ENGL398R | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
John Constantine Tobin ENGL398R Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/04/2024	I have never written a review for a professor before, but Dr. Tobin is a relatively new, yet great professor. I had him for ENGL398R (Creative non-fiction writing) which I took as my professional writing gen-ed requirement. I cannot recommend him enough. He cares about each individual student, and his class was small and discussion-based, allowing you the opportunity to work very closely with him. He puts in effort to get to know each of his students, something which I feel is severely lacking in other courses. The course is structured around students submitting creative non-fiction works on a bi-weekly basis. You will spend class time presenting what you wrote and then discussing it with Dr. Tobin and the other students. The environment that Dr. Tobin creates allowed students in my section to share very personal stories which he handled with respect and honesty. If you're worried about "writing too much", don't be. There was a 4000 word requirement... for the semester. The final was very manageable and amounted to revising the work I had already done throughout the semester and submitting it in a final portfolio. His expectations are clear, and he is very understanding with deadlines. I genuinely felt like Dr. Tobin wanted to see all of us improve as writers, even if we weren't that interested in writing. In fact, he urges his students to pursue publication and spent multiple classes going through a step-by-step process on how to do so. Overall, he is a kind, understanding person and a professor that wants the best for you, no matter where you are in life. I wish more people knew about Dr. Tobin and ENGL398R. It's a hidden gem among professional writing courses. Summary: Dr. Tobin is a great professor and even kinder person. His ENGL398R class is stress-free and highly preferable to the more popular technical writing course most students take. If you get the chance, take his course.
Danuta Hinc ENGL398R Expecting an A Anonymous 05/29/2023	There are a ton of busywork assignments, but that's to be expected from a professional writing course. Most assignments are graded based on completion, and the only real grades are the three main essays and participation. It's an easy class but a lot of work. Participation is worth a huge amount of your grade (30%), but the way she grades feels unfair and she is very harsh with this grading. Most of the class is discussion-based, and I thought it was chill but also very shallow. I disagree that Professor Hinc is nice, as many of her comments seem very egotistic, aggressive, or inappropriate. Much of the class is just her talking about herself. She does not like to be disagreed with, and it may affect your participation grade. Her essay feedback is not very helpful, as it seems she only leaves a few unrelated comments. I did not feel like I improved as a writer through this class, and would recommend a different PWP class if you're interested in that.
Danuta Hinc ENGL398R Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/30/2023	Class is super easy and Professor Hinc is very nice. If you have a problem with deadlines just talk to her, and you can work something out. It is a gen-ed, so there are a ton of useless assignments that the department requires her to give us. Luckily, you basically just have to complete them. I think there were too many readings, but you could probably get by without reading all of them if you are more strategic than I am. I didn't find her essay feedback very helpful. She usually only wrote a sentence or two in response to a 5-page essay. She wasn't very clear with the instructions on the three main essays, but this is because she wants you to focus on writing something good, not towards a rubric. The class should probably be called "(non-fictionish) Creative Writing" Definitely an easy A if that's what you're looking for.
Daniel Sidman ENGL398R Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/25/2023	Professor Sidman is awesome. Very understanding/ caring professor who is very knowledgeable. He wants to expose his students to Non-Fictional Narratives, and throughout the semester your write 3 essays (all under 1200 words) and create an e-portfolio. He doesn't grade the essays by letter grades since "they're subjective" and will give you a pass/ fail based on if you completed the assignment correctly or not, which is sweet. Even though it's only 3 essays, you really work on making these essays great through in class workshops and peer/ teacher review. I know he offers his classes pretty early but if you can make 80% of the classes, I would recommend taking him.
Danuta Hinc ENGL398R Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2022	Amazing Professor. She cares so much about her students and helping them improves in their writing. Definitely a class I would take ten times in a row. Very chill with deadlines and just gotta complete the work really. Very free to write about whatever you want which is great too and she will read all that you write. Amazing Class.
Pamela Gerhardt ENGL398R Expecting an A Anonymous 04/27/2022	Really fun class, for sure the best of all the professional writing options. The entire class was just mini completion assignments, a 500-word essay, a five-page essay, and this portfolio thing. Spread out so the workload is really manageable, actually interesting and engaging.
Sarah Dammeyer ENGL398R Expecting an A Anonymous 12/22/2021	This is one of my FAVORITE professors and courses at UMD!! The course consisted of abut 4-5 essays as major assignments and collaboration with others students. Sarah is very accommodating and left me the best comments on my assignments and really helped us to see how our work could be applicable in the real world and I was never stressed about my grade. 10/10 would recommend this professor and course for your professional writing credit!!!
Pamela Gerhardt ENGL398R Expecting an A Clover89 05/13/2010	This is the best professional writing class you can take! Everyone writes a 5 page nonfiction narrative - meaning a story about something that happened to you - and then we workshop them in class. You get to read people's crazy stories, like one guy who proposed after 5 months. It's fun and you learn stuff you will need to know in any business - like how to write about yourself, give a presentation, a memo, a resume, etc. If you have to take Junior English, take it with Gerhardt!

John Constantine Tobin
ENGL398R

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/04/2024

I have never written a review for a professor before, but Dr. Tobin is a relatively new, yet great professor. I had him for ENGL398R (Creative non-fiction writing) which I took as my professional writing gen-ed requirement. I cannot recommend him enough. He cares about each individual student, and his class was small and discussion-based, allowing you the opportunity to work very closely with him. He puts in effort to get to know each of his students, something which I feel is severely lacking in other courses. The course is structured around students submitting creative non-fiction works on a bi-weekly basis. You will spend class time presenting what you wrote and then discussing it with Dr. Tobin and the other students. The environment that Dr. Tobin creates allowed students in my section to share very personal stories which he handled with respect and honesty. If you're worried about "writing too much", don't be. There was a 4000 word requirement... for the semester. The final was very manageable and amounted to revising the work I had already done throughout the semester and submitting it in a final portfolio. His expectations are clear, and he is very understanding with deadlines. I genuinely felt like Dr. Tobin wanted to see all of us improve as writers, even if we weren't that interested in writing. In fact, he urges his students to pursue publication and spent multiple classes going through a step-by-step process on how to do so. Overall, he is a kind, understanding person and a professor that wants the best for you, no matter where you are in life. I wish more people knew about Dr. Tobin and ENGL398R. It's a hidden gem among professional writing courses. Summary: Dr. Tobin is a great professor and even kinder person. His ENGL398R class is stress-free and highly preferable to the more popular technical writing course most students take. If you get the chance, take his course.

Danuta Hinc
ENGL398R

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/29/2023

There are a ton of busywork assignments, but that's to be expected from a professional writing course. Most assignments are graded based on completion, and the only real grades are the three main essays and participation. It's an easy class but a lot of work. Participation is worth a huge amount of your grade (30%), but the way she grades feels unfair and she is very harsh with this grading. Most of the class is discussion-based, and I thought it was chill but also very shallow. I disagree that Professor Hinc is nice, as many of her comments seem very egotistic, aggressive, or inappropriate. Much of the class is just her talking about herself. She does not like to be disagreed with, and it may affect your participation grade. Her essay feedback is not very helpful, as it seems she only leaves a few unrelated comments. I did not feel like I improved as a writer through this class, and would recommend a different PWP class if you're interested in that.

Danuta Hinc
ENGL398R

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
04/30/2023

Class is super easy and Professor Hinc is very nice. If you have a problem with deadlines just talk to her, and you can work something out. It is a gen-ed, so there are a ton of useless assignments that the department requires her to give us. Luckily, you basically just have to complete them. I think there were too many readings, but you could probably get by without reading all of them if you are more strategic than I am. I didn't find her essay feedback very helpful. She usually only wrote a sentence or two in response to a 5-page essay. She wasn't very clear with the instructions on the three main essays, but this is because she wants you to focus on writing something good, not towards a rubric. The class should probably be called "(non-fictionish) Creative Writing" Definitely an easy A if that's what you're looking for.

Daniel Sidman
ENGL398R

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
04/25/2023

Professor Sidman is awesome. Very understanding/ caring professor who is very knowledgeable. He wants to expose his students to Non-Fictional Narratives, and throughout the semester your write 3 essays (all under 1200 words) and create an e-portfolio. He doesn't grade the essays by letter grades since "they're subjective" and will give you a pass/ fail based on if you completed the assignment correctly or not, which is sweet. Even though it's only 3 essays, you really work on making these essays great through in class workshops and peer/ teacher review. I know he offers his classes pretty early but if you can make 80% of the classes, I would recommend taking him.

Danuta Hinc
ENGL398R

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/15/2022

Amazing Professor. She cares so much about her students and helping them improves in their writing. Definitely a class I would take ten times in a row. Very chill with deadlines and just gotta complete the work really. Very free to write about whatever you want which is great too and she will read all that you write. Amazing Class.

Pamela Gerhardt
ENGL398R

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/27/2022

Really fun class, for sure the best of all the professional writing options. The entire class was just mini completion assignments, a 500-word essay, a five-page essay, and this portfolio thing. Spread out so the workload is really manageable, actually interesting and engaging.

Sarah Dammeyer
ENGL398R

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/22/2021

This is one of my FAVORITE professors and courses at UMD!! The course consisted of abut 4-5 essays as major assignments and collaboration with others students. Sarah is very accommodating and left me the best comments on my assignments and really helped us to see how our work could be applicable in the real world and I was never stressed about my grade. 10/10 would recommend this professor and course for your professional writing credit!!!

Pamela Gerhardt
ENGL398R

Expecting an A
Clover89
05/13/2010

This is the best professional writing class you can take! Everyone writes a 5 page nonfiction narrative - meaning a story about something that happened to you - and then we workshop them in class. You get to read people's crazy stories, like one guy who proposed after 5 months. It's fun and you learn stuff you will need to know in any business - like how to write about yourself, give a presentation, a memo, a resume, etc. If you have to take Junior English, take it with Gerhardt!

Reviews for ENGL398R