Kayla OGrady

UWRT 1103

22 Sept. 2019

506

WID: I learned that an inquiry questions shouldn’t have a yes or no answer. Peer review was

very helpful because it helped me answer some questions I had about my inquiry question. When

exploring my inquiry question I had to do a lot of research.

Inquiry Proposal Final

My inquiry question is Why do students procrastinate? I have always been a

procrastinator. I am interested in why people do it and what strategies I can use to stop

procrastinating. Procrastination has great impacts both positive and negative, so I am curious

about reading and learning that. You may notice the time I turn this in being only a few hours

before it is due, which is why I think this is going to be a very fitting topic for me. “Within

United States society, productivity, doing, and accomplishing are highly valued norms (Althen,

1998). Procrastination, or the failure to get things done in a timely manner, directly violates these

norms....” The quote has a historical context because it was from a book written in 1998.

Procrastination involves delaying responsibilities, decisions, or tasks that need to be done. I want

to mainly focus on college students since this inquiry project has an overall theme of higher

education. Before I began researching I only knew that procrastination was putting off work. I

learned the definition of procrastination because teachers constantly told students don’t wait.
 Some titles I gathered that were researchable were accessed through the Atkins Library

webpage, Google searches. “Procrastination in College Students: The Role of Self-Efficacy and

Anxiety” is a peer reviewed article, that could provide interesting statistics, reasons for

procrastination. Book titled “Procrastination and Task Avoidance Theory, Research and

Treatment.” Another book titled “Counseling the Procrastinator in Academic Settings.”

Keywords and subject words are important so, you can find more information about your inquiry

question. Some keywords for students can be undergraduates, graduates, people enrolled in

college, peers. To describe higher education you can use words like college, university,

post-secondary education. Waiting, delaying, putting off can be other words used to describe

procrastination.

For more perspectives on my inquiry question I can ask teachers, staff what experiences

they have had with procrastination. Explore if people changed their procrastination habits as they

went through college, or if they kept the same habits. I can look at views that focus more towards

the science of procrastination, counseling and psychology. I can also do more basic research on

the web using Google. A perspective from my point of view can be shown by doing a study on

myself and to see if I can limit how much I procrastinate. I want to look at procrastination in the

past and what it is like now to see any similarities and differences. Generally I am going to focus

on students procrastinating in the U.S. so it can be more relatable and understandable. Some

questions that occur to me have to do with the wording of my question, or how I should narrow

or enlarge my question. Focus on the causes and effects of procrastination. Procrastination is

important because it has impacts on the UNCC community and my classmates. I think it is

important for students to understand why they procrastinate, how to avoid it.