THE IDEAS DEVELOPMENT OF ARGUMENTATIVE DISCOURSES OF INDONESIAN WRITERS FOUND IN THE OPINION FORUM OF THE JAKARTA POST By: Katharina Rustipa Abbas Achmad Badib Dwi Rukmini ABSTRACT In this era, English is established as the world language of research and publication. This makes the English language significant for students and professionals. Tangkiengsirisin (2010, 1) states that text flow through a sequence of sentences is a main criterion for advanced writing. This research is aimed at finding out the flows of ideas of the English Arguments of Indonesian writers. This research applies topical, paradigmatic analysis. It involves identifying topics and sequences of topics/ ideas. After the topical analysis is done, the investigator contemplates the ideas development pattern of the entire essay. After analyzing fourteen English Arguments of Indonesian writers, it is found out that English Arguments of Indonesian writers are mostly develRSHG OLQHDUO\ ,W FRQWUDGLFWV ZLWK .DSODQ¶V explanation (1966) that oriental groups express their ideas mostly in LQGLUHFW ZD\V ,W PHDQV WKDW DW SUHVHQW .DSODQ¶V WKHRU\ LV SDUWO\ YDOLG (YHQ though the English Arguments of Indonesian writers are mostly developed OLQHDUO\ LW GRHVQ¶W PHDQ WKDW WKH WHDFKHUV FDQ LJQRUH LW LQ WHDFKLQJ Advanced Writing. Flow of ideas should become one of the materials of $GYDQFHG :ULWLQJ WR ,QGRQHVLDQ OHDUQHUV EXW LW GRHVQ¶W QHHG PRUH WHDFKLQJ time allotment. Keywords: argumentative discourses, flow of ideas, linear, circular, parallel, digress I. Introduction In this era, English is established as the world language of research and publication (Flowerdew, 2001: 1). This makes the English language significant for students and professionals as stated by Light (2001) in McNamara et al. (2010: 58) that for professionals, writing skills are essential for their day-to-day work and critical for entry and promotion in their disciplines. Writing provides the ability to articulate ideas, argue opinion, and synthesize multiple perspectives. Geiser and Studly (2001) in McNamara et al. (2010: 58) state that for students, writings are among the best predictors of success in course work during their years of study. According to Storrer (2002: 1), authors should design a text in such a way that the addressee may detect the relationships linking individual text constituents. In other words, the authors should write a coherent text. He further explains that the concept of text coherence is developed for linear text, i.e. text of sequentially organized content. However, writing coherently is not an easy task, even for advanced writers. Cameron (2007: 43) finds out that writing skill is not only difficult for the students but also for scientists, writers and