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Example 2
An undergraduate thesis is a research report. It means that writing an undergraduate thesis is writing a report of a research that had investigated. Since it
is a report, the writer has to write it using simple past tense. In the example, the author used simple present tense in writing the composition. Consequently, teacher
suggested the author to revise her composition into past tense.
4.1.1.3 Plural Marker
In this research, it was found that students omitted plural marker of nouns. Therefore, the teacher gave correction on the nouns by adding –s or –es in the end
of the word. The examples were: PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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4.1.1.4 Language Objectivity
An undergraduate thesis is included as an academic writing and one of the characterizations of an academic writing is the objective structures. The author has
to write the thesis in a neutral way using objective structures, such as impersonal forms and passive voice. To keep the objectivity in writing the thesis, the teacher
provided feedback on it as the example:
The use of word “the writer”, in the example above, made the writing sound subjective. Therefore, the teacher suggested the author to write it in a neutral way
in order to the writing be objective.
4.1.1.5 Pronouns
A pronoun is a word that substitutes for a noun, a noun phrase, or another noun Raimes, 2002: 453. Teacher also provided feedback on the use of prono un.
Consider the example: PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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In the sentence above, the subject personal pronoun “she” should not be used because the author has not mentioned to whom “she” refers to yet. Teacher,
then, corrected it by changing “she” into “Antasari” which was the name of the person.
4.1.1.6 Sentence Constructions
The construction of sentences must follow certain well-defined rules Warren, 1985: 335. In this study, it was found that students did not follow the
rules in constructing the sentences correctly. For that reason, the teacher gave feedback on sentence constructions so that the readers are able to comprehend the
information presented by the students. Consider these examples: Example 1
In the example above, the second sentence was a subordinate clause and therefore only part of a sentence. It must be included in the full sentence. The
teacher, then, corrected the sentence by changing the period into comma and changing capital letter into lowercase.
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Example 2
In constructing a sentence, there must be basic agreement between the sentence elements. In the example above, the author missed to put a noun to follow
the adjective word “systematic”. Therefore, the teacher asked clarification of what is systematic.
4.1.2 Mechanics