Muruganantham 1

Kaaviya Muruganantham

Professor Adrienne Cassel

ENG 1201 Online

12 July 2019

Works Cited

Chen, Ching-Huei, et al. “The Effects of Peer Competition-Based Science Learning Game on

Secondary Students’ Performance, Achievement Goals, and Perceived Ability.”

Interactive Learning Environments​, vol. 26, no. 2, Jan. 2018, Sinclair Library, pp.

235–244.

This source was written by Ching-Heui Chen, Dr. Victor Law, and Wei-Yu Chen in

Taiwan, published the year of 2018. The main point of this article was to discuss the experiment

that was held to learn about how competition can affect performance in kids. The overall result

of the experiment held was that the kids that experienced competition outperformed the kids that

didn’t experience competition(the control group). The experimental groups also showed more

signs of intrinsic motivation.

The purpose of the authors in crafting this experiment was to discover what motivated

students. The experiment was written and conducted for anyone that education affects. This

could give schools around the world an idea of how to improve learning in students as well as

scores. This test was conducted in Taiwan and Asian countries are known for their competition

and rigorous school life.

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This source is definitely reliable because the test was conducted and written by highly

educated individuals. Two of them are professors and one of them is a technology consultant.

There is more in depth information about their professions provided which checks out their

credibility for making such an article.

My research paper looks into how competition can affect academic performance of

students. This study does exactly that and it provides a very tangible answer. It is pretty clear in

this study that some competition is beneficial for students to learn better and perform better. I

will be able to further discuss the findings of this study to support my argument.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/figure/10.1080/10494820.2017.1300776?scroll=top&needAcce
ss=true

Chumacero, Romulo, et al. “Competition Pressures and Academic Performance in Chile.”

Estudios de Economía,​ no. 2, Nov. 2016, Sinclair Library, pp. 217-232.

This source was written and conducted by Romulo Chumacero, Juan Gallegos Mardones,

and Ricardo Paredes in Chile and published during the year of 2016. This source conveys that

competition is beneficial for academic performance. They tested the effects of competition in

various grades in private schools and public schools. Their results showed them that

competitiveness in both private and public schools were beneficial but were more beneficial for

4th and 5th graders than they were for 10th graders.

This piece is targeted towards schools so they know what works for students to improve

and strengthen their academic performance. The authors’ purpose for writing the article was so

schools could learn from the study and improve their school systems. The authors are all
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credible, one of them has a profession involving economics and the other 2 are professors. This

source is reliable because the study was held officially and at the end of their article, they

provided a variety of sources that helped them with their results and conclusion.

This article is relevant to my article because I was given an answer to how competition

can affect academic performance in kids. This study was held in another country, Chile, and the

results yielded were similar to those from a country from another part of the world. This provides

some strength to my argument and allows for further reinforcement of my research paper.

https://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-52862016000200003&lng=en
&tlng=en

Harris , Malcolm. “Competition Is Ruining Childhood. The Kids Should Fight Back.” ​New York

Times​, 6 Dec. 2017.

The author of this source is Malcolm Harris and he published this article on December

6th, 2017. This article from the New York Times, talks about how competition is bringing

negative long-term effects to teenagers. Harris says that while students are learning and

achieving more, they are not gaining anything from their hard work. This system is in favor of

corporations who want to pay less to train their employees and as a result, the kids who worked

very hard get little to no financial benefit from competing so hard.

The author’s purpose in this article was to both inform and persuade. He was reaching out

to mostly students, saying that we have the power to fix the system and take control of the

uncontrollable competition in schools nowadays. This article was written pretty recently, and we

are facing the brunt of academic competition right now. Harris wishes for the student body of
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America to take control of the situation and try to not work so hard all the time. He also touches

on the topic of mental health throughout this article.

This author’s work is found in a variety of websites. He has also written a book more in

depth about the young generation and their future regarding finances. In this specific article,

Harris gives links to the sources that helped him craft his piece. I believe he is a reliable source

to use in my paper and he gives a look into how a millennial feels about the upcoming situation.

This article relates to research paper because he talks about how the academic

performance improves among high-schoolers. But, he also provides some valuable information

about some other factors that might tell us that the increase in academic performance might not

be worth it. While I’m writing my research paper, I’m going to want to talk about the side effects

of the academic competition and not just if it helps students become smarter or better.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/opinion/students-competition-unions-bargaining.html

Heinrich, Andrea. ​THE Effects of Competition In The K-12 School Setting And Its Relationship

To Behavior Modification​. 2014.

This scholar project was written by Andrea Heinrich and published the year of 2014 in

Winona State University. The main point of her piece was that all students are different and

competition might motivate some of them while competition could hurt some of them

academically and mentally. She talks about how it is really in the hands of counselors and other

adults in the school to justly lead a student to achieve his or her potential. She also says that if

academic competition is used correctly it could help all students to be better in school.
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The writer’s purpose in writing this article is to show counselors in the field of education

what could help a student in their goals. She is trying to inform the readers on the variety of

different students and how they will all behave differently under the same stressor. She wrote this

as she worked towards her degree to become a counselor.

This writer is credible because this article was written while she was learning about the

education field and the behavior of students. She also listed all of the sources she used in her

project in a works cited page. She is reliable because she has a lot of knowledge about the topic

she wrote her piece on and she made sure we could fact check her work. This piece was written as

a requirement to get her Master of Science Degree in Counselor Education.

This piece will help my research paper because it delves into the versatility of students

and how one solution can’t be applied to the same problem of each student. While this gives me

an answer that competition can improve academic performance it also says that in some ways,

competition will worsen academic performance in some students. I could use this piece of

information to further delve into the effects of academic competition.

https://www.winona.edu/counseloreducation/Media/The_Effects_of_Competition_in_the_K-12_
School_Setting_-_Spring_2014_Capstone.pdf

Lunny, Megan. “Grade Wars: Academic Competition Has Turned High School Classrooms into

Boxing Rings.” Bucks County Courier Times, 18 May 2017,

www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/366330fc-34cb-11e7-8b75-8bbc4b841277.html​.

This article was written by Megan Lunny and published on May 18, 2017 on Bucks

County’s Courier Times. The main point of the article is that the culture of competition has
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gotten out of hand in schools. Lunny talks about how competition used to arise around the begin

around the start of junior year, but now she sees it among 7th graders. She says that trophies,

awards, and certificates have gotten to all the student’s heads and perpetuates the air of

competition and paranoia.

The writer’s purpose in this article is to inform the parents, teachers, and students about

the unmanageable level of competition in their schools. The newspaper this article was written is

a local newspaper where all the kids attend the same schools. This is less a wake-up call for

America and more for their own county. She asks them to take a step back and stop competing

with each other.

I find this author to be credible because she has attended the school that she talks about

and probably has a lot of experience of the climate that she talks about in her article. While I

might not be able to use this article for statistics in my research paper, I could use this article as a

local representation of schools in America.

This article is valuable to my paper because not only do I need to professional answers to

my research paper, I also need to know how the students of America feel about the competition

that is being used to propel their performance. This in depth article about this girl’s school will

be on of my background articles which helps me articulate the feelings of teenagers nowadays.

https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/366330fc-34cb-11e7-8b75-8bbc4b841277.html

Mazza, Nicholas. ​Competition: Motivating or Declination of Academic Success​. 5 Mar. 2018,

scholarworks.bgsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1484&context=honorsprojects.

This scholar project was written by Nicholas Mazza and published on March 5th, 2018
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Bowling Green University. The main point of this article was to decide if competition motivates

or declines academic success. What this piece decides is that, while competition might enhance

performance, the learning part of it is sacrificed. Mazza talk about how learning and performance

doesn’t go hand in hand and competition also makes students feel worse when they don’t achieve

their goals.

The purpose of this article was to inform the public about how competition could affect

children. This a very recent article and provides statistics about how students view their own

academic successes and how they feel about competition.

I believe this author is reliable because he credits all the sources he used throughout his

scholar project. He also seems to be educated in this area because he was able to publish his own

piece through the university he is studying at. His piece will be very useful in my own research

paper because while he gives me an answer to my research question, he also brings up the idea

that learning and performance aren’t always conjoined. I could explore this idea while explaining

my argument in my research paper.

https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1484&context=honorsprojects

Paul, Annie Murphy. “Can Tough Competition Hinder Academic Performance?” ​Time,​ Time, 22

Feb. 2013,

ideas.time.com/2013/02/22/can-tough-competition-hinder-academic-performance/.

This article was written by Annie Murphy Paul and published on the Time Magazine

website on February 22, 2013. The main point of this article was that competition is only

effective when it is a close race between students. The author says that competition can only
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improve performance if they are competing against students of similar caliber. If they aren’t,

they’re more likely to lose hope and perform worse.

The purpose of this article is to inform the audience about the detrimental effects of tough

competition. The audience is composed of teachers, counselors, and students. The author is

trying to push these adults to make a better environment for students so they can thrive rather

than be in the shadow of their “smarter” classmates.

This author is reliable because she uses many sources and provides a lot of evidence to

back up her claims in her article. She also did an experiment at Princeton University, which is a

college held in high esteem. She has written for Time Magazine, The New York Times, as well

as written her own book about learning and how to improve ourselves.

This article will help my research paper catch more insight on the way competition

affects high-schoolers as well as college students. This gives me a straightforward answer to my

question and allows me to explore why the author has come to such a conclusion. I can take

advantage of the plethora of data provided to strengthen my own argument.

http://ideas.time.com/2013/02/22/can-tough-competition-hinder-academic-performance/