B.U.+English+Courses

"Professor" (Graduate Student) Leigh Bennett
 * 1) **CAS EN 121** Readings in World Literature

This was probably the worst English class I’ve taken since I came to BUA, but that was probably the fault of the professor alone and not the course itself. The books were interesting but we rarely discussed them in much depth if at all. Bennett was completely unhelpful and missed class (and scheduled meeting times!) frequently. It wasn’t a very difficult class—in fact you could easily fall behind on the readings with absolutely no consequence — but it was very dull, and I would never advise someone to take this course with Bennett. Reviewer: Terra Hittson

I took this class as well, and agree completely with Terra. The course its self wasn’t too bad, but the teacher made it difficult to justify waking up for this class. As well as that, because it is an introductory English class, most of the people in it were non-majors fulfilling their English requirement. They were, therefore, not very interested in the class or insightful with their comments. which made interesting discussion even more difficult. During one class, I counted approximately 60 incorrect uses of the word “like” in less than 40 minutes. Reviewer: Toby Waite

Professor Erin Murphy
 * CAS EN163** Readings in Shakespeare

Teaching fellows grade papers and give you an overall grade. If you get stuck with a bad T.F., try to switch sections. The class itself is interesting although the writing assignments are obscure. For example, read three Shakespeare books, and then write a paper using 15 lines from two of the three books. This is fair warning: you have to write an entire paper using just 30 lines. There are some clips you watch from movies, but mostly you look at the language and how it contributes to meaning. Reviewer: Vanessa Rubin

Professor Jackie Buddie
 * CAS EN 202:** Intro to Creative Writing

At the beginning of this class you do a lot of in-class writing. Then you read stories for homework and pass in more writing for homework. An example of the homework writing assignments is "write 500 words without the characters speaking" or "write 2 pages only in dialogue." Then, about four weeks later your short story is due. You turn it in, the entire class reads it, and then the class critiques it (with a written critique & orally). As this is an introduction class, most members of the class are nice about the critiquing and don't rip your paper to shreds. They will, however, tell you how to make it better. The teacher also gives you comments. In total, you write 2 short stories and then rewrite them for a "final" portfolio. This means there are no exams or midterms. Each story is 20% of your grade. Both rewrites total 20%. The other 40% of your grade is participation, the critiques you write, and the writing at the beginning of the class (the short assignments). My class was focused on short stories, but mostly because Jackie was self-described "terrible" at poetry. There was an option of writing poetry instead of the second story. Apparently she's going to get someone who knows poetry to grade the poems. Overall, a good class. Not too difficult. Reviewer: Vanessa Rubin

Professor: Sarah Frederick This was a wonderful class. The professor was kind, very knowledgeable about the subject matter, always had interesting things to say about the reading, and skillfully pointed out connections between the readings as well as to Japanese culture. That being said, there was a lot of reading for this course. There were no reading quizzes. The assignment load was not heavy at all, and the professor used the class as an opportunity to teach to write papers on comparative literature. She built up the assignments from a 2-3 page paper to a 4-6 page paper and then to a research paper at the end of the class. The end of the class got a little bit busy, with the research paper, a Museum of Fine Arts visit write-up, and the final all within a short time period, but it wasn’t unmanageable. The Museum visit you need to do on your own time, but for me that wasn’t a problem – I was happy to have a legitimate reason to spend the whole day in the museum. Unfortunately, the discussion lagged somewhat in this class. Most of the students were international students from Asian countries and weren’t secure enough in their English to really make contributions to the discussion. (They also rarely did the reading.) The professor wanted to run the class entirely as a discussion, and this combined to make the class somewhat awkward. Overall, however, the interesting readings and the stellar professor combined to make this class my favorite BU class I have taken – or will take, for that matter.
 * CAS LJ 250** Masterpieces of Japanese Literature (in English translation)

The bottom line is: since you have to take an English class and BU doesn't really have much to offer in the English department itself, look for literature classes taught in English which are hidden in the foreign language course listings. You'll be glad you did! Reviewer: Sonja Boet-Whitaker

Professor: Ted Fitts
 * CAS WR100** American Environmental History

First a word about WR100 courses: I highly recommend that you take one if you can find a topic that interests you with a professor that looks good. They are a great way to take a course that fulfills the English requirements, but isn’t really an English course, though there are also tons of WR100 courses on literature too. This class was really a history class, with some philosophy and a hint of literature. It is very similar to a BUA English class though, in terms of class discussions, difficulty, and the amount of reading and writing. Like at BUA, not a whole lot of time is spent learning how to actually write an essay, so the course’s title is really a misnomer. The professor is really enthusiastic, friendly, interesting, and helpful, so class is generally very enjoyable. The readings vary from really interesting and thought provoking, to absolutely unreadable bullshit (ecofeminists!), but luckily there are really no consequences for skipping terrible readings. If you have any interest in the subject, I definitely recommend this course. Reviewer: Adam K

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