I took WAC 33: Tribal Worldviews (Winter 2010) and really liked it. The lectures are entertaining and he really engages the students to have a dialogue about the material we are discussing. He is funny, VERY sarcastic, and witty and I believe those are some attributes that make him such a positive role model and a phenomenal professor. He is stern in his requirements and only want the best from his students. I, however, didn't do too well and could have done better but there is always room for improvement and the grade I got was the one I deserved and I believe that is fair. I definitely recommend taking any of David Shorters' classes; making sure it's the right class you want to take, if you want to gain more insight about the world, be entertained, and befriend a great professor that might one day write a phenomenal recommendation letter for you. Also, keep in mind everyone's experiences are different and you have to take everything with a grain of salt so don't be frightened by others comments about Prof. Shorter. Good Luck!!!

Like someone said below, he puts on a very scary front in the beginning but as the quarter progresses, he's not that bad. He definitely has some quirks in teaching style and likes to stick to them (I doubt he'd change his ways unless there was a full-scale student riot about it) but as long as you do the assignments, the readings (he gives pop quizzes which can make or break your grade), and pay attention to the formatting guidelines, it's not that hard to do well in the class. He really just wants everyone to learn and be as engaged as possible. Sure, he's intimidating and he'd probably benefit from loosening up a bit but he's also sarcastically funny and entertaining to listen to. Pay attention to the things he says but don't psyche yourself out by stressing too much on the little things. His straight point-based grading system sucks a little but at the very least he's fair and as long as you do decent work, you should be fine.

I'm a first year this year, and I took WAC33 my winter quarter 2013. I spent all of my time going to the TA sections, which were helpful when writing papers. Despite his strict writing requirements, it really does make the paper sound better in the final product. He's one of those professors who will recognize your hard work, and give you the grade that you work for. There are a lot of readings, but it all comes together and makes a lot of sense. You must have an open mind about religion and culture. I read a post saying, that this was a hard class but worth it in the end, and I could not agree more, which is why I decided to leave a comment about Shorter. The TAs are nice, he is a good lecturer, but I never really spoke to him in person for longer than a few minutes. He replies to e-mails. He's am intelligent man in his fieldwork of indigenous groups. Be prepared for the two papers. He has EC opportunities!!! And he lets you re-write the first paper, the Gill paper. On my first paper I got a -1.5/20 all because of "grammatical" errors. Then, a 3/20. Then on my last rewrite I got 18/20. It's worth it though. And the final paper, I got a 25/25. Ended up with an A+. If you can write, or like to, and want to delve into cultural differences, self-reflection, and meditate at the beginning of class, etc. Take the class. Your writing will improve, even if you think you're a stellar writer... If you have questions or seek advice on the writing style, email me at kristyishii@gmail.com.

Professor: Shorter really is an interesting person. Although he can seem one sided at times, Shorter genuinely cares about his students and makes himself relatively available, whether he responds to your email as thoroughly as possible or actually engages with you in his office hours. Though Shorter does remember faces and names so if you are dozing off in his class, which he understands from time to time or your that kid that sits in the back with nothing to contribute, Shorter will focus less time on you when you seek his help (which is understandable, he would rather go the extra mile for someone who actually is doing the work).

Work: Shorter assigns reasonable to large amounts of readings. Honestly, you are going to love some, you are going to be "eh" about some and then there are going yo be ones you just want to get over! Again, Shorter does understand this but he wants you to at least try and think what the assigned readings are trying to make you think about.

Lectures: About two hours long. Very interesting if you finished your readings. Try to take a nap or eat something before you go because the lectures tend to make you feel tired because Shorter dives deep into the material and will continue on with his agenda, respectfully, and keeping up with the Lecture can be exhausting. Note: There are no lecture slides posted online.

TA's: For Winter 2012 my TA was Peter Haffner and he was a really chill dude who has worked with Shorter before and knows that this class can come as a shock to some students and will work with you in class and out to help you get the grade you want.

Exams and essays: In-class midterm and final. Not simple regurgitating exams. Shorter advises you to use key terms that he has EMPHASIZED extensively throughout lectures. These exams have no surprises and Shorter and the TA's are not sneaky about grading. With that said, GRAMMAR GRAMMAR GRAMMAR!!!!!!!!! I cannot emphasize how much this can either boost your grade or bring down all your hard work.

Great class! Would highly recommend this class to all my friends.

I have so much to say about this class that I’ll break it down into sections for your ease. But first things first, this class isn’t really about aliens, psychics, and ghosts. Do not go in thinking that you’re going to come out a believer. You may, and we definitely covered content about different forms of evidence that can be considered, but he really uses Aliens, Psychics, and Ghosts as a medium to talk about culture and the world we live in. It's a method to another ends. We use these supernatural sources to talk about human rights, colonization, evidence, testimony, sexual assault, and so many other topics. You’ll be forced to question everything that you know, and wonder about the positivist education you’re receiving. You’ll probably have some bad existential moments where you feel sad about your place in the universe, and question why you do the things that you do, but this self-reflection is really important, and it makes this a truly worthwhile class. I won’t spoil too much, just know that you’ll leave with a new way of looking at and experiencing the world.
Professor: David Shorter is amazing. THE BEST lecturer that I have ever had. However, I’ll cover the lecture section later. I will say that he is a very eccentric personality. You will hate him at times, and you will love him at times. Sure he’s a great lecturer and is extremely engaging, but you will also hate all of his stupid writing rules. Some may say that he’s condescending, but I think that he’s hilarious. But the pros of this class outweigh the few negatives like the annoying grading rules.
Assignments/Grading: This class is graded on a straight scale. However, if you don’t get an A in this class, then it’s your own fault. You probably didn’t put in enough work. To get an A, you need above 91 points. There are 100 points available for the quarter. Fifteen points is from attendance, which is mandatory, although you can still miss a couple lectures and still receive full credit for that category. However, there’s also an extraordinary amount of extra credit. Literally over 20 points extra credit. If you put in the work, there’s no reason why you should not get an A. Of course, you do get points deducted like crazy. Watch out for the very first short analysis assignment. The average was somewhere around a 3/15, which will make people panic, but don’t worry, you can make it up with the extra credit. That first assignment is kind of a scare tactic to make you write better. He has a whole checklist of things to do and not to do, and if you follow them, then you do not lose point and you become better at writing. For example, no contractions. I literally was going to say “don’t” a line before, but Shorter’s training made me fix the contraction. There are lots of other points to watch out for such as use of “this is”, “there are”, run-ons, passive voice, etc. His checklist ensures clarity in your writing.
Workload: For a writing two class, the workload is very easy. You have one short analysis paper (3-5 pages), and then a final assignment that you build to. In this final assignment, you have an annotated bibliography (3-5 pages), you have an outline, you have a rough draft, a peer editor report, and then the final essay. They all revolve around the same topic, so it is really not that bad. The final paper is only 12 pages long which is definitely manageable and reasonable. The topics you get to talk about and do research on are extremely interesting, so I think that the assignments are very reasonable for a writing two class.
Lectures: This is why you take the class. THE BEST LECTURES I HAVE EVER HAD. First, this material is obviously a bit more interesting than most classes. All of the lectures go over class readings, and David gives so many good sources. We read Communion and the Super Natural by Whitley Strieber, and then Reinventing Medicine by Larry Dossey, plus random articles and sources that he pulls. I will say that this is a lot of reading, but you don’t have to do the reading. However, the class is so much more enriching if you actually do the readings. So many days I’d be overwhelmed with work to do, but I would still make sure to get my readings done because this was really a pleasure class that I wanted to get the most out of. You will first start out watching a bunch of videos, and the videos are cool and all, but the lectures are so much better. We literally just sit in a room for two hours and just talk. I literally have never leaned forward and listened so attentively in a lecture trying to write down everything that David said because it’s just so mind blowing! I’m sure you want to hear some examples, but it’s better if you just take the class and hear it from David. He’s a fantastic moderator, but he also knows how to play the audience. His best work is when he uses silence. He takes these long pauses to just let something he just said sink in. He is also quick on his feet and answer with a rebuttal in a dramatic yet convincing fashion. I don’t know if he has taken acting lessons before, but he knows how to work an audience. I never leave lecture not thinking “Wow!” about something I heard in lecture. Plus, we meditate too, which I really appreciated this quarter. He also has a killer taste in music. He’s shared his playlist for the quarter with us, and it is absolute fire. Each lecture is truly an experience, and I’m sad that it was only twice a week.
Discussion: You have to meet twice a week which kind of sucks. One class is dedicated to writing, while the other class is dedicated to class content. I had a fantastic TA, and a big part of your experience with the class is who is in your discussion sections. My TA fostered some really great conversations and provided lots of really interesting supplementary readings and sources, so I had a great experience. Plus, my discussion section had many people who had really insightful views that made discussion always worthwhile to go to.
This class is popular and legendary for a reason. If somehow you can get into the class, take it. You will not regret it. Easy writing two? Fantastic! Interesting material and engaging lectures? Perfect. The expansion in how you think and see the world? Priceless. This is a game changer. You’re never going to talk about that random English class you took in college, but you’ll definitely talk about this class. It’s a wild journey, and it’s by far the best class that I have taken at UCLA so far.

This was one of my favorite and most memorable classes at UCLA. I initially signed up because I needed a writing class, and had a general interest in science-fiction. However, I was really impressed by what I got out of this course. It's not just about writing- in fact, I would argue it's actually MOSTLY about learning to think in new ways and challenging the process of how we perceive information. I would definitely recommend the class and the professor. David Shorter is an engaging speaker and thinker.

Incredibly arrogant and hateful of students; This professor uses fear tactics to call on students; I don't know why he is a faculty member considering how much he hates students; On the first day of class, he gave a whole speech of how he doesn't care if students don't come prepared to class or do the reading and yet he'll scold the students who try to leave (I thought he didn't care); He is a a very unusual WAC professor because most WAC professors are nice and enjoys interacting with students, he does not.

WAITLIST DOESN'T GET ENROLLED. Made an account just to help some homies. If you wanna confirm, call the World Arts Department. Here's the website (phone number found here): https://www.wacd.ucla.edu/

This class teaches you how to write effectively. Even if you're just a decent writer, as long as you follow his guidelines by writing with a strong analytical viewpoint and proofreading your essays like he tells you to in class, you should be able to get full credit on the essays. Getting full points is not some sort of elusive dream. You just need to take the time to develop a strong thesis that has 2-3 main supporting arguments, use command+F to find all the off-limit words or phrases and remove them, and read over your essay more than once to make sure there are no grammatical mistakes. Professor Shorter and the TAs even give you guidelines and explicit instructions on how to write from a strong analytical viewpoint while avoiding obvious mistakes. This means that actually doing the readings makes things a lot easier, because you have a better idea of how to construct your arguments to fit the format. Also, you don't have to go to your TA for the grammar of your paper as long as you follow the guidelines, but you can run your ideas by them to see what they think about the strength of your thesis. If you care about learning how to write effectively while discussing an interesting subject matter, then you should take this class. In the end, I guess it all comes to time management and whether you're willing to invest the time needed to get the grade you want. If you want an A, Professor Shorter presents a very clear idea of the path to achieve this.

Here's a breakdown of the class.

Books we read this quarter:
Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience by Stanton Friedman and Kathleen Marden
Communion: A True Story by Whitley Strieber
The Super Natural by Whitley Strieber and Jeffrey Kripal
These texts are subject to change, especially Captured, if you're planning on buying these books before the start of the quarter. All 3 can also be found online.

Essays:
1 short analysis (4 pages) of a video from a list provided by Professor Shorter (video lengths range from 10 minutes to over an hour). 15 points.
1 author analysis (5 pages) of Captured! 20 points.
1 author analysis (5 pages) of Communion 20 points.
1 final paper introduction (1 page). This was graded separately from the final paper, but represents an outline of your intended final paper. 5 points.
1 final paper with a variety of options to choose from for the subject matter (7-9 pages) (most people chose to write an author analysis of The Super Natural). 25 points.

Other Readings:
We were assigned a number of other readings that mostly included excerpts from books. I wish we had read Larry Dossey's Reinventing Medicine in its entirety because the chapters we did get to read were very interesting.

Class time:
The beginning of the quarter involved many videos, but as the class progressed, Professor Shorter shifted the focus to a more discussion-based class experience. This meant more back-and-forth between Shorter and the students, and between the students themselves. Shorter was very good with facilitating these captivating discussions.

Discussion:
Two 50-minute discussions per week, one based on writing, and the other based on class content. This is subject to change, potentially to one 2-hour discussion per week. TAs were very good with promoting meaningful discussions.
Combined attendance for lecture and discussion: 15 points (you can miss a total of 4 combined lectures and/or discussions and still get full credit).

Overall:
I would recommend this class to any student looking for a very interesting GE who is willing to put in the time to achieve a good grade. For reference, I'm a south campus major and this class was 5 of my 21 units for the fall quarter. Hope this review helps future students.

First off, what an amazing, considerate professor. At the beginning of the last lecture, he shook hands with everyone who was present. He demonstrates amazing character and care for not only our academics but our wellbeings as well (definitely appreciated the meditation sessions at the beginning of class).

Now, here is an honest review from a STEM premed major (as the majority of the class was I believe) who cares about his grades, although not to the point where I would ask the professor for more credit to boost my grade as it would be disrespectful to do so.

1. If you are genuinely interested in aliens, psychics, ghosts, or just about any paranormal phenomena (meaning that you are not in the class just for your GPA), take this class.
2. If you want to take this class for an "easy A," definitely reconsider. Even though the grading scheme had changed, I knew where my writing level stands, so I figured that I would be okay. I recommend taking a few Writing IIs before taking this class, just so you have some experience following what a college professor/TA wants from you.
3. These new reviews for Fall 2018 are generally accurate. He does not give a crapload of extra credit like before. Then again, if you follow the directions on assignments and take into account feedback from your TAs, you should be fully capable to do well. He still offers a good amount of extra credit (I ended up with about 5-6 points at the end, which tally up to 5-6% points to your final grade since 1 point= 1%). I did not even do every extra credit opportunity, so you may even get more than that. For advice with the extra credit, I would treat them as making up for mistakes you make on assignments, not to give you less work to do at the end of the quarter. General advice for writing classes: really figure out what your TA wants, what mistakes you make in writing, and fixing those mistakes for the next assignments. Past reviews have stated that they did not even need to do the final paper to get an A. This scheme is just not the case anymore.
4. If you like talking in lecture and discussing, this is the class for you. Professor Shorter loves contributions from students, and he remembers those who participate a lot, so definitely worth your time if you want to get to know this stallion of a man better.
5. Professor Shorter himself is thought-provoking, and really rounded out my learning experience here at UCLA. I never realized how prevalent aliens or ghosts are until I took this class. His stories/experiences/lectures are fun to listen, and they really made this class enjoyable for me.
6. This class requires a decent amount of work. I say out of all my work allocated to this quarter, I probably spent about 40% of it to WAC 51W. The assignments include a considerable amount of writing and reading, although Professor Shorter is open to feedback and will consider pushing back dates when appropriate. If you like to read about such phenomena, take this class. The readings are interesting, and Professor Shorter's insights have definitely made this class more fun and mind-blowing.
7. Your grade mainly depends on the TAs. Luckily, I think this quarter had amazing TAs, though I personally am partial to my awesome TA (shoutout to Ariel).

Overall, WAC 51W is a unique class that you will not find anywhere else. Take advantage of being a UCLA student, and take this class with Professor Shorter. You won't, or should I say "will not," regret choosing this class to fulfill your Writing II credit. Approach this class with the mentality that everything you want you have to earn.