Why do students procrastinate on term papers?

I am talking about when the professor assigns the paper early in the semester, sometimes even the first week. He allows the students to turn in the papers as soon as they are done. Yet it seems like no student gets it done until it is close to the due date, when there are so many other assignments to do and so many finals to complete...

I think the reason has nothing to do with "time management". Most students just set up blocks up time around finals to take care of this work...

Rather I think it is a question on "knowing what the class encompasses" and the fact that the paper can't possibly be done until late in the class, as that is the only way the student will know what to cover in the class, but this is never mentioned. Therefore the argument becomes pointless

BeeLiz192012-12-08T12:36:15Z

Favorite Answer

Everyone will come up with these excuses to justify lateness.

The plain simple fact is that homework and term papers are scary. When you are assigned them early, you feel good knowing about when they're due, but you would rather put off having to deal with the scary assignments until you have to.

Some people deal with this pressure better than others (and at least manage to start them earlier). Others just accept that the scary feeling will always happen and never try to avoid it.

Anonymous2012-12-08T19:53:36Z

Because the pressure of last-minute forces you to do better work.