As an incoming freshman, this was a great introduction to college writing for me. The textbook was appropriately priced and it was really insightful, too. We practiced how to break out of the mold of our impersonal academic writing styles and experimented with personal voice to make our writing more compelling and individualized. Fallows is a super cool, funny and friendly professor who will radically change the way you write for the better. Grading consists of 20% participation in class discussions/homework and 80% of your essays (or writing projects (WP)). WP1 is analysis of a political ad, WP2 is about an environmental documentary and WP3 is a "grammar b" essay about something personal—you first write 3 pages of each, then you expand two of those to 6 pages to be graded (one of WP1/WP2, + WP3). Fallows selects some students to be publishers each time, which means the class as a whole will read your writing. This may sound daunting but it's actually a great opportunity to get some valuable feedback from both the professor and your peers, so make sure to take notes. There are some weekly readings posted on CCLE which you have to post reading responses on, but it's nothing too crazy. Overall, I really enjoyed taking this class with Fallows and I would highly recommend this professor.

Aside from being a great teacher Randy is a very well-rounded person who has bold stances and views about life. As he teaches writing with examples from his personal life, you slowly get to know him and his values which was one of the things that made the class enjoyable for me. His class is really well organized. Overall, it’s about breaking the rules about writing that are taught in high school such as “don’t use the word I” “Start with a topic sentence”… etc. The class is about finding your voice and writing in a unique way by letting go of the fix things you’ve been told to do. He really teaches to write in an advanced way. He also explained, in the last class of the quarter, the broader significance of all the essays he assigned which made me appreciate this class more. The first essay was about an analysis of a black mirror episode that we picked. We were supposed to think about how it applied to us and generally write about ourselves instead of trying to write a boring objective paper. The second essay was about an environmental documentary that we chose. And the last one was about anything we wanted but we used a special writing style called Grammer B which is a very unusual, creative, funky style. He explained that he assigned these and never gave exams because he thought that schools were supposed to teach and value critical thinking abilities about information that can be found online instead of expecting students to memorize that knowledge that they could easily find with a click on their phone whenever they wanted. His goal was to prepare students to be able to think about the problems that they will face when they are adults and articulately express their ideas on those topics. Our generation’s problems are going to be environmental because we’re killing our planet and technological with all the advancements that are on the verge of causing ethical and moral dilemmas. This class really made me think about all these things and find my view on these topics. Which I believe is a very important quality to have as a person. This class will help students have views and be able to express them instead of being plant-like superficial people who don’t really think or have an opinion. The workload is not super light since for each essay a 3 page first draft, and for 2 essays (grammar b + the one that you pick from the other two) 6 page final drafts are required. (Double spaced) (Randy makes face to face appointments and discusses your essay with you as he reads it and gives advice) If you take this class you will be doing a good amount of writing and editing and you will have to work on the same Essay for a long time but that’s what helped me really get something out of this class and learn. It wasn’t easy and it may be hard for people who don’t like writing but I recommend taking this class to everyone because Randy is a great teacher and a great human being who’s definitely worth meeting. You will have your eyes opened after this class if you really try to take in what he’s teaching instead of just trying to satisfy the requirement and pass. If that’s your plan, then just take another EngComp class.

I feel so lucky that I chose Randy's Eng Comp 3 as my writing I requirement. Though I felt reluctant to write, and found some of his cold jokes hard to follow, these were all my own fault and on the whole he got me more willing to express my own ideas and dig them deeper. The workload is very reasonable-- 3 first drafts for completion, and you only need to revise 2 of them for grades. His topics are fun, including saving the environment and science fiction. Last, though he always scared us that it is not easy to get an A for his class, it is in fact quite an easy job to get a good grade. Take his class, both for gpa and for your own improvement of writing.

P.S. go to his office hour in none-conference weeks and take your drafts to him. I got an A partially because I was one of the few students who brought extra drafts to him beyond his individual conference time.

Professor Fallows is one of the best professors I've had so far. He is very dedicated to what he teaches and encourages his students to do their best. I always liked writing, but he opened up my world to new styles, new rules, and new feelings. His assignments were so great and interesting. I enjoyed this class so much. I highly recommend taking English Comp with him!

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Great professor with minimal work. We had to write 3 3-page papers and revise 2 of them to 6-page papers for a grade, as well as take about 5 pages of notes on Randy's book (which can be found online for free). Class discussions were mainly focused on the book and how to write, so it wasn't too intense. Additionally, Randy was always helpful during office hours--he would tell you what to improve and what grade you would receive if you turned in the paper as is, allowing you to continuously revise and revisit him until he told you you'd get the grade you desired. Highly recommend taking this class for EngComp for an easy, low-stress class.

The best teacher I have had at UCLA. You only have 3 papers and they are very manageable. He really appreciates the students who participate in class and we always had the best class discussions. I would definitely recommend him. I don't think i'm a good writer at all and I got an A in the class.

Randy is one of the best teachers I have ever had and recommend him for any class that he teaches! I took English Comp 3 with him to satisfy my Writing I credit and I was really nervous. My roommate recommended him and I am so happy she did! He doesn't give pointless or busy work. Everything he assigns as meaning and actually helps you write. Most of the time it is student examples for the papers you are about to write so it is actually relevant and really helpful. His class discussions are fun, he cares what you have to say, and he is far from boring. He is engaging and funny and makes this more like a discussion between friends than a lecture. You will not be disappointed if you take Randy. He doesn't assign too much work at all, it is really fair. He had us write three papers, one of which you just write a 2-3 page rough draft and turn into credit. And the others are 6 pages each but one of them is a really fun and creative essay! His class is awesome, you don't write 5 paragraph essays, he encourages creativity and putting your voice into the pieces and he helps you every step of the way! Randy is the best teacher ever! Take him!!!!

If you have the chance to take him then do it.
He is the best english professor ever. His class is fun and not too bad. 3 essays and he will make you think about them. Not being a great writer myself he made me want to do better and I did with an A in his class.

One of the best at UCLA.

Gives you the whole quarter to write 3 essays. Your essays can be very opinionated and you can even add some cuss words. He is a verrrrry chill professor and tries to make the class entertaining. if you are looking for a chill eng comp3 class, TAKE HIM!

Prof. Fallows was really great. His class was really the highlight of the day; I always looked forward to going every time. I have never been so excited to write before, and I honestly have never willingly worked so hard on a paper before. He wasn't an easy teacher but he has a really unique teaching style that makes you understand what you should write about and enables you to easily put your thoughts together into writing. He not only teaches his students how to write- and he does a great job of doing so- but he also lets his students write in their own style and use their own unique ideas.
He also teaches you really helpful ways to edit your papers. His group discussion was pretty intimidating since you read your paper in front of 25 or so people, but I found that I caught a lot errors that I wouldn't have caught before, and the suggestions from all my classmates were really helpful on expanding the rest of the paper.
Definitely take his class! You will not regret it.