CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background of the Study In the
analyzing and understanding a text, we can see it from three basic elements; content, language, and rhetoric.
From thecontent, we will know what the
text about and the purpose of the writer. Then,in the aspect of language, we will
know the grammatical
feature of the
text and the
vocabulary used by the
writer. Next, in rhetorical aspect, we
can understand how the text developed.
In this study, the researcher
uses rhetorical aspect, because it discusses the art of effective writing and how the text
developed. Accordingly to the statement above, the researcher wants
to investigate how
the writer organized
his/her opinion, especially on
its introductory and concluding paragraphs in which those are
involved in rhetorical
structure. According to Pharr
& Buscemi (2005:5) “rhetorical structure is the way of the writer
chooses to shape the essay so it best fulfills
the purpose and reaches the audience.” To fulfill the purpose and to reach the
readers, the writer tries to open his text with
interesting and effective,
or sometimes eye
catching introductory paragraph. Introductory paragraph is a
paragraph that begins the writing or essay writing
and where the
main point of
the whole essay is stated.
Buscemi (2002: 129)
says, “most effective
essays begin with an interesting
and informative introduction paragraph or a series of
paragraphs that reveal the essay’s thesis and captures
the reader’s attention.”
As a result,
the purpose of
the introductory paragraph is twofold: to get the reader’s attentionand
to introduce the subject of the essay to
them.
Because of the importance of the introductory
paragraph, the writers usually use number
of strategies to
make a good
introductory paragraph and
to grab the reader’s
attention. Boardman & Frydenberg (2002: 87-88) states: “There
are four of
the most common
ways of introductory
paragraph: “Anecdote,” in which the author opens
with a brief story that
illustrates the topic; the
“Interesting Facts or
Statistics,” the “Historical Introduction”’, that is the author provides general historical
background, and the “General to Specific”, in which the author
begins with a
general statemen t of the
larger topic, and then each sentence
narrows it down to the specific thesis statement.
As Smalley & Ruetten (1986:142) states
“since the introduction is the first paragraph
the reader reads, it is often the first paragraph the writer plans and can be, therefore, the most difficult.” In short,
introduction is one important thing in the
essay. Because the purpose of an introductory paragraph is to get the reader’s attention and to let the readers know what
will be covered in the essay.
Besides introductory paragraph, another
important part to fulfill the purpose and to
reach the readers
is concluding paragraph.
This paragraph has
very important function in the
essay as it restates the thesis and
three supporting ideas in an original and
powerful way and as this is
the last chance the writer
has to convince the reader. As
the last paragraph to be read, the writer wants the reader to
leave with a
clear understanding on
the point of the
text (Boardman & Frydenberg
(2002: 87).
According to
Boardman & Frydenberg
(2002: 78-80) a
concluding paragraph consists of
a “Summary “of the points made in your body paragraphs, a “Restatement”of the thesis statement, and a
“Final comment on your topic.” Finally,
most effective text
begins with an
interesting and informative introduction
that reveals the
essay’s thesis and
captures the reader’s
attention.
Similarly, effective conclusions
always leave the reader satisfied that everything the writer set out to discuss from the very
beginning has been discussed. Then, introduction
and conclusion have special uses and important part of the essay.
From the
above reason, researcher
wants to investigate
the method of introductory and
concluding paragraphs of
English opinion column
of Jakarta Post. Here, the researcher chooses the Jakarta
Postas the object of her study that will
be specified on its opinion section. The reason why the researcher focuses on its opinion column, first, opinion column
persuade the readers to read the writers
argument, second,
its opinion column
write an argument
of writers, then
the readers can
analyze the writer
developed the text
especially on its
method of introductory and concluding paragraphs.
Besides, the Jakarta Post is unique, not only in its goal, which is to improve the
standard language media in Indonesia, but also in bringing together for competing media
publishers into producing a quality newspaper
with an Indonesian perspective. Hence, a
fresh and different outlook was created
in the Indonesian
press in form
of The Jakarta
Post (www.thejakartapost.com).
This study has relation to other
researches that have been done by several researchers. Hidayati (2007) who has studied
the way the writer presents the claim of
facts in opinion section in Tempo magazine. She
found that the writer mostly used
sufficient, accurate, recent, and typical evidence. In addition, Nanik (2008), who
has studied the
methods of writing
introductory paragraphs and thesis statement.
She has found the
method of writing introductory
paragraphs mostly used in selected article is funnel.
This study also concerning with
essay writing but there are some differences from
those previous studies.
The difference from
those previous studies
is although the
data that investigate
are same on
English opinion column
of The Jakarta Post, but the theory that used in this
research is different. The researcher chooses
opinion columns, because of there are many
writer write the argument in this
column. Then, we can read the text and knowingthe method of introductory and concluding
paragraph of that. Finally, if the previous
studies talk about the methods of
introductory paragraph and
thesis statement, here,
this research discuss
about other structure
of essay that
is introductory and
concluding paragraph. Because of
introductory and concluding paragraphs have special uses and are important to the success of an essay.
Finally, this research involves one aspect of
a text that is rhetorical aspect, especially
concerned with rhetorical structure. Because, this study is conducted to analyze the methods are used to write
introductory and concluding paragraphs
in the text. Therefore, I choose the
title of my thesis “The Analysis of
Methods of Writing Introductory
and Concluding Paragraphs
on English Opinion Column of The Jakarta Post.” 1.2 Problems of the Study Concerning with the background of the study
above, the research problems are: 1. What
are methods of
introductory paragraph used
on English opinion columns of The Jakarta Post? 2.
What are methods
of concluding paragraphs
used on English
opinion columns of The Jakarta
Post? 3. How
do introductory and
concluding paragraphs reflect
the whole opinion? 1.3 Objectives of the Study 1.
To describe methods
of introductory paragraph
used in the
English article in the opinion
column of The Jakarta Post.
2. To
describe methods of
concluding paragraphs used
in the English article in the opinion column of The Jakarta
Post.
3. To
describe how the
whole opinion is
reflected on introductory
and concluding paragraphs.
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