Is there room for humor in academic papers?

Many academicians seem to be part of a stodgy group that lacks a sense of humor, especially when it comes to academic writing. For instance, according to Jacobs (2014), "For academics, scaling mountains of social research papers can be an exhausting, dry undertaking. The sober jargon and conceptual leaps often fall flat, and there's rarely an entertaining or revelatory moment in the long trajectory from thesis to conclusion."

These observations suggest that academic papers are crying out for humor, but as Jacobs points out, "[W]hile humor is often seen as a useful variable for analysis, academics generally shy away from employing it in their own research. According to a new paper (aptly titled 'A Sociologist Walks Into a Bar...') in Sociology that puts up an epic argument for comedy's important role in social science [and that] sociologists that do wade into more amusing territory 'may find themselves dismissed as lightweight and trivial.'"

Indeed, a study by Sagi and Yechiam found that peer-reviewed journal articles that even had humorous titles were cited 30% less frequently than others: "Articles with highly amusing titles received fewer citations. The negative association between amusing titles and subsequent citations cannot be attributed to differences in the title length and pleasantness, number of authors, year of publication, and article type (regular article vs comment)."

Being a natural-born smartass, I've wanted to write something funny in research papers (when appropriate) as a freelance writer on many occasions but have largely resisted the temptation due to the above factors. When I was writing my own research papers in college, though, I'd use humor all the time to good effect but I knew my professors and they knew me so they weren't surprised and some of them even told me (albeit privately) how much they enjoyed reading them.

Moreover, all humans (even teachers == despite their stodgy reputation) appear to be hard-wired for humor. A study by Fry concluded that, "No person or group of persons has been found to be without a sense of humor, except on a temporary basis due to a dire personal or national tragedy which for the time being has caused an eclipse of humor. . . . This demonstrated ubiquity of humor is compatible with the contemporary view of how deeply humor is bred into human existence."

Certainly, there is no place for humor in academic papers about serious topics such as global warming, terrorism or abortion, but some topics readily lend themselves to humor. On the one hand, the temptation is real but the outcome remains uncertain in academia. On the other hand, there are always openings in Burbank..

The Alpher, Bethe, Gamow Paper.

Although he was criticized for it at the time, the use of humor (at least in the title) appears to have worked for Gamow since this study is still being discussed nearly 70 years later. According to Hauptman (2007), "George Gamow, a prominent physicist who led a parallel life as a cartoonist, light versifier, and author of children's books, evidently possessed an impish sense of humor" (p. 168). It was apparently this "impish sense of humor" that compelled Gamow to include Bethe's name just so the study could be called "the Alpher Bethe Gamow paper" which is also commonly referred to as "the alpha, beta, gamma paper" (Hauptman, 2007, p. 168). The Wikipedia entry for this paper indicates that another collaborator, R. C. Herman, "stubbornly refused to change his name to Delter." Now THAT would have been a knee-slapper.

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References

Hauptman, D. (2007, May). When I hear the word 'culture,' I reach for my pun! Word Ways, 40(2), 168-171.

Yes, there is room for humor in academic papers. Yes, professors acknowledge that these papers can be drier than cardboard at times. Which is why they often include an opening for creative and comical situations in the instructions for the research paper. I have found that when I inject some sort of humor into the research paper of a student, the professor tends to give it a better grade. I believe that is because the paper removes the redundancy of the information and presentation, leading to a lighter mood for the professor. He also tends to remember the name of the student who makes him laugh on paper, leading to a better grade for the student when the professor finally connects the name with a face in the classroom.

Humor has its place in academic writing. It all depends upon the topic that is being written about. If you are doing a paper in relation to film study or creative writing, then, I believe, those are the best types of papers to inject humor into. Scientific papers and opinion papers of a serious nature should not be turn into humorous reading, unless it is a parody. It is important that the focus of the paper, and the information or opinion being presented, is taken seriously by the reader.