Reflective Writing 1: The New Chapter of Academic Writing Begins Today

The first meeting of the Academic Writing course was held by Mr. Dr. Udi Samanhudi, S. Pd., M. Pd., as the lecturer of the Academic Writing course, in an online meeting via Zoom. The meeting was participated by students from 3 classes of the English Department in Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa University. Moreover, five students from Tanjungpura University also participated in this class. They are joining the student exchange program.

The class started with the introduction from students of Tanjungpura University. Several students from Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa University also introduced themselves in the class. For me, it was great to meet some new friends, especially with those who live in a different region.

After the introduction, Mr. Udi informed us about the course contract and its regulations. There are several regulations that students need to obey to enroll in the Academic Writing course. Those regulations are:

• Students need to meet at least 80% of the attendance.
• Students need to fulfill all of the assignments given. Those assignments include course reading, review, and reflective writing. 
• Students will write an essay that consists of 2500-3000 words for the final project.

Mr. Udi also informed us about the syllabus of the course. The syllabus showed us what we are going to learn for this semester.

For the break section, we did a brainstorming and exploration activity. Mr. Udi has provided some questions regarding Academic Writing. Then, he required us to do internet research to answer those questions. From my research, I found that Academic Writing is writing which communicates ideas, information, and research to the wider academic community. It is a formal style of writing that is used in universities and scholarly publications. The characteristics of good academic writing are simple, concise, objective, and logical. It means that the writing should be as clear as possible, make sense, and be based on fact. Common problems that students faced in Academic Writing are grammatical errors, text organization, and a lack of vocabulary knowledge. Furthermore, digital writing is a type of writing that involves the use of a computer as the writing medium.

From this meeting, I gained more knowledge about the basics of Academic Writing. I hope that by enrolling in the Academic Writing course, I will be able to improve my writing skills, as well as my knowledge.

Salzha Terenovix (2223200001)

4A - English Department

Academic Writing