Author Archives: quentin michalchuk

This course is a great arts elective, however it is most likely not what you think it is.  It is not a course that teaches strict grammatical rules vehemently challenging everyday speech and writing.  Instead, it is focused on descriptive grammar: grammatically describing English used in everyday situations.  In addition, it is a great choice for someone who does not like to attend lectures, as the whole course can be online and generally consists of readings with a couple videos.

I would recommend this course to those who are interested in understanding the rules behind everyday English use.  For most of us, English use is intuitive; no thought about sentence structure is needed.  However, if you want to understand how to make sense of our inherent intuition or you would like to be able to describe the English structure to someone learning English, this course is a great choice for you.

FORMAT OF THE COURSE

This was my first summer course, in 2020S, which took place over both summer semesters, making it more relaxed than most summer courses.  Of course, it can also be taken in the Winter Semester.  When I took it, the course grade was divided into 3 assignments/assessments over the course of 12 lessons:

1. Journal entries (10%) – These normally consist of engaging or controversial questions such as whether there is a future tense in English.  When I took the course, these were group assignments.  Bringing friends can make it enjoyable, or you can meet interesting arts kids like I did.
2. Exercises (10%) – These are exercises based on weekly online lessons.  I found them very useful for acquiring a conceptual understanding needed for the tests.  They are for completion.
3. Tests (80%) – There are 3 tests: Test 1 and 2 (each 20%) are based on lessons 1-3 and 1-7, respectively.  The final exam (30%) is not worth too much more than the tests, easing the pressure of the exam.

The 12 lessons are split into 4 units, which are meant to build up your understanding of grammar.  This is done starting from words in sentences, and building up to clauses and analyzing modern-day uses of English.

GPA 🙂 OR 🙁

As long as you keep up with the lessons, you will do great (A+)!  I found the most challenging part of the course was the journal entries, but with less weight on them, there is less pressure to do well.  The exam question themes are given out beforehand and can help you narrow down your studying.

Here is the grade distribution from Winter 2020:

ENGL 321 Grade Distribution (Credits: ubcgrades.com)

VERDICT?

If you need an arts elective and would like to understand how English is built, then ENGL 321 will boost your GPA!  It is also a great choice as there are no lectures and the weight is distributed on multiple assessments.  For those who are not interested, there are many other arts electives out there, so no need to worry.  Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!  Enjoy the course.

If you are planning to go into Co-op, looking for an online course while in Co-op, or simply need a break from science-related courses while still furthering your career, this is the right course for you.  I believe it may be required for people in the bachelor of computer science (second degree) program, and thus would probably be a good fit for CPSC students.  It is also arts credit, yet it is meant for students in science/other faculties, so no need to feel anxious about competing with Arts majors while getting those arts credits.

ENGL 301 is all about technical writing skills, predominantly business correspondence, something that is not prevalent in science courses but is essential in applying to any job.  Thus, if you already have good technical writing skills, this course will be a breeze.  If you don’t, you will learn essential skills like drafting a resume/CV or cover letter.

FORMAT OF THE COURSE

ENGL 301 is a fully online course focused on practicing and improving technical writing skills.  The course format and due dates are laid out right away, and there are no exams.

When I took it (2020W), the course was divided into four 3-week sections:

1. Introduction to business and technical writing, communication with instructors and classmates and building an online site.  The focus of this section is business correspondence.
2. Report proposal, peer-review, and resume-building.  The resume is essential to creating an online networking strategy with a Linked-In profile being the key feature.
3. Job application, report designing, and team feedback.  The highlight is the job application skills, where one can apply to a job of choice, graduate school or an international volunteer opportunity and to continue designing the report with the help of team feedback
4. Finalizing the report, networking strategy and web folio.  At this stage, peer reviews allow for the final version of the blog, report, and all plans for social networking are completed.

Small projects may differ depending on the year/semester.  In summary, the main projects in this course are designing a web folio and a final report on some specific aspect of your life (volunteering, work, etc.) that you think may be improved by collecting data via surveys and/or interviews of stakeholders.  There were small assignments due every Tuesday and Thursday that could be completed quickly.  If you like courses with many small assignments contributing to an overall grade, this course is for you.

GPA 🙂 OR 🙁

Although there is some busy work, many examples of the projects and small assignments are available by students posting early, or web folios provided from previous years.  If you follow the instructions and textbook templates closely, you should be able to achieve A+, however with minimal work it is still an easy A.  It may help to have a group of 4 friends, or simply make new friends (as I did), as you form groups to edit each other’s work.

ENGL 301 Grade Distribution (Credit: ubcgrades.com)

VERDICT? To take or not to take

If you are interested in improving your technical writing skills for that next job, preparing for Co-op, or even know technical writing and want a laid-back course where you can build your technical writing skills, this course is for you.  If you are motivated by competition, the best final report will receive a scholarship.  Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.  I hope you enjoy the course!