CWP 116
College Writing: Place & Perspective
Place & Perspective is a writing course featuring readings on the subject of our environments, whether social communities, physical spaces, or even virtual realities. As a class and as individuals, students will be asked to respond to these sources with writing of their own, practicing the academic traditions of interpreting, analyzing, criticizing, and researching. Most importantly, students will have the opportunity to write original works synthesizing and offering new views on what it means to live here in this world, to have a place in an ecosystem or a city, a house or a hospital. We will study our local community, from perspectives in our classroom to the wider conversations across the St. Louis region, as we discover and write about our surroundings. We will foreground diversity in both our in-class conversations as well as through the writers we read, from issues of inequality to concerns of access and the responsibilities of citizens. The course will feature multidisciplinary perspectives in conversations with our faculty as they reflect on their experiences writing within and about places. We will consider how place-based thinking thrives across academic fields, from design thinking in art to systems science in engineering and from environmental policy in business to ethnographic writing in anthropology, to name a few possibilities. THIS COURSE SATISFIES THE FIRST-YEAR WRITING REQUIREMENT FOR ALL DIVISIONS.
Instructors
Allen, Berson, Bloomquist, Bonnie Pang, Brenes Akerman, Crystal Payne, Flores, Jen Meyer, Katherine Bloomquist, Lawrence Revard, Matthew Thompson, Megan Allen, Meyer, Naomi Kim, Revard, Ruth Berson, Sara Brenes Akerman, Sara Flores
Reviews
2-4 hrs/week
Taking this class with Allen was suupperr chill. she gave us a lot of busy work by you could turn it in whenever you wanted and could get full points, and could bs your way through it. most importantly- you could revise papers if you didn't like your grade which was amazing (she was also a pretty easy grader so I never had to revise anything and honestly I wrote a lot of bs) + final paper isn't the monster that other classes have bc she just let us add onto a paper that we already wrote to get to the 10 pages- easy A
12/2/2024
Coming in 2nd semester, I didnt think much of CW & skimmed over leftover options to choose this. I quickly came to discover that the workload of this class is abhorrent. A paper worth of writing every class. Currently 3rd semester as a double in major in McKelvey and this might be the highest workload I've had from an individual class. nnJust don't
10/31/2024
2 or less hrs/week
Will rip your paper apart and give you an A-, strange guy, but def knows what he's doing and will help your writing. Revard will also tell you some crazy stories. I say it worth it.
5/30/2024
6-8 hrs/week
I came into college as a good writer (I did a lot of writing for fun and some extracurriculars around writing) but this class was hell. I was spending 6-8 hours a week MINIMUM on essays while my peers in other college writing classes had maybe half the workload at most. Weekly essays had harsh grading and confusing prompts. Our professor talked to us like we were children (she asked us to to stare at the FLOOR as a writing exercise). Ultimately I got an A in the class, but it came at a greater cost to my sanity and sleep schedule. I think my writing got worse.
5/22/2024
6-8 hrs/week
I feel like Place and Perspective isn’t all that bad as a college writing class. It’s just awful with Bloomquist. There’s so many insignificant assignments on top of the big essays and her grading criteria is so backwards. I took both AP Lit and Lang and consider myself to be a good writer, but she constantly gave me the same grade as people whose papers were bordering illiterate. She kept giving me low grades because you didn’t write what she specifically wanted. She caps everyone at a 90-92 which is frustrating. She’s also a bit weird and condescending at times. I didn’t enjoy my time in her class. I swear my writing got worse after that class. If I didn’t really like the people in my class it would’ve been hell.
5/22/2024
4-6 hrs/week
Expectations and instructions very confusing and not clearly defined. Didn’t feel like I learned much that I wouldn’t have learned naturally in other courses which involved writing components.
5/21/2024
4-6 hrs/week
This class was hard in the fact that I find writing challenging. Flores is very kind and her grading reflects that: anyone in a pulse could get an A in her class. I don’t think that I was made a better writer through this class.
5/19/2024
4-6 hrs/week
This class was VERY demanding. We had weekly essays and the grading was very strict. Don't really recommend.
5/18/2024
CW P&P is heavy in workload, so be prepared for three 500 word assignments a week in addition to the standard essays in the CW curriculum. The professor is heavily left-leaning politically (even by WashU standards) and does not leave a lot of room for opposing viewpoints. Otherwise, she allows unlimited regrades making the class manageable.
4/30/2024
Jen is not your professor, she is your colleague & mentor in writing.She is not rubric-based, she focuses on your growth as a writer.Her love for writing & working for students is like a disease: it'll infect you. The course is reading heavy, introducing you to many kinds and styles of writing. Flexible w/ deadlines. Genuine effort+participation=A
2/7/2024
Straightforward with what she wants in a paper. Lots of work, but almost always participation for discussion posts. Going to class will help with writing paper in discussions. Not a very good writer and I learned a lot about writing and my struggle did not show up in my grade. Will read over your paper and give you feedback before submitting.
1/11/2024
Professor Bloomquist is a very nice person, and she genuinely does want to help you in class. However, grading was often harsh and inconsistent. Other college writing professors are much more lax, which will get frustrating. Essay prompts were confusing. It could've been just me, but sometimes she talked to us like we were children.
1/6/2024
More difficult for me to take her College Writing class coming from a school where I didn't do much writing. Very organized professor and readily gives feedback. Helped me become a better paper writer.
12/10/2023
She is nice and very enthusiastic about writing. Despite that, she gives a lot of unnecessary work and grades harshly. I heard that she often caps people at a 90 and slowly raises grades over time, but personally I felt like some of my better essays were severely undergraded. She also can be a bit condescending at times. Not an easy A class.
11/15/2023
Small group setting, easy to communicate with, kind and courteous to personal matters from experience. If you put in good effort (which isn't hard to do because the course load is light), you should do plenty fine. Come to class having done the required readings (or sometimes movies, short films, etc.), and with thoughts to bring to the table.
11/14/2023
Jen was engaging, kind, and extremely helpful. The class is very reading heavy and at times can be a lot of work, but she gives very helpful feedback and wants her students to succeed. She's extremely understanding and flexible. She expects each student to try their best, but is flexible in how final drafts/pieces look. Learned a lot overall
11/13/2023
Great professor, definitely came out of his class a better writer but a very difficult grader.
8/8/2023
Professor Allen was amazing for college writing. There were assignments due every class but she was very clear with the directions and what she wanted. Same goes for papers just listen to what she has to say during workshop, you will definitely get an A. Also, if you participate she will like you. I ended with a 96% and loved her.
5/18/2023
Fairly easy grader and lax with deadlines, but the workload is heavy and participating in discussions is pretty much required for a decent grade
5/15/2023
Daily assignments can feel annoying but they're pretty low stakes. Do them and you'll get the 2-3 points they're worth. Quirky personality with very interesting life stories he'll randomly share. Essay writing felt like he gave you a thesis and if you used his recommendation, you'd do well. Otherwise...idk. A ton of work imo.
4/21/2023