Problems and Strategies in Developing Writing Undergraduate Thesis: A Study in EFL Students

Abstract

The research aimed at finding out the problems faced by undergraduate students and strategies they used to overcome problems during the process of research and writing thesis. This research generally employed a qualitative approach, but some data were analyzed quantitatively. The sample of the research involved the eighth and tenth semester students of English Education Department at Islamic State University of Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin Banten. The data were obtained through questionnaire and interview. The result revealed that most of the students got problems in how to begin the research while only few students got difficulty in working with the advisors. In addition, strategies mostly used by the students to overcome the problems were reading many books, journals and articles related to the topic whereas the strategy of asking somebody to analyze the data was at the lowest rate. Therefore, it could be concluded that the students could be able to solve their problems they faced during the thesis writing process by applying the strategies.