ENGL 10A
Literatures in English to 1700
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisites: English Composition 3 or 3H, English 4W or 4HW. Survey of major writers and genres, with emphasis on tools for literary analysis such as close reading, argumentation, historical and social context, and critical writing. Minimum of three papers (three to five pages each) or equivalent required. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Took him for English 10B and I liked him so much that I am taking another class with him, 163A. I would highly recommend Professor Makdisi because he is organized, articulate, straightforward, and a very nice man. His powerpoint presentations are filled with graphics so that lecture is made more interesting. Yes, the final was very tedious to study for but he tells you exactly how to prepare and you know exactly what to study. I didn't feel that the final was especially tedious, especially since many of the works were interesting. Also, Makdisi takes student comments and/or criticisms into consideration, and because many students complained about not having a midterm, he introduced a midterm for English 163A. It's a pleasure taking a class with this man and I would recommend him to any English major.
Took him for English 10B and I liked him so much that I am taking another class with him, 163A. I would highly recommend Professor Makdisi because he is organized, articulate, straightforward, and a very nice man. His powerpoint presentations are filled with graphics so that lecture is made more interesting. Yes, the final was very tedious to study for but he tells you exactly how to prepare and you know exactly what to study. I didn't feel that the final was especially tedious, especially since many of the works were interesting. Also, Makdisi takes student comments and/or criticisms into consideration, and because many students complained about not having a midterm, he introduced a midterm for English 163A. It's a pleasure taking a class with this man and I would recommend him to any English major.
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Most Helpful Review
This professor is a true intellectual and he teaches you how to be one. Maniquis has forever changed the way I see the world. He doesn't do the banal way of teaching, which is to explicate a single work that you can get on Wikipedia as most professors do, instead, Maniquis asks you to take responsibility for your own education. He shows you what you need to do, that is, he tells you how to learn on your own. At first this is a lot of work--to look up every single word I do not understand to look up every term I am unfamiliar with but after a few weeks this method becomes invigorating. I am participating in my own learning! I am NOT just a downloading what the professor says. Maniquis is the best kind of education a person can get. His class structure gives you a construct that views the period of time in a cultural way--and you are free to research this on your own and he encourages you to do so and he tells you point blank that his is not he only way to view the period. You can do what he did and read all the original newspapers of the periods and all of the important writings of the period to see for yourself if you agree with him or not. He is fair grader. Work load is manageable. I think he is the best education. Take him he is BRILLIANT and he teaches you. There is an old proverb that says If a hungry man comes to you and you give him a fish you feed him for a day but if you teach him how to fish you feed him for a lifetime.
This professor is a true intellectual and he teaches you how to be one. Maniquis has forever changed the way I see the world. He doesn't do the banal way of teaching, which is to explicate a single work that you can get on Wikipedia as most professors do, instead, Maniquis asks you to take responsibility for your own education. He shows you what you need to do, that is, he tells you how to learn on your own. At first this is a lot of work--to look up every single word I do not understand to look up every term I am unfamiliar with but after a few weeks this method becomes invigorating. I am participating in my own learning! I am NOT just a downloading what the professor says. Maniquis is the best kind of education a person can get. His class structure gives you a construct that views the period of time in a cultural way--and you are free to research this on your own and he encourages you to do so and he tells you point blank that his is not he only way to view the period. You can do what he did and read all the original newspapers of the periods and all of the important writings of the period to see for yourself if you agree with him or not. He is fair grader. Work load is manageable. I think he is the best education. Take him he is BRILLIANT and he teaches you. There is an old proverb that says If a hungry man comes to you and you give him a fish you feed him for a day but if you teach him how to fish you feed him for a lifetime.
Most Helpful Review
I really loved McEachern as my 10A professor. Yes, she does talk fast, and you do have to scramble to write everything she says, at the end of the day, she knows what she's talking about. She unpacked 10A and made me love the text, that would otherwise be dry and confusing. I went to her during her office hours, and she really helps you look at things a different way. McEachern teaching 10A was honestly the deciding factor in me declaring English as a major.
I really loved McEachern as my 10A professor. Yes, she does talk fast, and you do have to scramble to write everything she says, at the end of the day, she knows what she's talking about. She unpacked 10A and made me love the text, that would otherwise be dry and confusing. I went to her during her office hours, and she really helps you look at things a different way. McEachern teaching 10A was honestly the deciding factor in me declaring English as a major.
Most Helpful Review
Professor North is a witty, organized, brilliant professor. He is an excellent lecturer, and every word he has to say is gold. Unfortunately, he has a monotone voice which makes listening to his every word a little difficult sometimes. The only negative thing I have to say about him is that he assigns paper prompts that could easily be answered in a paragraph or two. I would literally sit in front of my computer screen for hours trying to expand without sounding repetitive or like I was trying to change the prompt.
Professor North is a witty, organized, brilliant professor. He is an excellent lecturer, and every word he has to say is gold. Unfortunately, he has a monotone voice which makes listening to his every word a little difficult sometimes. The only negative thing I have to say about him is that he assigns paper prompts that could easily be answered in a paragraph or two. I would literally sit in front of my computer screen for hours trying to expand without sounding repetitive or like I was trying to change the prompt.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2022 - I took this class during the TA strike, and once that buffer was gone Shuger's 10A went from slightly bizarre to completely down the drain. Her lectures, although peppered with funny jokes and quips, are tangential and hard to follow. Her comments and behaviors were also unhinged to the point where students were mass-emailing the dean to complain: -she complained about trigger warnings, told students to "toughen up." -offered no support or accommodations during the TA strike, and implied that they shouldn't be striking at all. Still expected us to write three papers (ended up being two because she gave up) and fill out the weekly quizzes and resulted to grading them herself. -talked about how her students' papers were "worse than she expected." Also admitted to a student that she graded us more harshly than usual because she assumed that the TA's had just given us all A's. -disproportionately marked people down for grammar, resulting in papers that answered the prompt and met the word count recieving F's. She also complained that the students must all be international students as a result of this, which is problematic. -gave students conflicting emails on assignment directions. Marked students down for not fully explaining concepts in papers that she had taught us in class. Incredibly unclear assignment guidelines. -threatened to "change" her pronouns. -shared a student's personal information to the class without consent. -assigned weekly quizzes that didn't relate to the final at all. -assigned a final that nearly everyone failed because she quizzed us on random facts from the writers' bios. There was a question on when the first theater in London opened, which must have been a throwaway line from somebody's bio, but clearly nobody is memorizing that if it wasn't talked about in class. -said she doesn't believe in marriage that doesn't result in procreation? -In a talk about implicit bias, admitted to once grading a student's paper worse because she saw a female name. -rarely critically discussed the texts we were reading and often talked about outdated concepts like pederasty in a romantic way. Although the lecture material does not reflect Shuger's personal opinion, the way she talked about old texts was off-putting---to the point where I know multiple people who dropped out of the major because they felt alienated because of their race/identity. -and my personal favorite, responded to criticism by saying "you all need to trust me that I want what's best for you or that I have dementia." TLDR; Shuger is definitely an experience that I don't really plan on repeating, and I hope she doesn't teach 10a again so that nobody else has to either.
Fall 2022 - I took this class during the TA strike, and once that buffer was gone Shuger's 10A went from slightly bizarre to completely down the drain. Her lectures, although peppered with funny jokes and quips, are tangential and hard to follow. Her comments and behaviors were also unhinged to the point where students were mass-emailing the dean to complain: -she complained about trigger warnings, told students to "toughen up." -offered no support or accommodations during the TA strike, and implied that they shouldn't be striking at all. Still expected us to write three papers (ended up being two because she gave up) and fill out the weekly quizzes and resulted to grading them herself. -talked about how her students' papers were "worse than she expected." Also admitted to a student that she graded us more harshly than usual because she assumed that the TA's had just given us all A's. -disproportionately marked people down for grammar, resulting in papers that answered the prompt and met the word count recieving F's. She also complained that the students must all be international students as a result of this, which is problematic. -gave students conflicting emails on assignment directions. Marked students down for not fully explaining concepts in papers that she had taught us in class. Incredibly unclear assignment guidelines. -threatened to "change" her pronouns. -shared a student's personal information to the class without consent. -assigned weekly quizzes that didn't relate to the final at all. -assigned a final that nearly everyone failed because she quizzed us on random facts from the writers' bios. There was a question on when the first theater in London opened, which must have been a throwaway line from somebody's bio, but clearly nobody is memorizing that if it wasn't talked about in class. -said she doesn't believe in marriage that doesn't result in procreation? -In a talk about implicit bias, admitted to once grading a student's paper worse because she saw a female name. -rarely critically discussed the texts we were reading and often talked about outdated concepts like pederasty in a romantic way. Although the lecture material does not reflect Shuger's personal opinion, the way she talked about old texts was off-putting---to the point where I know multiple people who dropped out of the major because they felt alienated because of their race/identity. -and my personal favorite, responded to criticism by saying "you all need to trust me that I want what's best for you or that I have dementia." TLDR; Shuger is definitely an experience that I don't really plan on repeating, and I hope she doesn't teach 10a again so that nobody else has to either.
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