1 Almibrad 1 Almibrad 3 Humor is a Weapon T.docx

1
Almibrad 1
Almibrad 3
Humor is a Weapon That Keeps College Students Happy
Humor can be referred to as the act of making some funny jokes
which makes individuals laugh. Naturally, humor tends to wipe
the sadness in human beings since in most circumstances, when
one lough, he/she forgets some of the issues which one could
have been thinking of before (Baisley, Margret, Neil 27).
Similarly, humor is a good weapon that keeps college students
happy. Most of the time, College students have a lot of issues
going through their lives, these issues revolve from the studies
as well and the peer pressure which is common at this age. Most
of the time, students find themselves not getting always what
they want, for instance, in curriculum activities, a student may
work very hard but fails to get the marks which he/she
anticipated. Additionally, in the cocurriculum activities,
students do not always get what they want, thus in such
circumstances, humor may be one of the medicines which can
help them retain their happiness (Kalaivani and Karaline 264).
Different individuals perceive humor differently. For instance, a
hilarious joke from a different person can be considered by
another person as an insult or just completely absurd.
Nevertheless, a good sense of humor is very important in human
beings' lives and is the one which helps them maintain
equilibrium in life. Thus humor is characterized by
communication, intelligence, happiness as well as diplomacy.
Howrigan and MacDonald suggest that "humor is a signal—an
honest advertisement of underlying cognitive ability and
fitness—and that it continues to serve this function today” (3).
In today's world, an individual with a sense of humor possesses
a very treasured gift. This is because humor is very essential

more so among the college students. Through humor, college
students can communicate with one another without being
insulting or utterly bland. According to Gonzales and Mierop
(8), humor in communication entails devising messages that
give out humorous responses such as laughter and smiling. In a
school setup, students are able to employ humor effectively
where they interact with one another in their education
ac6tivities thus brings many positive outcomes. Basically, a
student who has a well-placed understanding of humor is
viewed as more competent and credible since he/she gains an air
of confidence. This makes humor of the best factors which help
them to cope with school life by simply making the learning
environment conducive for learning.
Happiness is one of the best words which can describe humor.
When a sense of humor is employed effectively, the emotions
from both parties; the one who receives it and the one who uses
it is expressed by happiness. A student who employs a sense of
humor is likely to have a positive attitude which leads to
psychological health and satisfaction of well-being. Every
person in life desires to have happiness always; this makes
sense of humor crucial more so among students. Through
humor, students are in a capacity to make things work and
continue pushing hard in life even when things are not going on
the way they should (Kalaivani and Karaline 265). Through
humor, the students are in a capacity to avoid stress and
negative moods which are very essential in every student's life.
According to Nicholas and Rod, essential traits such as
optimism, self-acceptance, and confidence are possessed by
individuals who have a great sense of humor (151). Thus
students who employ humor are in a good position to handle
stress and also are capable of avoiding moods. This leads to a
good physical and healthy life.
Previous studies also show that humor helps in enhancing
diplomacy among students. Through a sense of humor, students
are able to avoid uncomfortable situations which often lead to
conflicts. A joke tends to put happiness in individual faces, in

circumstances where there is tension, jokes tend to ease the
situation and calm the individuals (Laursen, Julie 1349).
Through humor, individuals can speak up and solve various
differences amicably.
Many individuals have a perception that humor can diffuse
anger and bring happiness, however, various studies done in this
field show that laughter is a weapon. Satisfaction is not only
shown by laughter but also with smiles and grins. Studies show
that Honor is a form of communication whereby the individual
experiencing the humor assesses it to fellow individuals for the
purpose of a laugh. This implies that for this to work perfectly,
they must be a group of various individuals.
In most circumstances, college students tend to make jokes in
each bad situation.
For example, individuals competing in athletics can make
humor out of their experiences. In such circumstances, no one
gets angry on such circumstances. Humor brings several
students together thus creating some bonding among the
students and also enhances understanding. For one to participate
fully on a joke, one has to understand fully on what is being
said, this means that the individuals involved in humor have to
clearly understand one another so as to enjoy the situation.
This shows how humor is crucial in terms of understanding
among college students.
Thus we can conclude that humor is a crucial weapon that keeps
the college students happy. Through humor, college students
are in a capacity to handle different situations in their lives with
much ease. Additionally, humor enhances communication
among the students as well as understanding. Through this,
students are in a capacity to express themselves clearly to their
colleagues whenever they have difficult issues. College
students also tend to be more intelligent through humor, the
intelligent is gained in the process of participating in humor
since it is a necessity for one to fully understand some of the
jokes, thus through this, college students turn out to be more
happier and enjoy their stay in colleges.

Works cited
Appleby Drew. “Using Humor in the College Classroom: The
pros and Cons.” American Psychological Association,
https://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/ptn/2018/02/humor-college-
classroom
Baisley, Margaret C., and Neil E. Grunberg. "Bringing humor
theory into practice: An interdisciplinary approach to online
humor training."
New Ideas in Psychology, vol. 55, 2019, pp. 24-34.
Doll Karen. “A Laugh a Day Keeps the Doctor Away.” Positive
Psychology, 10, July 2019,
https://positivepsychology.com/laugh-daykeeps-doctor-away/
Gonzales, M. and Jack Mierop “Humor use and family
satisfaction: A cross cultural
approach.” California State University, Fullerton. 2004. Web.
Print.
Howrigan and MacDonald “Humor as a mental fitness indicator”
University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA. 2008.
Web.
Kalaivani, S., and Karaline Rajkumar. "Laughter is the best
medicine for stress relief." International Journal of Advances in
Nursing

Management, vol. 5, no. 3, 2017, pp.262-264.
Laursen, Julie. "(No) Laughing Allowed—Humour and the
Limits of Soft Power in Prison." British Journal of Criminology,
vol.57, no.6,
2017, pp. 1340-1358.
Nicholas A. Kuiper and Rod A. Martin “The Sense of Humor:
Explorations of a
Personality Characteristic” Walter de Gruyter Gmbh & Co. KG,
Berlin. 1998.
Web.
7
Happiness
Many researchers from time immemorial have tried to
understand the term ‘happiness’ in terms of factors that cause it
and its implications on human lives. Garaigordobil defined
happiness as, “the affective and cognitive appraisal of one's
own life which entails a high level of satisfaction of one's life
just the way it is with the presence of positivity and absence of
negativity. In other words, happiness is a feeling of contentment
and joy which leads to a healthy mental state which ensures that
one leads the best life possible.
Happiness can be categorized into four characteristics which
include; resources where one feels in control of their life or a
feeling of contentment, intimacy which entails friendships,
relationships, and the ability to enjoy the presence of other
people, competence which means the ability to do something
successfully, and health which involves the awareness of the

best practices for healthy living (Garaigordobil 2). Some
researchers have tried to relate happiness with age and the
results showed that a high level of happiness is experienced
between 20-29 years and after 50 years although these findings
are not entirely applicable to every society (Garaigordobil 2).
Although the changes of happiness affect people of all ages, an
emphasis should be put on college students who are in a very
complex stage between teenage and adulthood.
Researches have shown that happiness in adolescents and
college students is determined by friendships, altruism, social
skills, academic excellence, cooperation, and possession of
personal attributes like self-esteem and self-confidence
(Garaigordobil 2). Happiness is also determined by other factors
like levels of income, health, marital status, gender, race,
education, age, and life cycle effects to mention but a few
(Graham et al. 922). Happiness is considered as a psychological
state which is deeper than just a good temporary mood and
contributes to the general wellbeing of people (Mehrdadi et al.
1). Some of the general effects of happiness include; positive
towards living life, increased sense of self-concept, boosted
mental health, and increased performance in physical and social
settings to mention but a few (Mehrdadi et al. 2). The college
students are mostly people who have undergone adolescence but
have not yet become full adults and it's a very difficult stage
which is accompanied by mixed feelings. Students try to
balance studies with other life activities like relationships, part-
time jobs, and drug and substance abuse to mention but a few.
Happiness is influenced by almost all aspects that either of life
surrounding a person or a group of people. Positivity
encourages happiness while negativity reduces the level of
happiness which can have serious undesirable implications on
the person. College students like any other age group have
different experiences that either contribute to the development
of their happiness or deprivation of the same.
One of the keys is discovered by researchers is that students

who have money tend to be happier as compared to those who
come from poor backgrounds (Lesani et al. p. 3). Financial
constraints mean that it is quite a challenge for some students to
afford even the basic needs and this feeling can lead to
depression. A student may initially have come from a well-to-do
family, but in the process of learning, their parents lose their
jobs or even die leaving the young adult helpless. The student
has to either drop out of college or find some part-time job so
as to pay for their school fees and also to cater for their other
daily needs. This can really affect the happiness level of the
student and if not checked upon, it can lead to depression.
Adjusting life practices is not always easy for many people. The
issue of money can cause some stigma whereby the less
fortunate students don’t hang out with the students from rich
families because they feel that they don't fit in or their interests
are very different.
Researchers found out that students who participated in physical
activity were in better moods and happier than those that didn't
(Lesani et al. 3). In a different study, research has been done to
make a connection between physical activity and exercise and
mental health and the results have shown that the level of
reduction of stress and depression is the same as spending time
in psychotherapy sessions. However, great care should be taken
when participating in exercises to avoid overstraining which
could cause physical harm (Raglin 325). Generally, failure to
embrace exercise and physical activities which range from
walking, running, swimming, and participating in exercises can
cause obesity which can lead to stress and depression and
eventually change happiness in college students.
Another factor that may interfere with happiness in college
students is the need for social approval where studies found that
people who have a higher yearning for social approval have
cases of social anxiety and this affects their happiness level
negatively (Karasar and Baytemir 924). A student may have
been happier when they started college, but after meeting
people from different backgrounds, they feel that they do not

match with the students they perceive to be better than them and
this can affect their level of happiness significantly. Trying to
fit in and feel accepted is really a problem many young people
face on an almost daily basis in school and as a result, as Knapp
et al. stated, “… first year students often drop out and that an
unfinished degree can be harmful to both universities and
students, it is important to develop a better understanding of the
social-psychological dynamics related to university students’
first year experiences, and we do so using a person-environment
fit.” (3). This clearly shows that the issue of fitting in has been
a bone of contention but clearly it is a defining factor of
happiness in college students.
The aforementioned factors that determine the level of
happiness can affect anyone. However, those are not the only
factors that contribute to change in happiness. Generally, if an
action or a situation brings negative implications on an
individual, then they are likely to be less happy. Some of the
causes of unhappiness are manageable and thus, sometimes a
person might have to seek some help from other people who can
help them become happy once more. The negative implications
of unhappiness in college students might lead to poor
performance in class work, depression, drug and substance
abuse, and even quitting school. It is for these reasons that
colleges have platforms that aim at helping students undergoing
phases of unhappiness. These include guidance and counseling
programs, therapy sessions, and psychiatric evaluations to
mention but a few (Stevens para. 5). Happiness should start as a
personal initiative where a person focuses on themselves and
tries to change what they can and accept what they cannot in
order to stay happy.
Happiness is of great importance to college students because it
really affects their personal and social life. A student is always
unhappy is likely to have low productivity in their school work
and might not be able to participate in any other designated

school projects. Change of happiness as earlier stated is
undesirable, and more research should be done in this area so as
to devise new ways to help the college students overcome the
obstacles. It is hard to always be happy, that would be an ideal
situation, but that does not mean that people should not strive to
be happy. The importance of the argument, in this case, is to
create awareness to the college students who have never thought
deeply about their state of happiness, and also show them that
there is still hope for them to become happy once more by
seeking help from the relevant sources.
Works Cited
Garaigordobil, Maite. "Predictor Variables of Happiness and its
Connection with Risk and Protective Factors for Health."
Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 6, no. 1176, 2015, pp. 1-10.
Educational Psychology,
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01176
Graham, Carol et al. "Does Happiness Pay? An Exploration
Based on Panel Data from Russia." Journal of Economic
Behavior and Organization, vol. 55, no. 3, 2004, pp. 319–342,
APA PsychNET, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2003.09.002
Karaşar, Burcu, and Baytemir, Kemal. "Need for Social
Approval and Happiness in College Students: The Mediation
Role of Social Anxiety." Universal Journal of Educational
Research, vol. 6, no. 5, 2018, pp. 919-927. ERIC, DOI:
10.13189/ujer.2018.060513
Knapp, Joshua R., et al. “Where and How Does Fitting in
Matter? Examining New Students’ Perceived Fit with their
University, Instructors, and Classmates.” Journal of College
Student Retention: Research, Theory, & Practice, vol.
2017,August 2017, pp. 1-33.
JOUR,https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318826995
Lesani, Azadesh et al. "Happiness Among College Students: A
Cross-Sectional Web-Based Study Among Iranian Medical
Students." Biotech Health Science, vol. 3, no. 2, 2016, pp. 1-6.
ResearchGate, doi: 10.17795/bhs-36029
Mehrdadi, Amir et al. "Factors Affecting Happiness: A Cross-

Sectional Study in the Iranian Youth. “Journal of Clinical and
Diagnostic Research, vol. 10, no. 5, 2016, pp. 1-3. PMC,
https://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2016/17970.7729
Raglin, John S. “Exercise and Mental Health: Beneficial and
Detrimental Effects.” Sports Medicine, vol.9, no. 6,1990, pp.
323-329. https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-199009060-0001
Stevens, Tom G. “Coping with Unhappiness, Depression, and
Low Motivation.” Accessed March 19, 2020,
http://web.csulb.edu/~tstevens/depression.htm
1
Humor is a Weapon That Keeps College Students Happy
Humor is the act of making some funny jokes to make people
laugh. When a person smiles, even if they were angry about
something, they will tend to forget it. For college students who
are angry over some issues, I find laughter to be the best
weapon for them to forget their anger. For example, athletic
students may come from a competition where they did not win.
It makes them gloomy because of the thought. Therefore, humor
can be the best medicine for them.
Humor has been difficult to analyze over time. If a joke is
mentioned and people do not laugh, then the joker has to
explain it, which makes it less of a joke and more of an
elaboration. Hence, people will not laugh as they were supposed
to. Humor is a social phenomenon that is enjoyable and pleasant
when enjoyed by a group of people. For example, when
watching something funny alone, one cannot laugh as much as
they would when with a group of people. Thus, the question of
interest is, can laughter defuse anger in college students and
bring happiness? The problem is crucial because it helps in the
understanding of how humor can get rid of anger. The college
athletic team might disagree with the thesis because they feel
like the anger they have can only disappear with time and not
with the help of humor.

Most people do not believe that humor can defuse anger and
bring happiness, but research has been done on the field and
found that laughter is indeed a weapon. Satisfaction is not only
shown by laughter, but also with smiles and grins. Humor is a
form of communication where the person experiencing the
humor passes it on to others for them to laugh. Thus, for it to
work, the audience must be a group of many people.
Humor is vital in keeping college students happy because they
will tend to make a joke out of every bad situation. For
instance, if the athletic students are a bit in a competition, they
can make fun of the moments they experienced, and no one will
be angry about the experience. Staying as a group is also
important because one will not find someone to laugh with if
they are alone. Also, people grow stronger and healthier when
they laugh because they will not have time to think of bad
moments that can stress them.
Overall, to make humor essential tools to release anxiousness
and stresses for college students, humor should be
understandable. For one to laugh when humor is presented, they
must first be able to understand what is said. So, humor should
be composed using understandable words for every individual in
a group to interpret it and laugh. Thus, laughter is a weapon and
a form of communication that is important in a college setup.
Investigating Happiness at College
SNAPSHOT:
TOPIC Either a specific group related to college or a
factor within
college life that possibly affects a specified group of
college
students or students in general.

PITCH Present your topic and your research question
to the class—
shark tank! Sound too scary? How about guppy tank
?).
Tentative due date: 2/5 & 2/7
ESSAY 1 The prospectus and the annotated
bibliography.
Tentative due date: 2/21
ESSAY 2 Change in your topic or conducting your
own study
ESSAY 3 Argument about a specific controversy
within your topic
ESSAY 4 Answers and argues your refined research
question about the
importance of your topic.
♥ Rough drafts with reflections about what is working
and not working and
WHY will be required for the prospectus and essays
2 and 3. The work
on the rough draft and the reflections will count
toward your essay grade.

♥ Final reflections submitted the class period after you
submit your final
draft for essays 2-4 will also count as part of your
essay grade.
♥ You will upload your drafts on Moodle. You will
be asked to identify the
portions of the sources you used and submit hard
copies of your sources
in a folder or files of your sources online.
Investigating Happiness at College:
Some questions that will help you form your own
research
questions:
● Is happiness a necessity or a perk in college life?
● What do the expectations of happiness and the
pursuit of
happiness reveal about a specific college group,
college
students in general, or another college-related group?
● Considering both on-campus factors and off-campus
factors
(at least at first), what most influences your group’s
happiness (or unhappiness)?
● Is there one major factor (on campus or off
campus) you
would want to investigate that affects students’

happiness?
● How do the expectations about happiness that
society has in
general or a certain specific segment of society (for
instance, parents) has, relate to college or college
students?
● How much do preconceived notions and expectations
about
college life affect student happiness?
● Hard work is hard to enjoy. So how do students
balance that
hard work with the other joys of life?
This semester you will be investigating happiness and
some aspect of college life. You will either pick
some SPECIFIC GROUP you are interested in
studying. Here are some examples of a SPECIFIC
GROUP : first-year athletes (or better: freshman
football redshirts), sorority members, RAs, members of
religious groups, art students, students who work on
campus, international students (or better: Puerto
Rican college students), cafeteria workers, and so
forth.
OR you will investigate a certain aspect of college
life that FACTORS into either the overall college
students’ happiness or some segment of college
students’ happiness. Here are some examples of
FACTORS : technology, parking, textbooks, teaching
style, major selection, on-campus jobs, work,

parental pressure, procrastination, and so forth—though
I would suggest tying these to a specific group,
such as first-year students or early admission students,
I won’t require it.
Just note : it is better to start too specifically on a
narrow GROUP or FACTOR ; then, if the need
arises,
you can broaden the GROUP or FACTOR . You
might start your investigation with Puerto Rican
students, but find you have to expand it to students
from US territories, then students whose first
language is Spanish, and so forth.
Note that it is usually more interesting to study a
group that you are not a member of or that you
want to
understand better; however, this is not a requirement.
MOST IMPORTANTLY : FOLLOW WHAT
YOU ARE MOST INTERESTED IN—BEING
INTERESTED IN YOUR TOPIC MAKES A HUGE
DIFFERENCE FOR HOW YOUR SEMESTER GOES!
ENGLISH 102: RESEARCH ASSIGNMENTS
● The Pitch
● Prospectus & Annotated Bibliography Essay 1
● Essays 2 & 3
● Essay 4
THE PITCH (tentative due date 2/5 & 2/7)

You will make a minute-long pitch in class (each
class decided to do this method). You will justify
your
planned topic and why you want to research it. You
will center the pitch around your research question.
By the time you submit your pitch, you will have
familiarized yourself with preliminary research about
your topic to get a general view of it and its
viability. What is the question about your topic that
you
want an answer to this semester? What have you
found in your preliminary research about it? Why is
it
valuable to research and study this specific topic?
Think Shark Tank--or how about guppy tank .
PROSPECTUS & ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ESSAY
1 (tentative due date 2/21)
1) In the Prospectus (500-750 words/MLA format),
you will explain your research topic for the semester
and what you plan to do for each essay. The
prospectus is more informal and you can use “I” in
it; it
won’t include sources because you should be writing
it from your general knowledge of the topic
without referring to specific sources. See pages 215-
18 in C&RG and my guidelines below. Note that
this is not just something you can write from the
top of your head. This takes a lot of legwork and
preliminary thinking, discussing, and research to be
sure it is a viable topic with viable mini-topics for
essays 2 and 3.

2) The annotated bibliography is a list of sources
that will serve as the foundation for your research
this
semester. It is a list of at least 10 sources (see
the specific requirements below) in MLA Works Cited
style, but in addition to the source information, you
provide information about the sources such as author
information and context, the type of source it is, a
summary of the source, quick evaluation, specific
sections that are of interest, your reactions to it,
and how you might use this in your essays this
semester.
See the specific directions in C&RG 219-220 about
multi-source annotated bibs and my example that is
linked in the assignment when we did our first
annotated bib entry. Please note, that the summary of
the
source must be your own summary—you cannot just
use the abstract that comes with the article!
Plagiarism rules apply! In each entry think: context ,
main point, summary, evaluation, and reflection
about how it might work into your essays this
semester.
The bibliography must contain the following types of
sources, but you are welcome and encouraged to
have more:
● at least 4 scholarly secondary sources (from
academic journals)
● at least 1 other secondary source (reliable but not
necessarily scholarly)
● at least 2 nonfiction primary sources

● at least 1 creative primary source
● the remaining sources should be reliable and
appropriate for academic essays.
WHAT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR PROSPECTUS
Introduction
See the section about the prospectus in the
Composition and Rhetoric Guide for more specific
help.
Describe your group or the factor you are
investigating and the connection to happiness. Why
you chose this group or factor and what about it
interests you. Say what you hope to argue/prove
OR, best, present your research question. You might
find writing and reviewing this paragraph
helps you with your pitch.
Each Body section 1-3 should develop most of the
following areas:
What you hope to discover/prove in this essay or
your limited research question geared to this
essay and any necessary explanation that will help
your audience. What opposition might say
(and perhaps how you might persuade them). What
specific categories of sources you might
look for and what sources do you already plan to
use. What primary sources you might use to
illustrate your point. What troubles you anticipate
having.
Body Section 1 (this corresponds to Essay 2-- make

sure you review the prompt for this essay below
before you tackle this !). For this essay you’ll have
two choices:
Option 1: explain a significant change in the group
or factor related to happiness and what you might
argue about it.
Option 2: You’ll do your own study on your
topic, and then in an essay modeled off a scholarly
research article, you will report what previous
scholars have said, how you conducted your study,
your findings from your own field research, and your
conclusions based on your research.
*For both options, you’ll discuss what type of field
study you are planning to conduct to gather
first-hand information and why you plan to use that
type.
Body Section Two (this corresponds to Essay 3--make
sure you review the prompt for this essay below!)
identifies and explains a controversial issue within
your topic and how you will tackle the argument.
Body Section Three (this corresponds to Essay 4--
make sure you review the prompt for this essay
below!)
explain why your research is important to pursue
and what impacts it might reveal. This essay will
try

to answer in an argument your main research
question for the semester. Also consider why your
audience should care about the group/factor you
focused on and what is the impact of your
findings on the group itself, students, colleges, and
possibly communities? You may also end up
discussing some of the implications for the future.
Conclusion
Why it is worth studying? Why is it important to
study? Overall opposition/what different sides will
say? Return to your thesis or research question and
consider what you think you’ll discover and
why.
Your annotated bibliography will then follow on a
new page but will be submitted in the same file as
the
prospectus.
ESSAYS 2-3, OVERALL REQUIREMENTS
● Each essay must make a well-supported argument
with well-integrated sources and be
based on the assigned prompts below. To get a
passing grade: you must support an
arguable thesis based on your own thoughts about
your topic and the sources you have
read and the research you have conducted; each must
also be a 1,000-1,300 words, have 5-6
sources minimum (see the individual requirements for

each essay) that are cited in the style
required for each essay. See the syllabus about the
other requirements as far as rough
draft, final draft, and revision submissions.
● Sources must be well-integrated in the text of the
essay with the use of direct quotation,
summary, and paraphrase as well as in-text citations.
A Works Cited must be included, and
though it is the last page of your essay it does
not count as part of the word requirement!
● You will upload your drafts on Moodle.
● You will be asked to identify the portions of the
sources you used and submit hard copies of
your sources in a folder or files of your sources
online.
● Be sure to review the rubrics and checklist in
The Composition and Rhetoric Guide as you
draft and revise!
ESSAY 2: ARGUMENT/1,000 WORDS/6 INTEGRATED
SOURCES/MLA/WORKS CITED
(tentative due date 3/16)
Option 1: Argue a significant change in the group
or factor related to happiness.
Option 2: You’ll do your own study on your

topic, and then in an essay modeled off a scholarly
research article, you will report what previous
scholars have said, how you conducted your study,
your findings from your own field research, and your
conclusions based on your research.
Things to consider if you are writing about change:
Have things always been this way? If not, what
sparked a change? What caused the problem/issue to
begin or become significant? What kind of impact
did the significant change have on members of your
selected group or on the impression of the factor
you are focused on? How do current college students
reflect/or not reflect this change?
If you are going to conduct your own study,
you’ll figure out the best way to try to collect
information
about the group or factor, how you’ll conduct your
study, how you plan to collect information from the
subjects you are studying. You’ll also consider what
other researchers have found as you figure this all
out. Finally, you’ll make some conclusions about your
findings.
Required minimum source guidelines:
● at least 1 scholarly secondary source from an
academic journal
● at least 1 secondary nonfiction book source (does
not need to be scholarly)
● at least 1 field research primary source that you
conducted yourself.
● at least 1 primary nonfiction source or at least 1
creative media primary

source (try to have both of these because you’ll be
more likely to meet the
final essay 4 required sources)
● a reliable source of any type (student’s choice) that
is appropriate for an
academic audience and purpose
ESSAY 3: ARGUMENT/1,000 WORDS/5 INTEGRATED
SOURCES/MLA & APA/WORKS
CITED & REFERENCES
For the third research essay, you will make a formal
argument regarding a controversial issue within
your topic having to do with the group or factor
you have been studying this semester. This will be
an
academic essay, but if you wish you could gear
your argument to your particular group or college
students in general. So for instance, if you are
studying how parents affect college student happiness,
you might choose to write to an audience of college
students to convince them of something about their
parents OR you might write to an audience of
parents to try to convince them of something about
their
college students. If you don’t want to aim toward a
specific audience, you’ll be writing to a general
audience.

Three scholarly secondary sources
Two primary
ESSAY 4: ARGUMENT/2,000 WORDS/MUST BE
SUBMITTED TO MOODLE/10
SOURCES/WORKS CITED
All of the same submission standards for Essays 2-3
listed above apply to this essay except the word
count and number of sources: 2000 words and a
minimum of 10 sources as listed below.
This essay is the culmination of all your work this
semester. Based on what you have learned this
semester, you will argue the role of happiness in
your group or how it relates to the factor you’ve
chosen. Can happiness factor into student success?
What is student success: social? academic?
self-confidence? resiliency? a good job? a proud
family? Should students expect to be happy most of
the
time in college? Alternatively, do students understand
that hard work and tough choices may lead to
greater happiness later? Should colleges (including
students) do more to promote happiness and
well-being? Should students care more about their own
foundational happiness? What are the
implications for the future? What needs to be studied
more?
You will be using parts of your other essays to
complete this one, BUT this should feel like a new

essay
and not just a copy and paste job! You most likely
have to do some new research to support your
thesis.
Seven scholarly (at least three academic journals)
Three primary (at least one creative source)
See my syllabus about what to do if Essay 1
doesn’t go well & revising Essays 2, & 3 for a
new grade
and the required procedure and last day of
submission for doing this. If you are unhappy with
your
grade, you should come to see me immediately and
use the writing center to get help. There is a
portfolio review option as well if you have made
improvements over the semester—see the explanation
in the Composition and Rhetoric Guide . Please ask
for help if you are feeling stuck!
REFLECTION PORTION OF YOUR ESSAY GRADE
You will be asked to submit a rough draft with a
detailed description of what you think is working
and not working and why. Failure to reflect in
depth will lower your essay grade and I will not
give
feedback on any essay that does not include this
detailed reflection. This draft and your reflections on
it

may count toward your overall grade on that essay.
When you finish a final draft of essays 2, 3, and
4, on the next class day, you will submit a
reflection
that’s at least three paragraphs that contain the
following:
♥ Paragraph 1: You will reflect on what’s working
and not working on the essay and WHY this is
and assign a letter grade to your essay that you
believe would be fair based on the final product
(not necessarily the effort you put into it)—you can
use the self-analysis rubric to guide you.
♥ Paragraph 2: You’ll discuss the decisions you made
during the writing of the essay, both on the
page and in how you allotted time and effort. So
you might discuss why you tried an informal
but catchy introduction and your decision to have a
two-paragraph conclusion with sources cited
in it, and then discuss that you really thought a lot
about writing the essay for the whole week but
when it came down to it you started to work on
the final draft at 9PM before it was due and you
ran out of time and energy.
♥ Paragraph 3: You’ll reflect on what you are
learning about writing and yourself as a writer.
Please be extra careful to follow my submission
instructions for drafts and final drafts.

1 Almibrad 1 Almibrad 3 Humor is a Weapon T.docx

1 Almibrad 1 Almibrad 3 Humor is a Weapon T.docx

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