Onkutsa Tudosa

WRG 121

Jack Visnaw

28 January 2018

Multitasking and Productivity Proposal

Introduction:

I’m seeking approval to be able to research the question: Are college students more

productive when multitasking and does it affect their academics? Multitasking and productivity

is a topic that the more I thought of the more intriguing the question became, which lead me to

want to dig deeper and see if there is more to this topic than meets the eye. Multitasking is

something that is done by everyone whether that be intentional or unintentional. This topic

would be a great one to research and would allow me to make connections with what I’m

researching and my personal life. Being a college student, I feel like I have an advantage when It

comes to finding out information on what students may do. I will be able to take my past

experiences and show my perspective in the research paper.

Background:

This research topic would allow me to get a sense of how other college students spend their

time and associate that with the multitasking they do in their daily life and then connect that with

how their academics are affected whether it be for the best or worst. Because multitasking has a

positive connotation around it and its always seems to be encouraged, it would be interesting to

find other sides to that argument. I want to stick mainly to a day in the life of a college student
and look specifically at things that may impact a student daily. Juggling two or more tasks at one

time may seem time saving however, through pre-research I have found studies that prove

otherwise.

Research methods:

Conducting research for this topic will primary be done through the internet. Finding sources

that are written by a credible person or organization is very important. While doing pre-research

on this specific topic I was able to find studies that have be conducted, this would be a great

place to pull information. Interviewing an expert in this field or consulting scholarly journals are

all great primary sources that could be used. Websites such as .edu and .org just to name a few

would be good secondary resources. Organizing a survey on campus at Eastern Michigan

University could really benefit the research paper and show statistical evidence to back up what I

find researching online.

Objectives:

During the pre-research process I couldn’t find any article that answered my questions on

how multitasking and productivity related to a college students academics. This was something

I'm going to have to piece together at the end of the research paper. Nonetheless I was able to

find enough information that it would be possible to do. I plan on taking research that has already

been conducted and adding my unique twist to it in order to answer my inquiry question. I

wouldn’t consider my question to be common knowledge because it forces us to take a deeper

look at what it means to multitask and how it impacts the academics of a college student. There

will be a lot of connections to be made.

Importance:

This topic is important to those it pertains to and that means almost everyone. This topic

would have a wide demographic audience and it will allow this paper to be successful in

reaching its full potential. The main purpose of this research paper will be to inform people of

how multitasking has an impact on their productivity levels. More specifically for college student

it would show any correlation between multitasking and productivity in school. It's also

important to highlight any controversies or preconceived notions that many may have regards to

this topic and set them apart from the what the truth is and what is a matter of opinion or

personal preference. In the end, researching and finding an answer to my question would allow

us to understand a little more of how our brains work when it comes to goal shifting.

Main Talking Points:

For this research topic I have many questions I would like answered that relates to the topic and

will tie the paper together. These could be different paragraphs and make up the body of the

research paper.

▪ What is multitasking?

▪ How does multitasking and productivity intertwine?

▪ What are the tasks a college student chooses to multitask?

▪ Are academics really influenced from multitasking?

▪ Does Productivity increase or decrease?

▪ What myths do people believe and why do they believe them?

▪ How does the brain work in terms of goal shifting?

Conclusion:

All in all, I am looking for approval on the selected topic of interest which is, how does

multitasking impact college students and their academics and why this is important. I have an

interest in this topic not only because I live my daily life multitasking, but I also feel like it could

in part effect my academics. It would be eye-opening to be able to research and discover this

topic because I live and will be living the life of a college student for the next few years.

Through pre-research I was reassured that this topic would hold much information I could use to

find a conclusion to my question.