Avoid Term Paper Procrastination
Writing is Better Than Waiting
© 2015 Burt Thompson and Donna Fisher-Thompson, Department of Psychology, Niagara University
How common is term paper procrastination?
Very common. For example, in a survey of 342 college students, Solomon and Rothblum (1984) found that 46% said they always or nearly always procrastinate when writing term papers, and 65% expressed a desire to reduce procrastination on term papers. In a 2015 survey of 58 Introductory Psychology students here at Niagara University, 40% said they agree or strongly agree with the statement “When it comes to a term paper, I usually put it off until the last minute.” If you put off writing papers, you have a lot of company.
What are some good reasons to avoid term paper procrastination?
When you put off writing a paper, you end up having too little time to do the assignment well. You may engage in binge writing, trying to complete the whole paper in one long writing session. This approach isn't uncommon. In the 2015 survey mentioned above, 60% of the students agreed or strongly agreed with the statement "I usually write a term paper in one or two 'marathon' writing sessions." As a result, you end up with a lower quality paper, which leads to a lower grade, and you don’t learn as much as you could about the topic. As the deadline draws near, you may even be tempted to take an unethical shortcut such as plagiarism. In general, procrastination means that writing the paper ends up being a rather unpleasant and unrewarding task.
Are you planning to go to graduate or professional school after college? For students who attempt challenging writing projects after college, such as a thesis or an article for publication, procrastination can have severe consequences. Students who enter academic careers will find that success depends on productive writing; little has changed since Boice (1982) wrote, “Consider that many of our students become psychologists in a system where, despite the lack of formal training in its rudiments, publication remains the single most important factor in hiring, tenure, promotion, and granting” (p. 143). As you can see, procrastination won’t just affect you as an undergraduate student.
Why do students put off writing term papers?
Writing procrastination can be understood in terms of a cycle of avoidance. A student avoids working on a paper because it is viewed as a difficult, unpleasant, and unrewarding task, but procrastination makes the task even more difficult, unpleasant, and unrewarding, and so the next writing assignment is put off, and the cycle continues.
Many students hold two misconceptions about writing that contribute to procrastination. Do these sound familiar to you?
#1 "I'm too busy; I don't have time to write” or “I need a long uninterrupted period of time to write my paper.”
#2 “I need to be inspired in order to write” or “I can’t write unless I feel like it, unless I’m in the mood.”
Both misconceptions result in waiting rather than writing.
How can students reduce term paper procrastination?
Set up a writing schedule and stick to it. Work on your paper for 30-60 minutes at least 4 times a week. Boice (1990) speaks in terms of “brief daily sessions” of writing. Silvia (2007) makes the same point, saying that if you write on a schedule for only a few hours per week, “you will be surprised at how much you will write. By surprised, I mean astonished; and by astonished, I mean dumbfounded and incoherent” (p. 17).
Do you exercise regularly, or set aside time each day for some other activity that you value? This is the same idea. If writing well is important to you, then schedule time for it and adhere to the schedule. You might decide to write from 10 to 11, Monday through Thursday, or from 3 to 3:30 Saturday through Wednesday. Block out that time for working on your paper. Make it a high-priority commitment. Don’t let anyone talk you out of it. And don’t apologize for wanting to write well—it’s important to you. Work on your project whether you initially feel like it or not—you'll usually warm up to the task once you get started. After a week or two you’ll have accomplished much more than if you had waited until you had a large block of time or until you felt like writing. You may even start to look forward to those brief writing sessions.
Some people find that it helps to set goals (e.g., “write at least 1 page each day”) or keep records of time worked or pages written. If you’re not much for bookkeeping or data collection, just note whether you did or did not work on your project as planned. If it helps, reward yourself at the end of the week if you stuck to your schedule. Then make out a new schedule for the coming week.
Conclusion
If you want to be a productive writer, stick to a regular schedule of brief writing sessions. Writing is better than waiting!
References, additional readings, and links
Boice, R. (1982). Teaching of writing in psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 9, 143-147.
Boice, R. (1990). Professors as writers: A self-help guide to productive writing. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press
Bolker, J. (1998). Writing your dissertation in fifteen minutes a day: A guide to starting, revising, and finishing your doctoral thesis. New York: Holt.
Mayrath, M. (2008). Attributions of productive authors in educational psychology journals. Educational Psychology Review, 20, 41-56.
Silvia, P. J. (2007). How to write a lot: A practical guide to productive academic writing. Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association.
Solomon, L. J., & Rothblum, E. D. (1984). Academic procrastination: Frequency and cognitive-behavioral correlates. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 31, 503-509.
Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: A meta-analysis and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulation failure. Psychological Bulletin, 133, 65-94.
Overcoming Procrastination and Writer's Block (Univ. of Chicago)
Writing Center procrastination handout (Univ. of North Carolina)
What Good Writers Know (Yale)
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
Very common. For example, in a survey of 342 college students, Solomon and Rothblum (1984) found that 46% said they always or nearly always procrastinate when writing term papers, and 65% expressed a desire to reduce procrastination on term papers. In a 2015 survey of 58 Introductory Psychology students here at Niagara University, 40% said they agree or strongly agree with the statement “When it comes to a term paper, I usually put it off until the last minute.” If you put off writing papers, you have a lot of company.
What are some good reasons to avoid term paper procrastination?
When you put off writing a paper, you end up having too little time to do the assignment well. You may engage in binge writing, trying to complete the whole paper in one long writing session. This approach isn't uncommon. In the 2015 survey mentioned above, 60% of the students agreed or strongly agreed with the statement "I usually write a term paper in one or two 'marathon' writing sessions." As a result, you end up with a lower quality paper, which leads to a lower grade, and you don’t learn as much as you could about the topic. As the deadline draws near, you may even be tempted to take an unethical shortcut such as plagiarism. In general, procrastination means that writing the paper ends up being a rather unpleasant and unrewarding task.
Are you planning to go to graduate or professional school after college? For students who attempt challenging writing projects after college, such as a thesis or an article for publication, procrastination can have severe consequences. Students who enter academic careers will find that success depends on productive writing; little has changed since Boice (1982) wrote, “Consider that many of our students become psychologists in a system where, despite the lack of formal training in its rudiments, publication remains the single most important factor in hiring, tenure, promotion, and granting” (p. 143). As you can see, procrastination won’t just affect you as an undergraduate student.
Why do students put off writing term papers?
Writing procrastination can be understood in terms of a cycle of avoidance. A student avoids working on a paper because it is viewed as a difficult, unpleasant, and unrewarding task, but procrastination makes the task even more difficult, unpleasant, and unrewarding, and so the next writing assignment is put off, and the cycle continues.
Many students hold two misconceptions about writing that contribute to procrastination. Do these sound familiar to you?
#1 "I'm too busy; I don't have time to write” or “I need a long uninterrupted period of time to write my paper.”
#2 “I need to be inspired in order to write” or “I can’t write unless I feel like it, unless I’m in the mood.”
Both misconceptions result in waiting rather than writing.
How can students reduce term paper procrastination?
Set up a writing schedule and stick to it. Work on your paper for 30-60 minutes at least 4 times a week. Boice (1990) speaks in terms of “brief daily sessions” of writing. Silvia (2007) makes the same point, saying that if you write on a schedule for only a few hours per week, “you will be surprised at how much you will write. By surprised, I mean astonished; and by astonished, I mean dumbfounded and incoherent” (p. 17).
Do you exercise regularly, or set aside time each day for some other activity that you value? This is the same idea. If writing well is important to you, then schedule time for it and adhere to the schedule. You might decide to write from 10 to 11, Monday through Thursday, or from 3 to 3:30 Saturday through Wednesday. Block out that time for working on your paper. Make it a high-priority commitment. Don’t let anyone talk you out of it. And don’t apologize for wanting to write well—it’s important to you. Work on your project whether you initially feel like it or not—you'll usually warm up to the task once you get started. After a week or two you’ll have accomplished much more than if you had waited until you had a large block of time or until you felt like writing. You may even start to look forward to those brief writing sessions.
Some people find that it helps to set goals (e.g., “write at least 1 page each day”) or keep records of time worked or pages written. If you’re not much for bookkeeping or data collection, just note whether you did or did not work on your project as planned. If it helps, reward yourself at the end of the week if you stuck to your schedule. Then make out a new schedule for the coming week.
Conclusion
If you want to be a productive writer, stick to a regular schedule of brief writing sessions. Writing is better than waiting!
References, additional readings, and links
Boice, R. (1982). Teaching of writing in psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 9, 143-147.
Boice, R. (1990). Professors as writers: A self-help guide to productive writing. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press
Bolker, J. (1998). Writing your dissertation in fifteen minutes a day: A guide to starting, revising, and finishing your doctoral thesis. New York: Holt.
Mayrath, M. (2008). Attributions of productive authors in educational psychology journals. Educational Psychology Review, 20, 41-56.
Silvia, P. J. (2007). How to write a lot: A practical guide to productive academic writing. Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association.
Solomon, L. J., & Rothblum, E. D. (1984). Academic procrastination: Frequency and cognitive-behavioral correlates. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 31, 503-509.
Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: A meta-analysis and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulation failure. Psychological Bulletin, 133, 65-94.
Overcoming Procrastination and Writer's Block (Univ. of Chicago)
Writing Center procrastination handout (Univ. of North Carolina)
What Good Writers Know (Yale)
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)