THE EFFECT OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IN WRITING COMPOSITION

A.      The Nature of Writing

              According to Kroma (1988), is kind of activity where the writer expresses all the ideas in his mind in the paper from words to sentence, sentence to paragraph to essay. There are some other features of writing such as; writing is permanent, distant, planned, formal, linear, and a process.  

 1.        Writing is a Permanent

              Writing is not only for historical document but also for the diary of our life that provides concrete proof which can be remembered again.

 2.        Writing is Distant

              Written massages are not only informed or felt through time but also through space. We can share our writing to another people in other side of the world.

 3.        Writing is Planned

              Every writing activity is always started with thinking. We always think before we write down something. One thing that is clear, more important documents need much greater planning.

 4.        Writing is Formal

              Writing always conveys the important information, so that we usually write in formal form. The more important document, the more formal it will be.

 5.        Writing is Linear

              We start writing on the left-hand side of the page to the right-hand side. We write massage in forward progression: state the cause and explain the effect. All this seems to show a straight forward movement, from start to finished, left to right and beginning to end.

 6.        Writing is a Process

              Writing is more of cyclical process. After we write, we always re-read, correct a slip, go on, stop, re-read it again until we get the best way to proceed and so on.

B.       Definition of Composition

              The “composition” word comes from Latin language “com” means together and “ponere” means to put. So, composition means to put together. Mallery in Abidin (1999 states that composition is concerned with the putting together of the parts to form of the whole: words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, paragraphs into longer unit such as essays and narratives. In the other side, Crrowley and Redman in Jacob et al (1981: 3) state that composition is putting together   of any kinds of ideas and writer’s unique perception of the idea together into a new structure which will influence the perception, thinking and perception of others. Oshima and Hogue in Salija (2004)also states that a composition is a piece writing that usually made up of several paragraph, instead of just one or two paragraphs. While, Treanor in Hajar (2001) states that composition needs good ideas, words and sentences.

              There are three essential requirements in writing composition. They are unity, coherence, and emphasis. According to Mallary (1987: 97), unity is every part of a sentence in a composition must contribute to one principle, unifying though. Coherence means that various part of a sentence in a composition must follow one another which make their relationship clear. Emphasis is the most important  part of a sentence that must be placed in the precise position.

              Composition has three main parts: a beginning, a middle and an end. The beginning or introduction is the first paragraph of composition that consists of a few general statements and thesis statement about the topic and controlling idea of the topic. The middle part or Body/discussion of a composition consists of one or more paragraph to explain, define, clarify, and illustrate the thesis sentence. Every body paragraph consists of a topic sentence and several supporting sentences. The end of part conclusion is a summary of the main points that have been discussed in the body and in the introduction and the closing of composition.

C.      Kinds of Composition

There are four forms of the discourse of writing and speech. They are narration, description, exposition and argumentation.  

1.        Narration

              Narration is writing form with telling a story. The writer intends to tell readers something that happened and how it happened. Narration is also the experience of sequel action in words. It is a story telling, either fictional or factual. The order of narration writing is chronologically, starting from the beginning up to the end.

 2.        Description

              Description is writing form that attempts to create picture in the reader’s mind, so the reader can imagine clearly about what the writer tells about. The reader vividly aware of what something looked like, sounded like, smelled, felt like or started like.

 3.        Exposition

              Exposition is writing which informs or explains. The writer intends to make the reader understand clearly about something after they have finished reading the writing. Exposition or information unity is designed to explain or clarify facts and ideas.

 4.        Argumentation

              Argumentation is writing to convince someone else about something. The writer has to make the reader believe something.

D.      The Components of Composition

               According Jacob et al in Nurmegawati (2004) there are 3 significant components in writing in writing. They are content, organization and vocabulary.

 1.        Content

              The content in writing must be unified and completed. The term usually known as unity and completeness which become the characteristics of the good writing.

 2.        Organization

              The organization process in writing involve coherence, order or importance, general to specific, specific to general, chronological order and spatial pattern

 3.        Vocabulary

              The effective use of words can define a good writing. Word plays dual role; to communicate and to evoke and also to let the reader to perceive and feel.