ENG L3193

Copied this from another poster, then modified to add a couple of details: 3 ~5-6 pg. papers, 1st paper has an option to revise up to full credit, everyone gets one 72-hour extension & then late penalty (which was 2% per day late, capped at 10%, very generous) - each paper was worth 20-25% Journal, P/F - 10% Participation - 20% Extra Credit Presentations at end of semester (very generous, up to 5% added overall to grade) about 4-6 hrs of reading per week (far fewer pages than many book-a-week English classes, Cassaro really broke things up), papers about 10-20 hrs of work, fair grader (a little tougher on the first essay than the others, but super generous upon revision), lots of helpful comments - totally possible to get an A even if you didn't get As on the papers!! (truly)

Unnecessarily high considering most people were taking it for a requirement. Typically one book a week + an 10 page article and some times an additional paper or movie

typical of a 4 credit barnard english class. a lot of time spent reading, but honestly moreso because of the difficulty of the texts (for me) as opposed to the quantity. for example, lacan's agency of the letter took me an absurd amount of time to get through, but pride and prejudice flew by. it really depends. a 1-2 page response paper due on a roughly weekly basis, with a few skips allowed, 8 required in total for the semester. 4 longer (probably 6-8 page) papers, with one being optional, or the option to write all four papers and have the lowest grade dropped.

There was a lot of reading every week, but sometimes Prof Hildebrand cut them out of acknowledgement of the workload, though I wouldn't rely on that. We read five novels, including Hamlet, Pride and Prejudice, Lucy, Passing, and Parable of the Sower, along with readings regarding literary criticism as pertaining to the novels. The syllabus has five essays listed (not for every novel, as the last is a revision of a previous essay), but she made the last one optional (not sure if that'll be the case going forward, so don't rely on that as well!). There were also weekly discussion posts on CourseWorks every week, due the day before class (Tuesday for my section on Wed) at 9 pm. My only grievance is that sometimes she made things due at 5 pm, which was a little stressful, but I don't think it would be the end of the world if you submitted after that as long as you reached out to her in advance-she's very understanding! She gives incredible feedback on essays, at least a document long with compliments and suggestions. Workload is definitely manageable as long as you spread the readings out, as sometimes they are fairly long. Great and worthwhile course with fascinating readings and an amazing professor-some other professors have very different syllabi for Critical Writing, so this may not applicable to every section. If you're interested in the sound of this one, I would recommend.

Lots of reading each week, but no more than the amount expected for a typical English course. Four essays written in total, which compose the entire grade, expect for participation, which can be stressful.

Weekly response pages, 3 papers, 100-200 pages of reading per class (we met once a week)

Fall 2024 Critical Writing Seminar (12 students) - First off, EXCELLENT reading list. Truly great works (Giovanni's Room, The Waves, and King Lear were highlights) and critical readings (Hofstader, Arendt, Rushdie, Du Bois, Butler, Barthes, Cavell etc.), all in manageable quantities (well-paced class). Some of these are thinkers whose ideas I would not have been able to approach alone, but Prof. Cassaro guided our class to a place of understanding and had us practice using critical theory in our essays in very structured ways that made my writing measurably better. Prof. Cassaro had lots of availability for office hours in person, which I appreciated, and office hours were easy to schedule ahead of time (or last-minute) on Calendly. It was very helpful to go and discuss what we'd been talking about in class--I would go in without a thesis and come out with a workable idea. Prof. Cassaro was compassionate and empathetic when I had a family emergency. I read some of the negative reviews on here, and I get the sense that they’re reflective of a different iteration of this class. Critical Writing used to be one long class a week and now it’s two shorter ones. I think this really helps break up the work and also allows us to alternate classes focussed on regular readings with those focussed on theory. In our class, there was lots of room for discussion. There was one person who ten…

I came into this clas hopeful about English at Barnard and looking at the prospect of becoming an English major. Post-Maura there’s absolutely no way I’ll be an English major. Not only was there an unnecessary amount of work—she gave us one book per week but often didn’t assign the reading until late in the week (eg Thursday or after for a Monday class) but she was also the type of teacher who seems to see critical writing as a place with lots of definites. Our discussions revolved around her lecturing us, and when she did allow us to talk it often seemed as she was simply waiting for us to hit all the bullet points on her checklist. Several times she blatantly told myself and other classmates that our points were invalid; which to me, is not the beauty at all of English. On top of that, she gave no guidelines and even gave a make it your own prompt for our first paper. When I went in for my feedback session she immediately told me I had to rewrite my paper without giving much reason other than that it was not rooted in the book. So that led me to reading an extra book (over fall break), coming up with several more theses (all of which she said “sounded too much like research papers”) and finally writing a 15-page personal essay in addition to keeping up with the other readings and essays for the class. In what was an extremely personal piece, her feedback was insensitive and…

I love professor lynn!! So much that he is now my advisor!! Truly such a kind and generous soul, he fosters such a positive learning environment. He is humble but brilliant—although, being a seminar, this class is mostly discussion based, I consistently found myself in awe of his insights during class. At the same time, it always felt safe to ask for help, to struggle with a text, and he very much took the approach of learning collectively and was always willing to dig into the text with you. The content of the course is not my favorite, but it really varied week to week. We read from so many schools of critical thought, from structuralism to new criticism to psychoanalysis to theory of drama, the list goes on. Personally, I would have wished for more time spent on feminist theory, but that's just a me thing. I was expecting to white-knuckle my way through this course, but professor lynn was so engaging and kind that I quickly found myself excited to show up for class every day. if you have to take this course for the english major, i can't recommend him enough!

Jayne Hildebrand is amazing! Genuinely a doll, she's actually interested in what you have to say and is very complimentary. She always gives great background on our readings and breaks things down in a very helpful way. She's younger, so I think she really relates to undergrad anxiety, which is nice. This class is discussion-based and a requirement for English majors at Barnard, so I believe it is not open to Columbia students. It is 2 hours long and meets once a week, but it was undoubtedly my favorite class of the semester. She brought donuts on the last day, which was very sweet. She also has a very warm laugh :) Overall, enriching course (I learned so much about literary criticism and and how to approach a literary text), and definitely worthwhile, even if you aren't an English major! Hoping to take more classes with her going forward :)