English 1AA3 - The Longer Genre - MacInsiders - Student-run McMaster University Help Forum

eleduc

I just wrote this exam this morning.

My prof was Dr. James King, one of McMasters distinguished English profs. Dr. King's lectures mostly surrounded the 8 texts (4 narratives, 3 dramas and a film) and their plot and subplot or context. We didn't spend much time on theory, theme or any of that jargon but I still found his lectures to be interesting as he has a lot of "insider knowledge" about his books.

The books we were required to read were:
Mansfield Park - Jane Austen, A Room With a View - EM Forrester, Brighton Rock - Graham Greene, The White Hotel - Thomas, The Tempest - Shakespeare, Endgame - Samuel Beckett, The Homecoming - Harold Pinter and The Talented Mr. Ripley.

Breakdown was as follows:
Paper 1 - 500 words - 15%
Paper 2 - 1000 words - 30%
Tutorial (Participation, Attendance and Presentation) - 20%
Exam - 35% (Multiple Choice {plot details and quotes} and 2 essays)

The T.A's were responsible for all grades except the exam.

Definitely Recommended for anyone taking English

sinthusized · 06-12-2009 at 12:51 PM

how much time did you have to read each book?

aani · 06-14-2009 at 05:33 PM

How hard is this course? And are lecture notes and such posted online?

Also, would you have the course syllabus?

I've heard quite a few people say that Shorter genres is easier, but I personally like novels better than poems. I'm not in an English program, and I need to take 2 english courses and liked the sound of this one.

I guess I just need some reassurance haha

.

Thanks!

Katelyn W · 06-15-2009 at 12:50 PM

Hi,
I also took this class with Dr. King and thought that it was excellent. I took it a different year than the above poster and you should note that Dr. King changes the novels each year. It wasn't hard to do well in the course provided you did the work aka don't expect to get by without actually reading the books. The TA's (or atleast mine did) gave lots of time to get extra help with essays and proof reading thesis statements etc. If you take the time to get the extra help you can do really well. As well as there is a 10% participation component in tutorials which can also really boost your mark provided you attend. For the books you really have to read about one per week but some of the plays are short. And it doesn't really seem like homework since they are novels and no textbooks or anything you have to read.

mumbojumbo · 06-20-2009 at 10:01 PM

Can someone post a review for English 1A03 - the shorter genre? thanks!

Navi · 06-05-2010 at 04:03 PM

The profs for this year are "attewell, n" and "brophy, sc". Anyone know anything, good or bad, about them? Also does anyone know if zuroski is a good prof for english 1A03?

eleduc · 06-06-2010 at 12:23 AM

I had Dr. Attewell for English 2I06 and she is fantastic.

She is younger and new to McMaster but very welcoming and encouraging. She is very approachable if you need any help and encourages all of her students to contribute to lectures.

I find her teaching style a lot different than Dr. King's (who I had English 1AA3 with). King taught mostly plot and some context. Dr. Attewell looks at devices and delves a little deeper into the issues surrounding the text and the time period it comes from.

Both Professors are awesome, and I had them for very different courses so your experience may be different but I would definitely recommend Dr. Attewell.

marygold · 06-07-2010 at 12:06 PM

Does anyone know how Zuroski is as a prof? Was her exam easy/doable?

Rayine · 06-08-2010 at 03:33 PM

Any possibility of getting a 12 in this course?

jhan523 · 06-08-2010 at 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish

Any possibility of getting a 12 in this course?

Anything is possible, most likely not probably though. But I don't know your skills in english so I can't say.

lizziepizzie · 08-15-2010 at 07:32 PM

I had Dr. Sarah Brophy in this class. I found her very informative and enthusiastic. She definitely added an upbeat tone to the class. She was always open to suggestions from her students and partook in class discussions. The class was broken down as follows:

Essay One: 15% - 500 words
Essay Two: 30% - 1000 words
Tutorial Participation: 20% - 10% for tutorial participation; 10% for tutorial assignment
Final Exam Value: 35% 2 hours

There were eight texts which were:

1) First-Year English and Cultural Studies Handbook, 2009-10
2) Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
3) Shelagh Delaney, A Taste of Honey.
4) Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God.
5) Tomson Highway, Kiss of the Fur Queen.
6) Trainspotting, dir. Boyle. (film)
7) Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis, Volumes I and II. (comics)
8) Judith Thompson, Palace of the End.

Your TA grades you on everything but the final exam. I found that your TA really makes you or breaks you in this class, I had a particularly hard marker and I feel I could have done much better if not for him. Other people in my tutorial generally felt the same way. Unfortunately and although we should be above this as university students, sucking up to some TAs really helps. It was a difficult course, you REALLY need to keep up on your reading. You have about a week to read each text because its discussed in lecture for only 1-2 classes and if you don't keep reading you're really left behind. I cannot stress this enough: KEEP UP WITH YOUR READING!!! Overall, I think it was a good experience. I learned a lot and it definitely should be considered by any aspiring English students.

I hope this helps!

iiiZA · 08-16-2010 at 10:08 AM

I took English 1AA3 during the summer with Dr. Adamson. It was really fast paced (we had 5 books - 3 plays and 2 novels). He's a pretty good prof, except I didn't like that the content of his lecture was all over the place (example, He'd talk about a certain imagery, then suddenly talk about historical references, then goes back to the imagery), making my notes very unorganized. The exam was just like my grade 12 tests where he gives you passages/quotes from the 5 different texts and you need to identify who's speaking, who is being spoken to, and the significance of the passage/quote.

oli13 · 08-25-2010 at 01:27 PM

Are there any presentations for this course? Many of the other courses were full, so I registered for this. I'm sort of nervous about the writing

I'm not a bad writer, but I heard that how well you really depends on the individual who's marking it

jhan523 · 08-25-2010 at 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oli13

Are there any presentations for this course? Many of the other courses were full, so I registered for this. I'm sort of nervous about the writing

I'm not a bad writer, but I heard that how well you really depends on the individual who's marking it

There's was 1 presentation in summer. It was super easy, you just analyze any part of any book and present it to the class. You also had to make discussion questions that was relevant.

But Adamson isn't teaching it this Fall/Winter term, so the marking format and whatnot might possibly change. The book list will probably change.

DarthFuzzy · 08-31-2010 at 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eleduc

I had Dr. Attewell for English 2I06 and she is fantastic.

She is younger and new to McMaster but very welcoming and encouraging. She is very approachable if you need any help and encourages all of her students to contribute to lectures.

I find her teaching style a lot different than Dr. King's (who I had English 1AA3 with). King taught mostly plot and some context. Dr. Attewell looks at devices and delves a little deeper into the issues surrounding the text and the time period it comes from.

Both Professors are awesome, and I had them for very different courses so your experience may be different but I would definitely recommend Dr. Attewell.

Cool i have Dr.Attwell for 1AA3,
which has less work, 1AO3 or 1AA3, just wondering?