This procrastination essay should start with an acknowledgment: every person occasionally postpones tasks at hand for various reasons. It can be due to fatigue, unwillingness to engage in it at the moment, or lack of spare time to spend on the issue. College students, in particular, have to face this phenomenon regularly.
However, some people get into the habit of delaying things that they have to do. Thus, they disregard deadlines and cause trouble for themselves and those around them. It is called procrastination, which is, as stated by Ferrari et al., “derived from Latin verbs, ‘pro’ refers to forward motion, and ‘crastinus’ refers to belonging to tomorrow” (qt. in Abbasi and Alghamdi 59). It is worth mentioning that postponing a task to perform a more important one does not refer to this phenomenon. In this case, it is setting priorities, which has nothing to do with procrastination.
The habitual delay of tasks is caused by several factors, such as perfectionism, fear of uncertainty, lack of motivation, and distractions. This essay about procrastination will explore each of them and their consequences separately.
Perfectionism and Fear of Failure
Although perfectionism seems to be a positive trait at first sight, since it implies that a person attempts to do his work brilliantly, it is, in fact, a drawback in many cases. Voltaire is believed to have said: “The best is the enemy of the good,” which is applied to perfectionists. Instead of submitting a well-done task in time, they leave it to the last minute because they do not consider it perfect.
Not all people tend to develop perfectionism because it depends on personal attitudes. According to Dweck, there are two types of mindset, which define an individual’s behavior and beliefs: “the fixed mindset” and “the growth mindset” (7). People with the first type are convinced that they have “a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character,” which cannot change over time (Dweck 7). Individuals possessing the second type of mindset; on the contrary, believe that their abilities are improvable, and “everyone can change and grow through application and experience” (Dweck 7). Thus, perfectionists have a fixed mindset since they always have to prove that they are superior and worthy, which makes them waste much time and effort and causes them to procrastinate.
Perfectionism is closely related to another cause of postponing tasks, which is a fear of failure. Some people are so obsessed with the ambition of being the best that they cannot afford to fail. However, it leads them to reject challenges and opportunities, which could contribute to their personal growth because they are sure they will not cope with them. If they cannot refuse such a task, they delay it for as long as possible since they are afraid of failure. In the workplace, such behavior leads to “low salaries and short employment durations,” as well as unemployment (Abbasi and Alghamdi 61). Thus, obsessive pursuit of excellence leads to procrastination, which, in turn, deprives people of a possibility of personal growth and makes them miss valuable opportunities.
Fear of the Unknown
Sometimes, people put their plans off because they are uncertain of what they are going to experience. It particularly concerns health and relationships because, in these areas of life, there are no deadlines, and individuals have to decide for themselves when to take action. For example, a person, having noticed a rash on the skin, may postpone a visit to a doctor, hoping that it will get better on its own. Another instance is a woman who wants to break up with her partner but delays this decision since she expects her life to improving suddenly. In both cases, people procrastinate because they fear the consequences of their actions and prefer to live in uncertainty.
Procrastination due to the fear of the unknown generally results in negative outcomes since problems rarely disappear on their own. For people delaying health issues, it may lead to “hazardous consequences in terms of health, especially when a disease may be progressive” (Kroese and de Ridder 317). Procrastination also influences people’s quality of life since, instead of eliminating disturbance by making the desired change, they continue to postpone problems and waste their mental energy on them.
Lack of Motivation
Individuals may delay fulfilling a task because they are not interested in it and have no essential reasons for doing it. Instead, they prefer performing more pleasant though less important work. Motivation is influenced by the environment, especially when there are other procrastinators who affect their coworkers through “second-hand procrastination” (Abbasi and Alghamdi 60). Furthermore, people face this problem if the task at hand misaligns with their priorities or is vaguely stated.
As a result, procrastination due to the absence of motivation leads to poor individual performance. Postponing tasks causes a person to have fewer career opportunities since “employers are less likely to retain procrastinators for jobs requiring high motivation” (Abbasi and Alghamdi 60). It applies to not only work but also academic achievements, switching to a healthy lifestyle, and any other activity requiring an internal stimulus to get down to action.
Multiple Distractions
Procrastination takes place when many distractions hinder a person from concentrating on a task. This problem is especially significant in the contemporary environment since smartphones and free Internet access has made it difficult for people not to redirect their attention from work to entertainment. Furthermore, in the workplace, colleagues also may contribute to attention distraction (Sirois and Pychyl 245). Thus, people have to choose between pleasant things and their own obligations, which Milkman et al. called a “should-want conflict” (qtd. in Sirois and Pychyl 245). It serves as a cause for procrastination since individuals often prefer instant gratification instead of committing to work.
Like in the cases mentioned above, procrastination caused by distractions has negative effects on people’s performance and well-being. Abbasi and Alghamdi argue that students who engage in entertaining activities rather than studying are likely to submit their assignments after the deadline and generally have poor academic achievements (60). Furthermore, since procrastination often involves excessing the time limit, people apt to postponing tasks complain of “higher levels of stress and anxiety” (Abbasi and Alghamdi 61). Consequently, the problem of not completing work in time leads to not only falling behind peers in studies and career but also having health issues.
Procrastination Conclusion
In conclusion, it should be said that procrastination is rooted in many causes, such as numerous distractions, lack of motivation, fear of uncertainty and failure, and perfectionism. Each of them leads to negative consequences that concern career, studies, health, and personal qualities. Thus, procrastination prevents a person from rising through the ranks, succeeding in training, and developing as a personality. These are serious obstacles on the way to success and life satisfaction, which is why it is crucial for people to begin to struggle with procrastination as soon as they discovered it in their behavior.
Works Cited
Abbasi, Irum Saeed, and Nawal G. Alghamdi. “The Prevalence, Predictors, Causes, Treatments, and Implications of Procrastination Behaviors in General, Academic, and Work Setting.” International Journal of Psychological Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, 2015, pp. 59-66.
Dweck, Carol. Mindset – Updated Edition: Changing the Way You Think to Fulfil Your Potential. Hachette UK, 2017.
Kroese, Floor M., and Denise T. D. de Ridder. “Health Behaviour Procrastination: A Novel Reasoned Route towards Self-regulatory Failure.” Health Psychology Review, vol. 10, no. 3, 2016, pp. 313-325.
Sirois, Fuschia M., and Timothy A. Pychyl, editors. Procrastination, Health, and Well-being. Academic Press, 2016.
Northcentral University in Arizona USA is planning to conduct a study that aims at examining the link between procrastination and the effects it has on the general attitude of individuals towards life. This research will try to answer the following questions:
How do people view the problems and challenges that they face in life?
What methods do they use to solve such problems?
To ensure that the study is conducted effectively and efficiently, some considerations have to be put in place. Due to the nature of the research questions of the study, open-ended questionnaires and interviews will be used to gather the required information for the study. As such, the research design will be qualitative in nature. The study will also consider professional ethics to ensure that conflicts of interest are avoided. The aim of this document therefore is to critically analyse these considerations to ensure that the results reflect a true and fair view of the study.
Research Methods
The participants of this study will be individuals between the ages of 18 to 65 years. This age group is composed of individuals with a lot of responsibilities and face a lot of challenges in life. As a result, they form the highest proportion of individuals who procrastinate. This sample group will thus ensure that the attitudes and perceptions of the individuals contained in this age bracket are captured (Creswell, 2009). As a result, the data that will be collected for the study and the inferences that will be made can easily be generalized to reflect the trends of the entire population.
The study will be conducted within Northcentral University of Arizona and its environs. The data will be collected in places where there is a high concentration of people such as common rooms, gymnasiums and student centres within the university and shopping malls, bus stations and subways outside the university. Random sampling technique will be applied while selecting the individuals to be interviewed. This will ensure that the interviews that will be conducted are not biased.
The study will aim at gathering the attitudes and perceptions of individuals with respect to procrastination. Due to this fact, a mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods will also be used. These methods will ensure that all the aspects of the study are covered. This will increase the validity of the results. The data from the respondents will be collected with the use of questionnaires, interviews and observations. This data will be analysed using a computer software package called SPSS version 16.
Ethical Considerations
Any research that is conducted at Northcentral University involving human beings or any other living organism as its subjects must include ethical considerations that ensure that their rights are respected. These considerations are in accordance with the federal regulations, rules, and guidelines of NCU (Trochim and Donnelly, 2008). Therefore, any research conducted by members of the faculty, staff, students or any other affiliated party to the institution has to be approved by the IRB committee. This review makes sure that all the factors that are required to undertake the research have been adhered to.
To achieve all this, the study has to ensure the confidentiality of the information that is provided by the respondents. In the course of the study, the questions that may be asked may inquire about personal information of the respondent and to ensure that the respondent gives information that is true, he/she has to be assured about the confidentiality of such information. The respondents also need to be aware of the nature of the study that is being conducted, its requirements and the role that they will play in the research before they decide to participate in the study. The risks that a respondent may face include social sanctions, public humiliation, termination of employment and other detrimental consequences. This may occur if the information that he/she provides in the study is made public or falls in the wrong hands. However, if the respondent is assured about his/her confidentiality, then the chances of him/her to participate in the study will be increased. Assurance of confidentiality will also increase the chances of the respondent giving out honest answers. As a result, the validity of the research outcome will be increased.
Conclusion
All the above requirements have to be attained so that the research is carried out professionally. Having in place valid research methods, participants and sticking to professional ethics will ensure that all these requirements are achieved.
References
Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Trochim, W., and Donnelly, J. (2008). The research methods knowledge base. Mason, OH: Cengage.
The term procrastination is relatively new to psychology, despite the fact that the psychological essence of the phenomenon indicated by this term is familiar to everyone. Procrastination is a tendency to postpone the execution of necessary things until later. Thus, it is a behavioral pattern in which the activity leading for a person in a given period of time is deliberately delayed. A person remains active, but his activity is aimed at extraneous, insignificant, sometimes just meaningless activities. Therefore, it is critical to understand the underlying reasons behind procrastination.
Procrastination Overview
A separate direction is dedicated to the study of the postponement of the implementation of educational tasks – academic procrastination. It is believed that the educational process is characterized by the conditions in which procrastination most often occurs, leading to negative consequences. Procrastination is one of the most significant factors causing learning difficulties (Brust et al., 2020).
Most students in secondary and higher educational institutions consider themselves procrastinators. Most of them say that they need professional help in overcoming procrastination. In this regard, many foreign colleges and universities provide students with the opportunity to attend special classes to combat procrastination and acquire adequate planning skills for educational activities, as well as prioritizing and allocating their time.
However, it is important to note that the development of theoretical knowledge about procrastination does not occur in-depth but in breadth. New concepts developed in this direction, in most cases, only complement the previous ones but do not refute them. On the one hand, this indicates the obvious versatility of the phenomenon under study. On the other hand, this also shows the need for research to analyze all the accumulated theoretical experience, and at the same time, take a look at procrastination as a phenomenon as a whole, on its essence.
Procrastination is a complex, multi-component phenomenon, and among them is the fact of postponement and the availability of deadlines. Procrastination is always followed by negative consequences, and procrastination, in turn, is always associated with negative emotions and experiences, such as anxiety and guilt. As a rule, in modern psychology, procrastination is understood as a negative phenomenon.
It is also possible to consider the inability to manage the situation as a consequence of procrastination, and it can be synonymous with passivity, pessimism, and maladaptation (Brust et al., 2020). However, in some studies, procrastination is defined as a partially positive phenomenon. In this case, the postponement of the task is justified by the reduction of negative manifestations preceding or accompanying its implementation.
Each person at least once in his life refused to carry out any actions and put them off, especially when it was necessary to do something under duress or under the pressure of circumstances or when there were doubts about the necessity and usefulness of the plan. However, with procrastination, a person lingers even when he is sure of the necessity and importance of action. He has no doubt that this is necessary, useful, necessary, and his plan should have been done yesterday.
He deliberately postpones the intended business, despite the fact that this will entail certain problems and complications. At the same time, he can perform small and insignificant tasks, to which he attaches greater importance than to the truly important. Procrastination can cause stress, guilt, decreased productivity, and discontent from others due to default (Munjal & Mishra, 2019). The combination of these feelings and excessive use of forces can provoke further procrastination.
Chronic procrastination can be caused by a hidden psychological or physiological ailment. Some people can work productively only when a strict time frame is set; the peak of their productivity falls on the last hours and minutes before the deadline. The main signs of procrastination are the lack of productivity and meaning in the actions taken, together with the constant postponement of the really important and useful.
To a certain extent, this is not a big deal since no man can work like a machine. Small breaks for rest and a change of activity affect overall productivity favorably. Therefore, another sign of procrastination is the negative consequences, such as a violation of the deadlines, failure of the planned projects, general dissatisfaction with their professional activities, possible personal and psychological problems.
Procrastination is, in a way, an expression of an emotional reaction to planned or necessary things. Depending on the nature of these emotions, procrastination is divided into two fundamental types. This is relaxed procrastination when a person spends time on other, more pleasant activities and entertainments, and a tense form associated with general overload, loss of a sense of time, dissatisfaction with one’s own achievements, unclear life goals, indecision, and self-doubt.
Possible Reasons
From the foregoing, one can single out the general featural causes of procrastination, such as irrationality, awareness, negative emotional experiences, and internal discomfort. Consequently, procrastination is a deliberate delay of affairs leading to negative consequences and accompanied by internal discomfort and negative emotional experiences. Procrastination is a heterogeneous phenomenon; its content varies depending on many factors; that is, it can be classified on various grounds.
It is also possible to identify five main forms of procrastination, which will reveal the linking causes behind this phenomenon. These types of procrastination include academic, that is, postponing preparation for verification work, homework, and procrastination in decision-making, including minor ones (Rebetez et al., 2018).
It is also worth highlighting the compulsive, which most often manifests itself as chronic procrastination in any situation, and neurotic, that is, procrastination in making vital decisions. In addition, there is household procrastination, or daily, that is, the inability to cope with routine, regular activities. Thus, in the general characteristic, only two types of procrastination can be stored in it, such as deferring the execution of tasks and deferring decision-making.
It is also possible to categorize reasons behind procrastination according to the manifestations of this phenomenon depends on the personal characteristics of people and on their behavior strategies. There are indecisive people who are prone to putting off responsibility due to the pressure of the load, and such people are often peculiar and inherent in terms of genetic background (Gustavson et al., 2017).
There are also avoiding procrastinators, whose behavior is due to the desire not to perform subjectively unpleasant tasks, as well as to avoid evaluations from others. Thrill-seekers can be distinguished, and these are the aforementioned active procrastinators. They deliberately put off making important decisions because they like the feeling of the emotional upsurge that arises when doing things at the last moment. The aforementioned topic of individual-personality characteristics of procrastinators has been raised in many studies but still remains extremely relevant.
The fact is that a single model of the relationship of personality factors with the phenomenon of procrastination does not exist in psychology. Within this area, particular interest should be shown in the key reasons that are based on personality substructures and components directly related to procrastination. The studies show that there can be an evolutionary reason for procrastination (Chen & Chang, 2016).
These reasons may include cognitive characteristics, that is, the locus of control and perception of time, and characteristics of the emotional sphere such as anxiety, fear of failure, and guilt. In addition, it is important to include behavioral features such as lack of self-regulation skills, learning skills, the rigidity of behavioral patterns, disorganization, and biological factors, in other words, low concentration of attention and neuroticism. In addition, in the scientific works of recent years, the theme of the relationship of procrastination with self-control and perfectionism has often been raised.
It is possible to state that a low level of self-control or, conversely, a high level of perfectionism can become the determinants of putting off activities for later. The main disadvantage from which procrastinators suffer is excessive impulsivity (Rebetez et al., 2018). The larger the time gap between the present moment and the future event, the higher the likelihood that a person will choose pleasure “here and now” and not work for the future. In other words, this means that a person will postpone important activities with a delayed result to meet urgent but not so significant needs.
While discussing the practical importance of studying the phenomenon of procrastination, it is important to clarify that stable procrastination is observed in most people around the world. It should be borne in mind that in recent years the level of understanding of procrastination has grown and has a tendency to increase further. At the same time, the very existence of the postponement phenomenon contradicts the conditions of modern society, which makes special demands on the productivity, independence, and responsibility of the individual.
Thus, procrastination is a conscious tendency to postpone the implementation of leading activities, accompanied by internal discomfort and leading to negative consequences; that is, this is a complex, complex psychological concept. In psychology, further studies of this problem are necessary, which would allow developing theoretical knowledge about the nature of procrastination, the psychological phenomena associated with it, and its structure.
Conclusion
In conclusion, procrastination is a complex phenomenon, which, based on the basic theories that explain it, includes: a behavioral component, a cognitive component, an emotional component, as well as a subconscious component. Modern society makes high demands on the responsibility, independence, and productivity of the individual. The study of procrastination is very significant and relevant, especially when the problems and difficulties that arise simply cannot be associated with human laziness and disinterest in performing the necessary activities.
Thus, the phenomenon of procrastination is a complex psychological concept that should not be fully identified with protective mechanisms or impaired motivational processes. This issue requires further study and deeper research, which will clarify the available data on the nature of procrastination, its components, and possible correlations with other psychological characteristics of the person.
References
Brust, O. A., Häder, M., & Häder, S. (2020). Procrastination and participation in telephone surveys. Bulletin of Sociological Methodology, 145(1), 80-99. Web.
Procrastination is a state where a person puts off all important things. Oxford University Press (2022, para 2) defines the term as “the act of delaying something that you should do.”
Inclination is a state in which a person needs to do something. Oxford University Press (2022, para 2) says it is “a feeling that makes you want to do something.”
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a condition in which a person experiences constant irritability. According to Oxford University Press (2022, para 2), it is “a mental illness in which somebody feels they have to repeat certain actions or activities.”
Analysis
The target audience of this article is students or employees. The work’s author is Adam Grant, a professor of management and psychology at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The context is to explain the benefits of procrastination. This article was published in The New York Times Opinion section which is read by different groups of people. The point of the essay is to talk about the benefits of procrastination. Three critical points in the essay are that procrastination improves creativity, helps in creating large-scale projects, and is dangerous when it lasts too long. They are successful because the author supports each of them with facts.
The author has a strong ethos because he talks about his personal life. In the article, there is an emotional appeal, “And if you’re a pre-crastinator like me, it may be worth mastering the discipline of forcing yourself to procrastinate” (Grant, 2016, para 22). It appears at the end of an essay to finish the story by arousing emotion. The author’s motive when writing an essay is to share personal experiences. The point of writing was that working as fast as possible is not always essential. People should pause and put off work so they can come up with fresh ideas as they procrastinate. Grant (2016) argues that in this way, “procrastinators’ ideas were 28 percent more creative” (p. 2). Given this, the article aims to discuss a way to work more creatively.
Conclusion
When writing essays in high school, it was impossible to start doing them right after receiving the assignment. This immensely helped speed up the process, as a result. Writing on the day of delivery gave the feeling that the deadline was short and the work needed to be done faster, so the task was completed on time. There were no attempts to work on a different method because this one proved effective.
Cause and effect, in layman’s language mean that for every reaction there is always a precedent of an action. It is a condition whereby the occurrence of one event leads to the occurrence of another event. It is important to mention that cause and effect are typically associated to response and changes or events.
The two events are normally associated with each other whereby one event is directly proportional to the other. This topic covers cause and effect pattern under the topic of procrastination. It analyzes how procrastination develops under cause and effect.
Introduction
Cause and effect discussion in most western philosophical traditions goes back to Aristotle. Aristotle came up with two modes of causation: proper, which is also referred to as prior causation and accidental also referred to as chance causation. All causes in reference to proper and accidental can be said to be either particular or generic. To be able to understand cause and effect better, let us look at a topic like procrastination.
Procrastination
Procrastination is said to be the avoidance of starting or going through on a task that is deemed to be important and necessary. Procrastination involves postponing the occurrence of events or failing to perform an event in the name of waiting for the perfect time. There are various reasons as to why people may opt to procrastinate, and some of these may include feeling lazy, fear of the unknown, not knowing what one want to do and not wanting to seek help.
Procrastination can also be caused by having a low self esteem that causes a feeling of cowardice to take action. From such, it becomes evident that it produces an effect towards one‘s work in form of academics, professionalism and sometimes personally (Reid, 2010). One of the given reasons that cause people to opt choosing to do things at a later time is mainly because they are of the thought that they have enough time to do everything.
It is crucial to note that there is basically nothing wrong with trying to relax and really taking your time to do nothing unless the person really has very important matters to attend to. Having the assumption that there is enough time left to engage in the important things does not mostly leave enough room for unforeseen interruptions and unplanned events that may arise along the way .
It is always paramount to finish first things first that can be done in the mean time rather than waiting for the last minute and encountering various problems along the way. Again, it is necessary to mention that doing things at the last minute takes too much effort compared to doing it at a personal pace since one has to cram a lot and rush everything at once (McWhorter, 2009).
Another major cause for procrastination is fear of failure. In fact, nearly all forms of procrastination have an aspect of fear that is deep rooted. Fear of failure is quite common to all of us. Most human beings generally believe that they are not designed to fail and instead they are meant to consistently progress in the positive and also improve on the shortfalls.
The fear of failure leads to procrastination as a way of keeping one from performing the actual event to avoid failing. If you don’t act upon an opportunity, then it is difficult to get an opportunity without challenges as it is difficult to determine which opportunity is free from challenges unless one tries to seize it.
It is generally accepted that we all possess a limited mental and emotional capacity mind which is not in the form of high and low I.Q. but there is limitation in just like in physical capacity as to what one can absorb at any given time, and one only knows what that limit is.
When an individual overwork or over engages himself physically, there is usually break down in one form or another of the body system. In some cases one may be saturated mentally and emotionally, in this case the mind may step in to intervene through procrastination to keep one from experiencing a ‘mental overload’ or saturation. In this kind of procrastination, individuals avoid important tasks which must eventually be done.
Perfectionism is another form of mindset that may lead to procrastination. The belief that every task assigned must be performed perfectly is a recipe for stress. Generally one’s mind associate that stress with the task at hand and thus condition ones to avoid it. A stressed mind by a given condition will always shy away from performing a challenge.
Conclusion
In conclusion some of these measures stated are challenging to put into practice, but they are suitable and effective because the problem of procrastination is not going to go away on its own. One must take the initiative. Procrastination yields tremendous personal growth and to overcome it, one become determined and focused. One must keep on trying no matter the outcome of the results as this eventually leads to better performance of a given task.
References
McWhorter, K. (2009). Successful College Writing: Skills, Strategies, Learning Styles. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Reid, S. (2010). The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers. London: Longman.
In this article, the researcher was interested in investigating the differences in procrastination and the motivation between undergraduate and graduate students. It was noted that factors such as age, laziness, fear of failure, indecisiveness, and personal commitment among others contributed to procrastination.
Summary of the Report
Procrastination is an undesirable practice that students are often discouraged from, but, unfortunately, the practice is becoming increasingly common among learners (Choi & Moran, 2009). In this article, the author was interested in investigating the prevalence of procrastination among undergraduate and postgraduate learners and the impact associated with this practice. The investigation revealed that procrastination is becoming a major problem for both undergraduate and graduate students. A number of factors such as fear of failure, stress, laziness, and love for fun were some of the factors that were identified to be contributing to procrastination among learners (Collins, Onwuegbuzie, & Jiao, 2008).
It was also observed that age is a factor when it comes to postponement of the assignments. The problem of procrastination was more common among the graduate students than among the undergraduate learners (Collins & Veal, 2004). This was partly attributed to the fact that most of the graduate students have several issues to address besides their academic work. Some of them are employed others have families or other commitments that demand their attention. They find it difficult to balance their private life with academic life, making them more prone to procrastination (Chu & Choi, 2005). The author strongly suggests that learners at all levels should know how to balance their private and academic lives to avoid cases of procrastinating.
Purpose of the Study
In this article, the researcher aimed to investigate the differences in procrastination and motivation between undergraduate and graduate students. The author also wanted to know how procrastination affects the academic performance of the learners and to propose ways in which this problem of procrastination can be addressed.
Research Questions
In this study, the researcher used specific questions to guide in collecting the needed data from the respondents. The following are the specific research questions that were used in this study (Cao, 2012).
How procrastination types were associated with motivation for undergraduate and graduate students?
Which motivational factors predicted different types of procrastination for undergraduate and graduate students?
What were the differences in motivation among the different types of procrastinators between undergraduate and graduate students?
Participants of the Study
In this research project, sixty-six undergraduate and sixty-eight graduate students were engaged in the collection of data. Most of the participants were taken from the educational psychology class. Out of the 66 undergraduate participants, 54 (82%) of them were female while only 12 were male. 80% of the participants were White, 15% were African American, and 5% were classified as other. Of the 68 graduate participants, 57 (84%) were female while only 11 were male.
Measure Instruments
The researcher used a self-developed questionnaire to collect data from the sampled participants in this study. To capture the metacognitive beliefs of the participants, the researcher used a Likert scale that ranged from 1 (not true at all) to 7 (very true). This made it possible to determine the degree with which the participants agreed with or rejected the statements.
Analysis of Data
The researcher analyzed the collected data to respond to the set questions for the study. Analysis involved the use of statistical tools in order to provide an empirical report based on facts and figures.
Appropriateness of the descriptive statistical procedure
The analysis involved a series of statistical procedures to help come up with an outcome that effectively responded to the research questions. Correlation analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between procrastination and factors such as age, laziness, and other commitments. The researcher used a hierarchical regression analysis (three-step analysis) when addressing the second question of the study (Cao, 2012).
A two-step process was used in addressing the third question. Analysis of covariate (ANCOVA) helped in examining differences in the variables related to procrastination, while Bonferroni procedures were used in examining different groups of the participants (Howell & Buro, 2009). These descriptive statistical procedures were very appropriate and comprehensive in analyzing the data. The multi-faceted approach in the analysis ensured that the conclusion and recommendations made were based on detailed facts collected from primary sources and critically analyzed.
The data results
The analysis revealed that there is a close relationship between procrastination and motivation among both undergraduate and postgraduate learners. Some participants believed that procrastination allowed them time to think through their assignments and come up with a better report at a later date after digesting the question and requirements of the assignment. Others believed that through procrastination, they get to have a look at the works of their peers, hence enabling them to come up with superior papers that would earn them better grades. Age was a major contributing factor to procrastination among undergraduate students, with the younger students postponing their work more often than their older counterparts.
The result also showed that there is a correlation between procrastination and performance of the students both at undergraduate and graduate levels. It was noted that learners who tend to procrastinate more often had a lower performance than those who made efforts to address their assignments in time. It was noted that when a learner postpones his assignment, he or she ends up being pressured, hence giving substandard work as they race against time.
Appropriateness of the tables in illustrating the results
The researcher has used tables to illustrate the results from the analysis. The tables are so appropriate in illustrating these findings. For example, table 1 shows the correlation among variables associated with procrastination. Table 2 summarizes the outcome of the hierarchical regression analysis. Including the table in the body of the paper is also appropriate because it ensures that the flow of the report is not interrupted by instructions that require one to go to the appendix before continuing with the report.
Conclusions
After analysis of the data, the researcher came up with a detailed discussion of the report before making conclusions. In conclusion, the report identifies types of procrastination, motivations behind the vice of procrastination among undergraduate and graduate students, and what can be done to address the issue. The conclusion is relatively lengthy but very detailed.
Recommendations
The report has identified some recommendations that should be observed by both undergraduate and graduate learners to avoid the problem of procrastination. It has also identified areas that should be looked at by future researchers who will be interested in furthering knowledge in this field.
Possible Changes that Can Strengthen the Study
The researcher conducted a very comprehensive research about differences in procrastination and motivation between undergraduate and graduate students. Given the opportunity, I would change the sample collected to ensure that there is a balance between male and female respondents. I would also change the structure of the report to ensure that there is a smooth flow from introduction, review of literature, methodology, analysis, and discussion, conclusion, and recommendations.
References
Cao, L. (2012). Differences in procrastination and motivation between undergraduate and graduate students. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 12(2), 39-64. Web.
Choi, J. N., & Moran, S. V. (2009). Why not procrastinate? Development and validation of a new active procrastination scale. The Journal of Social Psychology, 149(2), 195-211. Web.
Chu, A. C., & Choi, J. N. (2005). Rethinking procrastination: Positive effects of active procrastination behavior on attitude and performance. The Journal of Social Psychology, 145(3), 245-264. Web.
Collins, K., Onwuegbuzie, A., & Jiao, G. (2008). Reading ability as a predictor of academic procrastination among African American graduate students. Reading Psychology, 29(6), 493- 507. Web.
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The compiling of this essay is comprised of defining procrastination as a tendency to postpone doing something or avoiding it completely. Then from here, the essay identifies all the factors that facilitate procrastination. These factors include over expectation from parents, perfectionism, fear of failure, and critics. After mentioning these factors a literature review, which explains in detail, the relationship between these factors and procrastination follows. The evidence provided to write the literature review was gotten from thorough research as indicated in the referencing. The literature review enabled to provide the necessary information for composing the methods of the research, analyzing the results provided by Tables 1 and 2, and hence concluding the discussion.
Introduction
Procrastination is the affinity to postpone or avoid one’s responsibilities completely. Other scholars such as Lay (1986) terms procrastination as the act of shunning away that that, is vital to be done for one to achieve a specific objective. This behavior according to Solomon and Rothblum (1984) can lead to a feeling of subjective discomfort when prolonged for a long period. Various factors are associated with procrastination.
According to Burka (1982), some people who suffer from severe procrastination tend to blame their challenges on personal flaws such as being lazy, undisciplined, or not being aware of how to manage their time. Those that do procrastinate more often are believed to attribute to dilatory acts for various reasons. These reasons include the protection of their self-esteem through self-handicapping.
This is a show of autonomy, the evading of the aversive task, avoidance of a state of anxiety, a response to their fear of failure or they are said to suffer from perfectionism and usually are believed to lack self-regulation and self-management. It is suggested that dysfunctional procrastination is related to fragile self-esteem, interpersonal dependency, and suffering of self-defeating behaviors.
Procrastination can be categorized into two groups. These are behavior and decisional. Behavioral procrastination occurs when individuals that procrastinate delay doing something for fear of vulnerable self-esteem. On the other hand, individuals that go through decisional procrastination tend to delay making certain decisions for fear of a conflict that may be a subject of their decisions. Behavioral procrastination is the one that will concentrate on since it is the one that will guide this discussion.
This is as a result of its direct relation to academic performances. According to Ferrari procrastination adults resulted from their parents who overemphasized overachievements. This emphasis on the achievement of children by their parents links that achievement with parental love and approval, high fear of failure. Therefore such people, when they grow up, tend to associate self-worth with high achievement and because of this, they develop a high fear for failure since to them failure signifies they are not worthy.
A feeling of fear due to failure or anything that promotes fear of failure can be viewed as an antecedent of procrastination. Therefore self-worth protection was explored as a cause of performance-related procrastination and hence determined as a significant predictor. Other factors to consider when discussing the procrastination predictors in college students include Ferrari’s look of procrastination as a self-defeating behavior pattern.
According to him, there are three criteria for a self-defeating personality. They include failing to accomplish tasks crucial to individual personal objectives despite an ability to meet that objective. The next one is choosing people or situations that lead to disappointment, failure, or mistreatment even after when better results are possible. The last one is feeling guilty after a personal positive event and lack of interest in people that treat you well.
Literature Review
Research to guide this discussion was conducted as shown from the referencing page. The information gathered from those references helped to provide the facts needed to support this discussion. According to Adkins S and Parker W (1996). They believe that perfectionism is strongly related to depression; this research tried to link perfection to suicidal preoccupation. This was accomplished by administering 129 undergraduate students, the Alabama Adolescent Health Survey, and parts of the Thematic Appreciation Test, to measure suicidal preoccupation and multidimensional perfectionist scale to assess perfectionist tendencies.
From the results, it was established that it is only the passive perfectionist i.e. those whose fear is their drive that procrastinates and is at a high risk of suicidal preoccupation. The active perfectionist whose achievements are driven by the fear of perfection is not likely to be the victim of suicidal preoccupation. Perfectionism is also believed to prompt depression and suicidal occupation rather than be a symptom of depression. This information was very important as it provided me with a better understanding of the variables that I was searching for. From this information, I discovered that I needed any negative that I could associate with a perfectionist.
This study was vital as it helped to link the negative results with perfectionism and goal adoption and negative outcome. Other Scholars such as Ferrari (1992) believed that procrastination behavior might be a form of a perfectionist. The behavior variables that Ferrari focused on are self-presentation, self-awareness, and self-handicapping. He noted that procrastinators and mostly those that scored high on perfectionism were established to possess more self-awareness and handicapping, Procrastinators, especially those who scored high on perfectionism, were found to have more self-awareness, self-presentation, and self-handicapping than nonprocrastinators. The most significant results suggest that compulsive procrastinators may be motivated by socially prescribed perfectionism.
The design and results of this study seem very complex. Thankfully I was able to understand what was meant by it all. This study strengthens my understanding of how extrinsic goals fuel socially prescribed perfectionism, which is strongly related to procrastinating behavior. Most variables and characteristics that describe the procrastinating perfectionist can also be seen in academic underachievement. According to Frost R. Marten, P., Lahart, C., and Rosenblate, R. (1990), the five major hypotheses of dimensions of perfectionism include
Setting very high standards.
High Parental expectations.
Over concern about making mistakes.
Criticism.
Tendency to doubt one’s work/action and organization.
After determining the various dimension associated with perfectionism research was also necessary to identify how the separate dimensions of perfectionism each relate to the variable used above. This study as a whole has only begun to explore perfectionism’s relationship with procrastination. However, it is already evident here that extrinsic and intrinsic or socially-oriented and self-oriented perfectionism has many different relationships with procrastination and achievement.
According to Mandel H. and Sander. (1988) The Academic Problem of underachievement is characterized by how these learners seem to “coast, cruise and float” through life. It is believed that “if only they would try harder” they would have academic success. It simply seems that there is an unexplainable gap between intentions and actions. An interesting theory that the authors present suggests that these are not unmotivated people, but people that are highly motivated to sabotage any chance of true success. It’s believed that success carries with it the unbearable baggage called expectations. It is, in the end, a form of fear of success that is at the root of the problem for the Academic Problem Underachiever.
Then there is the Identity Disorder of Underachiever, who is essentially characterized by a consuming self-observation and introspection aimed at answering questions such as, “Who am I?” and/or “Where am I heading?”. These internal processes leave few mental resources for school; especially subjects that are considered being meaningless. This type of problem usually resolves itself by the time the person reaches their mid-20.
Procrastination is, at times, a serious problem. Internal consequences of procrastination behavior may include irritation, regret, despair, and self-blame (Burka and Yuen 1983). External consequences can include impaired work and academic progress, strained relationships, and lost opportunities (Burka Yuen 1983, Carr 2001). Despite these negative effects and a growing Request for help by procrastinators in both academic and business environments (Burka & Yuen 1983), procrastination remains a relatively poorly understood phenomenon (Haycock et al. 1998). Researchers who have studied academic procrastination estimate that as many as 95% of American college students purposefully delay beginning or completing tasks and that as many as 70% of college students engage in frequent procrastination (Ellis & Knaus 1977).
There is growing evidence that procrastination results in detrimental academic performance, including poor grades and course withdrawal (Semb et al. 1979). Doctoral student procrastination may fail to finish dissertations (Haycock et al. 1998). Gallagher, Golin, and Kelleher (1992) found that 52% of surveyed students indicated having a moderate to high need for help concerning procrastination, making it the most frequently cited personal concern for which they needed help.
The exploratory research project discussed in this paper is oriented toward providing a better understanding of the concept of procrastination and of the effects of explanatory style on academic procrastination behavior among undergraduate business students a cognitive personality variable that was introduced in the reformulation of learned helplessness and depression model, where it accounts for the variability in people’s responses to no contingent negative events (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale 1978).
The explanatory style was previously termed attribution style and refers to the characteristic ways people explain the causes of bad events involving themselves along three dimensions of causality: locus, stability, and globality (Peterson & Seligman 1984). People who characteristically explain negative events with internal (“This is due to something about me”) versus external (“This is due to other people or circumstances”), stable (“Things will never change”) versus unstable (“Next time, maybe things will be different”), and global (“This happens to me in many different circumstances”) versus specific (“This happens to me only under certain circumstances”) causes are said to have a pessimistic explanatory style that puts them at risk for depression when bad events occur (Peterson & Seligman 1984).
Researchers have begun to examine explanatory style in its own right as a basic individual difference, extending it to questions and topics not explicitly part of the original helplessness model or its revisions (Peterson & Park 1998; Seligman & Schulman, 1986). Researchers have correlated explanatory style with a variety of outcomes, including chronic gambling and binge eating (Peterson 1991b). Peterson and Park (1998) state that the conclusion
Suggested by these studies is that explanatory style “is a basic individual difference tapping something very important about people” (Peterson & Park 1998, p. 296). To better understand procrastination, researchers have sought to identify cognitive personality factors associated with it (for a review, see Ferrari, Parker & Ware 1992). The study reported here attempts to extend previous research by exploring the application of explanatory style to academic procrastination. We examined the relationship between students’ explanatory style scores (as measured by the Academic Attribution Style Questionnaire) and their procrastination scores (as measured by the Academic Procrastination Questionnaire). Outcomes from such research may serve in the development of remedial strategies to counsel the student
Population. In accord with presumed effects on motivation and morale, we expected that students with pessimistic attribution styles would procrastinate more relative to students with optimistic attribution styles (those who minimize negative outcomes by shifting blame onto external factors.
Method
Eighty students (43 males; 37 females) aged 19-24 who were enrolled in Consumer Behavior during the fall 2003 semester at a large state-supported universality in the southeast completed the Academic Attribution Style Questionnaire (AASQ) (Peterson and Barrett 1987). The AASQ measures individual differences in the use of locus, stability, and globality, dimensions of causality. The questionnaire presents subjects with 12 hypothetical bad academic events involving themselves, such as not having high enough grades to switch to a desired major or not getting all the reading done that an instructor assigns. In each case, subjects are asked to imagine the event happening to them.
They then write down the major event’s cause and rate it on 7-point scales in terms of internality (7) versus externality (1), stability (7) versus instability (1), and globality (7) versus specificity (1). Summing the appropriate creates composite scores for the three dimensions of locus, stability, and globality and a composite explanatory style items and dividing the sum by the number of items in the composite. Coefficient alpha for the composite explanatory style scale was.54 for the current sample indicating internal consistency was quite modest.
Questions are still being raised about both the meaning and measurement of explanatory style (Peterson 1991a, 1991b). Although perceptions of control occupied a central role in the development of learned helplessness theory, when the attribution style was introduced learned helplessness theory was modified so that it no longer referred to uncontrollable events but instead to bad events (Sellers & Peterson1993). Some researchers argue that perceived controllability of a bad life event is important in understanding how explanatory style influences reactions to it (Sellers & Peterson 1993; Weiner 1991).
The current research addresses controllability because several studies suggest that it may be advantageous for a person to view controllable negative events as internally, stably, and globally caused (Brown and Siegel 1988, Sellers and Peterson 1993). Importance ratings were also included here in light of the possibility that the proposed relationship of explanatory style and procrastination would occur more strongly for important events than for unimportant events. The Academic
The procrastination Questionnaire (APQ) (Day, Mensink, & O’Sullivan 2000) was used to measure procrastination. The questionnaire is about procrastination on academic work: four types of academic tasks (regularly assigned readings, studying for quizzes/tests/exams, writing papers, and other assignments) and academic work in general. For each item, respondents are asked to rate the degree to which they procrastinate on a five-point scale from” not at all” (1) to “very much” (5).
Summing across the five items and dividing five forms a composite score. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the measure was.81 for the current sample indicating good internal consistency reliability. Although many students indicate needing help for overcoming procrastination (Gallagher et al.992), and there are case descriptions of students whose performance has been hurt by procrastination (Burka & Yuen 1983), correlation analyses of the overall relationship of procrastination and academic performance have indicated typically either only very weak negative links (Rothblum, Solomon, & Murakami 1986) or no association (Lay 1986, Solomon & Rothblum 1984). To examine the impact of self-reported procrastination on students’
overall academic performance, current grade point ratios (GPR) were obtained from official university sources. Grade points were cumulative through the previous semester. Total course points accumulated in Consumer Behavior also served as a performance measure. Points were obtained in the course using standardized, machine-graded examinations.
Results
Table 1 presents bivariate correlation coefficients for the four study variables of Course Points, GPR, Gender (coded female = 0: male = 1), and Composite Procrastination. Composite Procrastination scores were not found to be statistically related to either of the performance measures or student gender. A significant and positive relationship was detected between
Course Points and GPR. This indicates that students who had higher grade points also earned more points in the course. Significant and negative relationships were found between Gender and Course Points and Gender and GPR. This indicates that females in our sample outperformed males in college overall and Consumer Behavior. The tentative assumptions of our study were tested by correlating attribution measures with Composite Procrastination (see Table 2).
Correlations of attribution measures with Course Points, GPR, and Gender are also shown in Table 2. Only one of the three explanatory styles dimension variables, Locus, was found to be statistically linked to the Composite Procrastination. This positive correlation means that students whose scores represented an internal explanatory style were more likely to procrastinate than students with an external explanatory style. The positive correlation between Locus and Gender indicates that males were more likely than females to have scores representing an internal explanatory style. Zero-order correlation
Coefficients of most interest here are the statistically significant and negative correlation between Importance and Composite Procrastination and the statistically significant positive correlation between Controllability and Composite Procrastination. This indicates that students who tended to rate negative academic outcomes as important and see them as uncontrollable tended to procrastinate less than students who tended to rate these events as unimportant and uncontrollable.
Correlation of composite procrastination with descriptor variable
2
2
3
4
1.Corse point
–
0.52a
-0.37a
0.5
2.GPR
–
–
0.37a
-0.01
3.Gender
–
–
–
0.17
4.Composite
–
–
–
–
Table 1.
Correlation of attribution scores with composite procrastination, performance measures and Gender.
Composite procrastination
Course Points
GPR
Grade
Locus
0.28b
0.02
-0.17
0.25c
Stability
-0.03
0.06
-0.02
0.15
Globality
0.02
0.04
-0.05
0.07
Composite
0.13
0.06
-0.1
0.21d
Importance
-O.42a
0.23c
0.16
0.28b
Controllability
0.37a
-0.03
-0.12
0.25c
Table2.
Analysis and Conclusion
According to Van Eerde (2003) writes that “procrastination is not necessarily dysfunctional” (p. 421) arguing that the outcome of procrastination may only lead to time pressure and that for easy, boring, or routine tasks, time pressure may simply create a challenge and may lead to finishing a task faster. There are other positive consequences of procrastination. Procrastination has been shown to function as a temporary relief from stress and as a strategic effort to better a bad mood temporarily (Tice, Bratslavsky, and Banmeister 2001). We all procrastinate sometimes, and for different reasons. The findings of the present study suggest that procrastination among Generation Y business majors may not impede their academic performance.
The limitations of our study’s design and measurements do not allow us to generalize this finding to procrastination among members of this generation and their ability to achieve at work. Our findings do suggest research extensions that can be tested empirically. Contrary to expectations, a pessimistic cognitive style that includes internal, stable, and global attributions for bad outcomes was not found in this study to play a role in procrastination.
However, upper-level business students in our sample who tend to blame themselves for bad academic outcomes reported higher levels of procrastination than those with tendencies to shift the blame for bad events in their lives to other people or circumstances. Virtually all-theoretical writing of learned helplessness state or imply that perceptions of future controllability are crucial determinants of learned helplessness and depression effects.
College students in our sample tending to perceive stressors in their lives as controllable reported higher levels of procrastination than their colleagues inclined to view them as uncontrollable. Results of correlation analysis showed that the controllability of bad events was a significant and positive predictor of procrastination. Students in the sample that viewed negative academic events as unimportant reported higher levels of procrastination than those viewing them as important.
Correlation results showed that the importance of negative events was a significant and inverse predictor of procrastination. In the past, most of us have been told that procrastination is a bad habit. According to Chase (2003), a management skills consultant, this assumption has always been based on the idea that people who put things off are lazy and unfocused, and assumes, mistakenly, that there is enough time in our world today to complete everything that needs to be completed. Chase goes on to say that this is not practical and that the assumption that procrastination is a bad habit is out-of-date and irrelevant in today’s world.
He notes that there is a difference between putting off doing something because one does not want to do it, and putting off doing something because it is not important right now, the latter he says “is a highly desirable time management skill” in today’s business climate.
References
Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P., & Teasdale, J. (1978) Learned helplessness in humans: critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 49-74.
Brown, J. D., & Siegel, J. M. (1988) Attributions for negative life events and depression: the role of perceived control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(2), 316-322.
Burka, J., & Yuen. L. (1982) Mind games procrastinators play. Psychology Today, 32-34.
Addison-Wesley. Carr, N. G. (2001) Curbing the procrastination instinct. Harvard Business Review, 79, 26.
Chase, L. (2003) Procrastination: the new master skill of time management. Agency Sales Magazine, 33, 60-62.
Day, V., Mensink, D. & O’Sullivan, M. (2000) Patterns of academic procrastination. Journal of College Reading and Learning, 30, 120.
Ferrari, J. R., Parker, J. T., & Ware, C. B. (1992) Academic procrastination: personality correlates with Myers-Briggs types, self-efficacy, and academic locus of control, Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 7, 495-502.
Gallagher, R. P., Golin, A. & Kelleher, K. (1992) The personal, career and learning skills needs of college students. Journal of College Student Development, 33, 301-309. Page 7.
Peterson, C. (1991a) Further thoughts on explanatory style. Psychological Inquiry, 2, 50-57.
Peterson, C. (1991b) The meaning and measurement of explanatory style. Psychological Inquiry, 8.
Peterson, C., & Barrett, L. C. (1987) Explanatory style and academic performance among university freshman. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 603-607.
Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1984) Causal explanations as a risk factor for depression: theory and evidence. Psychological Review, 91, 347-374.
Rothblum, E. D., Solomon, L. J., & Murakami, J. (1986) Affective, cognitive, and behavioral differences between high and low procrastinators. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 33, 387-394.
Solomon, l. J., & Rothblum, E. D. (1984) Academic procrastination: frequency and cognitive-behavioral correlates. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 31, 503-509.
Why do students often feel frustration after their final tests? Why are they dissatisfied by their achievements and results? The problem can depend not only on the level of the students’ knowledge but also on the degree of the tension and anxiety which are associated with the preparation and review of the material during the last days before the final examination.
In spite of the fact students can orient in the material well, the stressful situation can influence their test results. If there are no weekly or monthly tests during the whole course, students do not have the opportunity to improve their study skills, and the final examination can become the real challenge for them.
In his essay “More Testing, More Learning”, Patrick O’Malley discusses all these controversial questions and provides the solution to the problem which is based on implementing more frequent tests during the course in order to control the students’ progress in studying, stimulate their motivation, and improve their study skills.
The additional examinations, frequents tests, and quizzes during the course can be discussed as the effective organizational means to improve the students’ performance and the level of knowledge with accentuating the regular work and reducing the possible procrastination and anxiety connected with the final tests.
The examinations which influence the final mark of the students for their performance during the definite courses are the main reasons of the students’ worrying at the end of the academic terms. Moreover, the stressful situation of the examination and the inadequate tension during the preparation period often influence the students’ achievements negatively.
In addition to that, many students prefer to procrastinate and not to study regularly and efficiently during the course. O’Malley states that “if professors gave additional brief exams at frequent intervals, students would learn more, study more regularly, worry less, and perform better on midterms, finals, and other papers and projects” (O’Malley 488).
In spite of the fact I am not inclined to procrastinate, it is rather difficult for me to recollect all the necessary information during the last days before the examination because of the stressful situation, and the courses with many additional tests are more useful for me.
Thus, brief examinations, additional tests, and quizzes provided by professors weekly or monthly can be considered as the good stimulating factors for the students’ effective performance and activity. These short examinations can be used for developing students’ study habits and skills and for organizing the students’ academic activity.
The necessity of the regular tests during the course depends on the basic principles of studying as the regular and continuous process. Thus, to achieve the best results in study, it is necessary not only to develop the learning skills and examine a lot of information but also to control the progress in learning regularly with the help of the definite tests and short examinations.
From this point, final tests are not effective in organizing and controlling the students’ performance during whole course. O’Malley indicates the fact that final examinations and tests “don’t encourage frequent study, and they fail to inspire students’ best performance” (O’Malley 488).
I agree with the point because the necessity of writing tests during the course helps me organize learning the material regularly because I can set definite small goals and achieve them while completing the tests effectively. To contribute to the students’ good performance, it is important to develop the system of lectures and discussions as well as tests for controlling the students’ short-term achievements in studying and understanding the material.
Students study certain subjects and follow definite courses in order to develop their vision of this or that field, to expand their knowledge, and to improve their skills. However, to be successful in learning the definite material, students should also know how to learn it efficiently. In this case, it is important to work out the system in relation to which students could develop their learning skills.
The control of the material’s understanding is the necessary part of this system. According to O’Malley, “frequent exams are key to developing good habits of study and learning” (O’Malley 489). Analyzing my academic performance, I can state that motivation is the significant factor for me, and it helps concentrate on the task. Students are able to present the best results in their academic performance when they are highly motivated.
The absence of the regular control can contribute to the development of the procrastination habits and to reducing the degree of the students’ involvement in the process of studying. Moreover, the risk of the anxiety during the preparation for the examination is directly connected with the students’ habits to cope with the regular tests during the course.
Students’ high academic performance and the good results in the final tests and examinations depend on many factors. Patrick O’Malley presents the arguments that the tradition of using significant examinations after the whole course without concentrating on the short examinations, brief tests and quizzes during the course can be discussed as ineffective and reducing the students’ learning habits and skills.
In spite of the fact many professors can consider such practice as time-consuming, it is one of the most effective methods to control the students’ achievements and their studying process in order to avoid procrastination and anxiety.
The students’ learning process is effective not when they prepare only for the final examination at the end of the course because of the absence of certain tests, but when they have to organize the material, use their knowledge, and write tests regularly. That is why frequent tests are more useful for stimulating the students’ motivation and good results.
Work Cited
O’Malley, Patrick. “More Testing, More Learning”. Reading Critically, Writing Well: A Reader and Guide. Ed. Rise B. Axelrod, Charles R. Cooper, and Alison M. Warriner. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. 488-492. Print.
Procrastination is the habit of postponing doing things that needs to be done. It can also be defined as the act of avoiding doing certain things that ought to be done. This is a problem affecting most of my classmates especially when it comes to assignments.
I have observed that most students tend to avoid doing assignments until the last minute and some are not even able to meet the deadline. It is normal to procrastinate (and most people do it) but excessive procrastination often leads to problems. People are left with guilt feelings when they are not able to accomplish a task at the right time.
This is not a problem that is only affecting learning institutions; it also affects employees in the work place. It is like an addiction and once you develop it, it becomes very hard to leave. In this paper I will address the problem of excessive procrastination, look at the reasons why students procrastinate and give recommendations. In doing this, I will use books and the internet to gather information about the problem that will help me in making recommendations on solving the problem.
I have reviewed different perspectives from different scholars and found that, excessive procrastination causes anxiety because the tasks being avoided must be done. It also results in poor performance because the assignments are done in a hurry when the student does not have ample time to research on the topic. If this problem is not addressed, it can interfere with individual’s school performance as well as their personal success.
Burka & Lenora (1983) observed that, one reason why students procrastinate is perfectionism. This is a situation where a student feels that, his/her standard of performance for a particular task is too high that it seems impossible to accomplish it. Other students fear to fail and lack confidence in accomplishing some tasks. They lack self confidence and believe that, they cannot be able to complete a given task successfully.
I have seen some students who get confused either before starting a task or along the way. They are not sure of what is required and how to go about it. Some tasks are generally difficult for a given group of students and no matter how hard a student works to complete it, he lack the skills needed.
Majority of the students in my class lack motivation in various subjects because they consider them too boring or difficult. This makes them lack interest in accomplishing a task in the respective field. Other reasons are poor concentration, unpleasantness, and lack of priorities.
One way to help such students is to involve them in cooperative learning. According to Orlich (a credited author in New York), et al (2009), Cooperative learning is a teaching approach where students study in groups or small teams made up of students with different levels of propensity.
They use different learning activities in order to proceed with their understanding of a precise subject. Each member is responsible for helping team members to learn as he/she learns from the others. Team members normally work on specific assignment until they are satisfied that all members are acquainted with it and are able to complete it.
The aim of cooperative learning is to help students gain from others; it helps students to realize that they share a common interest with others. From research, it is clear that, cooperative learning not only boosts student retention in schools; it also supports their academic achievement. It helps students to get better on their oral communication, promotes their self-esteem, and social skills (Vorse 2010). I will encourage my classmates to form cooperative learning teams so that we are all able to accomplish our tasks.
Excessive procrastination can be controlled through self motivation where a student understands that, there is no one who is perfect and time wasted is never recovered. Tasks should be prioritized in order of urgency and importance and once a task is started, it is always good for one to commit him/her self in its completion (Burka 1983).
Rewards are some of the ways that can boost self confidence and motivation. Once a task have been completed successfully, one should reward her/him self for the success. We all have different learning habits; some are able to perform well at the wee hours in the morning while others prefer to work late at night.
To avoid procrastination, an individual should work on tasks at the most convenient time. If the task is big, it should be broken down into small tasks that are easy to manage and to complete. Instead of failing to complete a task because it seems hard, it is advisable to seek guidance from the teachers or other classmates.
Every student should have a working schedule, set standards, and should work in areas that have little or no interference. The most important thing is to be proactive and to think positively. Once a person has started working on a task, he realizes that it becomes interesting and easy than he initially thought. This gives him the motivation to complete the task and feels satisfied once it is accomplished.
Reference List
Burka, J. B. & Lenora, M. Y (1983). Procrastination: Why you do it, what to do about it. London: Wesley Publication Co.
Orlich, D. C., et al (2009). Teaching Strategies: A Guide to Effective Instruction. New York: Cengage Learning.
Procrastination refers to deliberately postponing the implementation of the planned actions, even though this will entail specific problems. Academic procrastination is a common problem that results in a delay in finishing schoolwork and is linked to poor organizational skills, forgetfulness, and general rigidity of behaviour. However, procrastination is not related to the fear of failure since postponing tasks is simply a natural manifestation of a person’s desire to experience short-term pleasures.
Procrastination is a result of personal character traits and psychological conditions. Inability to control one’s emotions and lack of drive might make someone more vulnerable to getting sidetracked by opposing action impulses, risking the effective completion of the intended action (Fathima et al. 2568). The authors of the study prove that the primary source of procrastination with some indicators of the big five personality traits. This study demonstrated that while procrastination and fear of failure are founded on distinct personality qualities, there is no correlation between the two (Fathima et al. 2570). Hence, people must build on traits like emotional stability and conscientiousness to overcome procrastination.
It is frequently argued that procrastinators are inherently certain types of people, making them impossible to change. However, the speaker stated that while procrastination is ingrained in everyone, only one person can be self-disciplined enough to make rational decisions, while others are predisposed to amusement (Urban 12:48). Procrastination frequently has an impact not only on tasks at work or school but also in daily life, which causes people to suffer. According to the author, delaying the completion of those tasks that do not have a deadline, but that people set for themselves to live better is the worst thing they can do (Urban 11:13). People should remember that their time is limited and not postpone personal tasks.
In conclusion, procrastination is a widespread phenomenon typical of college students. It is not the fear of failure that keeps people from taking on assignments, but their personality traits and desire to have fun instead of putting in the effort. Postponing tasks at work or school leads to the fact that this is set as the norm for people, and, as a result, they become unable to achieve even their own goals.
Works Cited
Fathima, Shabiha, et al. “Procrastination, Fear of Failure and Personality of College Students.” International Journal of Research Publication and Reviews, vol. 03, no. 12, 2022, pp. 2567–2570.