Research Paper

 

Working Thesis Statement: Sleep deprivation has negative side effects for a college student’s health but can be battled with caffeine.

What Are Sleep Deprivation and Deficiency?

This source defines sleep deprivation and deficiency. It then goes into detail about the symptoms and negative effects. The final paragraph also provides some statistics. This source is credible because it is provided by the government. I plan to use this source to help define my terms and provide valuable statistics.

9 Surprising Reasons to Get More Sleep

This source provides 9 reasons to get more sleep. It covers multiple aspects of one’s life and aims to have people sleep better. Some of the reasons included are better health, less pain, and better mood. WebMD is not a highly credible source but it is a popular mainstream source. The author, R. Morgan Griffin, is a freelance writer and editor for WebMD and has a master’s degree in English. His credibility comes from experience writing articles similar to this one. I will use this source to provide a commonly used website and build context.

The Effects of Caffeine on Sleep

This article gives a brief overview of what caffeine is and then explains three possible side effects of caffeine consumption. It reads on the side of caution in regards to consuming too much caffeine. However, this article does not provide solutions other than limiting caffeine intake. The author Stacey Grant is credible as she has a Master of Science in clinical nutrition. I will use this source to discuss the problems one could face from consuming too much caffeine.

Caffeine and Sleep

This source provides a more in depth look at caffeine along with symptoms, treatment, coping, and poll data. It includes the defined amounts of moderate and excessive caffeine. It also has a statistic about how likely it is for Americans to fight daytime sleepiness with caffeinated beverages. This source is credible because it has been reviewed by Dr. Greg Belenky who attended Yale for his B.A. degree in psychology and then went on to Stanford for his M.D. degree. I plan to use this source for a comprehensive look at caffeine.

Sleep Apnea

This article is an answer to a reader’s question about whether or not there is a connection between sleep apnea and caffeine. The author, Eric J. Olson, M.D., references two studies and provides other uses of caffeine medically. The article ends with suggestions for lifestyle changes. This source is credible because of the college education backing Olson. However, Olson does not directly link to or name the studies he references. I will use this source if I decide to discuss sleep apnea.

Thesis

Although the phrase “pulling an all-nighter” is commonly associated with college students, doing this frequently is detrimental to one’s health. One might believe that since a student claims to be functioning on only three hours of sleep and loads of caffeine, there are no serious side effects. In this essay I will be covering the positive and negative consequences of sleep deprivation, caffeine usage, and *something*.