| Information | Review |
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Ruth Phillips
ENGL398N Expecting an A Anonymous 12/22/2025 |
Professor Phillips is a very engaging and understanding professor. She takes the time to get to know the people in the class, is easy to communicate with, and is very flexible with deadlines. She very clearly cares a lot about what she does. Regarding the class itself, it felt like a lot of work at times. There were drafts and peer reviews for each major assignment (of which there were four, plus an oral pitch) before the final submission. Apart from the resume and ePortfolio assignments, the rest of the assignments will likely feel like busy work unless you actually intend to be a part of a nonprofit (although this is to be expected, given that this class centers around writing for non-profits). Attendance is technically not mandatory except for peer review days, but there is a 5% professionalism grade that is assessed at the end of the semester. Plus, there are occasionally in-class assignments that will tank your grade if you happen to skip class that day. I thought the grading for major assignments was fair, but often nitpicky. The rubrics are not very detailed, and you'll get docked seemingly arbitrary amounts of points for things that weren't explicitly listed. If you are looking to score well on assignments, you'll need to put in a lot of effort to make sure your finished product goes above and beyond what is said in the rubric. That being said, you are allowed to revise any final assignment until you get an A. This makes it easily doable to get an A in the class (cutoffs are a 92), but you must put in the effort. Overall, Professor Phillips is a great person, and I would recommend her if you care about improving your writing and are willing to take the class seriously. If you are looking for an easy A, it would be beneficial to consider your other options. Grade weights: Final documents: 60% (All drafts & peer reviews must be completed first. One of these assignments is pretty substantial, around 3000 words.) Peer reviews: 15% Drafts: 5% In-class/HW Scaffolding: 15% Professionalism: 5% Grading scale (same for Bs and Cs): A+: 99+ A: 92–98 A-: 90–91 |
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Ruth Phillips
ENGL398V Expecting an A Anonymous 12/12/2025 |
Overall I would say that she is a solid teacher who genuinely cares about her student's success. She is a harsher grader, but she has a policy where you can modify any submitted work for a regrade up until the day that our final exam would have been. Whether you have time to rework your submissions is another question entirely.... While I did not find professional writing to be particularly riveting as a subject, I will say that her class was efficiently well run and she made an effort to lay out what was going to happen in a given week, every week. I appreciated the attention to class structure. Overall I didn't find the content all that exciting, but I can respect the work she put in as a teacher. 5 stars. |
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Ruth Phillips
ENGL398N Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/11/2025 |
The three stars are nothing against the prof. Professor Phillips is cool! She definitely cares a lot and she's been incredibly helpful in refining my writing skills, however I will say this class definitely is a time investment which is a little frustrating at times. Everyone HAS to take professional writing at UMD so it kind of feels a little bit like a waste of time especially if you're already a good writer. Personally, I'd recommend finding a chiller professional writing prof that doesn't have so much busy work or requires in class attendance. The class sucks up a ton of time and just doesn't feel super rewarding/worth it. All that to say though, this prof is good and super kind! She lets you do revisions through the end of the semester, extends deadlines as long as you communicate, offers good feedback etc. I have a friend in another prof writing class though and he never has to go to class and puts very little effort in....so do with this info what you will. |
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Ruth Phillips
ENGL398V Expecting an A Anonymous 12/13/2022 |
Professor Phillips has been one of my favorite professors over my time here at UMD, she really cares for her students and is super understanding of your situation. the class consists of : Final Cover Letter 15% Final Resume 15% Final ePortfolio 10% Press Kit and White Paper 15% Oral Pitch 15% the class can be a bit busy at times, with a lot of outlines/drafts and peer review, but go through the motions and you'll be good! the press kit and white paper are about an environmental problem of your choosing and a hands-on solution/mitigation of your choosing. I personally am not an environmentalist, but did fine! professor phillips is very sweet and can be rather funny! i couldn't imagine taking another class instead of this one for FSPW |
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Ruth Phillips
ENGL398V Expecting an A Anonymous 04/05/2022 |
I don't think she made this class necessarily the easiest, giving lots of busy work and activities, but never have I ever had a professor who genuinely probably put just as much (probably more) effort onto assignments as I have. This course doesn't really teach you writing (there are some snippets here and there) but is rather a broad class that sort of just lets you try and convince others to do a sustainable thing of your choice. It's an interesting class I don't mind going to every week and Dr. Phillips is always very nice and understanding. She does take the whole class time period though, which is my only peeve. She also does have a small assignment due each week but it's literally no stakes writing in which you just reflect for 20 minutes and you get a guaranteed 100%. |
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Ruth Phillips
ENGL398V Expecting an A Anonymous 12/08/2021 |
I really enjoyed taking this course. Professor Phillips attempts to get to know her students and encourages success in the class. She gives ample time to complete the different projects and will work with you to get the grade you would like. |
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Ruth Phillips
ENGL398V Expecting an A Anonymous 05/18/2021 |
Amazing instructor. Professor Phillips takes a huge amount of her personal time and energy to ensure that the class is run fairly and equitability, and aims to assist all students in getting the best grade possible. |