I would like to start off by saying Professor Gerrad is a lovely and very kind professor. She is always willing to help you with the essay prompts and the overall workload in the class is very manageable.

But, what I will say is that Professor Gerrad is what one would call a prescriptive grammarian, someone who cares more about following excellent (in my opinion outdated) sentence structure and grammar and less about the actual ideas and overall composition of the paper. She has a very stringent way she likes her papers for formatted which leaves little room for creativity.

Another thing you should be aware of if you enroll in this class is her oddly informal stance on collaborative writing. For a professor that is so uptight on grammar she is very open to the idea of collaborative essays. Personally, I didn't have the best partners which tainted my overall experience. She also chooses the partners based on unknown criteria, but from what I can tell its wholly dependent on who you sit next to in class.

What I will say is that if you are looking to learn how to write very concisely and prescriptively then this class might be for you but personally I felt that this class with Professor Gerrard was inhibiting, annoying, and stifling.

Probably should have taken AP Lang in high school so I wouldn't have needed Engcomp but oh well.

This might have been the most confusing class on what she wanted in a paper because she never really explains it in lecture, and instead you pretty much just have to use your intuition to write a rough draft and wait for her feedback to then change close to everything to match what she wanted.

CONCISION is a huge part of this class, you can't write fluff, no irrelevant descriptions, no academic-style writing, so if you are good at that then this class may be a bit easier.

GROUP COLLABORATION is also a HUGE part of this class, but treat this as a double-edged sword. You do write a lot less than other English classes but you also need to work well with other people or else you'll be miserable for the quarter.

Overall on the syllabus, this class seems straightforward: 3 essays 25% each, and 25% that includes participation AND 2 individual papers on questions about the readings (which she grades very critically for some reason?).

GRADING for this class is extremely WACK imo, she doesn't give you percentages for the papers and instead, you just get a letter grade, in the end, she then averages the letter grades to get you your overall grade. You do get a percentage for individual responses to the reading. However, this absolutely sucks because of her conversion: Why is a 90-94 an A- and a 95-98 an A???

The topics we wrote about was pretty fun, but it's sad nonetheless since NOBODY gets As pretty much. As a whole, NOBODY got an A on the first paper, and only 1 group out of 9 got an A on the second and third papers.

Take this class if you want to learn since Gerrard is a good professor and can explain how to write an engaging essay, but your transcript might take a beating because of it?

With it being one of my first classes at UCLA, I am happy to have taken Gerrard for EC3. This class taught me to be direct with my writing, and the readings for this class were interesting. It was hard to untangle the habits of my high school writing, but Gerrard was patient and understanding. A 5 unit class can be demanding, so expect to do a lot of reading and participation. Learning early on about Gerrard's writing style and expectations, and attending her office hours for clarification, will really help you and your grade. Gerrard gives out a lot of helpful, specific worksheets that I will continue to reference for future writing. Group essays and projects are emphasized in this class, so communicating with others is important. I would advise that taking each draft seriously (especially the second draft where Gerrard gives comments and a provisional grade) will help with future essay drafts and your overall performance.

Lisa Gerrard is a brilliant professor. The class had three papers, the first one is individual work and the second and third papers are co-authored. Every paper has three drafts and the prof provides detailed comments and suggestions in the second draft.

i] The first paper required us to analyse advertisements from the 1900s and the 2000s and compare the portrayal of men/women. This often required a lot of work as I went to all of her office hours and she always wanted more examples and details. This meant issuing a ton of books from YRL and scouring through them for ads that support my thesis. It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed it bc I had never done anything like it before.

ii] The second paper was centred around the workplace; we had to interview someone who had a job and write a paper based on their experiences. The hardest part here was making sure that my co-author's and my writing styles merged coherently. Nevertheless, very enjoyable because it was the first paper I had written based off of an interview.

iii] The third paper granted us a lot more freedom. It was based on cybersecurity and we were allowed to pretty much make up our own topics.

It is very easy to get an A in this class if you
i] attend as many OHs as possible and get as much feedback as you can
ii] take the feedback seriously
iii] include vivid details in your paper that help the reader create mental images because she liked that a lot.

She is more than willing to accommodate you at a different time if your class schedule prevents you from going to office hours. Also very relaxed if you show up late or are unable to submit an assignment on time bc you had other work. Pretty sure I got nearly a week's extension on all my papers.

This was one of the first classes I took my first year of college, and I can honestly say that i enjoyed it. There are only 3 papers for the entire quarter. The first one is an individual paper, but the last 2 are group papers. I looked forward to this class because Gerrard was so welcoming, approachable, and she made class fun, in a way. I would highly recommend this course. Only one $35 course reader required, but if you look hard enough, you can buy it off someone for like $15.

I generally suck at English classes and hate them. But, Gerrard was perfect for that reason. She can be really helpful in explaining prompts and giving feedback on your essays should you go to her office hours, of course. Topics were intriguing overall. Would recommend.
RR

There are 3 essays in this class, and a couple of writing assignments. The topics aren't terrible and the professor is really sweet and fair. She leaves a lot of helpful comments on your essays and really encourages you to go to office hours. I am selling the course reader for $15 great condition, no bent corners or writing. Email *************.

This class isn't that hard there are 3 essays they each count for 25% of the grade and then 25% is participation and a couple short assignments. The first essay is alone but the second and third essays are paired writing. My suggestion is to request someone smart to write with. Some of the kids in your class are going to write like middle schoolers and then there are some kids who are too smart for this class. Find one of them because they can change your grade. Ms. Gerrard is pretty nice, shes kinda old but is laid back. The class is small though, so you can't really sneak to the back and slide through the class, she will know. She will help you with your essays if you don't understand a question or need advice on what to write. GO TO HER FOR HELP. It will significantly improve your grade. Honestly, I just went on my computer in this class and I finished with an A so if you take her class seriously and ask her for help it's not bad.

Prof. Gerrard is incredibly helpful teaching first year students how to write in a college setting. She really sets Freshmen up to be successful the next four years. She looks at a student's writing as a progression from the first draft to the final copy and sees a version of the first three drafts. She gives a lot of helpful criticism on the papers and tells you pretty much everything you need to work on to get an A.

I'm not a huge fan of the group/partner papers because some students aren't very motivated, but I could tolerate them to be in her class.

Great professor! Go to her office hours if you aren't satisfied with your essay grades; she is very sweet and more than willing to help.

Selling the course reader (good condition - no markings) for $15! Email me at ************* !!