Unesa.ac.id, SURABAYA-Department of Indonesian Language and Literature (JBSI), Faculty of Language and Arts, State University of Surabaya held a guest lecture "Strengthening the Writing Competence of Students of the Department of Indonesian Language and Literature" at the Prof. Auditorium. Dr. Leo Idra Ardiani, FBS, Lidah Wetan Campus, Surabaya on Wednesday, September 13, 2022.
This guest lecture, JBSI presented journalistic practitioner, Juneka Subaihul Mufid, as the Editor of Opinion of Jawa Pos. Dr. Anas Ahmadi, S.Pd., M.Pd., a lecturer in Writing and Creative Writing Skills explained that this activity aims to improve students‘ competence in creative writing and be able to compete in the era of disruption and progress.
This Guest Lecture, he continued, is an additional lecture that students can get. With this activity, it is hoped that JBSI will produce great and creative writers. “With this guest lecture, besides being a provision for students to write creatively, this is also a place for writing. Many students are good at writing, but the container is not optimal," he explained.
He hopes that, after this guest lecture, students can produce creative writings and be able to submit them in mainstream media. "From this Jawa Pos editor, participants can explore many things about media tastes, characteristics of the rubrics and strategies to be accepted at the editorial desk," added Anas.
In the material session, Juneka encouraged UNESA students to always improve their writing both qualitatively and quantitatively. By writing often, the quality of writing will continue to improve. Like journalists, for example, every day they are required to write quickly and accurately, up to five or more news stories for print media, while online media journalists can write 7 or 8 stories and above every day.
Students can do that too. Daily activities and experiences both at home or on campus can be written material. The results of lectures or discussions with lecturers in class can also be written. In fact, from what is read in a book or anywhere else, it can become a work, if it is written. "The basis for writing is material, information or data, it can be obtained from the results of monitoring, questions and answers, interviews, or from the literature," he explained.
“As a writer, don‘t be afraid to be like other writers, because the characteristics of each writer will be discovered over time. For novice writers, it is important to learn first, following the existing path,” he added.
One of the participants, Dehydra from the Indonesian Literature Undergraduate Study Program, stated that many new and interesting things were obtained from the guest lecture, especially the creative process strategy to produce written works that could be accepted in the media. “So far, we only know how to write and think that writing can be promoted in the media. It‘s not like that though. We also have to understand the momentum and hot issues in the community,” he said.
Another participant, Tiesca Renalda, S-1 Study Program of Indonesian Language and Literature Education (PBSI) hoped that guest lectures like this could be held regularly. “From the lecturers, we know a lot of typical academic theory and practice, now we also need injections from the practitioners directly. Of course, there are many experiences and interesting stories behind their work and the works they produce in the media that we read," he concluded. [HUMAS UNESA]
Authors: Nadia Putri Maharani and Muhammad Azhar Adi Mas‘ud
Editor: @zam Alasiah*