DEALING WITH PANDEMIC: STUDENTS’ STRATEGY IN OVERCOMING THESIS WRITING ANXIETY

This paper represents a research conducted in Indonesia at university level to know the causes, level, and type of students’ anxiety on their thesis writing process as the result of sudden changeover during Covid-19 pandemic. This study also aimed at knowing the students’ strategy in overcoming their anxiety. Seventy three final years students involved in this study with six students carefully chosen for follow-up interview. This study employed explanatory mixed method design. To gather the data, the researchers used two sets of questionnaire and interview guidelines. The results suggested that the main causes of the thesis writing anxiety were linguistic difficulties, time-pressure, and the fear of thesis examination. It was also known that the majority of the students’ level of anxiety was moderate; while somatic anxiety was found as the most dominant type of writing anxiety. From the interview, it was discovered that taking a break, peer-sharing, writing in a quiet situation, self-encouragement, reading more references, and consulting to thesis advisors were the strategies used by the students to overcome their thesis writing anxiety.