<p>Just curious as to the difference between the Literature and the Essay based expository writing courses at Harvard during the summer.</p>
<p>Would prefer to take both, but unfortunately not in the cards.</p>
<p>A description of anybody's experience of Harvard Expository Writing (Summer or actual Freshman year) would also be appreciated, in terms of workload and other pertinent facts.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>hey,
Isn't Expos required of all freshman? I've heard it's devilishly hard to get a pure A in that class unless you're an exceptional writer. Of course, that's during the regular school year- don't know how it'll be during the summer.</p>
<p>Expos is the only class required of ALL freshman. And yes, it is unbelievably difficult to get an A. Expos is EVAL!</p>
<p>In that case, would it be redundant to take two EXPOS-20 simultaneously?</p>
<p>If it is that difficult to get an A, seems more intelligent to focus on simply one course, and attempt to get an A while focusing on improving writing skills. Obvious, taking two expository writing courses would allow a greater understanding of a greater variety of topics and provide more opportunities to practice the critical writing that is taught at Harvard. However, given a finite amount of time and assuming that one's writing skills are equivalent to those of the average Harvard freshman entering in the fall, would the benefits be greater by focusing on simply one expository writing course heavily and "perfecting" (taken figuratively; no essay can be perfect, but referring to the general level of writing technique that is taught in the class) the essays written in that course, or taking two expository writing courses and writing perhaps "less than perfect" essays(obviously there would be less time committed to each of the single essays, and the quality would be lower in general), but having more practice.</p>
<p>In this discussion, I am assuming that one is unversed in writing at the level required to receive an A in the Harvard course, not one of those "truly exceptional", Hemingway, Tolstoy or Joyce - type writers. My main objectives are to learn new material and to improve my essay writing and critical thinking skills.</p>
<p>The delimma perhaps lies in time committment more than anything else. Essentially, this is a conflict between:</p>
<p>A) One Expos-20 Course (1:6h ratio of class time to homework time)
B) Two Expos-20 Course (1:3h ratio of class time to homework time for each)</p>
<p>Again, in general, given the assumptions that I have provided any recommendations as to which option would be more effective/productive? My feeling is that I will be bored severely by Choice A), but I am unaware of the difficulty associated with the Expos-20 writing courses at Harvard.</p>
<p>Slightly related, but off-topic, having glanced at the Harvard Guide to Freshman Writing and I've taken to heart the philosophy that writing about a topic is the key to understanding. As a corollary, it seems that the more one would write like that, the more one's writing skills for critically expressing ideas would improve. Perhaps this a question of quality versus quantity.</p>
<p>In closing, if you could provide any specific thoughts with regards to my delimma, particularly in assessing the difficulty and the benefits given the assumptions of either plan.</p>
<p>In addition, again digressing, but related to the scheduling that I am facing, assuming again the ability of the average Harvard undergraduate freshman entering in the fall, what would be the general ratio of class time as to homework in order to ensure an A? Just as a general rule to thumb? (Obviously it varies from mind to mind, but just as a general rule of thumb for Harvard courses, in particular the biologically related courses, i.e. genetics, molecular biology, cellular biology, etc).</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>You can't take two expos 20 classes. The only way you take 2 expos classes is if you take expos 10 and then expos 20. All incoming freshmen take an expos placement test. If you score average or better, you take expos 20. You will be randomly assigned to take expos in the fall or the spring, although it is possible to switch. A few people will be assigned to expos 10 in the fall, which focuses more on writing basics. Then after taking expos 10, they'll take expos 20 in the fall. </p>
<p>You wouldn't want to take 2 expos classes even if you could, trust me. Its a lot of work. There are plenty of other ways to spend your time.</p>
<p>I don't know what lit class you are referring to, Chancellor_Phoenix , but I took EXPO-20a, Writing and Literature, this past summer. It was based on Southern Literature and it was a great class with a great professor. I ended up with a B. The class was 8 weeks, and it was a lot of work (sooo much reading, suprise suprise), but it was worth it. </p>
<p>My roommate took The Essay, and she liked it. I don't know much more about her experience, but I can look into it if you want. </p>
<p>Summer school was great - I can't believe I went, and I'd love to do it all over again.</p>
<p>That's helpful. I was looking into both of the courses that you and your friend took, given the amount of work I'm being told it is and the difficulty of giving the A, I'm strong leaning towards the course you took based on the South; the syllabus written by that professor seems to indicate a very intellectually stimulating course.</p>
<p>If you could look into your roommate's experience with regards to the essay that'd be great as well.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Expos is a rite of passage for all Harvard students and one's experience depends a great deal on good topic selection and the luck of the draw. My preceptor was phenomenal (probably one of the three best teachers I have ever had). It is also a lot of work: you write four papers (and drafts of each -- and trust me, your final version better not look anything like your draft if you want a decent grade!), plus a lot of other assignments.</p>
<p>The amount of prep time to class time to get an A depends a lot on the course, department, professor, and student ability. Student ability varies a great deal; there are almost no truly dense at Harvard, but you will be surprised at the difference between the people at the top of the class (say, the top 10% or so -- the summa/PBK types) and everyone else.</p>
<p>In order to get an A in your standard humanities (btw, philosophy classes are notably harder) course, an average student would probably want to do most of the reading; this would take perhaps an hour and half per hour of class time. Given this preparation, writing a 10 page paper would probably be done over the course of two nights; perhaps 5-10 hours for writing and 2-3 for making revisions. Most courses in the social sciences take somwehat less time to prepare for. The workload for math or science courses varies tremendously; once you get out of the introductory courses, you quickly realize that there are students who are playing on a completely different level than the rest of the class (e.g. think sophomores in a second-year graduate organic chemistry course or juniors taking advanced general relativity). Problem sets are generally designed to keep the former group interested; they can be challenging.</p>
<p>Hi Chancellor_phoenix...</p>
<p>I talked to my friend today who took "The Essay." She said that she loved it. There wasn't as much work as my Writing and Literature class, but I guess that depends on the year and teacher. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>kbrambleson, if I may ask, what was the name of that particular preceptor?</p>
<p>In addition, to the poster above, could you ask your friend what the name of your preceptor was for the class on the essay, if possible at all?</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Will Evans... and my preceptor for Writing and Lit. was Dr. Thomas A. Underwood. He was excellent</p>
<p>Judith Murciano (who teaches Censorship and Freedom of Expression) is another outstanding preceptor.</p>
<p>I went to harvard summer school this past summer and took expo-s20a writing and literature with Underwood (great guy). We studied southern literature. We read a lot of critical essays and wrote three papers focused on certain literary works. The "essay" class focuses more on what an essay is, I think. I wouldn't take both--the topics overlap. Take something else you're interested in...</p>
<p>ichi02 - I took expo-s20a as well. What class were you in? I had it Monday and Wednesday, 3:30 - 6.</p>
<p>hi. I had class 1-3:30 Monday/Wed. we probably saw each other while passing =P</p>