Poli Sci majors, listen up: this is the writing 2 class for you. The subject matter was interesting with a great tie in to international politics, grading was reasonable, and the workload wasn't too bad at all. You don't have to attend lecture; it's discussion that will help you succeed in this class.

Since this class was entirely online for the Winter 2021-2022 quarter, I do want to preface this by saying that I feel it would have been way better in person. Since the lectures are simply Professor Mufti discussing the readings (no slides), I found it difficult to focus on Zoom. However, he is brilliant and I truly did enjoy the selection of readings. Our TA, Molly, was also very kind and I felt that she made a real effort to make sure we would succeed. She genuinely helped me improve my writing. Since I assume this class will be in person going forward, I would definitely suggest taking it. The online aspect was the only thing that made this class difficult - otherwise, the professor is great and knows what he is talking about, the topic is interesting, the readings are amazing, and the workload is entirely reasonable, with 3 essays and some mini assignments for discussion.
I am selling the books and you can contact me at **********.

I honestly found this class to be a bit boring, but you get from it what you put into it. The lectures are not very engaging - just the professor discussing the readings without any slides or engagement from students. Discussions are a lot more fun - it's completely discussion based where all students participate and talk about the readings, so it felt more interactive.

SELLING BOOKS required for the course! Austerlitz by WG Sebald, Men in the Sun by Ghassan Kanafani, Go Went Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck, and Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee. Contact me at *************!

Although it was clear that the professor is extremely knowledgable on the material, I felt like he would often reiterate the same point over and over again. This made the class slightly dry and honestly hard to pay attention. The class in itself was not too difficult. The assignments were straightforward and the essays were not difficult to do. Your grade truly depends on your TA as they are the ones grading your essays. The readings were required to bring to the discussion.
I am selling all the course materials (including "Men in the Sun," "Basti," "Austerlitz," and "Go Gone Went") for $35. Email me at ************* if interested.

This class was pretty chill, especially for a Writing II. I took IB English in high school and this class was a total cake walk. You don't really need to read the books in full as long as you get the main concepts and have something to talk about. My TA was awesome but I don't know that it mattered much in terms of getting a good grade. The essays had good prompts that let you go your own way with it and the midterm and final were ridiculously easy. Good class if you know you can write well, probably would be hard if you're not very inclined to English though.

There are a lot of readings in this class and we need to read 4 books. But I did enjoy some of the readings. The class talks about migration/refugee/immigration. I really like the topic. Professor Mufti is very insightful and offers in-depth analysis of the books. There're two papers, 1 midterm and 1 final. Your grade pretty much depends on your TA. So, go to discussions, go to your TA's office hour and participate in discussions. My TA was really chill and she's very helpful. Overall, would recommend taking this class as writing 2

This class was a good easy Writing II GE. I honestly didn't ever go to lecture after week 2 and did not read any of the books, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up with a B in the class. It would be easy to get an A if you put in literally any effort. You do not need to go to lectures at all but you do need to go to your 2 hour discussion section each week. It can definitely get boring but it's not bad considering that "participation in section", which is just showing up and doing one 5 minute presentation, is worth 30% of your grade. 2 fairly graded essays are worth another 20% each, and easy in class mid term and final are another 15% each. Take this class!

Workload is heavy: 2 essays, 1 midterm, 1 final, numerous take-home assignments, a 2 hour discussion section every week, 4 books to read with additional readings. Some of the readings can be straightforward, while others are very esoteric and complex. The books aren't really covered by sparknotes or anything, although you can find some stuff online if you look for it. On top of that the grading is very strict. Material can be interesting, but if you don't find it compelling and just want to get rid of your W2 requirement take something else, seriously.

The professor is extremely fascinating and provides a lot of insight towards his subject. He tends to go over a few minutes over class time but it is understandable since it is only a 50 minute class. I feel like the books are easier to understand and read through since we get a week or two (depending on the book) to read them. However, I do agree that the TAs (and I believe depended on your TA) graded the essay a bit too harshly. This class is a GE so I don't feel they should expect 5-star papers. Also, I feel like depending on you TA you can enjoy the 2 hour discussion at different rates. I like my TA but I feel he can becomes a bit boring and doesn't exactly know how to pull through the discussion. Again, I feel like the TAs are a different experience from the Professor as a whole. Also, I would not recommend skipping lecture at all (c'mon it's only 50 minutes either way) because the professor really goes in depth with the books and a critical background for them.