Mott is one of my favorite professor personalities at UCLA by far. He is the only professor I have had in virtual learning who truly fostered a friendly and communicative culture in his lectures, and all he had to do was small talk with us before he started! At times his lectures are rambling, but if you try to listen he has some very interesting thoughts. Sometimes the instructions aren't clear, and some of the TAs grade a bit hard, but Mott makes sure that you will do well, and is prone to extending deadlines. I learned a lot; but, a disclaimer: the class hardly matches the class description. The class description is: "Development, with emphasis on form, of American novel from its beginning to present day. Includes works of such novelists as Hawthorne, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Ellison, and Morrison." We focused on none of these authors, and it was a lot more contemporary and focused on themes that I wasn't expecting.

Professor Mott was an amazing professor. Very caring and easy to talk to. The reviews for Fall 2020 are very accurate. It wasn't difficult, especially with it being online, however it wasn't easy either. I didn't feel like I learned a lot (no notes required) but it definitely expanded my understanding on real-world concepts and systemic flaws in America! The prof and the TAs were very understanding regarding the pandemic and being remote. Definitely recommend but not necessarily an easy GE.

Despite my upward trajectory regarding the 3 essays/writing assignments (first two each worth 15% and final project was 20%), I wasn't able to reach the grade I had hoped for. They curved the essays, which brought my grade down to an A-. I felt pretty bummed about this because my first essay was my lowest grade but then it ended up giving me the most points for the class. Essentially my writing improved, but not within the scope of the entire class :/

Although this class was a good class to satisfy a GE requirement, I don't feel like I learned much or took anything away from this class. Professor Mott was a great guy, always super excited about the material and wanted to know how we were doing outside of school. I would certainly recommend him as a professor, as he was quirky and funny and extremely enthusiastic. However, I'm not sure I'd recommend the class. Do not be fooled by the course description that lists classic American authors like what you may have read in high school--this class involves many lesser-known novels, one of which hadn't even been written long enough to be available in paperback. Almost every lecture involved groupwork and breakout rooms where the group would have to come up with a collective thesis statement or summary paragraph, which got exhausting quickly when the same students kept winding up doing the work. Rebecca was also a good TA and had engaging discussions, but I would often listen to the lectures while I did something else, no real need for notes. Overall, a good class if you really, truly enjoy literature, but if that's not your thing and you just want an easy GE, maybe look elsewhere.

This class is great. The novels are very interesting, and the discussions in class are great. Take this, you won’t regret it.

Mott is an awesome guy and his lectures are usually interesting, if a bit long-winded. Goes on tangents often, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. There are no tests; the grade is composed of two essays, a final project, and a participation grade. That isn't to say it's not a lot of work reading an average of a book every two weeks with essays in between, but office hours are accessible and helpful for both Mott and his TAs. If you're a freshman, regardless of major, I'd recommend this class.

Prof was super funny / engaging / chill. Knew everyone's name and face and was always willing to help, always took the TAs and students advice about what would be best with due dates and projects/assignments. Two papers which were not that hard (although the turnaround was a bit quick if you're busy with other classes) and a final project/presentation that was easy and graded leniently. You do have to do the reading but the lectures are helpful and there are a ton of CCLE posts to help keep up if you didn't do stuff on time

Mott is a sweetheart and both the TA's seemed great. If Shouhei is a TA when you are taking this class I would recommend him, he was awesome.

This class is very doable, all there is is 2 essays, a few online discussion posts about the books, and a short final PowerPoint presented to your discussion section. There are 5 books assigned but you can definitely get away with reading 3 since you only need 3 for your essays.

To be honest I skipped a lot of lectures but Mott seemed like a great guy when I went. He tries to learn everyone's names and he is so supportive and kind. Even cooler is that he encourages you to steal his ideas or the ideas of classmates and write your essays on them LOL. If you aren't great at analyzing books, you can just bounce off of your classmates' ideas.

Would recommend for a chill GE if you don't mind reading and writing a little.

I absolutely loved English 85 with Mott! He was an extremely engaging lecturer and took the time to remember almost everybody’s name in the class. Although he went off on tangents almost every lecture, I truly feel that listening to his analysis of the books we read made me a better critical reader and writer. He expects very insightful interpretations of the novels, but definitely prepares you to be able to do so. I think he changes the books you read for this course every quarter to parallel older American novels with the modern political climate, which I found super cool!! The essays are also graded very fairly and the TAs are very receptive to your asking for help. I had Shouhei and he was amazing! If you’re on the fence....definitely take this class (even if you’re south campus like me)

I loved this class. I'm debating becoming an English major now. The novels are short and not difficult to read, as long as you relatively enjoy reading. His lectures can be confusing because he gets off track, but it's always engaging related to the course material. The essays are graded pretty easily (depending on your TA) and all the ideas you need for writing them can be taken verbatim from his lectures. I would recommend taking this course if you're looking for a GE where the lectures are interesting yet optional, and if you like that for the most part the only coursework is reading (and I'm sure you could get away with not reading some of the novels).

Would definitely recommend this class as a GE or English class!! Mott is very engaging and helpful. Basically, if you attend lectures and read the books, Mott and the TAs give you all the resources and help you need for essays and success in the class. Heavy workload though.