SARA DESMIATI SANAK Pengarang LENI AMELIA SUEK Dosen Pembimbing 2 Alexander Home Kabelen Penguji 2 Leni Amelia Suek Penguji 1 Hilda M. Nalley Ketua Penguji

This study focused on the levels of students’ ability in writing the introductory part of their research proposals and the difficulties they faced in writing their introductory part. This study used qualitative method in case study form.The students’ introductory parts were analyzed by using rubric scoring related to the criteria of a good introductory part that was adapted from PHILO-notes to determine the students’ level of ability. To find out the students’ difficulties, an interview in focus group discussion form was used.The result shows thatthe students’ level of ability was varied based on the analysis. From the total of 13 students, four were considered poor level, six were considered average level, two were considered good level, and only onewas considered as excellent.Based on the interview questions, the students found it difficult in providing the gap and goal of their research, organizing their sentence and paragraph structure, using the correct grammatical and mechanical rules. Besides, the students also found it difficult to write their introductory part because of the lack of references, did not know when and how to start, did not get enough guidelines from Research Methodology course and had to do online consultation due to pandemic situation.In conclusion,the students’ levels of ability in writing the introductory part of their research proposals were considered as average level.The students found it difficult in writing theirintroductory part because of the lack of references, did not know when and how to start and did not get enough information from Research Methodology course. Keywords:Analyze, Research Proposal,Introductory Part, Ability, Difficulties