The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously exacerbated mental health problems across the world, as demonstrated by recent survey results [1]. Research has demonstrated that one popular coping mechanism for mental health issues caused by the pandemic is laughter and comedy. One well-known instance of the effect of COVID on mental health is the Will Smith incident, in which the actor slapped comedian Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife. Some outlets have suggested that the incident is a manifestation of the mental health issues that have been exacerbated due to COVID-19. Although previous research has demonstrated that laughter and comedy are potent coping strategies for mental health issues, the Will Smith incident seems to contradict said findings. In fact, it was a joke that caused the Will Smith incident, not alleviated it. As such, it seems humor is not a universal, one-size-fits-all coping mechanism for all social situations. Instead, there are certain domains in which humor may be offensive, such as in the case of the Smith incident, in which a joke was made at the expense of Smith’s wife, who suffers from Alopecia. As demonstrated by the Smith incident, humor may serve to worsen some mental health issues instead of alleviating them. As such, this paper will attempt to define the social situations in which humor is an acceptable coping mechanism.
A topic statement will begin with a question that has emerged from our classroom discussion on Humor, Laughter, and Comedy. I have included sample questions on the syllabus, but you should feel free to pursue your interests, so long as it relates to Humor, Laughter, or Comedy. The topic statement will then define what part of the broader question you are proposing to address in the final Contribution paper. Remember the lessons of the CGA assignment: the academic genre demands narrow topics and deep support. So make sure that you only take on a project that can be completed in the 8-12 page Contribution paper that will follow. The Topic Statement should be no longer than a single paragraph.
A nearly universal feature of the academic genre is a survey of literature on the topic. In this stage of the assignment, you will test your topic to make sure that the topic is relevant at least one field of study, has not already been addressed by prior research, and has enough evidence to support your arguments. The majority of your research should be drawn from peer reviewed, academic articles. But include any sources, such as books, some web sites, pictures, video clips, etc. that are relevant to the topic. Feel free to organize the annotated sources in whatever way that will be useful for writing the Contribution paper that will follow. For example, you might prefer an organization that is alphabetical, chronological, topical, or by how you will use the sources. Once you complete the survey, add annotations about how each will be used in the Contribution paper. There is no minimum or maximum number of sources required, but you should establish that there is enough sources to support your arguments in the Contribution paper, but not so many that the project gets too large to complete.
A policy proposal is formed around five common sense questions, called issues: Need, Plan, Feasibility, Solvency, and Danger. Not every one of these issues will be relevant to every topic, but common sense demands we account for all of the questions in our proposal.
Need: What is wrong with what we have now?The Need is usually framed as a set of problems that need to be resolved. In your proposal you should frame the need as a gap in an important topic of research. In this section you should establish that the topic is important, summarize the previous research on the topic, and establish that there is a significant gap that requires further study.