ENGL 4W
Critical Reading and Writing
Description: Lecture, four hours. Enforced requisite: English Composition 3 or 3H or English as a Second Language 36. Introduction to literary analysis, with close reading and carefully written exposition of selections from principal modes of literature: poetry, prose fiction, and drama. Minimum of 15 to 20 pages of revised writing. Satisfies Writing II requirement. Letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2015 - Prof. Caughey is great. One of the most unconventional yet educational English classes I've ever taken. Really cool, chill guy who fosters a casual environment (the class is usually only about 25 kids) but also expects a lot from his students. He has a unique grading scale that is based on accumulating points for the work that you do, rather than getting a grade on each assignment. Your final letter grade is equivalent to a range of points, so you are only working up to a grade rather than averaging out individually graded assignments. The more assignments you do, and the better you do on those assignments, the more points you will have and the higher your grade will be. Really cool system that de-emphasizes the importance of a single grade/assignment and encourages you to try hard on types of writing you excel at, but also to take a stab at writing assignments you might not be as good at knowing your attempt will only help your grade rather than hurt it. Highly encourage taking 4W with Prof. Caughey.
Fall 2015 - Prof. Caughey is great. One of the most unconventional yet educational English classes I've ever taken. Really cool, chill guy who fosters a casual environment (the class is usually only about 25 kids) but also expects a lot from his students. He has a unique grading scale that is based on accumulating points for the work that you do, rather than getting a grade on each assignment. Your final letter grade is equivalent to a range of points, so you are only working up to a grade rather than averaging out individually graded assignments. The more assignments you do, and the better you do on those assignments, the more points you will have and the higher your grade will be. Really cool system that de-emphasizes the importance of a single grade/assignment and encourages you to try hard on types of writing you excel at, but also to take a stab at writing assignments you might not be as good at knowing your attempt will only help your grade rather than hurt it. Highly encourage taking 4W with Prof. Caughey.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - Because it is an English course, you should expect a lot of reading and writing, but it was a fair amount, in my opinion. Enough to learn from, but not overwhelming in the slightest. Rebecca really knows how to look out for her students and dole out assignments fairly, as well as grade fairly. I learned a lot about writing, as well as critical reading, so this class was extremely useful, as well as engaging! If you want a good grade, just participate and do the assignments. It was extremely easy for me to do so because Rebecca made the class enjoyable. She's also super helpful and always there for anything!
Fall 2021 - Because it is an English course, you should expect a lot of reading and writing, but it was a fair amount, in my opinion. Enough to learn from, but not overwhelming in the slightest. Rebecca really knows how to look out for her students and dole out assignments fairly, as well as grade fairly. I learned a lot about writing, as well as critical reading, so this class was extremely useful, as well as engaging! If you want a good grade, just participate and do the assignments. It was extremely easy for me to do so because Rebecca made the class enjoyable. She's also super helpful and always there for anything!
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2017 - The professor is listed as Chism, but the actual person who taught my class was a TA grad student. The class was really engaging and it was small, so there was a lot of class discussion. The books we read were super interesting (Never Let Me Go, Golden Gate, etc. ) but the essays were graded kind of harshly. However, if you need to fulfill a Writing 2, this class is super interesting.
Spring 2017 - The professor is listed as Chism, but the actual person who taught my class was a TA grad student. The class was really engaging and it was small, so there was a lot of class discussion. The books we read were super interesting (Never Let Me Go, Golden Gate, etc. ) but the essays were graded kind of harshly. However, if you need to fulfill a Writing 2, this class is super interesting.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - If you are sensitive / easily offended and can't take a joke, also if you aren't honestly interested in the subject, then avoid at all costs. But if you want to learn, and if you get a kick out of sarcasm and puns, I would HANDS DOWN recommend Colacurcio. Some students will love him and others will hate him, a point made obvious from the other reviews. But if you are like me you'll find his lectures great fun. Who would have thought the Puritans and The Scarlet Letter would be so interesting??? Not me prior to this class. Others have commented that you can get away without doing the reading and still learn a lot; I would agree, but would add that you will get WAY more out of the class if you do the readings. It can seem like a lot at first but not unmanageable (even with a schedule of time-consuming science classes etc like I had at the time), and if you have an interest in American literature (which you hopefully do, otherwise be warned you will not like this class) you'll want to read everything anyway. Colacurcio can appear gruff and a little intimidating, he is old-school for sure, but he is very very smart and knowledgable about his subject, and not at all scary once you get used to him. He is an easy grader if you pay attention; we wrote paragraphs every class and mine were an embarrassing mess from beginning to end; but I did fine anyways. We had to write four long papers; mid-term and final were IDs, not hard. He is lax re: deadlines and gave us extra time past finals week to complete the final and last paper which was unbelievably helpful. Overall, I learned SO much from this professor and would highly recommend him :)
Fall 2023 - If you are sensitive / easily offended and can't take a joke, also if you aren't honestly interested in the subject, then avoid at all costs. But if you want to learn, and if you get a kick out of sarcasm and puns, I would HANDS DOWN recommend Colacurcio. Some students will love him and others will hate him, a point made obvious from the other reviews. But if you are like me you'll find his lectures great fun. Who would have thought the Puritans and The Scarlet Letter would be so interesting??? Not me prior to this class. Others have commented that you can get away without doing the reading and still learn a lot; I would agree, but would add that you will get WAY more out of the class if you do the readings. It can seem like a lot at first but not unmanageable (even with a schedule of time-consuming science classes etc like I had at the time), and if you have an interest in American literature (which you hopefully do, otherwise be warned you will not like this class) you'll want to read everything anyway. Colacurcio can appear gruff and a little intimidating, he is old-school for sure, but he is very very smart and knowledgable about his subject, and not at all scary once you get used to him. He is an easy grader if you pay attention; we wrote paragraphs every class and mine were an embarrassing mess from beginning to end; but I did fine anyways. We had to write four long papers; mid-term and final were IDs, not hard. He is lax re: deadlines and gave us extra time past finals week to complete the final and last paper which was unbelievably helpful. Overall, I learned SO much from this professor and would highly recommend him :)
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR AN EASY 'A' WRITING II GE. Overall, the class was extremely disorganized and did not focus on the skills we needed to excel in the essays. The professor mostly rambles about the assigned reading and how it is connected to other literary works, which almost always include Genesis. These works are not in the syllabus, so it is extremely difficult to connect to them. Moreover, the professor is extremely disorganized -- oftentimes, we had a 6-8 page essay due on Friday, and the requirements were not posted until Wednesday. Lastly, she is a VERY VERY VERY picky grader! For the amount of time she invests into teaching writing, she grades 10x (at least) harsher. Lastly, although the theme of the class is interesting, she still found ways to make it boring by using software like Transkribus. Distribution of the class: -- Participation (15%): expect ~150-200 pages a week starting Week 3. -- Group Project (5%): not hard, fairly straightforward -- Essay #1 (15%): 2-3 pages close-reading. GRADED EXTREMELY HARSHLY. She will point out incorrect punctuation and critique each and every single sentence. -- Essay #2 (20%): 6-8 pages on Frankenstein. She returned this essay to us 2 days before our final paper was due. -- Essay #3 (20%): 6-8 pages on Thrilling Adventures/Ada Lovelace. She returned this essay the day before the final. -- Essay #4 (25%): 10-12 pages on Arcadia. I definitely think essays 2, 3, and 4 were graded less harshly, but that could very well be due to the number of classes she canceled, how little time we had to write the essays, and how little time she had to grade them. Ultimately, though Sherrill (her maiden name is Cook) is nice and insightful, I would not recommend taking English 4W with her. This GE was the hardest class from my Winter 2024 coursework.
Winter 2024 - DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR AN EASY 'A' WRITING II GE. Overall, the class was extremely disorganized and did not focus on the skills we needed to excel in the essays. The professor mostly rambles about the assigned reading and how it is connected to other literary works, which almost always include Genesis. These works are not in the syllabus, so it is extremely difficult to connect to them. Moreover, the professor is extremely disorganized -- oftentimes, we had a 6-8 page essay due on Friday, and the requirements were not posted until Wednesday. Lastly, she is a VERY VERY VERY picky grader! For the amount of time she invests into teaching writing, she grades 10x (at least) harsher. Lastly, although the theme of the class is interesting, she still found ways to make it boring by using software like Transkribus. Distribution of the class: -- Participation (15%): expect ~150-200 pages a week starting Week 3. -- Group Project (5%): not hard, fairly straightforward -- Essay #1 (15%): 2-3 pages close-reading. GRADED EXTREMELY HARSHLY. She will point out incorrect punctuation and critique each and every single sentence. -- Essay #2 (20%): 6-8 pages on Frankenstein. She returned this essay to us 2 days before our final paper was due. -- Essay #3 (20%): 6-8 pages on Thrilling Adventures/Ada Lovelace. She returned this essay the day before the final. -- Essay #4 (25%): 10-12 pages on Arcadia. I definitely think essays 2, 3, and 4 were graded less harshly, but that could very well be due to the number of classes she canceled, how little time we had to write the essays, and how little time she had to grade them. Ultimately, though Sherrill (her maiden name is Cook) is nice and insightful, I would not recommend taking English 4W with her. This GE was the hardest class from my Winter 2024 coursework.
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