Argumentative Paper
Prompt – There is an ongoing debate to whether procrastination is always bad or whether it can be managed wisely. Weigh the claims on both sides, and then write an argumentative paper supporting either side of the debate in which you argue for or against the idea that procrastination is always bad.
Be sure to use information from all passages in your paper.
- First you will choose which side you will be writing for.
- Next, you will choose three ways to support your argument.
- Next, you will collect evidence to use as support.
- Next, you will need to discuss the opposing side and refute their argument.
- Next, you will write a rough draft. The format will be similar to an informative essay, except you are to write six sections. Explaining your view on this argument may take a few paragraphs to make a claim and sufficiently support it. Instead of thinking of six different paragraphs, think of your paper as having six different sections.
Introduction
- Article titles and authors
- Thesis statement (refer to prompt, this is one sentence that states the purpose of the entire paper)
- Your three claims (three ways the articles prove your side of the argument, save the evidence for the body sections)
-Mention the counterclaims (do not debunk yet)
First Body Section
- Your first claim (first way for or against procrastination)
- A piece of evidence from an article.
- An explanation of the evidence.
- A piece of evidence from an article.
- An explanation of the evidence.
- Explanation of how these evidences support your claim
Second Body Section
- Your second claim (second way for or against procrastination)
- A piece of evidence from an article.
- An explanation of the evidence.
- A piece of evidence from an article.
- An explanation of the evidence.
- Explanation of how these evidences support your claim
Third Body Section
- Your first claim (third way for or against procrastination)
- A piece of evidence from an article.
- An explanation of the evidence.
- A piece of evidence from an article.
- An explanation of the evidence.
- Explanation of how these evidences support your claim.
Addressing the Opposite Side Section
- First opposing view claim.
- Refute the argument.
- Second opposing view claim.
- Refute the argument.
- Explanation of how your refutations support your claim.
Conclusion
- Return to your thesis statement.
- Include any additional evidence from outside texts that support your thesis.
- Use key words that connect to the Introduction.
- Should be a logical and clear ending to your paper.
Procrastination Articles
Source 1: A Stitch in Time by Norris Stembiger
They say that “a stitch in time saves nine.” This clever phrase suggests that doing something today will save you much more work later on. This saying is a warning about the traps of procrastination, when tasks are put off until later. The primary problem is that often people who procrastinate are found to either do a poorer job when trying to get tasks finished at the last minute, or they do not finish the tasks at all. Completing responsibilities in a timely manner is overwhelmingly the most recommended way to be productive.
Procrastination can be caused by many different factors. Sometimes a person has committed to doing too many projects. Feeling overworked can lead an otherwise productive person to feel like putting off some work just to take a break. Low motivation is another culprit that can cause procrastination. If a task seems undesirable and a person’s motivation to complete it is low, it is common to want to delay the task. Sometimes the need for one’s work to be entirely perfect can also lead to delaying the work. If a person feels his or her work needs to be perfect, suddenly the task at hand seems much more challenging, overwhelming the person. Additionally, some people have simply gotten themselves into a bad habit of procrastinating out of laziness. It becomes difficult to break the cycle and learn new habits.
However, there are many ways to redirect one’s focus in order to avoid the tendency to procrastinate. First, a person needs to learn to minimize distractions. Turn the television off, put the phone away, and create a clean, uncluttered workspace. Next, create goals and benchmarks. For example, the final goal might be to get an “A” on a history paper. Benchmarks, or smaller goals, along the way might include doing research, writing a rough draft, writing an edited draft, and lastly a final draft. Dividing tasks up like this makes them seem more manageable. Also, be sure to schedule some breaks during the work so that the job does not seem so time-consuming. Following this advice can reduce the desire to procrastinate and make completing important jobs much easier.
Source 2: Is Procrastination Bad? The Truth About Procrastination Revealed by Dustin Wax
Procrastination is very literally the opposite of productivity. To produce something is to pull it forward, while to procrastinate is to push it forward — to tomorrow, to next week, or ultimately to never.
Procrastination fills us with shame — we curse ourselves for our laziness, our inability to focus on the task at hand, our tendency to be easily led into easier and more immediate gratifications. And with good reason: for the most part, time spent procrastinating is time spent not doing things that are, in some way or other, important to us.
There is a positive side to procrastination, but it’s important not to confuse procrastination at its best with everyday garden-variety procrastination. Sometimes — sometimes! — procrastination gives us the time we need to sort through a thorny issue or to generate ideas. In those rare instances, we should embrace procrastination — even as we push it away the rest of the time.
Why we procrastinate after all
We procrastinate for a number of reasons, some better than others. One reason we procrastinate is that, while we know what we want to do, we need time to let the ideas “ferment” before we are ready to sit down and put them into action. Some might call this “creative faffing”; I call it, following copywriter Ray Del Savio’s lead, “concepting”.
Whatever you choose to call it, it’s the time spent dreaming up what you want to say or do, weighing ideas in your mind, following false leads and tearing off on mental wild goose chases, and generally thinking things through. To the outside observer, concepting looks like… well, like nothing much at all. Maybe you’re leaning back in your chair, feet up, staring at the wall or ceiling, or laying in bed apparently dozing, or looking out over the skyline or feeding pigeons in the park or fiddling with the Japanese vinyl toys that stand watch over your desk.
If ideas are the lifeblood of your work, you have to make time for concepting, and you have to overcome the sensation— often overpowering in our work-obsessed culture — that faffing, however creative, is not work.
So, is procrastination bad?
Yes it is.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you’re “concepting” when in fact you’re just not sure what you’re supposed to be doing. Spending an hour staring at the wall while thinking up the perfect tagline for a marketing campaign is creative faffing; staring at the wall for an hour because you don’t know how to come up with a tagline, or don’t know the product you’re marketing well enough to come up with one, is just wasting time.
Lack of definition is perhaps the biggest friend of your procrastination demons. When we’re not sure what to do — whether because we haven’t planned thoroughly enough, we haven’t specified the scope of what we hope to accomplish in the immediate present, or we lack important information, skills, or resources to get the job done. It’s easy to get distracted or to trick ourselves into spinning our wheels doing nothing. It takes our mind off the uncomfortable sensation of failing to make progress on something important.
The answer to this is in planning and scheduling. Rather than giving yourself an unspecified length of time to perform an unspecified task (“Let’s see, I guess I’ll work on that spreadsheet for a while”) give yourself a limited amount of time to work on a clearly defined task (“Now I’ll enter the figures from last months sales report into the spreadsheet for an hour”). Giving yourself a deadline, even an artificial one, helps build a sense of urgency and also offers the promise of time to “screw around” later, once more important things are done.
For larger projects, planning plays a huge role in whether or not you’ll spend too much time procrastinating to reach the end reasonably quickly. A good plan not only lists the steps you have to take to reach the end, but takes into account the resources, knowledge and inputs from other people you’re going to need to perform those steps.
Instead of futzing around doing nothing because you don’t have last month’s sales report, getting the report should be a step in the project. Otherwise, you’ll spend time cooling your heels, justifying your lack of action as necessary: you aren’t wasting time because you want to, but because you have to.
Source 3: Structured Procrastination by Helena Morriswilth
Almost everyone is prone to procrastinating once in a while, and many people could even admit to procrastinating all the time. If most people do procrastinate, why are they not being taught how to lend some structure to the way they put off their tasks? Is there a way for people to allow themselves to procrastinate a little and yet learn to manage their tasks better?
Most procrastinators put off necessary tasks to defeat boredom or to avoid doing difficult work. For instance, students might choose to read a fun novel instead of studying for a tough upcoming test. This would be procrastinating. They may even feel that they should be studying, but they find it hard to make themselves perform an unwanted task. How can they structure their procrastination better so that work ends up getting done anyway?
To answer that, some psychologists have asserted that people will do any unwanted task—as long as it allows them to avoid something even worse. Enter the theory of structured procrastination. This theory says you can use the common tendency to avoid boredom or hard work to your advantage.
Using structured procrastination, people must first decide that they do not have to study if they do not want to. They are free to procrastinate as much as they want. Secondly, they will list two other tasks that need to be completed soon, such as writing an essay for class and cleaning a room. Then they must firmly tell themselves that they may not do anything except one of these three tasks for the next several hours. They may choose to do none of these tasks, but they may not allow themselves to do anything else.
At first people may elect to do nothing. But after a while, doing nothing at all will prove to be more boring or difficult than one of the tasks on the list, and they will be much likelier to start a necessary task. No matter which task they pick first, they will spend their time wisely, and eventually everything can be completed. This is one creative way people can make procrastination work for them.
Source 4: Why Procrastination Can Be Good For You by Susanna Newsonen
You look at the clock: It's 4:30 PM. Your work day is nearly over, but your to-do list is nowhere near done. You look at it in horror as you realize there are items that have been on it for weeks, but that you've de-prioritized them again and again. You sigh. Procrastination has gotten the best of you again. Or has it?
We all know procrastination can turn into the enemy if it keeps us from doing what we want. But more often than not, this isn't the case: Procrastination can actually improve your productivity and happiness. Here’s why:
Active procrastination makes you get more things done.
Sure, you might not be getting the thing that you're procrastinating on done. But if you're an active procrastinator, the rest of your to-do list is probably getting cleared quickly. And once the rest of the things on your to-do list are done, then all you've got left is that one thing you were originally procrastinating on—and you've got no choice but to get on with it. (Now, if you're sitting on your sofa doing nothing, then you're a passive procrastinator and it really is time to get up and do something!)
Unnecessary tasks disappear with procrastination.
After procrastinating on a task for some time, you might look at it and not remember why it's even on your to-do list. This gives you an opportunity to reevaluate whether it's still important you do it. If you've procrastinated on it for a while, it could be that it's not even necessary or relevant to you anymore.
Procrastination shines light on what's most important to you.
You're less likely to procrastinate on things you love to do or that really matter to you. If there's something you're struggling to get done, ask yourself why you're doing it in the first place. Purpose and passion will help you overcome any procrastination hurdle—or make you realize that you're procrastinating because you're working on the wrong thing.
Procrastination makes you more creative.
If you have a big, important task ahead of you, it's natural to procrastinate because it's so daunting. What you might not realize is that even when you're not actively working on that task, your mind is subconsciously collecting ideas and processing things to prepare you for it. That means that when you actually sit down to get to it, you have a lot more ideas in your head on how to go about it.
Procrastination helps you to make better decisions.
Sometimes you procrastinate on a decision because you're not entirely sure which is the right choice for you. Your rational mind and your intuition are saying opposite things, and you can't quite figure out which one to listen to—or who's saying what! That's when procrastination becomes your savior because you avoid jumping into something that might not be right for you. It buys you time to think about all the options and their pros and cons. Once the deadline arrives, you're ready to make the decision as you've done your research.
Procrastination leads to better apologies.
If you've done something wrong and you owe someone an apology, it's better to give them (and you) time to cool off. This helps you to come up with an authentic apology that clearly shows your regret and your learnings, as well as offers a reason why the mistake happened. It also gives the other party time to reflect on how this has impacted them so they can communicate this more effectively to you in a calm manner.
They say that “a stitch in time saves nine.” This clever phrase suggests that doing something today will save you much more work later on. This saying is a warning about the traps of procrastination, when tasks are put off until later. The primary problem is that often people who procrastinate are found to either do a poorer job when trying to get tasks finished at the last minute, or they do not finish the tasks at all. Completing responsibilities in a timely manner is overwhelmingly the most recommended way to be productive.
Procrastination can be caused by many different factors. Sometimes a person has committed to doing too many projects. Feeling overworked can lead an otherwise productive person to feel like putting off some work just to take a break. Low motivation is another culprit that can cause procrastination. If a task seems undesirable and a person’s motivation to complete it is low, it is common to want to delay the task. Sometimes the need for one’s work to be entirely perfect can also lead to delaying the work. If a person feels his or her work needs to be perfect, suddenly the task at hand seems much more challenging, overwhelming the person. Additionally, some people have simply gotten themselves into a bad habit of procrastinating out of laziness. It becomes difficult to break the cycle and learn new habits.
However, there are many ways to redirect one’s focus in order to avoid the tendency to procrastinate. First, a person needs to learn to minimize distractions. Turn the television off, put the phone away, and create a clean, uncluttered workspace. Next, create goals and benchmarks. For example, the final goal might be to get an “A” on a history paper. Benchmarks, or smaller goals, along the way might include doing research, writing a rough draft, writing an edited draft, and lastly a final draft. Dividing tasks up like this makes them seem more manageable. Also, be sure to schedule some breaks during the work so that the job does not seem so time-consuming. Following this advice can reduce the desire to procrastinate and make completing important jobs much easier.
Source 2: Is Procrastination Bad? The Truth About Procrastination Revealed by Dustin Wax
Procrastination is very literally the opposite of productivity. To produce something is to pull it forward, while to procrastinate is to push it forward — to tomorrow, to next week, or ultimately to never.
Procrastination fills us with shame — we curse ourselves for our laziness, our inability to focus on the task at hand, our tendency to be easily led into easier and more immediate gratifications. And with good reason: for the most part, time spent procrastinating is time spent not doing things that are, in some way or other, important to us.
There is a positive side to procrastination, but it’s important not to confuse procrastination at its best with everyday garden-variety procrastination. Sometimes — sometimes! — procrastination gives us the time we need to sort through a thorny issue or to generate ideas. In those rare instances, we should embrace procrastination — even as we push it away the rest of the time.
Why we procrastinate after all
We procrastinate for a number of reasons, some better than others. One reason we procrastinate is that, while we know what we want to do, we need time to let the ideas “ferment” before we are ready to sit down and put them into action. Some might call this “creative faffing”; I call it, following copywriter Ray Del Savio’s lead, “concepting”.
Whatever you choose to call it, it’s the time spent dreaming up what you want to say or do, weighing ideas in your mind, following false leads and tearing off on mental wild goose chases, and generally thinking things through. To the outside observer, concepting looks like… well, like nothing much at all. Maybe you’re leaning back in your chair, feet up, staring at the wall or ceiling, or laying in bed apparently dozing, or looking out over the skyline or feeding pigeons in the park or fiddling with the Japanese vinyl toys that stand watch over your desk.
If ideas are the lifeblood of your work, you have to make time for concepting, and you have to overcome the sensation— often overpowering in our work-obsessed culture — that faffing, however creative, is not work.
So, is procrastination bad?
Yes it is.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you’re “concepting” when in fact you’re just not sure what you’re supposed to be doing. Spending an hour staring at the wall while thinking up the perfect tagline for a marketing campaign is creative faffing; staring at the wall for an hour because you don’t know how to come up with a tagline, or don’t know the product you’re marketing well enough to come up with one, is just wasting time.
Lack of definition is perhaps the biggest friend of your procrastination demons. When we’re not sure what to do — whether because we haven’t planned thoroughly enough, we haven’t specified the scope of what we hope to accomplish in the immediate present, or we lack important information, skills, or resources to get the job done. It’s easy to get distracted or to trick ourselves into spinning our wheels doing nothing. It takes our mind off the uncomfortable sensation of failing to make progress on something important.
The answer to this is in planning and scheduling. Rather than giving yourself an unspecified length of time to perform an unspecified task (“Let’s see, I guess I’ll work on that spreadsheet for a while”) give yourself a limited amount of time to work on a clearly defined task (“Now I’ll enter the figures from last months sales report into the spreadsheet for an hour”). Giving yourself a deadline, even an artificial one, helps build a sense of urgency and also offers the promise of time to “screw around” later, once more important things are done.
For larger projects, planning plays a huge role in whether or not you’ll spend too much time procrastinating to reach the end reasonably quickly. A good plan not only lists the steps you have to take to reach the end, but takes into account the resources, knowledge and inputs from other people you’re going to need to perform those steps.
Instead of futzing around doing nothing because you don’t have last month’s sales report, getting the report should be a step in the project. Otherwise, you’ll spend time cooling your heels, justifying your lack of action as necessary: you aren’t wasting time because you want to, but because you have to.
Source 3: Structured Procrastination by Helena Morriswilth
Almost everyone is prone to procrastinating once in a while, and many people could even admit to procrastinating all the time. If most people do procrastinate, why are they not being taught how to lend some structure to the way they put off their tasks? Is there a way for people to allow themselves to procrastinate a little and yet learn to manage their tasks better?
Most procrastinators put off necessary tasks to defeat boredom or to avoid doing difficult work. For instance, students might choose to read a fun novel instead of studying for a tough upcoming test. This would be procrastinating. They may even feel that they should be studying, but they find it hard to make themselves perform an unwanted task. How can they structure their procrastination better so that work ends up getting done anyway?
To answer that, some psychologists have asserted that people will do any unwanted task—as long as it allows them to avoid something even worse. Enter the theory of structured procrastination. This theory says you can use the common tendency to avoid boredom or hard work to your advantage.
Using structured procrastination, people must first decide that they do not have to study if they do not want to. They are free to procrastinate as much as they want. Secondly, they will list two other tasks that need to be completed soon, such as writing an essay for class and cleaning a room. Then they must firmly tell themselves that they may not do anything except one of these three tasks for the next several hours. They may choose to do none of these tasks, but they may not allow themselves to do anything else.
At first people may elect to do nothing. But after a while, doing nothing at all will prove to be more boring or difficult than one of the tasks on the list, and they will be much likelier to start a necessary task. No matter which task they pick first, they will spend their time wisely, and eventually everything can be completed. This is one creative way people can make procrastination work for them.
Source 4: Why Procrastination Can Be Good For You by Susanna Newsonen
You look at the clock: It's 4:30 PM. Your work day is nearly over, but your to-do list is nowhere near done. You look at it in horror as you realize there are items that have been on it for weeks, but that you've de-prioritized them again and again. You sigh. Procrastination has gotten the best of you again. Or has it?
We all know procrastination can turn into the enemy if it keeps us from doing what we want. But more often than not, this isn't the case: Procrastination can actually improve your productivity and happiness. Here’s why:
Active procrastination makes you get more things done.
Sure, you might not be getting the thing that you're procrastinating on done. But if you're an active procrastinator, the rest of your to-do list is probably getting cleared quickly. And once the rest of the things on your to-do list are done, then all you've got left is that one thing you were originally procrastinating on—and you've got no choice but to get on with it. (Now, if you're sitting on your sofa doing nothing, then you're a passive procrastinator and it really is time to get up and do something!)
Unnecessary tasks disappear with procrastination.
After procrastinating on a task for some time, you might look at it and not remember why it's even on your to-do list. This gives you an opportunity to reevaluate whether it's still important you do it. If you've procrastinated on it for a while, it could be that it's not even necessary or relevant to you anymore.
Procrastination shines light on what's most important to you.
You're less likely to procrastinate on things you love to do or that really matter to you. If there's something you're struggling to get done, ask yourself why you're doing it in the first place. Purpose and passion will help you overcome any procrastination hurdle—or make you realize that you're procrastinating because you're working on the wrong thing.
Procrastination makes you more creative.
If you have a big, important task ahead of you, it's natural to procrastinate because it's so daunting. What you might not realize is that even when you're not actively working on that task, your mind is subconsciously collecting ideas and processing things to prepare you for it. That means that when you actually sit down to get to it, you have a lot more ideas in your head on how to go about it.
Procrastination helps you to make better decisions.
Sometimes you procrastinate on a decision because you're not entirely sure which is the right choice for you. Your rational mind and your intuition are saying opposite things, and you can't quite figure out which one to listen to—or who's saying what! That's when procrastination becomes your savior because you avoid jumping into something that might not be right for you. It buys you time to think about all the options and their pros and cons. Once the deadline arrives, you're ready to make the decision as you've done your research.
Procrastination leads to better apologies.
If you've done something wrong and you owe someone an apology, it's better to give them (and you) time to cool off. This helps you to come up with an authentic apology that clearly shows your regret and your learnings, as well as offers a reason why the mistake happened. It also gives the other party time to reflect on how this has impacted them so they can communicate this more effectively to you in a calm manner.