
introduces the topic of the essay.
2. It
gives a general background of the topic.
3. It
often indicates the overall “plan” of the essay.
4. It
should arouse the reader’s interest in the topic.
The introduction has two parts:
1. General
statements
2. A
thesis statement
General statements
·
Introduce the topic of the essay
·
Give background information on the topic
The thesis statement is the most
important sentence in the introduction. It states the specific topic and lists
the major points that will be discussed in the body of the essay. Furthermore,
it often indicates the method of organization.
The thesis statement:
·
States the main topic
·
Often lists the subdivisions of the
topic or subtopics
·
May indicate the method of organization
of the entire paper
·
Is usually the last sentence in the
introductory paragraph
You should be immediately suspicious of any thesis statement that is a compound sentence. Such sentences usually contain two central ideas joined by a coordinating conjunction. Because each idea receives equal emphasis in the sentence, the unifying purpose of the thesis statement is defeated.
To sum up, an introductory paragraph is like a funnel: very wide at the top, increasingly narrow in the middle, and very small at the neck or bottom. The approach is to open with a general statement about the topic and then to work towards the more specific thesis statement at or near the end of the introduction.
To gain more mature, interesting, and
effective in style of your writing, Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue (1999:163) said:
Good writing
requires a mixture of all four kinds of sentences: simple, compound, complex,
compound-complex. A composition with only short, simple sentences is boring and
ineffective, as is writing that uses too many compound sentences. Writing with
complex sentences and participial phrases, structures that use subordination,
is generally considered more mature, interesting, and effective in style.
To improve your writing style, you can use participial phrases. When your essays contain too many relative clauses, change some of them to participial phrases. Occasionally using participial phrases at the beginning of sentences is considered especially mature style.
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