I agree with the last commenter who said this professor needs more updated reviews. His class so far has been confusing and unorganized. The quiz questions are not based on the reading but rather on arbitrary things he says in lecture. It has been very annoying trying to keep up with this class when he's already changed the syllabus several times, and doesn't follow the reading schedule whatsoever. I find this unfair to students who take the time to complete long readings for class, only for it to be for nothing. Would not recommend taking, save yourself the stress. (unless you have a burning passion for Ralph Waldo Emerson)

I took English 168 with Professor Gallagher but it's not listed and his reviews need to be updated. He might have been a good TA but as a professor this class was a mistake. In terms of the lectures, he would talk for most of the time, often reading long sections of the texts and then randomly ask a question for which he had a very specific answer in mind and then get frustrated when no one gave him that answer. Similarly with the essays he was looking for very specific answers and told us himself that we all did badly because we didn't answer the question the way we wanted him to. There was very little room for interpretation or discussion in this class, and all of that along with some pointless response assignments that didn't contribute to anything made this feel extremely like a high school class. This class was in person, and at the beginning of the quarter he said it wasn't mandatory to attend every class, but then when people started not showing up he made it mandatory to come in by withholding the second essay prompt and only having it on a piece of paper that he handed out and never posted it online. We were also immediately behind on the syllabus because of how long he took talking about each novel which made him have to assign an essay that should have been turned in during week 8 during finals week along with a lengthy take home exam. The class wasn't too difficult, Professor Gallagher was just incredibly frustrating and I didn't feel like I got anything out of attending class.

Mark Russell Gallagher is, in a word, inspirational. One of the best English professors you will ever have at UCLA

Mark Gallagher is, in a word, inspirational. One of the best English professors you will ever have at UCLA (although he's still a graduate student.) Loved taking American literature with him and Professor Colacurcio (also highly recommended.)

My section was great. We had a lot of good conversations. He gets you thinking about the reading. He also does this thing where he walks around the classroom most of the time. It's kind of funny, kind of throws you off, too, but in a good way. And the thing somebody else said about his Boston Accent is sooo true!

Mark is freaking brilliant. He knows his stuff, knows just about everything about Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. What I liked most about him as a teacher is that he is always asking basic questions, like he knows what questions you want to ask and asks them for you. Really clarifies what is said in lecture. He's helpful in office hours, too. Gives a lot of advice for papers. Will talk your ear off though.

Professor Gallagher is a nice guy and I can tell he's very passionate about his field; however, his class was quite disorganized. He spent a lot of time on each text, so he inevitably reduced the readings from the syllabus and covered Moby Dick in a week and a half. The vast majority of the course was allocated to Ralph Waldo Emerson, and even when we moved on to other writers, Emerson was continuously brought up in lectures. Another thing that frustrated me was how much of this class was based on memorization and specificity. I'm used to essays carrying most of the grading weight in my English classes; yet, the only assigned essay was an extra-credit paper due at the end of the quarter. We had a written take-home midterm and final, but they were primarily based on specific things from lectures as opposed to individual interpretations of the text. The quizzes and in-person final were also hyperspecific, comprising of cryptically-framed questions. These tests were usually true-or-false, but this format didn't help combat overthinking. Amidst the extreme attentiveness to details, I would write down everything said during lecture - only to still lack confidence in my ability to do well on the quizzes and in-person final. Besides the exam questions, Gallagher isn't a difficult grader. Most people do well on the written midterm and final - just make sure you follow the instructions and don't procrastinate because the written exams are lengthy (4 questions, with each response being 500-1,000 words). Gallagher also allows you to drop one quiz and offers many extra-credit opportunities that can help alleviate poor performance on tests. It's possible to do well in this class, but I wouldn't recommend taking him if you're a bad test-taker. Even if you don’t mind exams, this course can accumulate a lot of stress and frustration for its uncertainty.