Challenges faced by English majors when writing research papers

ABSTRACT: The purpose of the study is to figure out some common challenges English majors encounter when writing their research papers. The participants are 53 English majors at Tra Vinh University. The questionnaire is the only instrument focusing on students’ obstacles: preparing for conducting a research paper, writing the introduction, writing the literature review, identifying the research methodology, analyzing the data, and giving recommendations. The findings reveal that the participants face some difficulties including identifying a research topic, searching materials, recognizing the significance of the paper, selecting appropriate theoretical background, choosing and summarizing related studies, using correct style of citation, deciding the appropriate statistical tool for data analysis, using appropriate formulas for calculating the collected data, interpreting data clearly and concisely, and comparing the findings of the present study to those of related
studies. From the findings above, some recommendations are suggested to assist students in overcoming their issues.
KEY WORDS: English majors, student-researchers, challenges, research writing, recommendations