This class was my favorite that I have ever taken. You have a one-page single-space mini-essay due every Thursday night, which I thought was a lot too, but it was easy to manage. You have two midterm papers and then a final, but for the midterms, if you do not like your grade he lets you make revisions to get a better grade. Professor Deuel is an amazing teacher and you can tell he loves his work. I recommend this class to anyone who can take it and is something I will always be grateful for. You write more creatively then anything else and it truly is an amazing class.

I took English comp 3 in the fall as a freshman. Overall, the class is pretty similar to an AP high school English class because there are only about 20 people in each class. Mr. Deuel is such a personable teacher and I think the best thing about him is how much he cares about his students-if you email him, he will likely get back to you in the next hour (he even offered to call me about the midterm right before his flight took off).

The weekly readings that he assigns are pretty long but not super dense but you have to keep a reading journal with some notes about the reading. On Thursday, we just came in and discussed and at the end of each class, he gave us a very vague prompt to answer in 1 page single spaced by the end of the day. On Friday he'll post like 4-5 short essays that he wants us to look at and on Tuesday we will discuss them. (he makes sure everyone is chosen once). We also have to write a paragraph for each person between Friday and the class on Tuesday.

Even with the amount of work, it really isn't that bad- you have 2 midterm papers (one 3 pages and the next 5 pages) and then your final paper is 10 pages. While it might seem overwhelming, Mr. Deuel is literally always there to help you with ideas and gives you so much creative freedom, and in my opinion, is quite an easy grader. Also, if you don't do well on your first 2 midterm papers, he gives you the opportunity to "redo" them and resubmit them at the end of the quarter and you really just have to look at the comments he writes and make adjustments. 9/10 recommend this course

As a person, Professor Deuel is absolutely amazing!! At the beginning, I thought he was sort of pretentious, but it was clear soon enough that he is just a nice, funny guy who really cares about the success of his students.

Academically, there is a LOT of work for this class. If you are looking for a light class to fulfill this graduation requirement, I recommend picking someone else. I will say, though, that even though there is a ton of work, it is not hard to get a good grade in this class. Just participate, do your work with effort on time, and you should be solid. Even if you do not do as well on the big graded papers, you have opportunities to revise them. Also, I believe that the work I did in this class truly did make me a better writer. Deuel, unlike my previous english teachers, cares about his students finding their true writing voice rather than forcing them to adhere to a certain structure.

One last thing I will note is that each we week we have a mini essay due with prompts that can get quite personal. For example, one week we had to write about what we are ashamed of. What's worse is that all of your classmates will read and leave comments on these essays... and you may even be selected to read it aloud during class. As a less emotionally open person, I found this activity extremely uncomfortable at first. By the end of the class, i grew to be more confident in expressing myself, but there certainly was a learning curve.

Although at times I hated this class because he assigned a lot of writing assignments, it was the only class the I look forward to attending in person. Professor Deuel is such an understanding and funny guy. He always tells his students to email him with any questions or if they want him to read through one of their papers and tell them where they can improve it. In my experience, he isn't a harsh grader, but if he does give you a bad grade, he gives you until the end of week 10 to revise it and earn a higher grade. The workload can seem like a lot at times with a mini-essay due every Thursday and reading journals and workshops due before each class, but he really does help you grow as a writer. I went from hating writing with a passion to being able to tolerate it (which is saying a lot considering I am a STEM major). There is a 3-page midterm and a 5-page midterm that were a little inconvenient but helped me learn a lot about myself as a writer. The final is 10-12 pages which is a lot but he was always available to answer any questions or concerns. Overall, I think the class is worth all the late nights writing mini-essays. Hope this helps!

selling Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology for $18. Msg me if interested @ **********0

If you’re like me and English is not your strong suit, I highly recommend Professor Deuel’s class! His class focused primarily on creative writing and helped me to break out of the mould of writing regimented high-school style essays. Be ready to put in a lot of work for the class, however. Basically, every assignment in the class revolves around writing, but by the end of the class your writing skills will certainly improve. Furthermore, effort is what really counts in the class, so BS-ing your assignments will not fly.

Readings: Every week he assigns a few short stories/essays from the Writing Los Angeles anthology book. They were only about 5-6 pages in length apiece. Personally, I found them hit or miss – sometimes the readings would be very interesting and other times they’d be quite bland. He wants you to also write a reading journal (about a page in length, single-spaced) documenting your thoughts after reading the piece. He reads them but not in detail, so I just wrote in a stream-of-consciousness style, recording my opinions to use in the class discussion.

Mini Essays: On Thursdays he’ll assign a mini-essay which would be due the following morning. You’ll basically have the afternoon and evening of a single day to hash out a personal essay (also one-page single-spaced). Most weeks the prompt was interesting. On Friday, he would select five student essays for peer review. We would read them over the weekend and write a paragraph response to each one, detailing our thoughts on word choice, writing styles, etc.

Midterm Essay: The first midterm essay was tough – it was the most “academic” of all the essays if you consider it in the context of a high school paper. You had to write about one of the readings from the first four weeks in three pages or less, double-spaced. He graded pretty harshly; I got a C on it, which was disappointing because I actually thought my essay was pretty good. He gives you detailed feedback on where you went wrong and how you can improve on the next essay though. You can take this information and rewrite your midterm essays if you want, and you have up until the last day of class to resubmit. The second midterm essay was easier because it was more open-ended and I knew what he was looking for – this one was five pages and you have to find a recent news article that pertains to the class reading that you selected to write about.

Final Essay: 10-12 pages, which seems like a lot, but if you start drafting a few weeks before the deadline (around week 7-8) you shouldn’t have any issues finishing. This was the most open-ended of all the essays, so you could literally write about whatever you want as long as it had something to do with one of the readings. I should mention that while he does assign grades to your papers, there are no “points” in the class, so your final grade could be higher than you expected.

If Professor Deuel is available, take it with him. The class setting is so intimate and professor is so generous in grading. There is a fair amount of writing but trust me, you actually learn in the class. 11/10 professor.

Nathan is a great guy and I highly recommend him for English Comp 3.

I really appreciated Nathan's commitment. He is constantly available and the small class size is fantastic. Professor Deuel went on to write a letter of recommendation for me which he had no need to do, so I greatly appreciate it. He is clear, well-spoken, and a great instructor. He is also incredibly helpful and gives meaningful feedback. I would recommend him to absolutely anyone who needs to fulfill the writing requirement. Additionally, the material he uses is engaging and interesting. While there is a relatively hefty amount of work to do for the course, it all is relevant and helps you to learn and engage with the topics of the class.

Selling Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology by David L. Ulin for $16.

For more information, text **********

Professor Deuel is the kind of person who will take time out to really get to know all his students. And not just names, he'll make notes about your progress, your anecdotes, your likes and dislikes, your history... he even has mandatory meet-ups to discuss progress, material and everything in between! Accordingly, he personalises some of the essay topics, to tailor well to each type of student. His workload is heavy and I recommend taking this class only if you can handle his strict deadlines and tough remarks. The book he recommends gets boring sometimes, but all that is secondary to the brilliant experience you gain by being around this professor. If you're an English buff or a writing pro, this is the one for you.
If not, this is the one for you too!
Trust me, it'll be worth it.