Oleh: Heri Akhmadi, M.A.

Melanjutkan tulisan saya sebelumnya tentang Menulis Proposal Riset Yang Menarik – How to Write a GOOD and APPEALING Research Proposal kali ini saya lengkapi dengan bahasan tentang bagaimana menulis paper dalam bahasa Inggris.Tentu bisa juga digunakan untuk penulisan proposal riset, karena intinya adalah bagaimana menulis ilmiah menggunakan bahasa Inggris, dan proposal merupakan atau bahkan sangat perlu untuk memperhatikan istilah, kaidah yang benar dalam penulisan ilmiah, khususnya bahasa Inggris

Menulis artikel/paper berbahasa Inggris merupakan suatu keniscayaan – kalau tidak mau dianggap – sebagai suatu kewajiban bagi mahasiswa, dosen dan peneliti saat ini. Terlebih untuk yang kuliah di luar negeri. Bukan sekedar karena mengejar paper masuk SCOPUS atau Web of Science (salah satu indexing jurnal terkenal), namun sebagai upaya agar hasil penelitian yang dilakukan bisa dibaca dan dimanfaatkan oleh semua orang, di seluruh dunia. Sehingga kemanfaatan dari suatu penelitian akan lebih banyak yang merasakan.

Tulisan ini merupakan “oleh-oleh” dari kegiatan “Faculty Science Camp” yang dilaksanakan LP3M UMY di Fakultas Pertanian pada hari Kamis, 11 Juli 2019. Kegiatan ini merupakan rangkaian kegiatan yang dilaksanakan dalam rangka meningkatkan kemampuan penulisan ilmiah tertama dalam bahasa Inggris bagi dosen/peneliti UMY, khususnya dosen Fakultas Pertanian tempat saya mengabdi.

Fokus pada tulisan ini adalah pada penggunaan bahasa Inggrisnya, jadi bagaimana menulis hasil penelitian menggunakan bahasa Inggris ilmiah. Mengenai tips penulisan konten paper, itu hal lainnya. Jadi disini penekanannya adalah bagaimana menggunakan bahasa Inggris ilmiah yang tepat untuk menulis paper ilmiah. Maklum, karena bahasa Inggris bukan bahasa ibu dan bukan bahasa resmi sehari-hari orang Indonesia, terkadang pengaruh tata bahasa Indonesia masih sangat berasa di tulisan-tulisan orang Indonesia (Indonesian English atau Javanese English and even Ngapak English…hehehe).

Ada 3 bagian tulisan mengenai topik ini (Part 1, Part 2 dan Part 3), mulai dari pendahuluan (yaitu di postingan ini/Part 1) yang berisi mengenai dasar-dasar bagian suatu artikel ilmiah beserta frasa/ungkapan bahasa Inggris yang umumnya dipakai di artikel ilmiah. Misalnya bagaimana menuliskan kalimat pembuka untuk bagian “Introduction“, atau kalimat yang digunakan untuk mengungkapkan bagian “methodology” secara detail disertai contohnya. Part 2 lebih pada bagaimana memilih tenses yang digunakan pada tulisan ilmiah. Ya, tenses kadang menjadi momok bagi yang sedang belajar Bahas Inggris, maklum ada setidaknya 16 tenses. Namun apa semua harus dikuasai untuk menulis paper?…silakan baca detailnya di Part 2. Sedangkan Part 3 atau terakhir khusus berbicara tentang “reporting verb”, ini juga salah satu yang perlu sekali dipahami saat menulis dalam bahasa Inggris. Misal literature review atau pembahasan dimana perlu mengutip tulisan orang lain yang kadang jumlah artikelnya sangat banyak sehingga terjadi pengulangan kata seperti:

“X states that….”, “Y says that….”, or “It is said that….”

Disclaimer: tulisan ini merupakan hasil catatan saya dan sebagian copy materi dari pembicara (info pembicara lihat references). Saya tuliskan di sini bukan berarti saya sudah mahir menulis paper berbahasa Inggris, saya juga masih dalam tahap belajar (Tolong jangan baca paper saya ya, jadi malu kalau ada yg baca paper berbahasa Inggris saya…langsung sitasi sj…hehehe).

Oke, kita lanjut ke inti dari artikel ini saja. Sebelumnya saya akan membahas tulisan ini bertahap sesuai tahapan dalam penulisan paper. Mulai dari abstract, introduction, method, result and discussion and conclusion (umumnya sistematika paper).

ABSTRACT

Abstract merupakan pengantar dan sekaligus “inti” dari suatu tulisan ilmiah. Dari abstrak kita bisa tahu apa sebenarnya keseluruah paper itu berbicara. Setidaknya ada 4 poin penting dalam abstrak:

1. Goals/aims/purposes (reasearch questions)
2. Methodology
3. Results
4. Conclusion

Keywords
Di akhir abstrak umumnya dituliskan keywords/kata kunci dari paper/abstrak tersebut. Keyword ini adalah “inti dari inti” (pinjam isitilah Pak Dul…hehe) dari suatu paper. Jadi kalau abstrak itu inti dari paper, kalau inti itu “diperas lagi” menjadi keywords. Ada juga yang berpendapat bahwa keywords berfungsi untuk membantu pada pencarian di mesin pencari/search engine. Sehingga kalau orang mau mencari paper kita di internet, kata kunci apa yang digunakan. Setidaknya ada 3 hal penting yang menentukan suatu kata masul list keywords paper, yaitu :

• Merupakan variable significant in researchs
• Terdiri antara 3-6 keywords
• Untuk frasa (rangkaian istilah lebih dari satu kata) tidak masalah, selagi itu adalah istilah.

Present or Past tense?

Salah satu hal yang kadang ditanyakan pada penulisan abstrak adalah penggunaan bentuk Present atau Past tense. Mengenai hal ini, BOTH ACCEPTED, alias keduanya bisa digunakan pada penulisan abstrak.

Contoh Abstract:

Adolescent Smokers’ Perceived Risk of Cigarette Use

Little is known about risk perceptions of adolescents already engaged in risk behaviors. This study aims to  quantify adolescent smokers’ perceived risk of smoking and to explore the association of demographic and  social characteristics with this perceived risk. Data were obtained from the 2007 Minnesota Student Survey,  administered to a total of 136,549 students in grades 6, 9, and 12. The 15,562 students who identified  themselves as smokers were included in this study. The association between perceived risk of smoking and  demographic and social characteristics was explored through bivariate and multivariate analyses. Among all  smokers, 10.0% perceived no risk, 14.8% perceived slight risk, 29.3% perceived moderate risk, and 45.9%  perceived high risk of smoking. Perceptions of smoking risk varied significantly across demographic and  social groups in bivariate and multivariate analyses. Holding lower perceptions of smoking risk was associated with being younger, male, African American, receiving free or reduced-price lunch, having a lower GPA, more frequent cigarette use, friends’ approval of smoking, and lack of information about drugs and alcohol. Sources of drug information associated with higher perceived risk of smoking were friends/peers, school, and media. Adolescent smokers’ perceived risk of smoking varied from no to high risk. Variations in smoking risk perception across demographic and social groups point to potential targets for smoking education as well as strategies likely to increase the effectiveness of smoking education.

INTRODUCTION

Introduction sesuai namanya adalah bagian pendahuluan atau awal suatu tulisan. Setelah menulis abstrak, maka bagian inilah yang mengawali suatu paper. Umumnya berisi hal-hal berikut:

1. General introduction
2. Problem definition
3. Gaps in the literature
4. Research questions
5. Aims & objectives
6. Significance and advantages of paper

Useful Phrases for GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Berikut ini beberapa frase atau kalimat dalam bahasa Inggris yang bisa digunakan untuk mengawali atau menulis dalam introduction:

• Research on __ has a long tradition
• For decades, one of the most popular ideas in __ literature is the idea that____
• Recent theoretical developments have revealed that __
• A common strategy used to study __ is to __
• This research constitutes a relatively new area which has emerged  from __
• These approaches have been influential in the field because of __
• In the past several decades, __ have played an important  role in __
• There are growing appeals for __
• This is the field of study that deals with __
• Most of the theories of __ are however focused on explaining __

Useful Phrases for PROBLEM DEFINITION

• A challenging problem which arises in this domain is __
• These problems are difficult to handle __
• This is typically a complex problem __
• A well-known problem with __  is that it does not take into account the __
• One of the problems is that it considers only the __
• The key problem with this technique is __
• This appears as a more straightforward problem compared to the __
• This turns out to be even more problematic because __
• The problem with such an implementation is that __
• This poses some problems when carrying out the __
• This problem  has attracted more attention in the field of __

Useful Phrases for LITERATURE GAPS

• There is no previous research using __ approach.
• As far as we know, no previous research has investigated __
• There has been less previous evidence for __
• Other studies have failed to __
• To our knowledge, no study has yielded __
• No study to date has examined __
• Only a few studies have shown __
• However, __ has rarely been studied directly.
• Moreover, few studies have focused on __
• In particular no study, to our knowledge, has considered __

Useful Phrases for PROBLEM SOLUTION

• There are many alternative methods available for solving these problems.
• In order to rectify the problem of __
• A solution to this problem is proposed in __
• One approach to solve this problem involves the use of __
• A number of works have shown that this problem can be overcome by using __
• A large number of alternative approaches have been developed over the last few decades to
• To overcome this problem, in the next section we demonstrate __
• One way to overcome this problem is to __
• To overcome this problem, some approaches have been made __
• One way of recovering from this problem could be to __
• This has been proposed to surmount the problems caused by __
• A different approach to the traditional problem is given in __
• A whole range of different approaches to the problem are available.
• These techniques have potential to solve contemporary problems in __

AIMS or OBJECTIVES

Berikut ini frase yang sering digunakan untuk mengungkapkan tujuan dari penelitian

• The aim of the experiment is to compare __
• Our research aims at finding a solution for this challenging problem of  __
• There is no overall goal, apart from __
• We examine some previous work and propose a new method for __
• There are too many simultaneous goals making it difficult to __
• One of the major aims of this work was to create __
• The main objective is to investigate methods for improving __
• The objectives can be restated in the light of __
• The objective is to devise and implement a system for __
• The objectives were partially met by developing a method to __
• The objective is to demonstrate the feasibility of __
• One of the objectives is to improve the __

METHODOLOGY

Methodologi umumnya merupakan suatu bagian dari tulisan/paper/artikel yang:

1. Explain the study design (survey, interview, focus groups, etc.)
2. Explain procedures for data collection (primary or secondary) and include how and why you chose the data source
3. Identify the study population (ex: age, gender, and other characteristics) & give rationale
4. Explain the analytical methods used.
5. Explain why the analyses you carried out were appropriate for your study design.

Useful Phrases for Describing what was done and how it was done:

• We started by investigating …..
• We designed a new technique for ……
• We used a new approach.
• These experiments were carried out to find out …..
• In order to verify the validity of the ….. method, we carried out several experiments.
• All the tests/measurements were carried out at room temperature.
• The (signals) were measured before and after …..
• To illustrate ….., a simulation was performed.
• The ….. analysis was performed in order to ….. We checked for the presence of …..
• The increase in ….. was not caused by/was not due to a decrease in ……
• The (optimized condition) was obtained from ….

Useful Phrases for Data Collection:

• There were __ participants in this sample.
• Participants first provided informed consent about __
• We performed additional data collection with __
• For this study, we analyzed the data collected from __
• Data were collected and maintained by __
• For this purpose, the researcher employed survey data collected from __
• The analyzed data included: __
• The procedures of handling the data followed the suggestions of __
• Subsequently, __ were then used to elicit further data.
• Survey data were collected from __
• The sample was heterogeneous with respect to __
• The sample size in this study was not considered large enough for__
• The sample of respondents included __

RESULT

Result of the research commonly:

1. Presents the clear, concise, and comprehensive answer to your research question
2. Presents any other findings that are meaningful and very aligned to your research  question
3. Uses text, tables, and graphs
4. Tries not to repeat information in your text that is shown in your tables and figures; instead summarizes the findings from each table and figure.
5. Does not include tables listing each participant and their data points – that is your  database, not your results!

Useful Phrases for Writing Result:

• From the short review above, key findings emerge: __
• This is an important finding in the understanding of the __
• A further novel finding is that __
• Together, the present findings confirm __
• The results demonstrate two things.  First, __. Second,  __
• The results of the experiment found clear support for the __
• This analysis found evidence for __
• Planned comparisons revealed that __
• Our results casts a new light on __
• This section summarizes the findings and contributions made.
• This gives clearly better results than __
• From the results, it is clear that __

Useful Phrases for Describing Charts, Figures, and Graphs:

• Fig. 2 shows/presents/depicts/outlines/illustrates/represents …..
• Fig. 3 gives an example of …..
• Such cases are depicted in the following figures.
• This is illustrated in Fig. 5.
•  ….. is/are shown/given in Figs. 3 and 4.
•  ….. can be found in Fig. 8.
• As can be seen from Figs. 5 and 3, …..
•  As shown in Fig. 1, …..
• As follows from the figures shown above, …..
• From this figure it can be seen that …..
• For the resulting plot, see Fig. 2.
• Table II summarizes …..
• The graph/diagram suggests/indicates that …..

DISCUSSION

Sedikit berbeda dengan resul, pada discussion umumnya berisi:

1. Describes how your results fit or do not fit with previous research studies
2. Emphasizes the new and important aspects of your project, and the conclusions
3. Describes the meaning and implications of your results. Provide sufficient detail to support your interpretation.
4. Discusses the strengths and limitations of the study (ex: sample size)
5. Explains how your conclusions could lead to follow-up research
6. Outlines any unanswered questions related to the project and explain how those could be addressed in a subsequent study
7. Discusses ways in which you might improve upon or modify the study to move the results forward

Useful Phrases for Writing Comparison with Prior Studies:

• These results go beyond previous reports, showing that __
• In line with previous studies __
• This result ties well with previous studies wherein __
• Contrary to the findings of __ we did not find __
• They have demonstrated that __
• Others have shown that __ improves __
• By comparing the results from __, we hope to determine __
• However, in line with the ideas of __, it can be concluded that __
• When comparing our results to those of older studies, it must be pointed out that __
• We have verified that using __ produces similar results
• Overall these findings are in accordance with findings reported by __

Useful Phrases for Writing Limitation of the work:

• Because of the lack of __ we decided to not investigate __
• One concern about the findings of __ was that __
• Because of this potential limitation, we treat __
• The limitations of the present studies naturally include __
• Regarding the limitations of __, it could be argued that __
• Another limitation of this __
• This limitation is apparent in many __
• Another limitation in __ involves the issue of __
• The main limitation is the lack of __
• One limitation is found in this case.
• One limitation of these methods however is that they __
• It presents some limitations such as __

Demikian, semoga bermanfaat.

Senja Utama Train, Jumat 09 Agustus 2019. Ditulis di dalam Kereta “Senja Utama Yogya” pada perjalanan dari Yogyakarta ke Purwokerto.

References:

1. Siti Nurjannah. 2019. AN INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH ARTICLE WRITING. Fakultas Pendidikan dan Bahasa UMY
2. Wordvice. 2019. Which Tense Should Be Used in Abstracts: Past or Present?
3. Morley, John. 2014. Academic Phrasebank retrieved from http://www.kfs.edu.eg/com/pdf/2082015294739.pdf
4. Ref n Write. 2017. Academic Phrases for Writing Results & Discussion Sections of a Research Paper
5. Feature image credit to scienceforstudent.org