Sample Feedback from One-on-One conferences at the Brown Writing Center:

• The writing associate was very helpful, not only in fixing the general body of the paper but in formulating some ideas to make my paper more cohesive and substantial. He was also super nice.
• He was great! Challenged my assumptions and helped lean out my argument.
• He was perfect. I have never received more useful comments on my work in my life.
• Derek was great. Super nice and explained things well and gave great suggestions. He made me feel confident about finishing/editing my paper.

Sample Feedback from Philosophy Courses at Clark University and Providence College:

• <Did the course help you improve your philosophical writing skills?> I feel comfortable in my writing moving forward to the 300-level ethics class next year.
• <Did the course help you improve your philosophical writing skills?> Yes! Great draft workshops
• <Did the course help you improve your philosophical writing skills?> Not sure – I’ve always thought of myself as a decent writer – it challenged my writing style
• <Did the course help you improve your philosophical writing skills?> Yes, it did. The essay really helped me develop my ideas.
• Bowman set aside specific days for only class discussion. However, every class began with an open forum for questions and responses. He wanted us to speak more than he wanted to lecture.
• Each day he asked if we had any questions on the reading or what we discussed in class the day before, and he expressed disappointment if we didn’t have any questions. He also frequently opened question to the class.
• The study guides that were offered online were very helpful on the course material and the chosen readings were effective in creating class discussions and arguments. The written assignments are fair enough based on class notes and lectures. The essays can be sometimes confusing but the instructor is always willing to go over them and answer any questions students might have.
• The readings were tough, although reading guides helped me significantly
• Great teacher who is willing to see his students succeed
• Enthusiastic, caring, engaging
• The course was interesting in learning all the different moral theories. I think this course makes me question things a lot more and has me asking “why” ‘instead of just accepting everything as is.
• Professor Bowman has clearly demonstrated his passion and through knowledge of the material. I am not very vocal in class but I do all the homeworks the best I can and after he read them he talked to me before class and said he recognized me engaging w/ the material even though I do not demonstrate it in class. I appreciated this and I think he does a good job being flexible to different students learning techniques. He also demonstrates this by having us talk in groups in class. The lectures can be tedious but I like how he summarized the last class at the beginning of every class.
• Professor Bowman is very excited and very helpful in philosophy. He knows it’s a hard subject and therefore a hard class, so he breaks the material down in ways we can understand. He is knowledgeable and ready to help at any given time, whether in class or outside of class. Overall, I feel like I’ve learned from him. He also had us break into groups and have discussions about the concepts we learned and that was a refreshing change of pace instead of having a lecture throughout the entire class.
• Professor Bowman is a wonderful teacher – it’s very difficult to make philosophy fun. He does a very good job of listening to students and resolving issues with <illegible>. I enjoy discussion in class because I know he will take my viewpoint into consideration, despite my very different, international experiences.
• Always interested in what we had to say. Always available for questions. Provided useful guides and explanations. Never turned a student away.
• Reviewed key examples and principles many times to facilitate understanding; encouraged discussion and was receptive to every student’s idea.
• I learned many philosophical techniques that made me engage in the material. I learned to think about knowledge and reason – things I wouldn’t have done before
• Overall, the course was well structured. We had reading responses we had to do for each assignment or reading and they were helpful in me understanding what was going on since the concepts were sometimes hard to figure out. What made it a lot better though was that Professor Bowman gave us a reading guide each week to help us understand what we were reading. Everything was broken down into easier concepts.
• While difficult and significantly far from the typical types of courses I take, I found this class to be very compelling and I feel as though I can walk away with a lot. One of my favorite aspects of the course was the class’s opportunity to decide what applied topics we’d be covering in the final weeks.
• The readings were dry at times, but the instructor did a good job explaining their worth. The assignments were challenging and helped me think more critically.