Sabtu, 01 Maret 2014

Tips Menulis Study Objective untuk Aplikasi S2 AMINEF



Tulisan ini saya dasarkan pada pengalaman saya dalam menulis study objective, yang Alhamdulillah bisa mengantarkan saya pada tahap selanjutnya, yaitu wawancara. Berikut ini tips yang bisa saya bagi pada kawan semua:
1.      Fokuskan pada kajian studi yang anda minati, makin spesifik makin baik. Misal, jika anda ingin belajar sastra, jangan hanya menyatakan bahwa anda ingin belajar sastra amerika secara global (karena teramat luas). Tuliskan bahwa anda tertarik untuk mengkaji sastra karya keturunan cina-amerika, terutama yang kaitannya dengan dualisme identitas.
2.      Semisal anda ingin mengkaji sastra cina-amerika, carilah informasi mengenai penelitian atau karya tersebut yang dilakukan oleh para professor universitas di Amerika. Hal ini untuk menguatkan bahwa minat studi Anda akan tercapai dengan baik di Amerika karena adanya jurusan yang sesuai. Tapi, jangan tuliskan nama kampus tertentu, cukup disiratkan saja bahwa beberapa kampus di amerika memiliki konsentrasi yang sesuai minat anda.
3.      Kaitkan minat studi anda dengan pengalaman anda sebelumnya, apa yang sedang anda lakukan, dan apa yang akan anda lakukan sepulangnya dari AS. Pihak beasiswa ingin agar para penerima beasiswa benar-benar memberikan sumbangsih sekembalinya dari belajar nanti.
4.      Meski hanya selembar, tapi study objective yang bagus akan memakan banyak waktu, tenaga dan pikiran. Oleh karenanya, sediakan waktu luang setidaknya satu jam sehari (dengan asumsi Anda masih memiliki waktu sebulan untuk melakukannya).
5.      Mintalah dosen Anda atau teman Anda yang fasih berbahasa Inggris (apalagi jika ia native speaker) untuk mengkoreksi tulisan Anda.
6.      Berdoalah pada Tuhan setelah Anda berusaha semaksimal mungkin.  Berdoa dan berusaha adalah kombinasi yang saling menguatkan. Ingat, ribuan orang mengirimkan lamaran juga. Sebagian dari mereka hanya mengandalkan usaha. Sebagian dari mereka hanya mengandalkan doa. Jika anda melakukan keduanya, Tuhan akan jatuh hati pada Anda and finally u’ll get a greater chance to get accepted! Yihaaa!!!
7.      Good luck!

Di bawah ini adalah contoh study objective saya. Sengaja saya bagikan agar kawan memiliki gambaran. Tapi ingat, jangan menjiplak! Akademikus di Amerika sangat membenci plagiarisme. Jika seorang mahasiswa kedapatan plagiat, maka hukumannya tidak tanggung-tanggung; dideplak langsung dari kampus! Ouch nooo... Ngeriiii…. 
My Study Objective (Imas Istiani)
Reading literature books has been my passion since I was a little child. I remember reading Indonesian Literature Book for high school students yet I was still an elementary student. Thenceforth, in such young ages, I started writing some story scripts. Therefore I had no hesitation to pursue my bachelor degree in English literature. In addition, the innate reason for taking English as the language of literature concentration was due to my childhood dream of going abroad to English speaking countries someday.
Never did I think that my dream would finally come true before I received a letter from AMINEF. It stated that I was accepted as one of the exchange student for Global Undergraduate program to United States in 2009/2010. The country interested me in the very varied and colored literature learning. I was captivated by the way the professors discussed literature in classes. It made me plunge into the ocean of life experiences that I had never thought or even imagined before. The professors spoke and revealed literature in so many diverse aspects such as the authors, the historical background, the cultural norms, the economic influences and the political intrigues. Another new thing to me was the explanation about literature not only in the form of writing, but also in other forms of arts; such as paintings, sculptures, and engravings.
The professors also filled me in on literature as not only written fictional story that based on the writers’ imagination. Literature is such a result of the real social condition where the writer lives in that we name it as realism. We may notice it as the response of writers to their economic, social and political lives. They capture these life aspects and expose them in the form of literature works. The readers then interpret implicit meaning concealed in the works. As the source of data, with the language as the main medium, which later represented in the discourse form, literature is also a rich object of study because as the symbol system, language always refers to other things. These “other things” can have different interpretations for different readers or critics. Therefore, literature is attempting to analyze and criticize to have further understanding of the work.
But speaking of literature of course does not merely stop in reading, interpreting and discussing that somehow passively revealing the authors’ purposes; like all other products, literature works may give real contribution toward society. These unique products convey their function in a subtle and smooth way. The works mainly do not point out the subject and the object directly when the function is to criticize the way the real society walks on. Nyoman Kutho Ratna (2005: 2) in his book Sastra dan Cultural Studies: Representasi Fiksi dan Fakta points out more that literature as the source of data also has the fact and fiction characters within the variety of genre form. We can detect that either in the fact, fiction or the fact-fiction combination literature works; the authors do the dialogue with the readers impossibly without having special purposes and aims. The dialogue here means touching, ensuring, informing, entertaining, liberating, even expressing the despair or hope of the authors to the society. In the other word, the function of literature is to reveal the condition of the society’s life. That is why literature is honored as the subtle way to picture, analyze and criticize aimed to better situation and condition of the society.
An example of the written works that could give big effects toward society is Laskar Pelangi, a very successful novel written by Andrea Hirata. The novel could create such national movements in reawakening education in Indonesia. People started speaking about the flaw of educational systems more freely and openly then before. Furthermore, many organizations and individuals who had had nothing to do with education before by then put more focus toward it. Regrettably, In Indonesia, most people are not interested in reading literature works; not to mention the interest in learning literature. By that very fact, sadly yet no wonder Indonesia is categorized as a country that has low score of reading interest. On the other hand, in the context of academic, literature is not appealingly taught in classes. Literature is mostly analyzed about the moral sides of the stories or reviews of the characters and/or the plots.
As an English lecture in STAIN Pekalongan, STIKAP Pekalongan and STMIK Widya Pratama, I realize that literature is such an unattractive study to take; moreover when it comes in English language. I am impressed and inspired by the way my professors in United States taught literature in the classes. Thereby I’m determined to gain more understandings and knowledge in literature by pursuing the master degree in US, particularly related to its real social function as cultural media. In addition, US has interesting historical background, multicultural authors and socio-economic discrepancy that make the learning and study of literature in US more rewarding and comprehensive. Needless to say that US has many doors that lead to many chances and opportunities to take and learn. Upon returning back from the study, I’m committed myself to share the knowledge and learning experience with students, colleagues, and public. I’d go back teaching in my colleges by having more developed understandings of literature with its social function. Since I also like writing, the chance to reach wider public readers will be easier and smoother when I am well-grounded and have liable degree. Those all are in the hope of facilitating awareness and concern of literature toward individual lives and social groups in the aspects of economy, politics, cultures and norms of life.


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15 komentar :

  1. Thank you so much for sharing your study objective.
    I am also an English Literature student and I recently graduated from college. I am thinking of applying Fulbright to do my Masters degree next year and your article totally helps me a lot.

    Thank you :)

    BalasHapus
  2. Assalamualaikum mba Isti,
    ak Novita yg dlu suka ngrepotin mnt review-in draft SO sktr bulan Januari yg lalu, masih inget mba ? hehe. alhmdulillah, tembus ke sesi wawancara berkat bantuan mba. Makasih byk lo mba, mnt doanya biar bs lancar dan bs ikut ngerasain pengalaman2 mba Isti yg udah di share dsini,, amin amin

    BalasHapus
    Balasan
    1. wassalam...
      Hi novita, wah...pasti seneng banget ya.. alhamdulillah.. semoga ke depannya lancar selalu!
      ayo...kita kopi darat di sini yuk!

      Hapus
  3. Komentar ini telah dihapus oleh pengarang.

    BalasHapus
  4. assalamu'alaikum mba Imas! saya mau nanya dong hehe.. apa ikut organisasi itu penting untuk dapet beasiswa S2 diluar negeri? thanks mba :)

    BalasHapus
    Balasan
    1. wassalam, hi!
      Penting ga penting sih ya...
      Penting juga sih, biar mereka tau kalo kamu itu aktif.
      Bisa juga ga penting kalo kamu punya pengalaman yang lain, seperti ikut lomba, dapet penghargaan, dan lain-lain.

      Hapus
  5. Selamat Pagi Mbak Isti
    Salam kenal Mabk... saya Johnny dan sedang persiapan untuk beasiswa. Saya sangat berterima kasih jika Mbak boleh membantu review Study Objective saya dan mohon advice Mbak. NB: S1 saya sebelumnya berdeda dengan S2 yang akan saya ambil nanti - Ini sedikit kendala dengan Study Objective yang akan saya tulis. Karena kebanyakan Study Objective yang saya baca S1 -> Pengalaman Kerja -> S2 semua searah sedangkan saya berbeda. Bagaimana advice/tips Mbak untuk menulis Study Objective seperti itu ? Apakah Mbak pernah mempunyai pengalaman dengan sesama alum di sana yang mempunyai case seperti saya ? Mohon bantuannya ya Mabk. Apakah boleh meminta Line atau WA.nya untuk tanya-tanya lagi. Thanks a lot Mbak.

    BalasHapus
    Balasan
    1. Hai Johny,
      Terimakasih sudah mampir ke blog saya. Memang kebanyakan S1, kerja, dan S2 itu linear. Hampir semua teman saya seperti itu karena kebanyakan dosen yang memang harus linear. Pertanyaan saya; apa S1, kerja, dan rancangan S2mu? Mengapa berbeda?
      Silakan add line saya di Imas Istiani.

      Hapus
  6. Thanks Mba
    for the reply. Saya sudah reply by Line. Mohon advice Mba selanjutnya di Line. Thanks again.

    BalasHapus
  7. Thanks, tips nya Mbak, sangat membantu untuk calon para fulbrighter muda indonesia yah, kedepannya biar bisa tembus wawancara!! salam sukses!! :)

    BalasHapus
  8. mba Imas, tulisannya bagus banget, sumpah saya sampe berkaca-kaca bacanya.. lebay, tapi benenaran.
    kalo minta e-mail boleh? soale saya baru kena blog beginian...hehhe.. agak katro but gapapa yang penting sombong.
    thanks in advance.
    wassalam

    BalasHapus
    Balasan
    1. hi wiranti! salam kenal ya! lho..kok berkaca-kaca? ada yang bikin terharu ya? hehe.. silakan, kirim email ke: imasistiani@ymail.com

      Hapus