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Caleb Moody

Professor Kretzer

English 1201

13 March 2019

How Stress Affects the Student

As more and more students advance in their education, stress is an inevitable factor that

can play a major role in how they are able to perform. I would like to be able to figure out just

exactly how stress affects the grades of students, and if there is any way to prepare for this stress.

Is it a problem of laziness, or is it common among all students, both honors and regular? Should

schools do more to help students with these stresses that are affecting students everywhere? I

will be researching just how much stress impacts a students academic performance and how this

can hinder real-world development.

Exil, Vernat. “Study: Stress Can Have a Major Effect on Grades.” Albuquerque Journal,

Albuquerque Journal, 2018, www.abqjournal.com/1205752/study-stress-can-have-a-

major-effect-on-grades.html.

Dr. Vernat Exil wrote this article to inform people of how stress is common problem for college

students who are starting college or for those who have a heavy workload. His credibility of

being a doctor is shown through his understanding of the stress, and by showing how stress can

cause memory loss that affects students on exams. In this article, he uses quotes from both

college professors and from college students who have found ways to cope and deal with the
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stress positively rather than negatively. These students supported his stance that students

experiencing stress should find a positive outlet so that they can avoid the negatives of stress.

I believe that this will help my paper mainly because the author’s background and the use

of real examples. The fact that there are facts and medical terminology will add strength to my

paper and his research into the topic can prove beneficial for my paper, as I can use them to

answer my overall question.

Keating, Daniel. “Dealing with Stress at School in an Age of Anxiety.” Psychology Today,

Sussex Publishers, 2017, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/stressful-

lives/201708/dealing-stress-school-in-age-anxiety.

Dr. Daniel Keating posted this article to promote healthy ways to combat and reasons for the

growing epidemic of stress in schools. Keating is credible and trustworthy because he uses facts

and many different examples of ways stress plays into school. Through interviews with actual

school staff, he can thoroughly make assertions on how to help both the physical and mental of

students. The purpose of his article is to advertise the idea of resilience in order for students to be

able to healthily face the common problems of life, and he wished to instill this in schools to

build those disciplines.

This article will be able to add to paper because it again adds the real-life examples of

students who have encountered the stresses of school and have. The fact that the author is well

educated will be able to add some legitimacy to my paper as I will have a credible source. I will

also be able to talk about the resilience and support my argument of how stress plays a role in the

classroom by including these tools.

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NYU, NYU. “NYU Study Examines Top High School Students' Stress and Coping

Mechanisms.” NYU, 2015, www.nyu.edu/about/news-

publications/news/2015/august/nyu-study-examines-top-high-school-students-stress-and-

coping-mechanisms.html.

In the study put out by NYU, both top high school students and school staff members are

examined and it is seen that many students deal with a “chronic stress” that is encountered by

their constant worry of grades, home pressures, and the increased presence of competition in

schools today. Though this article lacks a clear article, it is very credible as it uses real data from

real students, and many of those who conducted the survey are of the PhD level and are quoted

throughout the article. This article focuses on how strategizing can help those students who are

experiencing stress so that they can experience the positives instead of the negatives of stress.

This article and study will be able to help me examine a deeper level of understanding

this stress and will also offer another way to combat this stress. The data offered by the study

will be used to support the idea that pressures and the new roles of competition in today’s

education play a huge role in the stress experienced by most students. Through this data, I will be

able to clearly show how and why students face stress.

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Strauss, Valerie. “How Much Does Stress Affect Learning?” The Washington Post, WP

Company, 10 June 2011, www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/how-much-

does-stress-affect-

learning/2011/06/08/AGJCtrNH_blog.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3a80f5b7c19b.

In this article posted by The Washington Post, it shows the transcript of an interview between

Anthony Cody, a National-Board certified teacher, and Catherine Warner, a researcher on the topic

of stress in schools. In the interview, Warner reveals the many discoveries she has made into the

factors of stresses playing into student’s lives that could get in their way when it comes to school.

From environmental factors to common factors as a heavy workload and difficult classes, Warner

is able to provide credibility with relating these factors back to legislation and also economic

statistics. This interview provides an alternate approach to the topic, as it focuses primarily on how

the student’s everyday life and home factors, such as family relations and expectations, play into

the stresses experienced by students.

I will be able to use the research uncovered by Warner to add more information about other factors

that play into stress that can affect academic performance, not just those brought on by school.

These environmental factors will add another aspect to my paper that will hopefully add some

validity and more strength.

Maajida Aafreen, M., et al. “Effect of Stress on Academic Performance of Students in Different

Streams.” Drug Invention Today, vol. 10, no. 9, Sept. 2018, pp. 1776–1780. EBSCOhost,
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sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=a9h&AN=131123674&site=eds-live.

In this research article, M. Maajada Aafreen conducted a global survey to dig deeper into the role

that stress affects a student’s academic performance. To start, stress is clearly defined as a natural

reaction, but the point is made early that stress triggers reactions that can cause negative results,

and these results can play a huge role in the life of a student. The purpose of this researched article

is to convey that stress can indeed play a role in a student’s performance, whether it’s parental

pressures or nerves. The author proves their credibility through the results depicted in figures in

the article, which use the data gathered from their global survey.

This source will help me as it will provide me with tables and graphs to use as examples in my

essay to show the stressors that people felt like they were encountering. This data will be able to

strengthen my argument that stress can negatively affect the student and that pressures from all

around cause the students’ performance to hinder.

Bedewy, Dalia, and Adel Gabriel. “Examining Perceptions of Academic Stress and Its Sources

among University Students: The Perception of Academic Stress Scale.” Health Psychology

Open, vol. 2, no. 2, 2015, p. 205510291559671., doi:10.1177/2055102915596714.

This journal covers the overarching idea of stress affecting college students, and how these stresses
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are closely related to studying practices, self and parental expectations, and workload. Along with

citing previous experiments, the journal’s authors conducted a study of their own in which college

students answered some questions regarding their background and how, if at all, they felt stressed

and what they could identify as the cause of that stress. The journal points to how students are

experiencing stress, and its purpose is to clearly identify why through a conducted experiment.

This journal is credible as the authors include real data to back their findings and many facts that

point to their initial idea that stress is common to the student and it can very well play a role in

their academic performance.

This source is super beneficial as it includes topics relating to my exact thesis for the factors that

it covers. This research will help greatly as I will be able to use and cite this source multiple times

to strengthen my argument and add to my idea that stress is influenced by outside pressures and

these outside pressures can hinder academic performance

Abeles, Vicki and Jessica Congdon, directors. Race to Nowhere. Race to Nowhere, 2010,

www.racetonowhere.com/about-film.

This film explores the stories of many students who hit their breaking point at some point in their

academic career due to the pressures they faced from their schedule and pressures from family

succeed. The purpose of this film is to challenge the common thinking of how to prepare students
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for their next chapter, and to persuade an honest approach to the success that stress stands in the

way of. This film built its credibility through real testimonies from parents, educators, and students

who have either been affected by the stresses in school or have instigated them.

I am not confident in this source, as I have not yet had the chance to watch the film. However, I

believe the statistics included and the testimonies of the people who had just hit the wall will add

a lot of strength to my essay. The fact that these people experienced the “burn out” from different

pressures will enable me to include real examples of how stress can fully affect someone and how

it can ruin someone if not healthily dealt with.

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