[lizziepizzie]

I had Dr. York for this class. She's an older prof and very experienced. She was probably my favourite 1st year professor. She was very enthusiatic and was always smiling and asking for class participation. The reading consisted of short stories and poems, and were a good mix of contemporary and classic authors. There isn't a lot of reading. You do need to keep up on your reading, because every lecture you discuss a different poem/short story, but the reading are only 2-3 pages long, if that. It takes 15 minutes tops of reading for each lecture, just make sure you stay on top of it or you'll be left behind. The only thing I had a hard time understanding in this class was Metrical Feet, we went by it very quickly becaus e the the TAs went on strike during the time it was covered. But I did some reviewing on my personal time and it worked out fine.

As in English: Longer Genres, you're grade depends greatly on which TA you get. I had no trouble in that respect.

Overall, I really loved this class! It was my favourite and I recommend it whether you are an English student or just looking for an elective. Although you do have to do well on to essays (because they make up largely the perentage of your total mark), you should do well. You just need to be able to write reasonably well and have a good understanding of the text.

Dr. Zuroski Jenkins is a great professor - she's funny, interesting, and very pretty ^_^

The course material was fairly interesting, some of the poems were dry but most were fairly well chosen and the short stories were all good if you like reading in general.

I skipped about a quarter of the classes and fell asleep in another quarter of them. Barely did my readings and still did fairly well in the course.

Essays are tricky though, especially if you have an **** TA. Make sure you work a lot on these, get them edited, ask your TA for help etc.

Exam was one of the biggest jokes of my life - I studied the evening before, and finished half of the exam (the MC portion) in less than 10 minutes. The rest of the exam took a while because it was short answer but nothing difficult.

Has anyone ever had Kerfoot teach the course?

This course is far from what science students are used to. Not much concrete marking happening in this course and the essay's require a lot of work. The quizzes are too many and not much time is given to finish them.

It isn't a bird course by any measure but the reading is VERY light. Only good thing about this course IMO. Btw, I have Jeffrey Donaldson.

what about the work load, are there quizes and assignments or presentations every week? Also, what do you do in the tutorials?

Originally Posted by luna

what about the work load, are there quizes and assignments or presentations every week? Also, what do you do in the tutorials?

Tutorials are discussions of the content being read for class. Depending on the set-up there may be presentations and/or assignments. For 1AA3 in the summer (with Dr. Adamson) we had to analyze a novel in one category (foreshadowing, symbolism, etc...) and present it to the tutorial.

I took ENG1a03 in the winter last year with Dr. Stephens. In comparison with ENG1aa3 (which I took at the same time). I found 1a03 to be a lot easier with respect to the amount of readings and the final exam. However, I don't think I learned much from 1a03.

If you take the course, get to know your TA like the back of your hand. You can luck out and come across an easygoing TA. Or you can find yourself stuck with one that prefers only one idea or writing style. Do your homework and find out which one you've got

How is Dr. York's exam?

ENGLISH 1A03: SHORTER GENRES

Course Outline

More Course Outlines for English Classes

I thought this was a fun class. It wasn't always as interesting as I would have liked and I'm not sure I really learned that much, but the professor (Dr. York) was fantastic. It was quite light on reading as well, so not much preparation time is needed between lectures.

There were two 50-minute lectures and one 50-minute tutorial a week.

ASSIGNMENTS

Essay #1 (15%)

We were given five essay topics and had to write about one. The really awesome thing about this assignment was that some involved creativity- write an alternate ending for one of the short stories read in class and write an essay about it, for example. How hardly it is marked depends on the TA you get, so it's just luck of the draw unfortunately. This essay was only 500 words (so not too long).

TIP: Here is a link to the MLA style guide. Make sure you use it correctly!

Essay #2 (30%)

1,000 words this time around, and all of the topics pertained to poetry (not my forte). I didn't find this assignment as fun as the last one, but I guess if poetry is your thing you'll enjoy it.

TIP: Get all the help possible from your TA. Since they are grading it, take any advice you can get!

Tutorial Participation (20%)

10% of this was a tutorial assignment. My TA just had us prepare discussion question(s) about the week's reading; we were graded on the quality of them. The other 10% was general tutorial participation... so put your hand up.

TIP: Try and set a mark for yourself each tutorial, and hit that number (three is a good minimum). Also, preparing for the tutorials really helps facilitate discussion, and will increase your mark!

Final Exam (35%)

The final exam was three parts: 50 multiple choice questions, a fill-in-the-blank section, and then some short answers (define the term). It wasn't particularly difficult, though Dr. York did say she wouldn't test about specific authors- only to put a question on about a specific author. As long as you study the terms and have a general idea of the readings, you should be fine.

TIP: Yep, the terms are important. Know what they mean. Also know how to perform scansion accurately (this was probably the hardest part of the course).

PROFESSOR

Dr. York was awesome! She was full of energy and always gave superb lectures. My only minor quibble was that aforementioned exam flub, but it was only one question. Overall, she was fantastic!

My TA was Victoria Tizzard. She was a pretty hard marker, but a great TA- very laid back and always caring about her students. I found her tutorials really helped clarify the readings.

OVERALL

This was a fun class- not very challenging (for the most part), and light on reading. It had its dull moments (some of poetry for me) and parts of it were slightly hard (metrical feet and scansion), but overall it was great. Recommended!

Has anyone had Donaldson for this course?

Is English 1A03 a better elective or 1CS3? (which one is easier)

Originally Posted by SkDsouza

Is English 1A03 a better elective or 1CS3? (which one is easier)

1A03, from my experience, is both better and easier.

Has anyone had L, STEPHEN as a prof in english courses before? Or does anyone know/heard of anything of this prof? I'm taking English 1A03 this summer with this prof.

Can anyone comment on how necessary (aside from the textbook, for readings), the other books were? Specifically, the oxford dictionary and the writer's handbook.

Originally Posted by peanuts

Can anyone comment on how necessary (aside from the textbook, for readings), the other books were? Specifically, the oxford dictionary and the writer's handbook.

Any insight on this? And any opinions about Donaldson?