Annotated Bibliography:

Ferrari, Joseph, et al. Procrastination and Task Avoidance. Plenum Press, New York. 1995. Print.

The first annotated bibliography for my inquiry project comes from the book

Procrastination and Task Avoidance written by Joseph R. Ferrari, Judith L. Johnson, and William

G. McCown. This research book comes from the Plenum Press, New York, a division of Plenum

Publishing Corporation and is part of "The Plenum Series in Social/Clinical Psychology.” The

purpose of this book is to educate the reader about procrastination and how best to prevent it.

This book is intended for many different types of people. There are chapters within the book for

adults, college students, and anyone who is trying to self-discipline himself.

A quote that I found interesting was from the first chapter stating, “The behavior of intentional

inactivity is so common that it hardly seems problematic or worthy of significant scrutiny by the

dignified behavior researcher (Ferrari et al. 2).” Most people experience some type of

procrastination, so why do they not see the importance of its research? Why are researchers not

developing knowledge about this topic?

Procrastination and Task Avoidance was written primarily by three authors along with

various associates. Joseph R. Ferrari, Judith L. Johnson, and William G. McCown. The three

authors work at DePaul University, Villanova University, and Nathan Kline Institute for

Psychiatric Research respectfully. The associates all work within the Department of Psychology

at a university or the Department of Student Support. All these authors are active members

within their university researching psychology and the process of procrastination.

 “Procrastination is a complex, often chronic, behavioral pattern that sometimes defies

straightforward casual explanation (2-3).”

  “The term procrastination comes directly from the Latin verb ‘procrastinare,’ meaning

quite literally, to put off or post pone until another day (DeSimone, 1993) (4).”

 “Not surprisingly, because of their convenience in sampling by academics, but also

because the purported significance in of procrastination in this group, college students

have been first and most widely studied (12).”

I think very highly of this text. When first reading it, it was difficult to understand because of

the extensive use of vocabulary. But as time went on, I slowed down my reading and took my

time understanding all the concepts. The book is written by many highly educated professors at

colleges. Therefore, these writers are the ‘top-dogs’ of the procrastination topic. I find it to apply

to my inquiry project very well. It answers many of the questions that I have formulated while

also diving deeper into each concept. It seems that my inquiry has been a question for many

people out there, mostly including students and teachers. This book is very long and I don’t plan

on reading all 200+ pages. But I have decided to use the information given to me in the Chapter

1: An Overview of Procrastination and Chapter 9: Treatment of Academic Procrastination in

College Students. I feel as if these two chapters will be most relevant for my inquiry project and

provide me with the best information that I can use. I hope that while using this book for my

inquiry project, I will find solutions to my initial questions. But I also hope to find answers for

new questions and personally learn a few things on how I can prevent myself from

procrastinating.