English 1A

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 idea.
The Assignment
For your second 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. If you do quote or paraphrase, you must include an internal citationthe page number
in parenthesis at the end of the quote, and you must include a Works Cited page where you
document the essay by Watson using MLA style. Additionally, 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. The length should be 4 to 5 pages.
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 sentencelevel errors and correctly cites the reading youve used
Tips for Success
Complete the assigned reading homework and some prewriting
Ask questions
Fully participate in the class discussions so you can deepen your understanding of the
readings and get ideas for your essay