<p>Hey there,</p>
<p>What can you guys tell me about this class? How much time do you put into home work? What are assignments like?</p>
<p>Depends on your writing skill, and who your professor is. Classes may vary wildly on content, but what you can expect is that you will write four progressional papers: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>The Analytical paper. </p>
<pre><code> Columbia has its own unique style of writing analytical papers. The way I was taught to write analytical papers before Columbia was completely different. I would say Columbia’s style is better. But you are essentially bestowed a text where you are to locate a problem or possible tension without using external sources. This paper is the preferred essay type for many classes, including Music Humanities.
</code></pre></li>
<li><p>The Conversational paper:</p>
<pre><code> You will have read a number of texts related to a common “seed text” . Whereas in the Analytical Essay, you are asked to locate a problem or tension within one text, here you will locate an external problem or tension that intersects several different texts. One way this is done is to choose an exhibit (artwork, cultural phenomenon, news item, etc) and examine or explore that exhibit through multiple lenses.
</code></pre></li>
<li><p>The Research Essay: </p>
<pre><code> Again, you will learn a very thorough way of writing a research essay. This type of research essay is not related to a scientific research essay. But you are using the skills you learned from both the Analytical and Conversational Essay
</code></pre></li>
<li><p>The Reflective Paper</p>
<pre><code> You pretty much write about a bunch of on your progressions while using the skills you learned, and this essay is usually graded the least and used as a grade booster in the classroom. ( this was true for my class. )
</code></pre></li>
</ul>
<p>I also want to point out that this overview is just that, an overview, and is by no means exhaustive. This information is just a scratch on the surface of what you will be in for because each essay will be in-depth.</p>
<p>Throughout each progression, you will basically have two-to-three rewrites within the course of 2 weeks before turning in your final draft.</p>
<p>The length of each essay depends on your professors demands, but count on the research essay on being the most time consuming.</p>
<p>BTW, dont worry too much about the length of the papers, the content is the most important. Also, BS’ing your way through a paper in UW is a great way to fail the course. With the exception of the reflective paper.</p>
<p>There’s also a fair amount of reading for each class. I’d say it’s typically 20-50 pages of closely read text, in addition to writing assignments.</p>