Essay #2: Gallows Humor

We will be reading and discussing Katie Watsons article Gallows Humor in Medicine which explains
the way humor can become a part of even life-or-death situations for medical professionals. In this essay,
youll get to read, think, and write about the role humor can play in situations that dont seem funny.
Well also continue to talk about what an academic essay is and practice with the writing process we go
through to create an academic essay. For this essay, you will be summarizing and responding to
Watsons main ideas.
The Assignment
For your second in-class essay of the semester, you will summarize and respond to Watsons
article Gallows Humor in Medicine. In a complete academic essay, explain what role humor plays
in the lives of medical professionals according to Watson. What response do you have to her
position? How would you answer the question at the end of the article: should they joke? To fully
answer these questions, you should pull ideas from Watson by paraphrasing, summarizing, or quoting,
and you can support your thesis by including your own personal experience and observations. You are
welcome to say I when you talk about your own experience. The final draft should have all of the parts
of an academic essay: an introduction paragraph with a thesis, several focused body paragraphs with clear
topic sentences, and a conclusion paragraph.
Structure and Length
The final draft should have all of the parts of an academic essay: an introduction paragraph with a thesis,
several focused body paragraphs with clear topic sentences, and a conclusion paragraph. The final draft
should be at least four pages long, typed and double spaced in MLA format.
Things to Shoot For
A clear, specific thesis statement in the introduction paragraph that directly connects to the prompt
(the part in bold). In this essay, it states your response to Watsons perspective about gallows
humor
Multiple body paragraphs that follow an organizational strategy
Body paragraphs that each focus on one specific subtopic related to the thesis; that subtopic is
clear in each body paragraphs topic sentence
Clear explanations of the key concepts from the reading
Body paragraphs that accurately summarize the reading and state and support your opinion from
the thesis
A carefully proofread final draft that is generally free of distracting and confusing sentence-level
errors and correctly cites the reading youve used
Tips for Success
Allow yourself enough time to go through the steps of the writing process (prewriting, drafting,
revising, editing)
Understand the writing assignment and respond accordingly.
Fully participate in the class Blackboard discussion so you can deepen your understanding of the
readings and get ideas for your essay
Use your Writer's Reference book and class materials to understand the parts of an essay and the
writing process and apply them to your work.
Important Dates: Sunday July 10th by Midnight