Developing Undergraduate Quality : A Challenge
for both
English
Lecturers and Subject Lecturers
by
Sri Endah Tabiati, Dra, M.Ed
Language Service Unit Brawijaya University
Abstract
A
qualified graduate can be detected from three factors: the high score of GPA,
the short length of study, and the short waiting period before getting the
initial job and the high first salary. In the process of producing that
qualified graduate, lecturers ( subject lecturers) play a very significant role.
University lecturers are expected to have a sound background in English, which
they will employ in the teaching of their subjects. They are expected to assign
their students to read textbooks or journal articles, or a certain chapter about
their subject written in English. English lecturers as ESP teachers should
support this by orienting their teaching materials to scientific writing dealing
with the subject of the students.
This paper aims at sharing an
experience in being involved in what the medical students of Brawijaya
University have done in responding to the global communication era, by
conducting a national posters and paper training. In the training both the
subject lecturer (a doctor) and the English lecturer took turn in presenting
papers : the subject lecturer focused her discussion on the content and flow of
thought in scientific writing, while the English lecturer focused her discussion
on the English used in international scientific writing. This program is
expected to give significant contribution to the university in the effort of
improving the academic atmosphere among the students
I. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays there is an increasingly greater
challenge for universities to produce highly qualified graduates is. The
government of Indonesia through the Directorate General of Higher Education (DGHE)
of the Ministry of National Education has been giving a lot of support in
improving the quality of higher education graduates . This is done as a response
to the present condition of the country which has been facing economic crisis in
the last five years. Many projects have been offered to Indonesian
universities, both state and private ones, are expected to produce strong
professional workforces who acquire high quality, ready to be employed not only
in the big industries with high initial salary but also in small industries
where they can initiate the establishment of small to medium size enterprises.
It hoped that if the graduates have those qualities they will give
significant contribution to the government, especially in the effort of
overcoming unemployment problems, because they win the tight competition
with foreign graduates for getting jobs in local market or have the
opportunity for getting jobs in overseas market (DGHE Document, 2001)
To meet that expectation, the universities must
improve several factors which are known as RAISE ,i.e Relevance, Academic
atmosphere, Internal management, Sustainability and Efficiency.
Brawijaya University, one of the state universities in East java, Indonesia, has
emphasized the need to increase RAISE as mentioned in its objectives:
1.
Producing professional human
resources with competitive ability beyond national border;
2.
becoming a centre of science and technology development, and
3.
pioneering in public empowerment ( Brawijaya University Prospectus,2003)
To achieve the first objective, English plays an
important role and improving the English ability of the students means improving
the Academic Atmosphere in the university. A university can be said to
have a good academic atmosphere if all the university community are engaged in
academic activities such as seminars, researches, experiments, discussion. Such
activities can be realized easily if all the university community are well
informed, especially in their own subject specialties. The development of
technology has provided us with a lot of information which we can access only if
we have sound background in English.
Improving the English ability of the university
students not only the responsibility of the English lecturers, but also the
responsibility of the subject lecturers. Both the English lecturers and the
Subject lecturers must work hand in hand in this matter and this can be done
successfully if :
-
the subject lecturers have sound background in
English which they will employ in the teaching of their subject.
-
The subject lecturers assign their students to
read textbooks or journal articles, or a certain chapter about their subject
written in English.
-
the English lecturers orient their teaching
materials to scientific writing dealing with the subjects of the students.
-
The English lecturers encourage the students
to write about their subjects in English
One of the academic activities that has been
done by the students of Medical Faculty , Brawijaya University is to conduct the
national paper and poster training on November 2002. The medical students join
an international organization called AMSA which stands for ASIAN Medical
Students Association. This association plans to hold an international conference
in 2003, and the above mentioned training held in Brawijaya university was
meant to prepare the students to be able to present good scientific paper in the
international conference in 2003. This is one of the efforts done to improve the
academic atmosphere at Brawijaya University, which indirectly is believed to
equipped the students with professional skills that the university graduates
must posses.
This paper aims at sharing the writer’s
experience in working together with a subject lecturer at the Medical
faculty of Brawijaya University by presenting papers on how to write good
scientific paper. The subject lecturer focused the paper on the essence of
scientific paper while the writer focused her paper on the language (the
English) of scientific paper. This collaboration was expected to present to the
students two things at the same time: the content and the language of scientific
paper. The training was followed by the students’ activities to write scientific
paper and both of us were asked to give suggestions and consultations about the
paper that they would present in the 2003 AMSA Conference.
II. THE PONTS THE SUBJECT LECTURER DISCUSSED IN
THE TRAINING
a. Introduction :
What scientific writing is
That writing scientific in English
is rather different from that in Indonesian
The importance of possessing
scientific flow of thought in the production of
scientific writing
b. The Scientific Flow of Thought
Penemuan /identifikasi masalah
Pengenalan
masalah
Hipotesis
Hipotesis Baru
Rancangan percobaan/survei
Pengumpulan Data
Pengembangan Hipotesis
Pengujian Hipotesis
Apakah data menunjang hipotesis
Tidak
Ya
Hipotesa ditolak
Hipotesa diterima
Hipotesis ditolak
Hipotesis diterima
c. The Ethic Codes in Scientific Writing
What ethic code in scientific
writing is
The importance of mentioning
references in a quotation
d. Writing Model
Narrative
Descriptive
Expository
e. Steps in Scientific Writing
Choosing topics
Formulating Outlines
Developing Paragraph
The requirements for scientific
writing :
Objective
Logical and Systematic
Based on literature review
Recent and novel
f. General Contents of Scientific Writing
Topics : concise but informative
Abstract : contains background, method, main
results, conclusion
Introduction : contains background and problem
statement, Review of related previous
research , the gap of the
previous and present research, statement of
purpose.
Literature Review : contains description of
theoretical background and relevant concepts
Methods : contains the kinds of research, the
methods used in collecting and analyzing data
Results : contains all the research results
which can be presented verbally, by using tables,
graphs and diagram.
Discussion : contains all the research
conclusion which describes the new and original
findings, the relation
between the objectives and the present research, new
hypothesis, if necessary.
Conclusion and Suggestion : contains the
description of writing ideas which should be
consistent with problem analyzed and should answer the
problems and the objectives
Acknowledgments : contains the acknowledgements
to those who have given
contribution to
the research which enables the paper to be
published or
presented.
Bibliography : Should be systematic and based
on general scientific rules adopted.
g. Methods of Writing Bibliography and Examples
The elements written in bibliography
References from textbooks, journal
articles, documents, institutions, translated
work, thesis and dissertation.
III. THE POINTS WHICH THE WRITER ( THE ENGLISH
LECTURER) DISCUSSED IN THE TRAINING.
As mentioned earlier, the writer focussed her
attention to the language. And in giving examples in the discussion, she used
the same journal articles as the subject lecturer did. The following is the
summary of what the writer discussed in the training.
Features of Scientific Writing
In general there are some essential
features which a scientific text writer should pay attention to :
a.
Physical lay out
b.
Content
c.
Organization and Language
a.
Physical lay out.
Physical lay-out refers to the appearance of
presentation covering the way to put the Title, the spacing ( single or double),
the foot-noting and others concerning typing techniques.
b.
Content
What we write should be novel (new)
ideas , for example, recent events, recent discoveries and the like. In
addition, if we write in a medical journal, the subject must be about medical
science. By so doing we will be able to make the readers interested in reading
our writing
c.
Organization
Many studies on scientific writing
assert that organization is the most important part in the writing process and
no journals will publish poorly organized work.
The common version if the organization
in a scientific writing is Introduction, Materials and methods, Results and
Discussion, Conclusion and may be Abstract prior to the Introduction. However
in many journals, one or two section are eliminated because of page limitation
or of journal policy. And of course any piece of writing must have a title,
presented before abstract.
The appendix P-1 uses the common
version of scientific writing organization. However many writers may use other
organization such as Essay ( P-2 and P-4), Short Article or commentary ( P-3)
Title
A title has a very significant role in any
written text as it is the first thing a reader sees before deciding to read the
whole text or not. Therefore it should have the power to attract readers’
attention. To do so, it should fulfill the following requirements ( Maher 1994 )
:
1.
It should be concise but informative. It is supposed to describe in as
few words as possible the content of the paper.
2.
It must be specific. It gives the idea to the reader about the emphasis
or the focus of the article.
A title is not presented in the form of
a sentence , but in a phrase ( Noun Phrase ) in which the Noun as
Head is preceded by some words ( Modifiers) as follows :
1.
Adjective + Noun ( the modifier may consist of more than one
adjective )
e.g. sectional study ( See
appendix P-1)
2.
Noun + Noun ( or Noun of Noun , in which the first Noun is
followed by its modifier ). E.g. Malaria Morbidity (See appendix P-1)
3.
Verb + Noun ( either present participle : V –ing or past
participle : V-ed or the third form of the verb ). E.g. Treatment of Imported
Malaria ( See Appendix P-2)
4.
The complex combination of Noun , Adjective and Verb functioning
as the modifier of a Noun )
The Noun as Head may be modified by:
1.
a prepositional phrase which follows. E.g. Impact on Malaria
morbidity ( See appendix P-1)
2.
a short form of adjectival clause. E.g. A program supplying
insecticide treated nets
( see Appendix P-1)
The Presentation of a title :
1. It is presented in a sequence: General to
Specific
The first words state the general field,
followed by a colon (:) or dash (--), then a
specific detail is given to the right of
the colon.
2. It may start with a problem, followed by a
description of the cause, using the
conjunction : - due to , resulting
from
3. It starts with a problem, followed by a
reference to where a disease or analysis
occurs.
4. It may be necessary to state the parameter
of the study in the title by referring to the
nature or location of the population.
The examples of the titles which show the
combination of the above mentioned forms and presentation are as follows:
“Impact on malaria morbidity of a
programme supplying insecticide treated nets in children aged under 2 years in
Tanzania” : community cross sectional study . ( See Appendix P-1)
“ Hepatitis B immunisation in renal
units in the United Kingdom : questionnaire study” ( Appendix P-2)
“ Immunogenetics and the design of
Plasmodium falciparum vaccines for use in malaria-endemic population.
Introduction Section
Swales (1984) emphasizes the importance
of introduction section as it will firstly catch readers‘ attention. For writing
practice, this article-section should be given sufficient attention as much
evidence suggests that many writers have more difficulty with getting started on
a piece of scientific writing than with the later sections. There are four parts
of introduction section which he calls “moves”. i.e. Establishing the fields,
Summarizing previous research, preparing for present research and Introducing
the present research. The parts can be described as follows :
Move one : Establishing the fields :
a. by asserting
centrality or
b. by stating current
knowledge
For example ( see
appendix P-1) : Several studies have shown that malaria parasitaemia is
positively correlated with anaemia and that parasitaemia is the primary cause of
anaemia in very young children in Africa.
Move two : Summarizing previous research
For example (see
appendix P-1) : Hopes for controlling ………African countries ( paragraph two )
Move three : preparing for present research
a.
by indicating a gap in previous research or
b.
raising questions about previous research
For example ( see
appendix P-1 ) : It is not known whether …….
Move four : Introducing the present
research
a.
by stating the purpose or
b.
by outlining present research
For example (see
appendix P-1) : Assessment of the impact of ….. to
malaria
Procedure Section
Procedure or what Barrass (1978) call
“Materials and Methods”, concerns with the steps, techniques or processes that
writers have undergone or taken in their investigation. This section should
include enough details to ensure that if the investigation is repeated by
someone else, with experience in the same field, similar data could be obtained.
For example ( see appendix P-1) :
The selected children………..
Anaemia was classified …….
Hill et al ( 1982) say
that Procedure section is frequently divided into Methods section and Results
section. The Methods section describes how the data are collected ; the Results
section describes the data manipulation. By indicating both how to collect and
how to manipulate the data, the Procedure section ensures that the experiment
will be replicable. Anyone with the same time, resources and background
knowledge should be able to duplicate the study and verify the findings by
reading the Procedure section of the research paper. The methods section is a
chronologically ordered section, a step by step description of the process used
to obtain data is arranged according to the time sequence followed.
Results and Discussion section
The results and Discussion section
provides a factual statement of what the writer observes and this may be
supported by any statistics, tables or graphs derived from the analysis of the
data recorded during the investigation.
For example ( see appendix P-1 ) :
We identified ……
We observed an increase …..
Conclusion Section
Conclusion is derived from the Results
and Discussion section. This section may contain summary and recommendation. In
the appendix P-1 the writer does not give label to the conclusion, but present
the conclusion as the final paragraph in the discussion.
For example :
Nets treated with ………… Africa
Abstract Section
According to Graetz (1985) the primary
function of abstract is to indicate and predict the structure and content of the
text which follow them. Graetz further says that abstracts will give the reader
an exact and consice knowledge of the total content of the very much more
lengthy original, a factual summary which is both an elaboration of the title
and a condensation of the report; so that he can judge whether he needs to
consult the full text. Abstracts function as an independent type of discourse.
Haliday and Hasan (1976) in Graetz (1985) say that because abstracts are
discourse in their own right, they are expected to be both cohesive and
coherent.
There are three types of abstract, i.e.
informative, indicative and critical (Graetz, 1985).
1. Informative : Informs the readers
of the salient features, research and findings,
test described, results
summarized.
2. Indicative : provides a brief description
to help understand the general nature
and scope of the original without
going into a detailed step by step
account of what it is about.
3.Critical : not only gives a
description of contents but also an evaluation of
work and the way it is
presented.
Maher ( 1994 ) mentioned about some
characteristics of abstract and I try to relate each characteristic with the
articles/papers presented in the appendices of this paper
1.
An abstract is usually 50 –200 words long. ( The Appendix P-1”s abstract
consists of a little more than 200 words )
2.
An abstract states the purpose or the specific objectives of the study or
investigation.
For example : “to determine factors
Objective : To assess ……. (
Appendix P-1 even mentions the word objective as
the sub-section of the abstract )
3.
An abstract usually indicates the basic methodology, e.g. the number and
types of
patients involved,
experimental animals, observational and experimental method.
For example : “ a total of 1849 boys
born to mothers who are residents of a
defined area are around Oxford were
examined for cryptorchidism”
In appendix P-1 : “ Annual cross
sectional data were collected …… were
assessed with questionnaires” The
abstract in this paper even mentions “setting”
and participants” under sub-section
heading.
4. The main results will be found in the
abstract, presented in the form of a brief
summary of the data and statistical
significance where necessary.
In appendix P-1 it was found main
outcomes measures and Results as follows :
a. Main outcomes measures : The
presence of any parasitaemia in the peripheral
blood sample and the presence of
anaemia ( classified as a haemoglobin level of <80
g/l )
b. Results : Ownership ……….on anaemia
5. Principle conclusions are stated clearly
and briefly without lengthy discussion.
In Appendix P-1 : Conclusion :
These results show that nets treated with
insecticide have a substantial impact
on morbidity when distributed in a public
health setting.
Similar to Maher ( 1994 ) Graetz (1985) says
that an abstracts can consist of several parts and the most common seems to be
those with four parts as described below :
1. Problem : the authors’
attention, thesis, purpose, hypothesis, objective, goal
( why the work was done, how his
goal differs from others; the
reason for doing research ). It should not merely replace the title.
2. Methods : scope, kinds of
treatment, data ( what was done; what materials,
restrictions, limits were involved
). It should be brief, state the
conditions under which the work was done and the procedure, if
unusual and the experimental
design.
3. Results : findings, summary
of results. The bulk of the abstract should
be devoted to result; since it is the
most important part and says what is new
in the field, it should be the most detailed.
4. Conclusion : implications,
inference drawn, the value or interest of findings
interpretation of results, what may be
concluded.
The abstract is the summary of the whole
article and must contain the points that are important in the discussion.
Although the abstract is presented at the beginning of the article, in the
writing process the abstract is done at the latest stage.
The Language of Scientific/Medical Writing
Clarity and
accuracy are fundamental in scientific writing. In addition, in the
presentation, simplicity and conciseness as well as attractiveness should also
be taken into consideration as the presentation of facts, hypotheses and similar
type of information is not concerned with emotionally or fictionally based
argument. Talking about the language of Scientific writing –the English of
scientific writing—it is worth discussing the rhetoric of that piece of writing
The Rhetoric of English
Scientific Writing
Rhetoric refers to the presentation of information in written form. The Rhetoric
of English Scientific writing includes the ways in which information is
organized when organization means :
a.
the sequence of the terms of information in a piece of written discourse.
b.
The expression of the kinds of relationship that exist between these
items.
Referring to Trimble‘s Rhetorical Process of English for Science
and Technology (EST) chart (1986), EST Rhetoric exists at several levels in a
piece of discourse. In a research report, it is felt convenient to divide the
total discourse into four rhetorical levels as shown in the chart below.
EST RHETORICAL PROCESS CHART
========================================================================
Level Description of
level
========================================================================
A.
The objectives of the total discourse
EXAMPLE : 1. Detailing an experiment
2. Making a
recommendation
3.
Presenting new hypotheses or theory
4.
Presenting other types of EST information
========================================================================
B. The general rhetorical
functions that develop the objectives of Level A
EXAMPLE : 1. Stating purpose
2.
Reporting past research
3. Stating
the problem
4.
Presenting information on apparatus used in an experiment
a)
Description
b)
Operation
5. Presenting information on experimental
procedures
========================================================================
C. The specific rhetorical functions that develop the general
rhetorical functions Level B
EXAMPLE
: 1. Description : physical, function, and process
2. Definition
3. Classification
4. Instructions
5. Visual – verbal relationships
========================================================================
D. The rhetorical technique that provide relationships within and
between the rhetorical
units of level C
EXAMPLE : I. Orders
1.
Time order
2.
Space order
3.
Causality and result
II. Patterns
1.
Causality and result
2.
Order of importance
3.
Comparison and contrast
4.
Analogy
5.
Exemplification
6.
Illustration
========================================================================
Note:
Level
A gives the purpose of the total discourse; this information is usually
found in the introductory section of the discourse( in, for example, a technical
article). Level B consists of those major pieces of text which, when
added together, make up a complete discourse. This level is usually marked in
scientific and technical writing by section heading and sub-heading. The
rhetorical process is best seen operating at levels C and D. Level C is
made up of specific rhetorical functions that are found most commonly in
written EST discourse : description, definition, classification, instructions,
and visual-verbal relationships between a visual aid and its accompanying text.
Most commonly, the discourse at this level is presented either in groups of
closely related paragraphs or in single paragraphs. A finite number of such
paragraphs at level C add up to one of the sections of level B. Level D
consists of one or more of rhetorical techniques a writer chooses ( or is
required to use) as the most functional for presenting the framework into which
the items of information given at Level C fit or the most functional for showing
the relationship between these items. Frequently, one of the orders and one of
the patterns will be found together, thus providing the readers with both a
framework and a set of relationship. Although the markers showing the
relationships between items of information can consist of paragraphs, as a rule
they are found within paragraphs, in single sentences or clauses or phrases.
Similar
to Trimble above, Maher (2002) describes about the language functions of
Medical Writing which I summarize below by showing their practice as quoted
from the appendices of this paper :
1.
Expressing Cause and Result
e.g. causes …………is caused by…….. is responsible for ;;;;; gives rise to……
results in/from ……. Is the result of …….due to…….
Appendix P-2 : “ …… death is usually due to a delay in diagnosis rather than
complications during treatment “
2.
Defining
Forms: X is a ( definition )
X a ( definition ) is a ( further information )
X is a ( definition ) which ( further information )
X ( word ) is a ( definition )
X may be defined as a ( definition )
We can define X as a ( definition )
e.g. Aid is a viral disease that attacks the body’s immune
system.
Appendix P- 4 : Cytokines : “ Cytokines are proteins released by cells to
influence
he function of other cells through specific
receptor binding”
3.
Expressing possibility, likehood and certainty
a.
Possibility : using modals such as may, might, can, could
Appendix P- 4 : Innate immunity : “ Innate
immunity components such as ……….,
may modify complement
activation and …..”
b. Likehood : Using expressions : be likely +
infinitive or it is likely + that clause
Appendix P-1 : Discussion : “ Children with
more severe anaemia are probably more
likely to benefit
from intervention than children with milder anaemia”
b.
Certainty : it is an expression of confidence
Form : be + adverb or aux verb +
adverb or adverb + other verb
Appendix P - 4 : “ There are about
5,000,000,000 cases of clinical malaria of varying
severinity per
year.
4. Comparing : using like …….unlike
……more than ……less than etc
Appendix P-2 : “Completeness of Hepatitis
B immunisation in dialysis patients
was not known in
……. , less than …..”
5. Expressing purpose : using …….. to + infinitive
Appendix P-2 : “ We conducted a prospective
study in …… to assess the safety ….”
6. Using Passive : The use of this construction is
to emphasize the object, not the subject (doer). The form is : Subject + be +
past participle
Appendix P-2 : Comment : “ previous study
was conducted …….patients were
admitted… “
7. Expressing obligation : using “must. Should or
ought to “
Appendix
8. Recommending : Using : It is recommended that
Subject + infinitive , S + suggests that …….etc
Appendix P-1 : “ This suggests that
the transmission rate of malaria did not change
substantially
during the study”
9. Expressing necessity : Using “ must, have to ,
need”
E.g. : “Leukemia has to be excluded,
and investigation should therefore include a
blood film and marrow
examination"
10. Making generalization : Using generally, seem,
tend, on the whole , be inclined to etc
E.g. : “ Gps have been inclined to
overlook the problem of poor housing”
11. Giving emphasis : Using Do structure followed
by infinitive
E.g. : “ Infection is probably less
important, but it does increase morbidity and
mortality in patients with gross
lung disease “
12. Avoiding Sexism : Using word choice that does
not imply sex differences
E,g : mankind --------------------à
humanity,people, humanbeing
Doctor (he)------------------
à doctors ( they)
Chairman-------------------- >
chairperson
Problems with English for Science
Because of time constraint, this paper will only discuss the problems that
frequently occur notwithstanding the many other problems.
The
definite articles
In addition to the trouble that virtually all non- native learners
have with both English articles, EST discourse presents two additional problems
with the definite article. The first is inconsistency in the use of the article
in the rhetoric of instructions, especially with those sets of instructions
found in technical manuals and related material. The second we have called
“specialized use” of definite article. This use is found in the rhetoric of
description, most often when the functioning of machinery is being described.
Non-temporal Use of Tense
By non-temporal use of tense we mean that the writers of a piece of
discourse do not use time as the major factor governing their choice of verb
tenses. Three areas where the non-temporal use of tense occurs regularly in
written EST discourse are :
1.
when writers describe apparatus;
2.
when they make text refences to a visual aid, and
3.
when they refer to previously published research.
Sub-technical Vocabulary
By sub-technical vocabulary we mean a
context-independent word which occur with high frequency across discipline. A
good example for the problem with this word is mentioned by Trimble (1986) :
“………a problem brought
by a pre-medical student. He had found the phrase ‘an arsenic-fast virus’ in his
medical reading. He wanted to know if the word ‘fast’ in this context meant
‘quick’ or ‘motionless’ or even that the virus did not eat arsenic. The medical
dictionary consulted stated that ‘fast’ has the meaning of ‘resistant to’. The
phrase, therefore, had the meaning of ‘a virus resistant to arsenic’.”
The Use of Connectors to Link ideas
To be coherent, cohesive the ideas in the
discourse should be linked with connectors.
The
followings are the connectors and the functions/ meaning:
The Connectors
Function /meaning
===============================================================
And, Moreover, Furthermore,
Likewise, Augmentation/addition
Similarly.
However, But, In contrast,
Yet Contrast/Opposite
Since, Because, Because of, Due
to Reason/cause
Therefore, As a result, Consequently,
Thus Result/Effect
Although, Eventhough
Concession
First, Secondly, Next, Later, After
that Time Sequence
===============================================================
The formality of Scientific English
In terms of lexical items there are
differences between the formal and informal use of scientific English as in the
example :
===============================================================
Informal Formal
===============================================================
Got
worse deteriorated
Lots
of a number of
OK satisfactory, approved
Get in
touch contact
Do research conducted
research
Get
data obtain data
Scientific English writers avoid
contractions such as ‘don’t’, we’ll, can’t and to avoid subjectivity, ‘passive
construction is used instead of active one. For example ( see appendix/
Procedure) :
1.
Materials—17B Estradiol……..were purchased……….
2.
HUVEC were isolated……
3.
ENOS activity was done
4.
etc
No Redundancy
Scientific English writers avoid
redundancy, i.e. the repetition of words or phrases that are unnecessary because
they add nothing to the readers’ understanding, for example:
We have undertaken a number of investigation
to investigate the impact of xxx to …
( Suggestion: We have undertaken some
investigations about the impact of xxx …..
Paragraph Development
There are two kinds of paragraph development
Deductive Type of Paragraph : Starts with
General ideas, followed by Specific ideas
For example ( see the appendix P-2 : Next to the last paragraph)
Additionally, study criteria used to identify moderate to severe
disease may be difficult ( General ) to generilize. Subjective criteria
……… are difficult to assess ( Specific)………. Busy casualty departments
in general hospitals will find it no easier ( Specific) …..
Inductive Type of Paragraph : Starts with
Specific ideas , followed by general ideas
For example ( see the appendix P-1 : Health impacts of treated nets )
We observed a protective efficacy – defined as (1- odd ratio) x 100 –
on the prevalence of parasitaemia of 62 % ( 95 % confidence interval 38 % to 77
%) and 51 % ( 0% to 76 % ) for treated and untreated nets respectively, when
compared with children without nets. ………………… ( Specific). This is consistent
with earlier studies in Tanzania that showed that prevalence of parasitaemia
increased with age. ( General )
IV. THE COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE SUBJECT LECTURER AND THE
ENGLISH LECTURER AT THE TRAINING
As stated previously, both the subject lecturer and the English
lecturer used discussed the focus of their presentation and the decided to use
the same articles as the examples of the discussion. Then they took turn in the
presentation. And in the discussion they supported each other when answering the
questions from the participants. At the end of the presentation they corrected
the students’ paper. In giving feed back to the participants the subject
lecturer focused on the flow of thought and contents while the English lecturer
focused on the English language.
V. CONCLUSION
Writing, one of the
skills in language proficiency, is not an easy task to do, even in our native
language. Moreover the difficulties are more apparent when it is done in a
foreign language, for example English. To make it worse, when the subject is
scientific in nature, as this type of writing force us to employ a specific type
of discourse or rhetoric. However, like any other skills, through practice, an
ability to write scientific English article is not impossible to acquire.
As mentioned earlier, a university has
a conducive academic atmosphere if the students are engaged in academic
activities such as reading or writing scientific papers. The paper and poster
training in which the writer was involved was only one of the efforts having
been done to make the graduates of medical faculty Brawijaya University have
“plus value”, that is an ability to write in English, which enable them to win
the competition in the job market.
REFERENCES
Barass, R. (1978) Scientists Must Write: A Guide
to Better Writing for Scientists, Engineers and Students. London : Chapman
and Hall
Graetz, N. (1985) Teaching EFL Students to Extract
Structural Information from Abstracts. In J.M.Ulyn, and A.K. Pugh (Eds)
Reading for Professional Purposes. London : Heineman Educational Book
Halliday, MAK and R. Hasan (1976) Cohesion in
English. London: Longman
Hill, S. et al (1982) Teaching ESL
Students to Read and Write Experimental
Research.
TESOL Quaterly 16/
Maher, J. C ( 1994) International Medical
Communication in English. In Swales. J (ed)
English for Special Purposes.
Michigan : The University of Michigan Press
Riwanto , I. ( 2001) Penulisan Artikel Ilmiah
Biomedik. Unpublished AMSA National
Seminar, Diponegoro University, Semarang.
Ratnawati, R. ( 2002 ) Menulis Karya Ilmiah Yang Baik, a paper
presented at the
National Paper and Posters Training, AMSA Medical Faculty Brawijaya
University :
Malang
Swales,J. (1984) Research into the Structure of Introduction to Journal
Article and its
Application to the Teaching of Academic
Writing. In R. Williams, J. Swales and J.
Kirkman (eds). Common Ground-Shared
Interest in ESP and Communication
Studies.
ELT Document117. Oxford: Pergamon
Press and the British Council
Tabiati, Sri Endah ( 2002 ) The English Used in an International
Scientific Writing. a
paper presented at the National Paper and Posters Training, AMSA
Medical Faculty
Brawijaya University : Malang
Trimble, L. (1985) English for Science and
Technology: A Discourse Approach.
Cambridge: CUP