If you're taking this class with the mindset of getting an A without working for it, then this isn't the class for you. The theme of this course is fairy tales and you'll be writing 3 essays about the structures or analysis about fairy tales. Honestly, there isn't that much work besides the essays and some readings here and there. However, you have to work and revise your essays if you want anything around an A. I kinda regret not starting early on my essays and constantly revising them because I'm pretty sure I could have gotten a better grade on all 3 essays. Don't just blindly pick into this class though. Try and look for certain themes from other classes that might appeal more to you. Overall, the workload for this course is not that much but perfecting your writing will take time and effort.

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Bruce Stone will really guide you towards becoming a better writer. The work load is manageable and at times very minimal, so the main aim is to understand what good writing looks like and sounds like. He is more than a fair grader. The grade may not be as flexible as the other professors in terms that you have three assignments , but he makes up for that with meetings before submitting the paper where he gives in very useful feedback. Likewise the grading is not as strict because he understands the constrains, at least for the first assignment. TAKE A CLASS WITH HIM. You will not regret it, just put an effort and start working on your assignments early, go to writing center and revise like crazy. Once you are done you will feel the difference.

FOR HONORS 63W (Nabokov):

As a person, Mr. Stone has a stellar personality. He engages the class well and does a great job with keeping you interested!

The only thing negative to say is his grading. If you are looking for an A or an easy class, then stay away. Mr. Stone is completely subjective when it comes to grading and he barely gives you any guide on how to how to obtain a certain grade. For a Writing II course, he barely provides any feedback on how to improve as a writer and gives you one chance on each paper to improve. Even if you make every little change he suggests, he will continue to subjectively grade the paper and find other things to bash that he chose not to tell you on the first draft.

The material was interesting itself but the class would have been more enjoyable if his grading was not so random and subjective.

To be honest, he is a good teacher but as grading NO NO NO! do not take his class. Do not fool by the bruinwalk!!! LOOK!!! there is only 4 rate and the first rating guy gave him all full scores!! Indeed he gave you many suggestion in the conference but, look, in his syllabus he wrote" A: outstanding, B: excellent"! Come on!!!! I'm already excellent and you gave me a B???? Yes!! If the teacher has already think B is a good enough score, maybe the guys who can get an A in his class could be the next Hemingway or Fitzgerald. But wait! I am only a math major student and took his course only because the school makes me to do so! Well, the most common word in his conference is just like "Well, Dav, you have an amazing thought and the paper is brilliant, I will give you a B!" LOL. If you really takes his course, be straightforward and ask "WHAT SHOULD I DO TO GET AN AAAAAAA!" Otherwise he may well feel that you did a great job and ends up with a B-. hmmmm, good job man.

I took Eng Comp 3 with Prof Stone Winter 2014, and I got a B... His voice is very monotone and I found him slightly condescending during class and office hours. Every day, an international student who could barely speak English sat next to me. For the final paper, we had to do peer review of our essays with a small group of classmates, and I was placed in the group with aforementioned ESL student. His paper was so terrible (no grammar, choppy sentences, didn't know how to use commas, etc...), yet he got an A on that paper--and an A in the class.

I was under the impression that Prof Stone gave international students higher grades than they should have been receiving because I couldn't get higher than a B+ on any assignment.

A review I saw here perfectly sums up my experience.... "Prof Stone是一个风一样的男子。上他的课你在学术上必须有严谨的构思，在文学上必须有文豪的造诣。你都做到了？很好。当然，如果你长了一个B样的长相，就不要指望拿A哟。"

Like, this is an English class, and he clearly does not grade students on their proficiency in written English.

This is one of the best classes I've ever taken at UCLA. Take this class if you really want to improve your writing skills, research skills, and critical thinking abilities, and if you're willing to dedicate your time and energy to it.

There are small assignments, not very hard, but you have to treat them very seriously and show through your assignments that you've really worked on it. Always reread your writing to check grammars, word choice, etc. You will be given detailed grading criteria, so make sure to check each one of them.

Professor Stone is humorous, very considerate and willing to help students. He gave valuable comments on each and every assignment, which helped me to improve. Also, for the final paper, you will have chances to meet with Professor Stone one-on-one to discuss your draft. I found the one-on-one appointment most helpful, since he would give you a lot of great suggestions. Do prepare well for each appointment, and ask any questions or concerns you have.

I guarantee that you will learn so much from this class if you are dedicated.

Fall 2015 Grading Scheme:
Two Summaries: 5%
Annotated Bibliography, in Two Parts: 15%
Proposal for Research Essay: 15%
Research Essay: 50%
Attendance and Participation: 15%

Professor Stone:
This Writing II class was focused on fairy tales. I'm not sure if this will be a consistent focus in future quarters, but I found the subject really interesting. I was never very interested in variants of fairy tales and their impacts on society, so learning about this was very insightful. His voice is a bit monotone, so it can be difficult to pay attention sometimes, but more often than not Stone has a lot of eye-opening things to say. I really appreciate him as a professor. I came into this class thinking I was an excellent writer, and he helped me surpass my expectations. The readings were mostly all interesting, a mix of fairy tales and commentaries on those tales. And class time was basically spent talking about these readings. Class was twice a week for about two hours. The work load was a bit much but still manageable.

Two Summaries Grade: A-
The first summary we had to write was of a fairy tale. This was not graded, but he did give feedback so you can improve upon it for your second summary, which was graded. The second one was on a commentary, so it was a bit more challenging. It seems easy to do but it's actually quite difficult to condense a long text in just a few hundred words. It was a great first step in honing in on the writing process.

Annotated Bibliography, in Two Parts Grade: A
I had to do annotated bibliographies in English in high school, so these weren't so challenging for me. You needed to find six outside sources, three each in two parts, and comment on their possible uses in your research essay, evaluating them and synthesizing them with other sources. This is just a tool to scope out possible external sources you can use for your paper.

Proposal for Research Essay Grade: A
The proposal is basically just a one to two page summary of what you plan on doing with your essay. Stone holds conferences with each student to read over it and suggest improvements on it before turning in a final copy. I compare him to Tim Gunn from Project Runway because he critiques and gives advice without directly leading you in a specific direction. So you get helpful feedback while still needing to rely on yourself to "make it work." This proposal was a good way to outline your plan for your essay and get an idea of how you can synthesize your sources.

Research Essay Grade: A
This was a daunting task. The paper had to be 10-15 pages, double spaced, and offer a unique view on the content of the course - fairy tales. I struggled in the beginning of the course to specify my direction and find my thesis. But after scratching a lot of ideas, I focused on one topic that I felt comfortable writing about and was actually interested in. I recommend doing this for any paper you write. Again, Stone will hold individual conferences to assess the progress of your paper, and he will read drafts of it and give notes. Additionally, there were a series of in-class peer review sessions where you needed to bring like a 3-4 page draft, 6-8 page draft, etcetera to class to get input from other students. This was generally helpful in writing my paper. It's quite difficult to write so much about a topic and have it due 10th week, but it was a great exercise to improve my writing capabilities.

Attendance and Participation Grade: Unknown
You were allowed to miss two classes in the quarter without hurting your attendance grade. I went every class, but I didn't participate too much, which I kind of regret. However, if you do well on every other part of the grading scheme, you shouldn't be hurt by not participating.

Overall Grade: A
Overall, I thought this course was not too difficult. It was a bit challenging at time with the writing assignments, but everything is doable with the tools he provides. He is honestly a really great writing professor. Very eloquent and knowledgeable. On the last day of class when we turned in our final papers, he read to us a paper he had written himself summarizing our quarter, addressing our growth and projecting his hopes for us in the future, taking what we learned and applying it to our future endeavors. It was actually pretty beautiful and I teared up a little bit. If you're looking to take a Writing II class, and aren't looking to just get an easy A, I suggest taking this class with Stone.

I honestly enjoyed this class, it's the most fun and interactive English class I've taken so far. TO be frank, the class was hard at times. It depends on how your writing and comprehensive skills are. I felt dumb at times but the professor is so good at encouraging you while guiding you to the writing style you need to be at in college. I'd recommend this class to anyone if you want to improve your writing skills and take a worthwhile class. Plus, the whole class is based on fairy tales! It was fun to read the Grimm and Perrault versions and discuss the importance of fairy tales through discussion and writing.

Wasn't much workload throughout the week, which was nice, but the 3 essays we were required to do throughout the quarter came a bit out of the blue since he hadn't bee practicing any writing in between, just discussing it a bit. Work load is quite low though throughout a normal week.

Mr. Stone was a nice professor, but he also is an extremely biased and side-taking person. If you didn't speak much in class and were shy, it'd affect your essay scores (simply because he wasn't happy with your lack of participation). All of his grading felt very mood based and was far too qualitative. and random. Be ready to kiss his ass if you'd like a good grade. If you're shy and don't talk much, this can greatly hurt you. If you're a teacher's pet, this may be a great class for you.