Scientific Writing For Jurnal

By: Suparlan *)

Lecturer of FKIP University of Tama Jagakarsa

Abstract: Research and reporting the process and the result of the research are the important competences of all lecturers in all higher education, especially in the University of Tama Jagakarsa, Jakarta Selatan. In every meeting attended by all stakeholders of the University of Tama, the rector of Tama always remind the lecturers to act the research and to write the report of the research. Research activity is one of the three obligations of the higher education (Tri Dharma Perguruan Tinggi).

One of the important obligations of teachers or lecturers is teaching and learning process. The second obligation is research activity, and the last but not least is the community services.

To improve all three obligation of the academician, they have to improve four standards of lecturer competences that are (1) individual competences, (2) professional competences, (3) personality competences, and (4) social competences. There are four competences in language teaching and learning: (1) listening, (2) speaking, (3) reading, and (4) writing. The four language competences must be developed to the highest performances in teaching and learning process using writing activities rather than just speaking and reading capabilities. In this scientific writing, the author understands that “when you speak, the words echo just across to the room; when you write, the words echo will across to the ages.”

Key words: scientific writing, four language competences, for language performances, four standard teacher or lecturer competences.

Introduction

Based on the Tri Dharma Perguruan Tinggi, the lecturers in all higher educations, especially for the Tama University, have to write about the result of their research. The report of the research off course must be written in a scientific writing, both of in scientific writing or in nonscientific writing.

In this writing, I try to understand about the scientific writing in order to write a report the proses and the result of the research.

Definition of scientific writing and nonscientific writing

Generally speaking scientific writing is about writing about science. Based on the opinion, we usually understand that scientific writing is a writing to explain about the process of scientific research held by the researcher. According to Devin Kowalczyk[1] ”scientific research is a logically stepped process for investigating and acquiring or expanding our understanding. The findings of scientific research can be reproduced and demonstrated to be consistent.”  The definition is totally different with the nonscientific research that is defined as ‘acquiring knowledge and truths about the world using techniques that do not follow the scientific method.’ To explain this definition, the author give an example for the two research held by Plato that was a large proponent of some of these, and Freud’s theories use several of them as well. Let’s look at several of the more oft-used nonscientific methods to see what pitfalls are out there.

Nonscientific objects

In his writings, experts explain that some objects that can’t be categorized as nonscientific objects. Here are:

1. Tradition: Traditionis knowledge and understanding that is believed to be true because it has been traditionally accepted. No one has stopped to say, ‘Hey, wait a minute. That’s not right.’ For instance, how much of your brain do you use? If you say ‘only 10%,’ then you have fallen victim to a common fallacy passed through tradition. We actually use 100% of our brain and nearly all the time.

2. Personal Experience: Personal experienceis information or understanding derived from experiencing something firsthand. There doesn’t seem to be a problem with this at first, but it is actually incredibly flawed because experience is subjective and not reproducible. For instance, dreams seem to predict the future. Everyone has had the déjà vu experience of having dreamt something before, but does that mean you have prophetic dreams? Not really. Most likely, you had a dream that was similar to the event and your mind just filled in the blanks to make it seem like it all happened before.

3. Intuition: Intuitive knowledgecomes from understanding and believing in an idea based on a gut instinct or through personal insight. This is the ‘I know it because I know it’ category of knowledge, where someone cannot offer a good reason for something, but they just know it to be true. For instance, eyewitnesses to a crime appear more accurate when they are more confident. This is false and has been found time and again by researchers. Confidence has nothing to do with a person’s accuracy when recalling something in the past. But, many people rely on what they feel is the right answer, and someone who is confident must be right!

4. Logic: Logicis the application of thought and reasoning to come to a conclusion. But, much like personal experience, the process is flawed by a person’s limited viewpoint. You cannot think about something you don’t already know. Logic tells us only the psychopathic 1% of the population will kill another person if asked to do so by an authority figure. This is a favorite study of mine. Milgram asked experts to use their logic to come to a conclusion, and they predicted less than 1% of participants would kill someone. Milgram’s study found that 65% of subjects would kill someone. Logic cannot predict things that do not make logical sense. In addition, logic does not contribute additional information. It merely reworks what is already known.

For closing this scientific writing, according to the Regulation of the Minister of National Education of the Republic of Indonesia Number 16 Year 2007 on Academic Qualification Standards and Competencies Teachers, as for a variety of competencies that must be owned by teachers, among others: pedagogical, personal, professional and social obtained through professional education. The fourth competency integrated in teacher performance. There are four Standard Competences of Teacher and Lecturer, as below:

I. Pedagogical Competence

Pedagogical competencies include understanding the teacher to the learner, the design and implementation of learning, evaluation of learning outcomes, and the development of learners to actualize various potentials. In detail each sub-competence translated into essential indicators as follows:

1. Understanding learners in depth has an essential indicator: understand learners by utilizing the principles of cognitive development; understand learners by utilizing the principles of personality; and identify the provision of teaching early learners.
2. Designing learning, including understand the educational foundation for learning needs have an essential indicator: understand the foundation of education; applying the theory of teaching and learning; determine the learning strategies based on the characteristics of learners, competency to be achieved, and teaching materials; and develop a lesson plan based on the strategy chosen.
3. Implementing learning has an essential indicator: arranging background (setting) learning; and implement a conducive-learning.
4. Designing and implementing a learning evaluation have essential indicators: designing and implementing evaluation (assessment) process and learning outcomes on an ongoing basis by various methods; analyze the results of the evaluation process and learning outcomes to determine the level of mastery learning (mastery learning); and utilizing the results of assessment of learning to improve the quality of learning programs in general.
5. Developing learners to actualize his potential, has the indicators to be essential to facilitate learners to develop various academic potential; and facilitating learners to develop a range of potential non-academic.

II. Personality Competence

Personal competence is a personal capacity reflects the personality of a solid, stable, mature, wise and dignified, become role models for students, and noble. In detail sub-competence can be described as follows:

1. Steady and stable personality has the essential indicators: act according to the norm of law; acting in accordance with social norms; proud as a teacher; and have consistency in acting in accordance with the norms.
2. Adult personality has an essential indicator: displays independence in acting as an educator and has a work ethic as a teacher.
3. Personality wise to have an essential indicator: displays the actions that are based on the benefit of students, schools, and communities and demonstrate openness in thought and action.
4. Authoritative personality has an essential indicator: has a positive effect on the behavior of learners and have behavioral respected.
5. Noble character and can be an example has the essential indicators: act in accordance with the norms of religious (faith and piety, honest, sincere, helpful), and have exemplary behavior of learners.

III.  Social Competence

Social competence is the ability of teachers to communicate and interact effectively with students, fellow teachers, staff, parents / guardians of students and the surrounding community. These competencies have sub-competence with essential indicators as follows:

1. Ability to communicate and interact effectively with learners has the essential indicators: communicate effectively with learners.
2. Ability to communicate and interact effectively with fellow teachers and education personnel.
3. Ability to communicate and interact effectively with parents/guardians of students and the surrounding community.III.  Professional Competence

Professional competence is the mastery of learning materials is broad and deep, which includes mastery of curriculum subjects at school and substance of knowledge that overshadow his material, as well as mastery of the structure and methodology of science. Each has sub-competence essential indicators as follows:

1. Mastering scientific substance associated with the field of study has an essential indicator: to understand teaching materials that exist in the school curriculum; understand the structure, concepts and methods of science that overshadow or coherent teaching materials; understand the relationship between the concept of related subjects; and apply the concepts of science in everyday life.
2. Mastering the structure and the scientific method has mastered the essential indicator measures research and critical studies to deepen the knowledge/subject material.
3. The above fourth competence is holistic and integrative in teacher performance. Therefore, the full figure of teacher competence include (1) the introduction of learners in depth; (2) mastery of both disciplines of study (disciplinary content) as well as teaching material in school curricula (3) implementation of educational learning that includes planning and implementation of learning, evaluation of processes and learning outcomes, as well as follow-up to the improvement and enrichment; and (d) the development of personality and professionalism on an ongoing basis. Teachers who have the competence to be able to carry out their duties professionally (Adapted from: Ngainun Naim, 2009: 60)

To achieve the whole standards of teacher or lecturer competences, the teacher or lecturer has to improve the writing skills, both of in scientific writing and the nonscientific writing.

Five stages of basic writing skills

In a short, this writing will explain five stages of basic writing skills: (1) preparation stage, (2) planning stage, (3) drafting stages, and (4) revising, editing, and proof reading, and (5) finishing stage.

Firstly, in the preparation stage, the author would like to prepare what kinds of writing do the author want to write, what topic is trying to write. Is that the scientific or nonscientific writing? After that, the author is also collecting the sources for the writing, both of written sources or from the websites. Remember, books are the wealthy resources for the content of our writing.

Secondly, in the planning stage, then the author tries to narrow the title of the writing. Topic is still in more general, but title is already specific. After this process the author have to make what we called an outline as the brief content of our writing. In every writings we usually have three part of writing, called (1) introduction, (2) content divided into how many body of the writing, and (3) the last is making a conclusion for our writing. If the writing is about the report of process and result of the writing of the research paper, the author tries to explain the research methodology, and the process of data analysis, making a conclusion of the research findings.

Thirdly, in the process of writing the author tries to revise the writing if we find some things, such as alphabets, words, or sentences in our writing. We usually find out some typing errors, even the author can use the computer to edit the typing errors. The last stage of our writing is proof reading as the finalization of our writing.         

Conclusion

Based on the explanation above, at the end of this scientific writing, we would like to write a short conclusion as below:

1. Only human being can write. Writing competence is highest competences than any other competent in language teaching and learning;
2. There are two kinds of writing: First scientific writing and second is nonscientific writing. Scientific writing used in the process and result of research process.
3. As a teachers and lecturers they have to improve the writing competences.
4. There are four competences in language teaching and learning: (1) listening, (2) speaking, (3) reading, and (4) writing.
5. When you speak, the words echo just across to the room, but when you write, the word echo will across to the ages.
6. At the end of this century the most indicator of defining the development of the century is the writing era. For this, we can use the spelling checker in this process of writing.
7. There are five stages of basic writing skills: (1) preparation stage, (2) planning stage, (3) drafting stages, and (4) revising, editing, and proof reading, and (5) finishing stage.

References:

Suparlan. Human Being and Writing. Masdik.com. Educational portal.

Jakarta, 30 September 2016

[1] http://grammar.about.com/