Analysis on the Problems in Writing References of Undergraduate Students’ Research Proposal

Abstract

As a fundamental skill of academic writing, academic writers are supposed to be able to acknowledge all authors cited in their references. However, undergraduate students find it difficult. This research aimed at finding and describing problems in writing references done by undergraduate students. This research was carried out at Tanjungpura University, Pontianak, in the English Language Education Study Program, Teacher Training and Education Faculty. This research involved 16 undergraduate students academic year 2015. The objects of this research were the research proposals written by 16 undergraduate students. This was a descriptive qualitative study. Document analysis was used to gather the 161 references taken from the research proposals. Content analysis was the analysis instrument. The data denoted that problems arouse mainly from 5 major problems: 1). Improper way of writing in- text citation, 2). Improper way of writing reference list, 3). Not including page information in direct quotation, 4). Citation style inconsistency, 5). Indication of plagiarism. From these research findings, it can be concluded that commonly, the students of English Education of English Study Program, Teacher Training and Education Faculty, Tanjungpura University still have problems in writing citation and reference list.Keywords: Reference problems, Academic writing