This assignment is a paper, although that is not explicitly stated. Therefore, it is a writing assignment. However, the assignment lacks specificity because it does not tell students the length of the paper. Also, the requirement that students cover every theorist in the course, makes it likely that students will only be able to provide a short section on each theorist, which doesn't foster as much critical thinking. The assignment could be improved if the writing requirements were spelled out and students were asked to write about a few theoriest in-depth. It would also help if the instructor specified which theorists he/she thought were important to give students guidance before they begin the writing process.

This is not an assignment that asks students to explore resources beyond the course materials. Therefore, it does not include a research component and does not fulfill the information literacy requirement. If the professor asked students to provide contrasting points of view of humor obtained from the literature or asked students to learn more about humor theorists using materials obtained in the library or using Web resources, it would then be considered to be an information literacy assignment also.