What is our problem?

By
By nature, people are very cautious beings. We have a wide variety of preventative medicine, we practice behaviors we should exhibit in case of an emergency, have emergency supplies hidden away, hoard back-ups, and back-ups for our back-ups; basically we like being secure. But crazy enough, many students, and occasionally even tutors, push themselves to dangerous anxiety and stress levels when it comes to writing on a deadline. We will wait until the last moment to write extensive research papers, reports, and all kinds of writing. But, being a species that would much rather do things “cautiously and safely”, the act of procrastination is a phenomena that I would like to decipher.


I would like to know why. Why do we not always simply start earlier? We have to start sometime. Why do we not collect research earlier? Why do we wait until a feeling of panic encompasses us to actually get things done? I realize that not everyone procrastinates, but placed in the university setting that I am in, I can confidently say a majority of students do. We put ourselves in these modes of insanity, because earlier we chose to not get a simple assignment done, and most of the time for unjustifiable reasons. I know it may be a wide question, but when compared to other subjects, writing seems to be put off the most. Do we not know where to start? Do we have a problem with university writing assignments? Why is writing commonly procrastinated upon, when it would be extremely easier to simply start earlier?

Comments

  1. Unknown10:58 AM

    I like your piece. I think that it's a subject that sometimes people don't want to comment on because it's something everyone does and don't like to admit. I am very curious to see what your finding on this subject will be. It is very thought provoking.

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  2. Unknown9:01 AM

    It is such a common thing for writers of all levels to do. Thinking about the questions you ask, I wonder myself why I take a while to start what I have to do. I can say that from recent experience this semester, I have lost track of time and thought the assignments would be and easy do and done. Why we do this is still a questions each person has an answer for.

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  3. Unknown7:39 PM

    Stephanie,
    I think the main problem with procrastination is the lack of motivation. I think most students feel obligated to ellaborate writing assignments on topics they are not interested in or familiarized with. Since they dont know where to start, they just keep postponing it. I think the real question here is, how can we get students to get into the assignment? We need to help them want to write.

    ReplyDelete

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