ENWR 1510

Professor Smith is the best! I highly recommend his course about Reading/Writing in the Algorithmic Age. The assignments are all interesting and he is very approachable.

Professor Smith is the best! I highly recommend his course about Reading/Writing in the Algorithmic Age. The assignments are all interesting and he is very approachable.

Professor Smith was probably the best professor I had this semester. You can tell he's really passionate about the material and wants you to get as much out of the class as possible. He's also very approachable and gives a very reasonable workload each week. Just make sure to do the readings and make sure to polish your research essay. It'll help your grade and your skills as a writer.

I happen to disagree with the comments below. I had Professor Smith in the Spring semester of 2019 and I did not enjoy him whatsoever. His grading style was way too harsh and he often seemed uninterested in helping. There were multiple instances where the guidelines for assignments were unclear and I ended up receiving a poor grade because he explained things in a very obscure way. If you made an insignificant mistake on an assignment, he knocked the grade down by at least 5 points already. He always seemed like he was in a very poor mood and even graded the "discussion leads" in a very harsh manner when he didn't even have to do anything but sit there and listen. It seemed like his grading was entirely based on his opinions and not necessarily the quality of work. This class was not a lot of work and was definitely very manageable, but Professor Smith made it not worth it. I'm ending with a B+ even though I worked hard and was proud of my final products. I do not recommend taking your ENWR with Professor Smith. Every first year student has to take an ENWR as the writing requirement but I would definitely suggest choosing one with a better professor who will grade fairly.

I don't recommend this course at all. I took the class because of the general good reviews on course forum but that was not what was reflected off the course in my opinion. First, the professor is a harsh grader, his assignments are very broad, and he doesn't really teach nor does he act like he wants to. He's very passive aggressive and hard to approach and when you do he's very condescending. Also I didn't understand why we had reading quizzes in a writing course when the reading and the material we got quizzed on didn't help us with our writing at all? I think he should actually teach about writing and what or how he expects us to write instead of wasting time on other things and just expecting us to write the way he wants us to. My grade didn't reflect the amount of time and effort I put into his class which and in conclusion, do not take this course if you want to keep a good gpa.

I don't recommend this course at all. I took the class because of the general good reviews on course forum but that was not what was reflected off the course in my opinion. First, the professor is a harsh grader, his assignments are very broad, and he doesn't really teach nor does he act like he wants to. He's very passive aggressive and hard to approach and when you do he's very condescending. Also I didn't understand why we had reading quizzes in a writing course when the reading and the material we got quizzed on didn't help us with our writing at all? I think he should actually teach about writing and what or how he expects us to write instead of wasting time on other things and just expecting us to write the way he wants us to. My grade didn't reflect the amount of time and effort I put into his class which and in conclusion, do not take this course if you want to keep a good gpa.

For someone who doesn't typically like English classes, this one was just about as easy as could be. I took Writing Charlottesville with Professor Smith. There was a decent amount of work for this class, time-wise, but none of it was particularly difficult. There were a decent amount of readings and annotations, ten 300-500 journal entries, five 3-5 minute vlogs, and three essays, and one presentation (which counted as our final). The first essay was pretty easy because it could be about almost anything we wanted as long as we related it to the importance of place. The second essay was a group research essay, which could be either more difficult or less difficult than the first based on who your (random) group members were. The third didn't even have to be an essay - it could be anything, as long as it took the form of writing (a letter, a Stall Seat Journal design, an op-ed, etc.). You presented either the second or third writing project at a very low-stakes, short writing symposium where a couple random professors would come up to you and just ask what you wrote about. The professor was also very accommodating with the workload, as sometimes a journal entry and vlog would be due on the same day so he would extend the due date for one of them by 24 hours. This class used a specifications-based grading system instead of a points-based grading system, which meant that it was really easy to get an A as long as you put a good amount of effort into each assignment. #tCFfall22

Professor Smith was really great! I recommend him a lot for ENWR, especially if you don't want too much on your plate. Each assignment was reasonable and interesting as he allowed you to write about whatever you wanted as long as it fit within the scope of the assignment. He is always willing to help and a pretty easy grader in my opinion. There is very little homework outside of the main assignments and classes are mainly discussion/working with peers. Overall, take this class! Better than most ENWRs I've heard of.

Professor Smith is super chill. I agree with others that the topics could be broad but I think it's better that a professor is more vague than too narrow with their content, especially for a writing course. I wasn't a huge fan of the group project because we had randomly assigned groups and depending who you had, it could be pretty easy or kind of a nightmare. I'm not a fantastic writer by any means but I didn't find it difficult to get an A. He genuinely wants his students to do well and is very friendly and easy to talk to. His written feedback isn't the most helpful but if you talk to him face to face, he is super great. Just put in a little bit of effort to get to know him and you'll do perfectly fine. #tCFS25