<p>Im going to Rutgers in New Brunswick in the Fall 2009. I will be taking Expository Writing and a few people have told me that this is a very hard class. Can someone give me an overview of how this class works, and if it really is one of the hardest classes at Rutgers.</p>
<p>The class won’t kill you, haha.</p>
<p>**The things that determine your grade for this class:<a href=“1”>/B</a> Having a teacher who is either too hard or too lenient, or in the middle. If you’re teacher is picky, you’ll probably have to work hard to get an A (or even a B). If your teacher is lenient, you will probably get a B or an A.
(2) How well you analyze articles in your own words. You are analyzing, while using the articles and 1 or two quotes to SUPPORT your point.
(3) Doing your paper on time and not at 4am the morning that the rough draft is due when the class starts in 4 hours.</p>
<p>**How to succeed in this class:<a href=“1”>/B</a> Go see your teacher at office hours! The first 2 (or is it 3?) papers do not count – the grades for the last three do. Starting with your first paper, make sure you go and see your teacher. Type up your rough draft and take a copy with you to office hours. After you receive your comments for the rough draft, take it to office hours AGAIN and discuss the comments and suggestions made by your teacher.
(2) During peer editing, look for the person who has gotten a B+ or higher on their papers. Obviously, they know what they are doing if they are receiving those grades. Learn from them.
(3) When using quotes from the articles, they must relate to the point you are trying to make in your thesis sentence back in the introductory paragraph. The quotes should be supporting your analysis. Don’t just regurgitate facts from the articles. You are not writing a summary about the articles.</p>
<p>I worked really hard in expos, a lot harder than I thought I would since I’ve always been a strong writer. And I struggled to get a B. The thing about my professor is that he was really specific about what he wanted, but didn’t know how to explain how to do so. Like he said he wanted strong connections. yeah, I can draw some strong connections between two papers really easily. But then he’ll go on a rampage and mark all over the place, saying that I didn’t *prove * the connection. So because you’re not just supposed to use quotes without explanations or summary, i would try to explain what the quote meant in my own words. Then he would say that I was extrapolating, and you can’t do that. Then I would try to use long-winded summaries of the essays to explain how I jumped to this perfectly logical conclusion. And he would say “too much summary.” And I had a tutor, whose mind looked boggled and perturbed as he read my professor’s comments. My professor was just a very literal man. He circled the word stringent and wrote “well, what does this mean?” to which I responded, well, look it up. very frustrating. </p>
<p>my problem wasn’t even analyzing the articles. it was explaining my analysis in a perfectly logical way, somehow, without inferring things. which is how I thought analysis was done. </p>
<p>and it was hard for me to find someone who was getting a B+ on papers. Because 1) I do not know how to figure out what grades people are getting by not peering over their shoulders or blatantly asking them (“heyy, I don’t know your name or who you are or what you’re doing here. but can you please let me know what you got on your last paper? so that if I’m impressed, i can use you to get higher grades on mine? THANKS”). and 2) no one was getting a B+. People were still failing their papers by the sixth one. </p>
<p>and yes, quotes have to be relevant. and so do body paragraphs. Don’t wander away from your thesis and start talking about potatoes or something that is in the essay and does not further or support your point.</p>
<p>and I saw my professor during office hours and after class, but he would just kind of point to my essay and READ his comments out loud to me. Because he had too many students and can’t remember each and every essay about the same topic and most likely with the same thesis. so going to office hours was storytime, where he would just read to me. </p>
<p>and it didn’t matter how much time I had to write the essay. I could spend two hours or four, and I would still get the same crappy grade i got the previous week. time management simply doesn’t matter if you don’t know what your professor wants and if he is physically and mentally incapable of explaining this to you. </p>
<p>and you’ll come to figure out that expos is very formulaic. don’t try to be original; that is discouraged. My most original essay got me a C and my most boring, obvious essay got me my best grade. this is what your introduction will look like: generic statement or question –> bring in a problem or conflict –> bring in one author, second, third author –> thesis. this is what your body will look like: topic sentence –> introduce first author and what he/she has to do with topic sentence (that relates to thesis, btw) –> quote –> explain quote –> connect or introduce next author –> quote –> explain quote –> connect some more –> clincher (also relates to thesis). and do that two more times. write a dry conclusion, and you’re done.</p>
<p>best of luck</p>
<p>In terms of the peer editing, of course you won’t go around and ask people what grade they got, haha. </p>
<p>But sometimes the teacher might mention that such and such got a B+ or higher, especially if they were the ONLY ones in the class to get such grade on the last paper. My teacher even suggested and encouraged us to consult with the one or two students who were getting a good grade in the class if we needed help. </p>
<p>But I hated peer editing. I even told my teacher that I found it was pointless since the people who were editing your paper were basically getting the same low grade as you. How on earth can you take advice from a person who got a C on their last couple of papers?!</p>
<p>sorry to hijack your thread, but are composition 101 and expo the same? or are the different?</p>
<p>Do you mean a composition class at Rutgers or at a local community college?</p>
<p>I’m not sure, but there is a way to take writing composition at your local community college to replace expos. A writing composition class offered at a local community college could be equivalent to expository writing. You will have to get permission first though from the department to see if the credits can transfer and satisfy the writing requirement. I haven’t tried this so I don’t know if it is acceptable.</p>
<p>i got an A in expos. with that said…lol, good luck, that’s all i can really say. it demands a caliber of writing that many of you are probably not capable of delivering, hard work or not. in my opinion that course should be a more advanced one and a simpler writing course should be used as the required one. hope you get a good professor to teach you well, and put effort into learning - there’s no real leniency with grading between the professors, because all of the grades given on papers have to be confirmed by the department heads or something.</p>
<p>There is definitely a discrepancy between grading throughout the department. Expository Writing isn’t too bad, its definitely manageable and I managed to coast through it without putting too much effort into papers, but I was lucky with a relatively easy teacher, and I’ve always been a pretty good writer.</p>
<p>I am taking Composition 101 at rutgers Newak. They skipped me over communications 101 and put me in composition 101.</p>
<p>naoise, awesome summary of expos that is still extremely relevant today.</p>
<p>Mushaboom-agree that peer editing is quite worthless and lame.</p>
<p>peer editing is completely pointless 
but i’m getting tutoring at the writing center which really helps!!!</p>
<p>"The first 2 (or is it 3?) papers do not count – the grades for the last three do. "
That was true 3 years ago, but I’m not sure if it’s still the same policy now…I think it changed to that they look at all papers and pick the highest 2 or 3 grades, avg them and that is your final grade.
I got a B+ because my prof was lenient. She even said that she checked her grades with the board and they criticized her for being too lenient.</p>
<p>my teacher says that your grade is the “highest sustained grade on your papers,” but last semester, my friends had professors who didn’t count the first two grades.</p>
<p>Try not to procrastinate in writing your papers. Also… judge your teacher. Some are very lenient and some do not really know what they are doing. The highest grade my teacher was willing to give out was a B+ and also, your last three papers count the most.</p>
<p>My son had basic comp (and did well at the end) and now has expos. The advice I gave him was to listen to what the teacher wants and follow their advice. (although I agree that some of the teachers are a bit vague about what they actually want). His two teachers seem to be wildly different and he suffered because he gave the new professor what the old one asked for. They each have their own quirks.</p>
<p>I think a peer review could be helpful if you get someone who is in the B+/A range, but my son was having his papers edited by kids who couldn’t even spell. Literally!</p>
<p>Look at this site for good tips on writing your essays; I found the link on the Rutgers writing website. <a href=“HugeDomains.com”>HugeDomains.com;
<p>Also watch the short film on the writing program page, it’s called the Expos 5. It was very interesting <a href=“http://vimeo.com/14011000[/url]”>http://vimeo.com/14011000</a></p>
<p>Would I be exempt from this class if I get a 4 or 5 on my AP lit exam? I’m kinda riding on this so I don’t have to take this class haha.</p>
<p>^Yes</p>
<p>10char</p>
<p>This was a fun expos thread.</p>
<p>Took Expos as a hs sophomore during the summer between 10th & 11th grade. It was a huge challenge, a challenge I really hated…but I got through. My naive hs sophomore self wanted to improve my writing skills to prepare for AP Language and Comp. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. But the prof. was very nice and treated me like an adult, while high school teachers are generally mean and unhelpful. Professor was not really helpful but I got the work done. He actually gave me a C+ for the final paper, but I talked to the Writing Program director, Kurt Spellmeyer and he gave me a B+ instead. Final grade: B. </p>
<p>I’m wondering, should I put this on my college resume? Will they realize the difficulty of Rutgers Expository Writing and recognize that a B is a fairly decent grade for a high school sophomore?</p>