Western Kentucky University / O / Elizabeth Oakes

I absolutely hated going to this class. She is so boring and it is very hard to stay awake. There is quiz every class over the homework reading (which is also very boring, long and never has anything to do with your major). The quizes are not easy.. it always seems like she is trying to trick you.

In class you usually do pointless exercises, better known as busy work, to pass the time.

When you have to write essays, she makes you include stupid stuff in them and they are usually on very difficult topics.

She has terrible handwriting, so if she does write on the board you can't read it. You also can't read the comments she leaves you on your papers without asking.

She isn't a very hard grader in my opinion. I do have an A in the class.. but it is an earned A. If you take her be prepared to be bored to death!!

She blows....

FIRST of all her class is very BORING, she makes you do dumb activities that do not help you at all

SECOND of all you have quizzes every class over the stupid readings, sometimes they are true/false and sometimes short answer questions (all of them suck)

THIRD of all the paper topics suck, I understand that every ENG 300 class has to do a research paper, but she did not give us much time to do it, I felt rushed.

FOURTH of all, when I ask her questions, she never fully answers them, it is like she has no idea what she is talking about!

DO NOT TAKE HER, this class is horrible and boring.

Dr. Oakes is a fantastic professor. She truly has a passion for what she teaches. The first part of the semester was basically an introduction to the different areas of emphasis available in the English program. We had several guest speakers who talked about their particular areas and gave advice on doctoral programs. The class seemed pretty easy until midway through the semester.

During the first week of school we were given a list of literary terms, literary periods, schools of literary criticism, and people we needed to know about. We had two separate quiz / exams on the literary terms toward the end of the semester. These were interesting because there were more definitions than terms available on the matching quiz. I plan on using that technique when I teach! We did a lot of group presentations in the class on the schools of literary criticism, literary periods, and the book The Courage to Teach. These were a great way to boost grades.

We had to write one short paper on a chapter of The Courage to Teach. Toward the end of the semester we had to write a "faux conference" paper on Emily Dickinson's "My Life had stood" and present it to the class. We also had "faux" oral exams where we had to stand in front of the class and be questioned about all we had learned in the semester.

Finally, the final was not too hard. We had to list all of the periods of British and American literature in order, providing the dates. The remainder of the final was matching and multiple choice over the literary periods and schools of literary criticism.

Wow! That was a lot, but it was a really good class. I look forward to taking her Shakespeare class.

Compared to some Eng 300 courses I've heard about, there is considerable writing in this class. However, that's what Eng 300 is, a writing class. While there are many in-class and out of class essays, this class never caused me too much stress. Dr. Oakes is a pretty laid back, quiet woman who wants to improve your writing. She seems to grade more on the individual, looking for increased improvement during the course.

There were short quizzes on the assigned readings each session, but they were pretty general and shouldn't cause you much grief if you look at them. Also, if you've never dealt with in-class essays in the past this class could stress you out. There were about 3 during the semester, with another as the final.

Dr. Oakes is a wonderful teacher and tries hard to make the class interesting with new ideas. Quizzes are about every week or whenever we read a new text. They are fairly simple. The tests aren't bad either, and include some essays. The essays are graded kind of hard, but she helps in coming up with some ideas. I learned a lot in this class, and I would recommend this class and Dr. Oakes to anyone.

I enjoyed taking this class because I like reading Shakespeare. I did not enjoy taking this class because Oakes did not take into consideration that there were undergraduates in the same class as graduates and didn't seem to grade with that in mind. Her quizzes are easy. You can read spark notes and be fine. I was in a summer course so we got to take home the tests. They were comprised of a couple of essays that were to be 2+ pages. She graded them pretty hard. The final paper was rediculous. Maybe it was just too much information to cover during a summer course. I would expect her class to be much more enjoyable during a semester term.

Dr. Oakes is a very sweet woman and will help you in any way that she can. She knows the material quite well and breaks apart the research paper into three seperate, smaller papers so that you can grow as a writer. Also,, if you start off bad but pick up in the latter half o fthe semester, she does'n't hold that against your grade.

Dr. Oakes is a wonderful teacher. She is very practical. You will write 3 in class essays and 3 out of class essays. There is a quiz almost every day, but they are EASY if you glance over the text. She does a lot of group work and is very in to class participation. You will get out early nearly every day. GREAT CLASS take her if you can!

She is extremely nice about how to make the class interesting. She could make it a lot harder than she does.

She breaks the readings down so that they are understandable.

Dr. Oakes is pretty easy. You have to read a lot, but no more, actually probably less, than other lit classes. She is pretty nice and will work with you on making up stuff, etc. If you don't really like reading and literature and you just want to escape 200 with a good grade, I would recommend taking her.

She is an excellent professor! She gives you several chances to make grades, not just 4 exams!

Very good class. Introduces the student to lit. without drowning them in it. Dr. Oakes is very nice.

A good amount of reading, and a very encompassing term paper, but overall a great course for those who love Shakespeare. Dr. Oakes is very personable.