ENGL 4W
Critical Reading and Writing
Description: Lecture, four hours. Enforced requisite: English Composition 3 or 3H or English as a Second Language 36. Introduction to literary analysis, with close reading and carefully written exposition of selections from principal modes of literature: poetry, prose fiction, and drama. Minimum of 15 to 20 pages of revised writing. Satisfies Writing II requirement. Letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - The class consisted of 3 pretty substantial close-reading essays, each worth a slightly higher grade percentage than the last (20%, 25%, 30%). Grading is pretty subjective so that if you show a lot of improvement from the first essay to the last, you'll get a better grade. The content of this class is chosen by the professor, Oriah chose the theme to be "strangeness" and so we read about aliens and mysteries etc. Stuff like Poe, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the play Gaslight. You'll have to closely read stuff, and it is a lot of reading. The class is small and very discussion-oriented so you will need to participate. My tips for doing well: write your rough draft early and bring it by office hours (Oriah is super helpful), communicate about accommodations ahead of time, actually read at least most of the books, show up, and participate. Do this and you'll do fine. At the end of the quarter, our final essay was due when everyone was going home for covid and she made it optional/grade could only help. She is really nice and accommodating, 11/10 recommend.
Winter 2020 - The class consisted of 3 pretty substantial close-reading essays, each worth a slightly higher grade percentage than the last (20%, 25%, 30%). Grading is pretty subjective so that if you show a lot of improvement from the first essay to the last, you'll get a better grade. The content of this class is chosen by the professor, Oriah chose the theme to be "strangeness" and so we read about aliens and mysteries etc. Stuff like Poe, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the play Gaslight. You'll have to closely read stuff, and it is a lot of reading. The class is small and very discussion-oriented so you will need to participate. My tips for doing well: write your rough draft early and bring it by office hours (Oriah is super helpful), communicate about accommodations ahead of time, actually read at least most of the books, show up, and participate. Do this and you'll do fine. At the end of the quarter, our final essay was due when everyone was going home for covid and she made it optional/grade could only help. She is really nice and accommodating, 11/10 recommend.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2016 - She was very helpful and helped me improve my writing. I enjoyed this class and highly recommend it for a Writing II requirement. Some of the books were a little long, but this class was enjoyable and even fun at times. I highly recommend taking this class. It has two essays and a rewrite for the final essay. It includes group work, but the work load is manageable. To do well in this class, go to every meeting, talk in class, and really listen to her suggestions. Also, if you are struggling or even if you aren't, go to her office hours. They help a lot and she is friendly.
Spring 2016 - She was very helpful and helped me improve my writing. I enjoyed this class and highly recommend it for a Writing II requirement. Some of the books were a little long, but this class was enjoyable and even fun at times. I highly recommend taking this class. It has two essays and a rewrite for the final essay. It includes group work, but the work load is manageable. To do well in this class, go to every meeting, talk in class, and really listen to her suggestions. Also, if you are struggling or even if you aren't, go to her office hours. They help a lot and she is friendly.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - Professor Ellen is really sweet and was a great professor. She was extremely helpful during office hours and made an effort to make sure we felt prepared to major assignments. The class itself was about as difficult as you would expect a college-level english course to be. We had two or three major grades based on readings, and Professor Ellen made sure to include many low-risk writing assignments throughout the quarter as well as a buffer to our grade (you did well on these low risk assignments as long as you tried). I have to admit the major essays were a little difficult, but if you dedicated enough time and effort to them and took advantage of the Professor's office hours then you would do well. Professor Ellen's grading style made it easy to get a B but difficult to get an A. The class is extremely discussion based which makes it pretty engaging over Zoom, and Professor does make an effort to try to make the course interesting and fun for everyone. Overall, would recommend this class.
Fall 2020 - Professor Ellen is really sweet and was a great professor. She was extremely helpful during office hours and made an effort to make sure we felt prepared to major assignments. The class itself was about as difficult as you would expect a college-level english course to be. We had two or three major grades based on readings, and Professor Ellen made sure to include many low-risk writing assignments throughout the quarter as well as a buffer to our grade (you did well on these low risk assignments as long as you tried). I have to admit the major essays were a little difficult, but if you dedicated enough time and effort to them and took advantage of the Professor's office hours then you would do well. Professor Ellen's grading style made it easy to get a B but difficult to get an A. The class is extremely discussion based which makes it pretty engaging over Zoom, and Professor does make an effort to try to make the course interesting and fun for everyone. Overall, would recommend this class.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2015 - This class was amazing, Professor Cassarino is so friendly and supportive. She really encourages you to speak up in class, and participation does count. However, the class sizes are small, which makes for a comfortable atmosphere and deep conversations. All assigned readings do need to be done and analyzed enough where you can talk about it for two hours. We had to write two essays, and had a final project. We were also required to discuss /post questions on the class blog site. Overall, if you work hard, read all the assigned readings, and have great time management (we had to close read about 20 poems in the first week and a half) then you should be fine. Professor Cassarino is so knowledgeable and her lecturing style is so unique and refreshing. Highly recommend this class, topics are interesting!
Spring 2015 - This class was amazing, Professor Cassarino is so friendly and supportive. She really encourages you to speak up in class, and participation does count. However, the class sizes are small, which makes for a comfortable atmosphere and deep conversations. All assigned readings do need to be done and analyzed enough where you can talk about it for two hours. We had to write two essays, and had a final project. We were also required to discuss /post questions on the class blog site. Overall, if you work hard, read all the assigned readings, and have great time management (we had to close read about 20 poems in the first week and a half) then you should be fine. Professor Cassarino is so knowledgeable and her lecturing style is so unique and refreshing. Highly recommend this class, topics are interesting!
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2015 - Prof. Caughey is great. One of the most unconventional yet educational English classes I've ever taken. Really cool, chill guy who fosters a casual environment (the class is usually only about 25 kids) but also expects a lot from his students. He has a unique grading scale that is based on accumulating points for the work that you do, rather than getting a grade on each assignment. Your final letter grade is equivalent to a range of points, so you are only working up to a grade rather than averaging out individually graded assignments. The more assignments you do, and the better you do on those assignments, the more points you will have and the higher your grade will be. Really cool system that de-emphasizes the importance of a single grade/assignment and encourages you to try hard on types of writing you excel at, but also to take a stab at writing assignments you might not be as good at knowing your attempt will only help your grade rather than hurt it. Highly encourage taking 4W with Prof. Caughey.
Fall 2015 - Prof. Caughey is great. One of the most unconventional yet educational English classes I've ever taken. Really cool, chill guy who fosters a casual environment (the class is usually only about 25 kids) but also expects a lot from his students. He has a unique grading scale that is based on accumulating points for the work that you do, rather than getting a grade on each assignment. Your final letter grade is equivalent to a range of points, so you are only working up to a grade rather than averaging out individually graded assignments. The more assignments you do, and the better you do on those assignments, the more points you will have and the higher your grade will be. Really cool system that de-emphasizes the importance of a single grade/assignment and encourages you to try hard on types of writing you excel at, but also to take a stab at writing assignments you might not be as good at knowing your attempt will only help your grade rather than hurt it. Highly encourage taking 4W with Prof. Caughey.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - Because it is an English course, you should expect a lot of reading and writing, but it was a fair amount, in my opinion. Enough to learn from, but not overwhelming in the slightest. Rebecca really knows how to look out for her students and dole out assignments fairly, as well as grade fairly. I learned a lot about writing, as well as critical reading, so this class was extremely useful, as well as engaging! If you want a good grade, just participate and do the assignments. It was extremely easy for me to do so because Rebecca made the class enjoyable. She's also super helpful and always there for anything!
Fall 2021 - Because it is an English course, you should expect a lot of reading and writing, but it was a fair amount, in my opinion. Enough to learn from, but not overwhelming in the slightest. Rebecca really knows how to look out for her students and dole out assignments fairly, as well as grade fairly. I learned a lot about writing, as well as critical reading, so this class was extremely useful, as well as engaging! If you want a good grade, just participate and do the assignments. It was extremely easy for me to do so because Rebecca made the class enjoyable. She's also super helpful and always there for anything!
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2017 - The professor is listed as Chism, but the actual person who taught my class was a TA grad student. The class was really engaging and it was small, so there was a lot of class discussion. The books we read were super interesting (Never Let Me Go, Golden Gate, etc. ) but the essays were graded kind of harshly. However, if you need to fulfill a Writing 2, this class is super interesting.
Spring 2017 - The professor is listed as Chism, but the actual person who taught my class was a TA grad student. The class was really engaging and it was small, so there was a lot of class discussion. The books we read were super interesting (Never Let Me Go, Golden Gate, etc. ) but the essays were graded kind of harshly. However, if you need to fulfill a Writing 2, this class is super interesting.
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