Indonesian EFL Journal, Vol. 3(2) July 2017 p-ISSN 2252-7427, e-ISSN 2541-3635 AISEE The Asso ci atio n of Indones ian Scho lars of Engli sh Educatio n 203 MENTAL PROCESS OF WRITING FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES: A CASE STUDY OF INDONESIAN WRITERS Fahrus Zaman Fadhly Department of English Education, University of Kuningan, Indonesia E-mail: fahruszf@uniku.ac.id Nurul Hasanah Department of English Education, University of Kuningan, Indonesia E-mail: nurul.hasanah24116@gmail.com Vina Agustiana Department of English Education, University of Kuningan, Indonesia E-mail: v.agustiana08@gmail.com APA Citation: Fadhly, F. Z., Hasanah, N., & Agustiana, V. (2017). Mental process of writing for academic purposes: A case study of Indonesian writers. Indonesian EFL Journal, 3(2), 203-214. Received: 16-05-2017 Accepted: 21-06-2017 Published: 01-07-2017 Abstract: This study was aimed at reconstructing the mental processes involved in academic writing. This qualitative case study involved two lecturers in University of Kuningan since they were considered able to engage mental processes in their steps of writing for academic purposes or scientific manuscript. The data were obtained through in-depth interview. As result, there are some mental processes involved in the writing activity experienced by the writers. Those mental processes are differently involved in the steps of writing starting from brainstorming, planning, drafting, revising, editing, until proofreading stage. Besides, this study revealed the ways how the writers develop their writing in case of producing a long composition without losing the essence of the paper, how the writers overcome the sticking in their writing process, the writers’ special writing features and what they expect from the reader after reading their writing. It also revealed that the differences experienced by the participants in each stage of writing are strongly influenced by their areas of interest, writing behavior and their writing style. Keywords: mental process, academic writing, stages of writing INTRODUCTION Writing is a skill that is required in many contexts throughout life (Bowker, 2007). It is a mental activity considered to be difficult and have many temptations. Thus, some writers may have their own strategy in building a good construction of their writing. Writing is one of language skills demanded to master especially for the academicians since they have to be able to develop science, technology and art for the nation advancement. In fact, there are many people interested in writing because it is so beneficial. For example, when people are asked to write an academic paper or erudition, they needs to know how to write well, the kind of good writing, the kind of reference and the steps to write the paper in order to get satisfactory product. Irvin (2010) stated that when people are speaking, they face the three dimensional situation, while in writing they are restricted only in two dimensional setting of the flat page. It is metaphorically described as if people have a blindfold over their eyes and their hands tied behind their backs; they mailto:nurul.hasanah24116@gmail.com Fahrus Zaman Fadhly, Nurul Hasanah, & Vina Agustiana Mental Process of Writing for Academic Purposes: A Case Study of Indonesian Writers 204 cannot see exactly whom they are talking to or where they are. Thus, in writing, people might not know who their readers are. Separated from the audience in place and time, people, here is the writers, imaginatively have to create this context. The words on the page are silent, so the writers must use clear and appropriate punctuation and word choice to communicate their tone (Irvin, 2010). The writers also cannot see their audience to measure how the communication is being received or what kind of response will come along their writing. Writing is an activity that is not happening all at once. Like the way people are thinking, writing takes time to reach its intended point before producing satisfactory results. Davis and Lovejoy (1993) stated that writing process is not a rigid, step-by-step activity. It usually involves many twists and turns, much doubling back and leaping forward. Still, it is possible to see the difference in the three stages depending on whether the writers are planning their writing, completing a first draft or revising their piece of writing. This happens most in academic writing. Academic writing refers to a particular style of expression that researchers use to define the intellectual boundaries of their disciplines and their areas of expertise (Jones, 2003). It is the style of writing that investigates the state of an issue and presents the writers’ position based on the evidence of their research. Characteristics of academic writing include a formal tone, use of the third-person rather than first-person perspective, a clear focus on the research problem under investigation, and precise word choice. Like specialist languages adopted in other professions, such as, law or medicine, academic writing is designed to convey agreed meaning about complex ideas or concepts for a group of scholarly experts. Writing involves starting, progressing and finishing a complicated, challenging combination of tasks. It requires the writers to activate lots of different skills and orientations, sometimes at different stages and phases in the process, sometimes all at the same time. Some researchers have claimed that writing can be experienced as one of the most difficult of all skills, requiring an intricate combination of neurological, physical, cognitive and affective competencies (Levine, 2004). While the others might claim that even if writing makes complicated demands on their skills and abilities, it is possible to make writing easy, or at least easy enough for it to feel worth tackling regularly and with good effect. However, all of these things are pertinent to what is called mental process. Mental process or mental function is all the things that individuals can do with their minds (Halliday, 1985). These processes include perception, memory, thinking (such as imagination, belief, reasoning, etc.), volition, and emotion (Nemes, 2008). However, sometimes people use the term cognitive function or cognitive process instead. This can be revealed by many definitions given by some experts or psychologists who state that mental and cognitive processes are two things chronically involved in human mind activities. Although some other psychologists say that cognition belongs to one of mental branches, it becomes no matter since these two things are crucial for people in exploiting their mind abilities. This present study was conducted to explore more about how mental processes do give significant values for the writers in writing for academic purposes. Coming from this pretension, the researcher tried to compose a little analysis based on some proofs obtained through interviewing the two Kuningan Indonesian EFL Journal, Vol. 3(2) July 2017 p-ISSN 2252-7427, e-ISSN 2541-3635 AISEE The Asso ci atio n of Indones ian Scho lars of Engli sh Educatio n 205 academic writers and redraw the result in this paper. Referring to the rationale of this study, the researcher had drawn two major research questions: “What are mental processes involved in the academic writing of two academic writers? and “How will mental process be engaged with two academic writers in their writing for academic purposes?” METHOD This qualitative case study was based on the theories proposed by Gay, Mills and Airasian (2012), Miles and Huberman (1994), and Fraenkel and Wallen (2009). Gay et. al. (2012) defined a case study research as a qualitative research approach in which researchers focus on a unit of study known as a bounded system, for example, individual teacher or lecturer. Similarly, Miles and Huberman (1994) described a case study as an investigation of a phenomenon that occurs within a specific context. In case study, a single individual, group, or important example is studied extensively and varied data are collected and used to formulate interpretations applicable to the specific case. According to Fraenkel and Wallen (2009), what case study researchers have in common is that they call the objects of their research cases, and they focus their research on the study of such cases. This study was undertaken in University of Kuningan, Kuningan, West Java. The population taken was the lecturers who used to write for academic purposes. The researcher involved two lecturers teaching at University of Kuningan as the participants of the research. Those lecturers are Mr. Marwito Wihadi and Mrs. Vina Agustiana who are well-known as the authors of several published journals which some of them were inserted in English Review: Journal of English Education. Two of their journals chosen in this research are entitled Fostering Students’ Wisdom in an Interactively Argumentative Writing Project and Combining Product and Process-Based Approaches to Teaching Writing Discussion Texts. These place, population and sample were chosen because the researcher was eager to identify how mental process affected the participants’ process in writing for academic purposes. Also, the researcher expected to examine whether the participants conducted the academic writing following the same stages or they used another steps in their own. In this research, the researcher used semi-structured interview which consisted of a series of questions designed to elicit specific answers from respondents with regard to writing experiences, perceptions of self, and mental activities involved in their writing. Interview is used to obtain information that can later be compared and contrasted in the data analysis (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2009, p. 446). Therefore, the researcher posed some questions deeply related to the problem focus. Thus, the data needed in this research can be collected maximally. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The study was conducted to analyze the mental process engaged in writing activity. There are several kinds of mental processes found in this research result, such as perception, attention, memory, passion, disposition, and so on. Those processes were involved in the mental process of the brainstorming stage, mental process of the planning stage, mental process of the drafting stage, mental process of the revising stage, mental process of the editing stage, and mental process of the proofreading stage. Besides, the researcher also found the way how the writers develop their writing in case of producing a long writing without losing the essence of the Fahrus Zaman Fadhly, Nurul Hasanah, & Vina Agustiana Mental Process of Writing for Academic Purposes: A Case Study of Indonesian Writers 206 paper, how the writers overcome the sticking in their writing process, the writers’ special writing features and what they expect from the reader after reading their writing. The detailed explanations of those findings of this research are presented in the following sections. Mental Process of Brainstorming Stage The most difficult part of writing can be putting down the first words on a blank page. To help people get started, it is suggested to create a good writing environment that is free of distractions and make a writing schedule (Kellog, 1994). Writing prompts and brainstorming can also help the writers figure out what they want to write about, making it easier for them to get started and keep them thoughts flowing on the page. During writing process, writers might have many ideas in their mind related to the topic of their paper. Sometimes it seems good since it can cause the paper filled with much information. However, there is also a situation where the writers get difficult because the ideas are too much and they might feel confusing in choosing which ideas will be put on their writing. As a writer, having ideas is one of the most important parts of craft. However, it often seems like one of the most difficult and challenging parts of the whole process. Young (1940) said that an idea is nothing more nor less than a new combination of old elements. Some people like to wait for inspiration to strike. Inspiration is not just a desirable thing, it is an integral part of the writing process. Every writer needs to find inspiration in order to produce inspired writing, and sometimes it can come from unlikeliest sources. However, the most common sources for getting inspiration to write can come through reading books, journals, articles, or surfing on the internet. In this research, the researcher found that there are some similarities and differences of how the writers get inspiration to write their journal. Participant A said that he would like to sort out which ideas are related to his study now and to the previous study. He would prioritize the ideas related to his previous study so that there would be a good correlation. He would also limit the ideas, whether or not they are in accordance with his interests. For example, since his interests are in Teaching Writing, Teaching Speaking, TOEFL, SLA, and Sociolinguistic, he would still limit the ideas up to those 4 areas only. So the scope of his research will be only around those fields, not widen to anywhere else. Almost similarly, Participant B tends to use brainstorming in overcoming the abundant ideas in her mind. She might be stuck at first about what she will write. Therefore, she would make brainstorming and then a mind mapping after she decides the topic she will discuss in her topic. Also, her first step is modeling by reading related previous study so she will have provision for writing. In brainstorming, writers can freely write anything they wants. There is no rule about how many words they have to write. They can write as many as possible the words that come into their mind related to the topic of the writing they are going to make. In brainstorming, the writers can refer to various references or they can also rely on the knowledge they have had before which is considered appropriate or related to their writing topic and seems proper to be put in their writing later. In the stage of brainstorming, there is no certainty whether or not the words should have been proper or right since this process can be done in the next stage where the writers feel have poured out all keywords in their mind. The researcher analyzed that there is mental process involvement in the way the writers get inspiration to write down Indonesian EFL Journal, Vol. 3(2) July 2017 p-ISSN 2252-7427, e-ISSN 2541-3635 AISEE The Asso ci atio n of Indones ian Scho lars of Engli sh Educatio n 207 in brainstorming. The writers pay attention to the topic they will use in their writing. They also use perception towards things they find in the source they are reading. It is necessary to be selective in finding an appropriate source for their writing. This point belongs to the volition in which the writers need to be careful in making decision on what topic or idea they will pour out in their writing. However, these processes are strongly influenced by the writers’ thought about the environment. How they view the world could be useful in getting inspiration for their writing. Mental process of planning stage After writing several keywords related to her writing topic, the writers can freely but carefully select which ideas are more appropriate to be developed in their writing later. In the stage of planning, the writers should have had an image of how those ideas they have chosen in brainstorming will be developed. In this stage also, the writers ensure that they have collected the materials or data needed in their writing. However, these materials or data might be unused or replaced with the other data the writers might find during the writing process. This happens since while writing, the writers might keep searching for the other data resources because they feel the ones they have got before are insufficient or less strength to support their writing. Also, considering the value to put in their writing might be important before their write their paper. Participant A tends to consider a value as a renewal. He would like to share what has not been known by other people. Although what he writes is not actually something new in this world but it is minimally new for the reader. Of course, the writer will firstly see who his target to be. For example, if the target reader is from the level of university students, the writer tends to put something that seems to be new for the reader. Ideally, it should be new for all, both the students and the researcher. Participant B might make an outline first, a draft. But if she has to make a research report, she will make a plan. She will formulate the questions to be proposed. Then Participant B will make a title, next continue to the research design, what method will be applied. After that, Participant B will make this outline as a sub-chapter. Next she will determine what topic to be used in each paragraph. The writers process the information they have got related to the ideas of their writing and pour out all the words in the paper. Here, the writers need to be careful in choosing which one will be put on their writing after making a draft or an outline. They also need to think hard to make each word and sentence is correlated between each other. It is necessary to make sure they develop the ideas in appropriate word choice and language structure. Writing the research paper is not as overwhelming as some may initially think. The research paper essentially is a search on work that has previously been studied by usually an expert in the field. The only task that is required of the writers is to unearth their work. Even though this task may seem simple, many writers encounter problems organizing and writing the research paper because they fail to research the general topic before they decide on a thesis statement; they fail to provide an appropriate thesis statement; they fail to provide a connection between the thesis statement and all of the topic sentences in the paper; they fail to support the paper with adequate information that is relevant only to the topic of the paper; or they fail to correctly cite their sources. In this point, the researcher found that the writers’ memory is involved much in the way they consider what values to put in their writing. They use Fahrus Zaman Fadhly, Nurul Hasanah, & Vina Agustiana Mental Process of Writing for Academic Purposes: A Case Study of Indonesian Writers 208 their experience and perception based on their education background to make their writing have high value so the reader can get worthy knowledge and information. Also, here the writers involve their habit in their writing process in which this belongs to disposition aspect. Here the writers might use their memory in order to make their writing be more effective. The knowledge and information they have ever got are extremely useful to help them compose a good writing. They also need to focus and pay attention to the main topic they have determined at the first time they intend to write. However, their perception of the topic will also help them choose which ideas are suitable to put first on their writing. It is necessary to give priority to those which are more valuable to be involved in their writing rather than the ones that can only be additional information. Mental process of drafting stage Having done with the stage of brainstorming and planning, the writer can start writing and developing the ideas she has written before. Those ideas are developed in form of sentences and paragraphs. As the beginning, the sentences she writes can be simple form. While the content or the relevance of each paragraph can be concerned later. In this stage of drafting, the writer ensures that what she has provided in brainstorming is developed well. It can be said that this stage or process of drafting is 50 percent from the whole of her writing since in this stage, the writer has poured out the ideas in her mind and inserted the data needed to support her ideas. It is only the writing tidiness in the drafting stage that has not been concerned fully since this stage still prioritizes the delivery of ideas or analysis result (since here what is meant by the writing is academic writing with the sample is journal). Participant A will firstly make a draft. For example, what he will write in introduction, what he will input in methodology, and what he will present in finding and discussion. In short, Participant A will make a draft first instead to make a full paper. Participant A stated that he would like to make a draft by referring to the sources. Then, when he cites someone’s opinion, he will not just cite it but also rewrite with his own words in accordance with the meaning. This part takes much time. For Participant A, the main factors of his writing continuity are the network connection and books availability. Before going to write, Participant A would first ensure that the internet connection is online. Then he would sort out or select which book he needs and put it on his table. Similarly, Participant B would also make a draft and then make outline of the sub-chapter for each chapter. Next, she will make outline of the paragraph in each sub-chapter. So, the outlining helps her to make mind mapping. She just needs to develop what she has written in the outline become paragraphs. There she would know which idea she needs to write and which ones need to be omitted. While for the content itself, Participant B used to share with her colleague, best friend, and anyone who is related to her writing. She would taking anyone, even her students can be the site to get more information for supporting her writing. Both Participant A and Participant B have different priority in their writing according to the way they decide their standing position. If Participant A concerns about how his ideas would be accepted by the reader, while Participant B concerns more about how her ideas could be delivered well to the reader. In deciding their standing position, the writers emphasizes the perception of their writing purposes. They use disposition to help deciding the point of view they are going to use. Here the Indonesian EFL Journal, Vol. 3(2) July 2017 p-ISSN 2252-7427, e-ISSN 2541-3635 AISEE The Asso ci atio n of Indones ian Scho lars of Engli sh Educatio n 209 writers also pay attention to how the reader might catch the message of their writing. They also imagine if they are in the reader position, how the reader will see the meaning in their writing. However, volition plays an important role in the way the writer determine how their writing would be understood by the reader. Having ideas for the paper, some writers might find it difficult to support those ideas. Support and elaboration consist of the specific details and information writers use to develop their topic or ideas. The key to developing support and elaboration is getting specific. Good writers use concrete, specific details, and relevant information to construct mental images for their readers. They supply their readers with sufficient details to comprehend what they have written. They also select only the details that will support their focus and delete weak and irrelevant information. They got the ideas through reading the others’ writing, journals, articles and books. Most of the sources are related to their research. Being apart from who the author is, the participants would still read her writing since it might give much valuable information to support their ideas. In drafting, the writers might get stuck and hard to continue their writing. Participant A said that if he gets stuck, he tends to give himself a rest first and then do another activity that can relax his body and mind. Also, he would force himself to write anything, although in the end it would be deleted. On the other hand, Participant B said that when she had proposed a title and the problems, if it seems hard to be evolved, she would try to find a new topic that might be easier for her to develop. In short, both Participant A and B tend to read any kind of references to get information that can support their ideas, such as journals, articles, or books that are related to their research and it does not matter whether the author is well- known or just an ordinary person. The kinds of mental processed involved in this point might include attention, perception and volition. The writers, again, need to focus on the topic of their writing. It is important since it can help them to find the appropriate source to support their writing development. Their perception of something they find in a source, for example, a journal or an article, will also affect their final decision on what suitable information they will add to support their idea. Mental process of revising stage After composing a draft, the writer continues to the stage of revising where in this stage the writer needs to check her writing content, whether or not the sentences are correlated each other. Besides, in revising stage, the writer can change, add or reduce some sentences that seem unnecessary to be poured out in the writing. The writer can also replace the sentences that seem simple become more complex and good-quality. The prevailing of data resources used in the writing also needs to be checked so the writing content can be answerable and more credible. Simply, the revising stage is the strengthening stage of the writing content, both the theories applied and the result of analysis, whether or not they have been suitable with the main topic and answered the problems that have been formulated before. Research has shown that the number one reason writers do not pass standardized writing prompts is lack of idea development. Their pieces are just too short. They have not spent enough time elaborating on their ideas and using details. The first thing to do in developing an idea of a paper is learning to add sufficient information, elaborate the Fahrus Zaman Fadhly, Nurul Hasanah, & Vina Agustiana Mental Process of Writing for Academic Purposes: A Case Study of Indonesian Writers 210 information, and give some relevant examples to strengthen the theories which would also keep the writing effective although the length is longer. Participant A said he would like to add reference for one case or one topic. Then he would give review for each reference he had added. Participant A tried to enrich the information by seeing one topic from many point of views. Since this study is related to academic writing, that is journal, the writer would insert the other’s research to make the writing length appropriate with the target of the paper that is required. After all finishes, Participant A will reread and change the sentences to be not monotonous or simple. He will mix with compound and complex sentences. The sentences that can be reduced will be omitted. On the other hand, Participant B tended to develop her idea by firstly referring to the genre of her paper. Then she would elaborate each theory and topic she had put in her writing. After that, she would develop those elaboration she had done. For example, in a text there is a topic, an issue, then the first point and its elaboration, the second point and its elaboration. In addition, Participant B would like to add some relevant examples so her paper can be longer but the essence of her writing would not fade or even be lost. The more examples she could give, the longer writing she would produce. After finishing, the paper is reviewed to adjust the effectiveness and compatibility of the language used, grammar, coherence, topic quality, and so on, both related to the content and writing format. Here, the mental processed involved in this point include thought, attention, activity and volition. The writer can choose several additional sources to help them overcome the block they find in their writing process. It is also important to give rest to the brain so it can work effectively. They can also do some activities that can recharge their mind. The writers also have to focus and pay attention to their writing purpose. If it has a deadline and needs to be finished sooner so the writers have to ignore another thing that seems not too important to be prioritized instead of their writing completion. Mental process of editing stage After revising the content of her writing, the writer needs to check her writing manner start from the spelling, grammar, until the effective diction or word choices. Almost similar to the revising stage, in the process of editing, the writer can also change some sentences that are too wordy become simpler without losing the essence of those sentences. The similar word repetition also needs to be handled by looking for the synonym of the word. The most important is the correlation between each sentences and paragraphs, since the jumping sentence or paragraph will cause the reader difficult to understand the content of the writing. The editing process is needed to make the writing become clearer, more interesting, and understandable for the reader. Also, if the writing is an academic writing or scientific paper where the result will be published, then the writer should ensure that her writing has been suitable with the prevailing writing principles, and has fulfilled the writing rules that are required. In editing, Participant A considered the words that are too wordy to be abbreviated. Then the words that appear repeatedly will be replaced with synonym. And in compose an academic writing a writer needs to read the others’ work to make the writing well quality indeed. Well quality which means that first, the writer should ensure that the reference he uses is up to date, thus the previous study inserted should also be up to date, and it is important to concern Indonesian EFL Journal, Vol. 3(2) July 2017 p-ISSN 2252-7427, e-ISSN 2541-3635 AISEE The Asso ci atio n of Indones ian Scho lars of Engli sh Educatio n 211 about many dictions or word choices or terms that have to in accordance with the science. From there, Participant A will learn the words that are commonly used. For Participant B, after the paper is revised, it needs to be edited once more. Actually, reviewing and editing can be done in several time until the writer gets satisfied enough with the paper she writes. The obstacle found by Participant B is that she get a little difficult to make her writing become unique and unusual. She wished her paper to become special. She tends to use uncommon language or word choice. The paper might be simple but it must have a high value. After finding the answer of her research problem and explained it in the paper, a writer might have something more to get from that research report, especially after the paper has been published. Writers might have some expectation from the readers after reading their paper. Participant A said that he wished that the readers would do what he had suggested in his paper. At least, they would consider that what he had observed or studied is important for them and they are willing to share it to the others. On the other hand, Participant B said that she wished that her writing could be a new information for her reader. He wished that the readers could realize that what has never been written by the others, it had been written by her. She also wanted her writing to become a guidance and inspiration for people so they can develop what she had written. In editing, the writer needs to ensure that he has reached the end of her writing. Although it has not been completely perfect, but at least there is nothing more to discuss since all the questions have been answered. There are thought and language involvement in the way the writers close their writing. It includes the writers’ way to draw a conclusion from their writing. The language use here also give a great affect to the readers where by reading the conclusion in understandable structure and sentence they might not need to go back to the beginning of the paper only to find the main essence of the writing. Mental process of proofreading stage Having done with editing the writing draft, the writer can continue to proofreading stage that functions to ensure that the whole writing has accuracy and consistency both in the grammar and the spelling of each word. If form the beginning the writer has chosen to use British style in her writing, then until the end of her writing has to use British style. Or if the rule is that the writing has to use American style, then the writer has to consistently apply the American style in the whole of her writing. The proofreading stage is the final stage of the writing process, so in this stage it is hoped that there is nothing left anymore. Even though the writing cannot be said as perfect, but at least it has answered all the problems that have been formulated and ready to be published or read by the other people. Participant A tends to position himself as if he is a reader. He imagines how the reader will catch the message he delivers. Also, he likes to act as if he is explaining what he will serve in his paper. This point belongs to disposition aspect. Participants A tries maximally to make people understand his paper although the number of pages are limited. In most of his writing, the writer concerns more about the reader who may have the same interest, but they have no much knowledge in that field. Participant B said that her writing style might be influenced by her thesis writing style. Since her lecturer is well- known as a neat person, so during her thesis composing she was taught to be a neat writer. Participant B was sure that Fahrus Zaman Fadhly, Nurul Hasanah, & Vina Agustiana Mental Process of Writing for Academic Purposes: A Case Study of Indonesian Writers 212 people must be able to distinguish her writing with the others’ by comprehending and going along her paper carefully. Participant A said that closing his writing means retelling the essence of the research and then revealing the shortcoming of his paper. He also added the suggestion for the readers to continue what he had done and put in his research. Participant A said he could finish his writing in a week for fastest. It usually happens when he only focus to continue his writing. Moreover when he had deadline, at least a half in a day he would force himself to write. He would try to write every day even just a sentence or a paragraph. However, Participant A said that finishing his writing in a short time could give a feeling of dissatisfaction in case of the content. If it takes more than one week, he was sure that his writing could be better because he would have time to correct the grammar and fix the content. On the other hand, Participant B said that she used to close her writing by concluding the whole of her paper. She would firstly summarize from the beginning, the middle until the end of her writing and then make a syntheses. After that she would draw a conclusion from the findings and discussion in accordance with the problem she had questioned. Here, mental processed involved in this point include passion, motivation and disposition. The tendency to be different from the other writing and the desire to have a great writing and get the reader satisfied with their writing can help the writers find their special character or feature in their writing style. Each writer have their own passion in creating a paper. However, both writers wish that their writing can be useful for the reader. In conclusion, both writers expect that the readers will get valuable knowledge after reading their writing and it must be good if the readers follow what the writers have suggested in their writing. Shortly, the writers wish that their writing can achieve the main purpose they have made. CONCLUSION Regarding the research objectives, the researcher undertook this research to explain the mental processes involved in academic writing and how these processes are engaged in each step or element of the writing process. The data in this research were gained by interviewing two lecturers who are used to write for academic purpose. The analysis revealed that there were some kinds of mental processes are involved in the way the writers start until close their writing. These are also strongly influenced by their areas of expertise, their areas of interest, their behavior and their writing style. As the result of this research, there are some aspects in mental process involved in the writers’ writing process. Those are attention, perception, memory, motivation, passion, disposition, imagination, volition, activity, thought and language. Those aspects could be found in each step or elements of the writing, start from the brainstorming, planning, drafting, revising, editing until the proofreading stage. The researcher analyzed that there is mental process involvement in the way the writers get inspiration to write down in brainstorming. The writers pay attention to the topic they will use in their writing. They also use perception towards things they find in the source they are reading. It is necessary to be selective in finding an appropriate source for their writing. This point belongs to the volition in which the writers need to be careful in making decision on what topic or idea they will pour out in their writing. However, these processes are strongly influenced by the writers’ thought about the environment. How they view the Indonesian EFL Journal, Vol. 3(2) July 2017 p-ISSN 2252-7427, e-ISSN 2541-3635 AISEE The Asso ci atio n of Indones ian Scho lars of Engli sh Educatio n 213 world could be useful in getting inspiration for their writing. In planning, the writers might use their memory in order to make their writing be more effective. The knowledge and information they have ever got are extremely useful to help them compose a good writing. They also need to focus and pay attention to the main topic they have determined at the first time they intend to write. However, their perception of the topic will also help them choose which ideas are suitable to put first on their writing. It is necessary to give priority to those which are more valuable to be involved in their writing rather than the ones that can only be additional information. The kinds of mental processed involved in drafting might include attention, passion, motivation, perception and volition. The writers, again, need to focus on the topic of their writing. It is important since it can help them to find the appropriate source to support their writing development. Their perception of something they find in a source, for example, a journal or an article, will also affect their final decision on what suitable information they will add to support their idea. The writers might find it is hard to have a perfect moment to finish their writing, while some others might think the scarce source is the factor of why their writing cannot develop smoothly. However, the writers’ passion and intention also influence the continuity of their writing process. Less motivation can also make the writing process blocked and hard to be completed well. When writers have a great passion and motivation, they will get spirit to complete their writing as soon and good as possible. Having target and intention to finish the writing sooner and paying attention and focusing only on their writing will help the writers to be motivated to have their writing completed in a satisfying way. Then, in revising stage, the mental processed involved in this point include thought, attention, activity and volition. The writer can choose several additional sources to help them overcome the block they find in their writing process. It is also important to give rest to the brain so it can work effectively. They can also do some activities that can recharge their mind. The writers also have to focus and pay attention to their writing purpose. If it has a deadline and needs to be finished sooner so the writers have to ignore another thing that seems not too important to be prioritized instead of their writing completion. In editing, the writer needs to ensure that he has reached the end of her writing. Although it has not been completely perfect, but at least there is nothing more to discuss since all the questions have been answered. There are thought and language involvement in the way the writers close their writing. It includes the writers’ way to draw a conclusion from their writing. The language use here also give a great affect to the readers where by reading the conclusion in understandable structure and sentence they might not need to go back to the beginning of the paper only to find the main essence of the writing. Here, mental processed involved in proofreading include passion, motivation and disposition. The tendency to be different from the other writing and the desire to have a great writing and get the reader satisfied with their writing can help the writers find their special character or feature in their writing style. Each writer have their own passion in creating a paper. However, both writers wish that their writing can be useful for the reader. In conclusion, both writers expect that the readers will get valuable knowledge after reading their writing and it must be good if the readers follow what Fahrus Zaman Fadhly, Nurul Hasanah, & Vina Agustiana Mental Process of Writing for Academic Purposes: A Case Study of Indonesian Writers 214 the writers have suggested in their writing. Shortly, the writers wish that their writing can achieve the main purpose they have made. REFERENCES Bowker, N. (2007). Academic writing: A guide to tertiary level writing. Palmerston North, New Zealand: College of Education, Massey University. Davis, K., & Lovejoy, K. B. (1993): Writing: Process, product, and power. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Fraenkel, J. R. & Wallen, N. E. (2009). How to design and evaluate research in education. (7th ed.). New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Gay, L. R., Mills, G. E, & Airasian, P. W. (2012). Educational research: Competencies for analysis and applications. (10th ed.). USA: Pearson Education, Inc. 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