English And Comparative Literature · Columbia University
Tiffany was a great University Writing teacher. She was kind and always open outside of class. Class discussions and activities tended to be very invigorating and she definitely values participation. Her comments on essays are pretty valuable--she concentrates on structural and logical errors, rather than nitpicking on grammar and similar minor issues. She's not an easy grader, but she's not particularly tough either. She looks for improvement and is definitely generous with her final grade. We even had a scavenger hunt and group fiction writing excercises as part of the class. Participate in class, work with her on your essays and you will be able to not only get a good grade, but also learn quite a bit.
Tiffany was pretty great, as far as a U Writing teacher goes. I think she helped my writing improve, and as far as grading goes, I didn't think she was harsh at all. I went to speak with her regarding most of my papers at least once or twice, and she gave great feedback. As long as you made an effort to improve, revise, or rework your paper, she generally rewarded you with a good grade.
The grading was kind of rough, I had to work pretty hard for Bs, at least on the first two papers. That said, the grading wasn't at all unreasonable and her comments were always specific and immensely helpful. You can definitely learn a lot if you work, or if you go to get help for all the papers. She's frequently available outside of her normal office hours if you ask. Overall, I can't imagine how any other UW teacher could be better.
Ms. Werth is a pretty cool person, and her comments are really helpful, but her grading is pretty harsh (although I think she's nicer with the final grade) and her writing prompts are way out of left-field. The class discussions were well led and pretty fun.
Miss Werth is definitely as wonderful a catch for an L and R teacher as you're ever going to get! She's a very nice, energetic, down-to-earth person who does not forget the fact that it's supposed to be a discussion class. Much of the class is examining and correcting the writing of your peers- she brings in excerpts from your turned in papers and passes them around for analysis. It's really fun! You get to learn how to write and take turns bashing each other at the same time! There are some in-class handouts that illustrate certain points, but this is certainly no Lit-Hum as far as readings go. All in all, a wonderful experience! Makes you *almost* glad you came here and have the core!
Three papers (including one research paper) and a final self-assessment...not too bad at all
Four graded papers, one of which is a research paper. During the first half of the semester there are a bunch of readings and ungraded writing exercises.
Same as the rest of L&R: a paper each class for the first half, an inclass midterm, then 3 or 4 bigger papers with revision and an inclass final.
The usual for L and R, i.e. a CRAPload. 13 papers in all, mostly 500 words, but the last few are in the 800-1000 range. The shorter ones are due every time the class meets, but the longer the paper, the more time you have for it. Grading is not easy, but the comments are valid, so you deserve what you get. There are about a half-dozen or so really short in-class quizzes that are pretty much give-aways, and a midterm that counts as a paper. The subjects for the in-class midterm essay are given in advance!!! That's pretty much it, there's a final too, as usual.