Tierre Drane

1 University of New Mexico

Albuquerque NM 87131
SHAC
Office 11

Dr. Nancy Mcgough

1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
SHAC
Office 20

Dear Mrs. Mcgough,

Enclosed is an Analytical report I did on losing sleep and affecting academic
performance. UNM students lose sleep when studying and doing homework late at
night. Most dont realize that losing sleep can take a toll on the body and have
negative consequences in the long run. In my research I found that more and more
college students are losing sleep especially when it comes to finals. Losing sleep
can cause problems with mental well-being and overall performance in school and
work. I know we have seminars about losing sleep and how it can affect the body. So
I feel like this information this information I found would be good to include in the
seminars. Thank you for your time

Sincerely, Tierre Drane

Student research consultant

Introduction:
For years, students at UNM have been suffering from lack of sleep
because they stay up late to do homework and study for exams.
What they dont realize is that losing sleep can actually affect
their academic performance in a negative way. Losing sleep can
also affect the body in a negative way. It can cause memory
lapses and affect a persons mental well-being. Losing sleep can
also affect the way a person performs in school or the work place.
Most dont notice the affects until they get worse and start to
wear the body down. Losing sleep can long term negative effects
on the body if its not taken seriously and taken care of. So can
losing sleep really affect academic performance in UNM college
students?
Methods:
For this research project, I surveyed 30 people via Facebook and
interviewed 3 separate people. The people I surveyed came
from different backgrounds and had different views about
the subject. Most of the people I surveyed were currently
enrolled at UNM and a few were from other colleges. The 3 I
interviewed were graduate students from UNM. I used
graduate and undergraduate students because I wanted to
see if the results would be different for students who were in
school and students who were going through school a
second time. The questions I asked for the survey and the
interview were:
1. Do you get enough sleep?
2. Do you notice a change in your grades when youre sleep
deprived?
3. It is hard to concentrate in class when youre sleep deprived?
4. Do you feel that a good nights rest helps you achieve more
in school?
5. Is it hard to remember things for class when sleep deprived?
6. Were you aware that losing sleep can affect your academic
performance.

The answers were all over the place and I will later discuss
those in the results section. I also used secondary research as
part of my research. I mainly used articles form the UNM
libraries search engine and then also found some important
information on google scholar. I researched things like how
sleep can affect you and your body and how sleep deprivation
can affect grades. I also researched if sleep deprivation had
negative or positive correlation to decline in grades.
Limitations:
One of the main limitations I had was that the people who
answered my questions, I knew them so I dont know if their
answers were really truthful or if they were answering them
just to be nice.
Results:
The results were not what I expected. They were a mixture of
what I thought would happen. Most of the people were aware that
sleep can actually affect academic performance.

Heres the list of questions to refer to for both the survey results
and interview results:
1. Do you get enough sleep?
2. Do you notice a change in your grades when youre sleep
deprived?
3. Is it hard to concentrate in class when youre sleep deprived?
4. Do you feel that a good nights sleep helps you achieve more
in school?
5. It is hard to remember things for class when sleep deprived?
6. Were you aware that losing sleep can affect your academic
performance?
Discussion:
Overall, my hypothesis that losing sleep can affect academic
performance is part way true. There are other factors the come
into play with this but mainly losing sleep can affect a persons
academic performance. The results do show that students who
lose sleep do struggle more with academics because they cant
concentrate in class well. I myself struggle with losing sleep
and I notice that my grades are declining because of it.
Conclusion:

In conclusion I would say that college students need to get

more sleep and make sure to study and do homework at the
right time. I feel a way UNM students can make time to do their
homework and study at the right if the school offered more
study sessions and homework sessions that arent so late at
night. I also feel UNM students can learn to manage their time
more wisely by sitting down and making a schedule of when
theyre going to study and doing homework and make sure its
a proper time so they wont wear themselves out. There are
other factors that come into play when grades decline but the
biggest one is losing sleep. Losing sleep is a serious issue and
although it may not seem like in the short run but in the long
run it has many negative effects.

Reflection
1. Analyze Rhetorical Situation. Students will analyze
the subject, purpose, audience, and constraints that
influence and determine what kind of document
(genre) they will write: For this outcome I feel like I
improved on for this report because I had to figure what
audience I was writing to and figure out what the subject and
purpose was for this report. This document was an analytical
report so I knew for subject and purpose I would be using
research that I found to show my audience which in this was
a doctor at UNM SHAC that losing sleep was a real problem
in students at UNM. This report took a lot of researching and
analyzing situations about losing sleep to put together as a
whole report. It was hard figuring out what audience I would
use but in the end I chose a doctor because I feel like its
something a medical professional should be aware of.
Figuring out the subject and purpose of my reports was
always hard for me to grasp but this report really helped
because it was something I was worried about and this
report took a lot of concentration to make it just right.
2. Present Documents. Students will edit and revise
their writing to provide unambiguous meaning and
coherent structure; they will incorporate visual
elements to improve understanding; they will create
an overall design that enhances readability and
shows professionalism: This outcome was one I really
used a lot in this report. I had to make sure I used the correct
font and size to appeal to my audience. I also had to make
sure my report was organized and easy to understand. As I
revising my paper I had to make a few changes to
paragraphs by separating my words and made new
paragraphs for new ideas. I also had to make sure I made it
easy for my audience to read my results sections. I had to
put the questions next to the graphs so my audience would
be able to see which questions corresponded to which
results on the graphs.