PROFILE OF INDONESIAN SPELLING ERRORS IN UNDERGRADUATE THESES AT MUHAMMADIYAH UNIVERSITY OF MAKASSAR

Abstract

The quality of an undergraduate thesis is determined not only by methodological rigor and the strength of its argumentation but also by the accuracy of academic written language. Spelling and mechanical errors, such as punctuation, capitalization, and the writing of prepositions, can reduce readability, blur meaning, and affect readers' perceptions of the professionalism of scholarly work. This study maps the pattern of spelling errors in undergraduate theses written by students of Muhammadiyah University of Makassar in 2024. It employed a quantitative descriptive design using documentation techniques. The data consisted of the frequency of spelling errors recorded from 49 theses. Each thesis was examined, and each error was classified into three categories: punctuation, capitalization, and prepositions. The findings were tabulated per thesis and analyzed by using total frequencies, percentages, and descriptive statistics (mean, minimum, maximum, and standard deviation). Because the original recap contained inconsistencies in the total column, the number of errors per thesis was recalculated by summing the three categories to ensure consistency. The study identified 654 spelling errors in total. Punctuation errors were the most dominant (243 errors; 37.16%), followed by capitalization errors (220; 33.64%) and preposition errors (191; 29.20%). The pattern indicates that mechanical errors remain common in thesis drafting and editing, partly because of limited mastery of spelling conventions and insufficient proofreading. The study recommends strengthening academic editing instruction through rubrics that include mechanical indicators, pre-defense spelling checklists, focused written feedback on dominant error categories, and staged revision practice from sentence level to chapter level so that thesis writing becomes more accurate, consistent, and ready for academic review.