Eliza Zingesser

Readings for every class (obviously), occasional pop quizzes, two essays, midterm and final. I personally felt as though my workload in LitHum was heavier than other classes, but it was still manageable. She offers one 24-hour extension on one essay per semester, and she will not allow an extension on the other paper no matter the circumstance.

Syllabus Weighting: -Participation (30%): POP QUIZZES on very specific details in the text (free response, 5 questions, hard to get a good grade, average is a 2/6 for each); this includes attendance and oral participation in class. She is very strict on attendance, even if you are very ill--including with doctors' notes, etc--she still will make you come to class. It is impossible to get a good participation score. -Midterm/Final (30%): The midterm is challenging because Eliza makes it. The average was very low, and it is a mock final exam, but with the most challenging quotes. It felt like she was hit by a bus that morning, and she took her anger out on us with the midterm. For the final, it was standardized for every class, but it still seemed like she made it more difficult by talking to my friends in other sections. She is a difficult grader on both exams; she weights the better exam in this way: 10% on the worse score, 20% on the better score. -Two papers (40%): there are two papers where you have to analyze a specific text (a pattern in the whole book), each is 6-8 pages long. This is heavier than any other section (other sections are 3-4 pages, but hers is 6-8). Her grading is very difficult on the papers, and despite how often you go to office hours where she will read your paper and give you feedback, she still will find a way to dock points. She weights the better pa…

Eliza's LitHum class is majority discussion-based, and sometimes groupwork. 30% of your grade is from participation, so if you'll need to read the books to be able to have something to talk about. While the discussions were extremely intellectually stimulating, you need to strategically pick your seat in class so that she will pick on you--if you are slightly out of her line of sight, she won't call on you which will inevitably drop your participation grade. Essays were extremely frustrating--Eliza stresses the importance of having evidence-based arguments, so you can't make any personal interpretations. She tends to focus more on literary devices and patterns throughout the text.

*DO NOT TAKE ELIZA'S COURSE* Professor Zingesser is a kind human being, but as an educator, she is the epitome of evil. Her course, by nature, is inherently more difficult than other sections. I do not have much to say about her, but I got to know her well this semester, and I really regret taking her section; my GPA tanked so much despite having As in every other class. She was very flexible and helpful during office hours, which is the only good thing I can say. She helped me become a better writer, but at what cost?

Heavy reading, but all Lit Hum classes are heavy. She's a tough grader, but not cruel, and the thorough feedback is actually very refreshing. You can easily do well in her class if you actually do all of the readings, but you will struggle if you want to just skate by.

way more than other sections. avoid unless ur pretentious

Professor Zingesser is incredible. Her class is difficult, (you have to put in the work), but you will learn a ton, and she clearly cares about making the class meaningful to her students. She encouraged me to submit one of the essays I wrote to a contest that it ended up winning, and when giving feedback on assignments she actually gives actionable, direct commentary that will make you a better writer. If you want to get the most out of Lit Hum, definitely take her class.

she's praying on your downfall bro. pop quizzes for no reason other than to "make sure you're reading!" and constantly picking out the most boring uninteresting details that have nothing to do with the actual meaning of the story because the main idea's not "rooted in data" if ur just interested in getting a good grade this is not for you it's gonna be way harder than it needs to be