AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS' DIFFICULTIES IN DEVELOPING PARAGRAPHS IN WRITING THESIS PROPOSAL AT ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDENTS OF UIN SJECH M.DJAMIL DJAMBEK BUKITTINGGI
ABSTRACT Febiola Nadia Putri, An Analysis of Students' Difficulties in Developing Paragraphs in Writing Thesis Proposal at English Education Students of UIN Sjech M.Djamil Djambek Bukittinggi. A Thesis, State Islamic University (UIN) Sjech M. Djamil Djambek Bukittinggi. 2024 This research was due to the problems that were found students’ thesis proposal. The preliminary research revealed a range of difficulties that English education students at UIN Sjech M. Djamil Djambek Bukittinggi faced in developing paragraphs in their thesis proposals. Specifically, students struggled to acquire writing skills, lacked proficiency in writing strategies such as structuring paragraphs and arranging thoughts, and failed to translate their understanding of writing strategies. Moreover, students were uncertain about paragraph development skills, did not know how to identify them in a writing class, and had difficulties in focusing on ideas during the writing process. This research employed a descriptive quantitative design to investigate the writing difficulties in the theses of English Department students of UIN Bukittinggi. The population of this study consisted of 15 theses, and all of them were taken as the sample. Data was collected through documentation, and the technique of data collection involved gathering the theses to identify the writing difficulties. The data was then analyzed using statistical analysis, involving several steps such as editing, coding, tabulating, scoring, and calculating the frequency of errors. The results were presented in a rating scale to determine the level of students' difficulties in writing. The findings revealed that the students struggled with various aspects of writing, including topic sentences, supporting details, concluding sentences, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and citation techniques. The most prevalent errors were related to grammar, punctuation, and capitalization, which accounted for 48.28%, 8.97%, and 12.66% of the total errors, respectively.