De Meritt, Melody  

She thinks she's the most important person in the world because she's on th ecity council of Morro Bay. She's not. She's self-centered and mean-spirited. I am insulted that I was required to take a class from her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROB9lIfizd8

Melody was a wonderful teacher. She had a heart for the studednts and saw right thru the fake students. I would definatley take her again.

DeMeritt...what a character. She's really really enthusiastic about technical writing, which is really cool and keeps you interested during class. She can at times be ridiculously funny, but sometimes picks on individual students...they always deserve it, but it's really surprising to see her do it, and it's very effective, so I'm not complaining at all. There is a TON of work, and a huuuuge group project, but she's really good during office hours at helping you out. And someone said she doesn't help with group members who aren't relaly doing their fair share, but that's not true. At the end of the quarter you rate your fellow gruop members in like 10 categories, and if someone gets rated poorly by the rest of the group, they get a lower grade. It's the fairest group grading I've ever seen. So, basically, if you actually want to learn something worthwhile from an entertaining (if not a bit biased and crazy) teacher who cares a lot about her students who put in the effort, you definitely want to take 148 from DeMeritt. If you want to slack off, or can't find an hour or two per week to meet outside of class, definitely don't take this class with her. I am definitely planning on taking more classes from her if I cna.

Without being excessively negative, I'd have to say my experience in this class was somewhat less than pleasant. For one thing, Mrs. DeMeritt has an incredibly erratic, even volatile style. Her lectures are often abrasive and personally insulting... which is something one can put up with, but it annoyed me. I was more upset by her grading policies, though. First two thirds of the grade came from group projects, all with the same group. There was no final and she threw out the planned take home midterm two days before it would have been assigned without any particular reason. She repeatedly waffled on assignment goals, sometimes emailing changes we were to make mere hours before they were due. She expected nearly all group work to be done outside of class, which was particularly difficult for me because I was commuting over a half an hour. She lacked an understanding of even basic understanding of engineering and scientific principles, while dwelling incessantly on trivial stylistic writing trends. I assume some of this is due to the required curriculum of the class and not the professor, but I knew it was getting absurd when she claimed not to understand a table of multiplied figures I'd set up for an assignment. She also expects students to come to office hours and have her review papers before they are due, as a matter of course. But this does not ensure a good grade, or even a mediocre one. She gave me a C- on a paper she'd told me was good a few days earlier. There was also an extensive 8 page syllabus, most of which was vague and imprecise, the rest of which she changed at the last minute. You'll want to hang on to the class schedule, though, since this class takes an incredible amount of time. Now, I'm not saying I didn't learn anything from this class, but what it was a great deal more time-consuming and annoying than it had to be, largely because of Mrs. DeMeritt's wildly inconsistent teaching technique. It's not impossible to get through this class with a decent grade, but it's tedious and will probably mess up your schedule. Don't take her class the same quarter you take Differential Equations.

Avoid DeMeritt at all costs. I spent a couple hours a day in group meetings to create pointless projects to live up to her extremely high expectations. After spending hours a day working on her class, she would throw a fit when something wasn't perfect.

If you take her class you are in for a lot of work. I worked my ass off for an A while lots of friends had much easier teachers. You learn alot but it feels like alot more work than a 4 unit class. If you take this class get ready for hours and hours of group work cause thats the majority of your grade. Make sure you choose a good group cause your stuck with them for the quarter and your grade depends on it.

Well, you might get the impression that she hates engineers on the first few days of class...truth is, i think shes just irritated that shes teaching the next generation of people that she, and other tech writers, will have to work under. The class is kinda crap to begin with, it should only be offered to people in english major who want to do technical writing. It takes A LOT OF OUT OF CLASS GROUP TIME (5-10 hrs a week as the end of the quarter approaches), more time than is spent in class in many instances. She will either like you or not like you, so try to get on her good side. Easy way for her to like you is to go to her office hours...if you can find her office in the maze. Focus on the group project and be ORGANIZED! The reading is kind of a joke, but you should at least skim; the quizes are right form the reading, and shes too lazy to write a quiz out, so she picks on people. She's not bad, shes just opinionated more than any other teacher i have had at poly.

I dont care what people say about DeMeritt, shes a really good teacher, and actually a cool person if you just understand her personality and humor her a little bit. Yeah, so shes demandind. But it really wasnt that bad. It looked impossibly daunting when the quarter started, but i stuck with it and it turned out okay. Yes, there are definitely easier 149 teachers, but technical writing is a skill you MUST HAVE when you actually become an engineer, so its worth your while to work a little harder and actually learn something useful. She KNOWS HER STUFF, shes a professional editor for crying out loud. Anyway, if you just work hard, go to her office hours, and have fun with her, the class will be ok. Oh yeah, the class is almost entirely group work, and you pick your group fo the whole quarter at the beginning, so get a good group.

You will definitely get your practice writing in this course. We had two group reports each over 15 pages long. However, my writing skills increased dramatically with all that practice. She's a fair grader, as long as you do the work. The class was time consuming, but I'd take her again.

As of now, her class was the most demanding and class I have ever taken. You work in a group and complete two projects. Unless your group says on their toes throughout the entire quarter, your group will be left behind. Choosing good group members is vital to getting a good grade in this class. I'm just lucky enough to have groupmates who were willing to work their ass off just as much as I did. There is no final- your second project counts as it. Ms DeMeritt does know her stuff, and she's pretty passionate about the class. I did learn a buttload...I just wished that I had more time to absorb the material.

This was the hardest class for me this quarter. I put in twice as much time for this class compared to my other classes and still got a C. She is not helpful in office hours either. On occasions she got really pissed during the class and dashed out of the class, acting like a kid. She was really biased towards the groups that she liked from the begining of the quarter all till the end. I had other friends who took this class with different teacher and had to do half the work. Do not take her.

Tech Writing 149. When I read the other reviews, I knew I should have taken someone else. However, I'm actually glad I took her for tech writing. The key to success in her class is to diligently do all the work and have a great group. She really linked the class to real-life situations where you're juggling to finish two projects with a deadling coming up in a few days. My group worked our asses off and we pulled it off. I learned alot in the class...it's probably one of the more useful classes I've taken.

Yes, DeMerritt is a great lecturer and she does know her shit... BUT she is VERY BIASED!!! She will automatically have her favorites from the first week of class. If you want a good grade and you get stuck with her, then try to figure out within the first week who her favorites are and then group with them. She gives LOADS of work, and some of it is just busy work. The two projects that we had took up my whole life. I didn't even get to study for other classes because of the workload she gives. The projects are extremely tedious and time consuming. This is by far the hardest class I have taken at Poly and I know other students taking ENGL 149 who didn't have to do as much and got a better grade than me. So my advice to you is to NOT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH DEMERITT. Find someone else, ANYONE is better than her.

Explained course material very well. I learned more than I ever expected to in a GE. The class wasnt boring or too hard. Take home midterm was reasonable. She lowers the workload if its too much, and helps students as much as possible. Take her!

PERSONALITY De Meritt...well, she knows where her problems lie, but doesn't seem inclined to fix them. She admits to playing favorites, but it isn't incredibly hard to get on her good side - just show up to class. At times, she can be extremely rude and demeaning, and there was a point during one class that I nearly got up and left because I didn't feel like being insulted for the remaining half an hour. Honestly, she can occasionally be fair minded - but don't hold your breath. GRADING & WORKLOAD I'm scratching my head at this one. She apparently restructured the work for this quarter, and didn't do a great job of it. The class mainly centered on the "We Build Them Project", which while can be imposing, but is one of the more entertaining projects I've had. After it though, we had about five weeks of meaningless filler work. It seems rather difficult to pull an A in the class (IMHO) because she nitpicks on well, everything. You can't really expect anything different from an editor, though. RECOMMENDATION An average teacher. Not really recommended, unless you can't find anyone better. The workload fluctuates too much and it's difficult to put up with the professor at times. You'll likely get frustrated with the class at some point.

Good person, but in all honesty, doesn't know that much about english. You can write a memo that is 10x as skillfully crafted as another students, but they will get a better grade because they included color pictures. In the white paper assignment, I think I lost points because of my choice of formatting, rather than content. Engl149 is an ENGLISH class, not a graphic communication class. Also, she is overzealous about passive voice. In the real business world, no one cares if your memos are in passive voice as long as they are accurate and to the point. Felt like a 9th grade writing class. Watch out you dont use to many "to be" verbs...

This instructor helped me refine my command of the english language in ways I had given up on. She will demand a lot of your time. She can be a little harsh with grading, but if you make sure to have your assignments proofread you can avoid the worst point hits. Don't think a project is going to get a good grade just because she likes it during an office hour, because we got a D on a project she liked during the office hour; don't know what happened there. She has a good sense of humor and I'd like to de-emphasize the idea that she plays favorites. It's true that she makes a point of recognizing the hardest working students; they earned it. Some people go nuts in this class and work very hard, like me.

This was by far the worst teacher I have had at Cal Poly. I have over a 3.5 GPA and don't like to complain much but... Demerit was extremely blunt and ignorant. SHe makes fun of students for being part of the greek system, embarrasses students when they walk in late or have to leave early and doesn't listen to a word they have to say. She is flat out mean and should not be allowed to teach at this University. In other words, DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS!!!

Ms Demeritt was the kind of teacher who really knows how to push a persons buttons. However, if you show her respect she will typically show respect in return. She is very blunt and will let you know when you do something wrong. However, I thought she was very fair in her grading. Unfortunately I missed an A- in her class by like 2 points and I got a b+. Her class is not impossible to pass, and its really not all that hard. It does take a lot of work though. Try your best to keep up because the projects start piling up if you don't. Our class got fortunate that she dropped one of the large projects, she said though that for future classes this project will get put back into the curriculum so too bad for all of you who have to take this class still.

DeMeritt is a great teacher. She can be extremely tough and hard on you, but that doesn't mean she is a bad teacher. She was actually really funny in our class. She gives a lot of work though, so if you are a slacker and want and easy A, don't take her. But, if you want to know how to write a good memo, report, or manual then take this class!

De Meritt is a huge bitch, I had a b in this class, she hated me and gave me a c. I went and talked with her calmly and respectfully after the quarter and she claimed I had recieved a 5 out of 50 on an assignment when I had really snagged a 45 and she wrote it down wrong. After I showed her the paper, she proceeded to claim that I changed my own grade (I have terrible handwriting and this is impossible) and gave me a zero. If you want a total bitch teacher who hates students and is bitter to the bone, take this slut, otherwise, get out quick and find a real teacher.

This class is not the cakewalk you might think it might (or should) be. She assigns a lot of work and takes this class way too seriously. Group work will kill your grade if your group isn't very hard working or proficient with English. If you've got a busy workload in your engineering classes, look for another professor.

De Meritt was a great professor. I learned a ton in her class. Although she is a tough grader and does give out a lot of work, it is well worth it in the end. As long as you do the work like she asks, which isn't all that hard, then you'll get at least a B. I honestly didn't try all that hard and my group was really lazy, but we did get our work done. While most groups were meeting constantly and spending many hours for a project we just divided up the work and did it on our own. So if I can be lazy and still get a B the class isn't too tough. The one thing you have to be on top of is reading the assigned book. In the beginning of the quarter she quizzes you almost everyday. The quizzes are cake if you read the chapter. ahead of time. Many of my friends took other professors for 149 and they learned almost nothing. So take De Meritt if you actually want to learn something. She might not be as easy as the other prof's, but at least you can take something away from the class.

dito

There are two ways to do things in DeMeritt's class: Her way or the wrong way, and she'll make damn sure you know this. This class was an utter waste of my time. Technical communication is basically practical english and is really not that hard, but Demeritt acts like its on par with raising the titanic. Every time I went in to her office hours she would tear my rough drafts apart and then send me packing. When I would come back with the revisions done she would tear it apart once again and half the time would 'unrevise' my paper and it would be very similar to the original draft i had made. I finally got sick of this roundabout and just settled for a lower grade, but I got to keep my sanity. On the group projects, make sure you get a hard working group or you're screwed. Even though she lets you evaluate you group at the end and state what you think the grade break up should be she really doesn't look at that at all. I talked with her numerous times about my group members being less than productive and i tore them a new one on the finl evaluation, yet we all recieved the same grade in the class. What a bitch.

De Meritt was a great teacher, except I feel that the grading was completely bogus. When I started this class, I knew it was going to take a great deal of effort to do well. So I put in all my energy, completed every assignment, and even did the BS reading that hardly anyone else did. I did exactly what De Meritt said on every assignment, and if possible more. I only earned As and Bs on every assignment, and I even got 100% on the final presentation. Then, if it isn't enough, I even coded up a mock website for our final, which took me a ridiculous amount of time and wasn't even required. What did I get for all my efforts, a B. De Meritt is a good teacher, but I don't feel she grades correctly, and she gets overly stressed out with everything going on in her life, ie morro bay council member. Not to mention if one thing goes wrong in class, she breaks down and has a horrible attitude the rest of class. So if you want to work harder than you should to earn grades lower than you deserve, choose De Meritt.

De Meritt: a hard but good teacher. Her ENGL 149 course certainly requires more time and dedication that I expected--you could spend hours each week with your team working on your team projects. She's a perfectionist when it comes to individual and team assignments, pushing us to learn how to write great memos and letters, always tellings us to be mindful of the audience. I learned a lot about what to look out for when writing technical documents. There may be some problems in your team--perhaps you might end up with a slacker as my team did. But De Meritt will definitely notice, especially since we have papers called "secretary memos" that update her on project progress and teammate contributions. In the end, we had team/self evaluations. But this is not the time to complain about the slackers in your group--instead, stay positive. Nobody likes reading a paper about how you deserve a good grade and your teammates sucked. Remember who the audience is! As long as you prove to De Meritt that you are a hard worker (I personally spent over an hour on all of my individual assignments) who takes responsibility for yourself (i.e. not blaming your teammates for doing badly on team projects as the person several reviews below me did) she will give you exactly what you've earned.

I really hated this class and I really hated this teacher. She tends to grade pretty fairly and helps your group, but in class she plays favorites and its pretty obvious. I have never accused a teacher of favorites before but this was it. Work hard, get a B. I would avoid her, but if you need to take the class, she'll do.

Melody DeMeritt is a kind, compassionate, understanding person. You can always talk to her, because she understands how hard it can be as a college student. She deserves much more than the 2.whatever GPA she's getting on this web site.

You WILL NOT find a more competent and engaging professor for technical writing. Simply put, Ms. DeMeritt is the best. She communicates well, has a great sense of humor and enthusiasm, and pushes her students to excel. However, Ms. DeMeritt will expect you to work hard and handle an INTENSE assignment load. I received my 'A' at the expense of my success in other classes, but I also realize that tech writing proficiency is a vital skill for a successful engineer. Here's what you should do: Enroll in one of DeMeritt's sections. Expect to work hard. Take her advice - it's constructive criticism. Remember that she wants you to do well and is willing to help whenever you need it. Good luck!

Miserable instructor. She has no sense of humanity and is the only teacher at CP that made me want my money back. Take care when reading the positive reviews on polyratings for her as she admitted once in class to writing them herself. NOW YOU KNOW.

Alright here's the deal. She sucks and heres a list as to why: 1) I got a 4 and a 5 on both english tests in highschool and she gave me C's on papers throughout the year. SHe sucks as a lecturer, isn't helpful and is overall a bad person that would do the world a huge favor if she killed herself.

She's terrible. Like, seriously terrible. It's hard to understand what she wants you to do for an A. I worked my ass off and still barely pulled a B. Plus, anyone who writes their own PolyRatings to TRICK students into taking their classes is a horrible person. Maybe she'd give As for writing blatant lies in the assignments.

Beware of this teacher. You will have two HUGE group projects looming over you for the entire quarter, reading assignments (with quizzes) due every class period, and a few papers/memos thrown in for good measure. She also hands out grades based on her mood and like/dislike for the students. At the beginning of the year she liked me and i got A's on my papers, then i went to her office hours, trying to get help, asked her what her comments said on one of my papers (because i can not read her scribbles) and GOT KICKED OUT for "asking a stupid question." That must have put me on her bad side, because C's followed for the rest of the quarter. I put an enormous amount of work into this stupid class and walked away with a B. I honestly felt cheated. DO NOT TAKE HER.

Worked my ass off and got a C. My group was full of lazy idiots who did about 10% of the group projects combined. That left me to finish the rest. Luckily at the end of the quarter you are given the oppurtunity to talk about your group members effort. I expressed my feelings, which apparently mean nothing, because they all got the same grade as me despite doing nothing. As for learning writing skills? what a waste. One project is to write a job letter and resume, probably the ONLY useful thing we did in class all quarter. I put a lot of time into mine, followed her specifications and got a high score on it. I was proud of it and was going to post it on mustang jobs, believing it to be a good resume and job letter. Then I took it to career services where it was TORN APART by people who actually know what they are doing. Thanks for nothing De Meritt! If you want to learn nothing, play russian roulette with your grade, and put in an enourmous amount of work, take this professor. If you are sane, do not.

Flat out sucks. Don't say i didnt warn you.

1: STAY ON HER GOOD SIDE. She's the kind of teacher who wants to hold court over the students. Being on her good side won't guarantee you an A or B, but I'm betting it'll get your grade nudged up a little bit (or at least not nudged down) 2: Get a GOOD GROUP. Group projects are critical in this class, and she let us interview potential team members and examine the interviews of other students. She know the group projects are hard, so bite the bullet and get the pain in the ass students who get straight A's. Overall, the class was fun. She's pretty laid back in lecture, which is nice. Some reviewers have said she hates Greek students, and it's not hard to imagine. Keep it on the DL, or make an effort early on to demonstrate you're not just a drunk party animal.

THIS PROFESSOR WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Choose this professor. She will challenge you in everyway and will give you a realistic glimpse into the world of technical communication. Do not take this class if you are lazy and a procrastinator. You will be given a detailed syllabus, two projects, several reading quizzes, and various homework assignments. The first project entails the design of some weird invention and the creation of a useful user

De Meritt can be very intimidating, but she is a good teacher. after reading some of her reviews, i was scared of her, but she is nothing out of the norm. she is a college professor who isnt going ot baby to her students, you put in the effort and she will help you out. Although i do admit, there are other engl 149 teachers who are much much easier than her (Forte) but, if she fits your schedule, dont be afraid to take her, but be prepared to do some work, even tho its a gen Ed.

Hated this class. She once told us that she didnt want any "technical" stuff in one of our assignments. Are you f**!king kindding me, this is Technical Writing isnt it? She hated me from the start probably because she could sense my conservatism. Most communists can. Having a competent group will help but doesnt guarantee a good grade. Went to her office and she strated talking to me about Al Frankin like I give a shit. After I turned in my last project for this class I shot a Spotted Owl and ran over some snowy plovers with my truck to make myself feel better. Avoid this hippie dyke because she will make you think the instruction manual for your future project is more important than the project itself.

I have never been motivated to evaluate a teacher on polyratings because I have never had a professor this horrible. I worked my ass off to get a B and it was in no way worth the effort. Whoever said that she was a kind and compassionate individual must be on crack (actually, she probably wrote that review herself). She plays favorites and I was definately not one of them. She thinks she is God's gift to the field of technical writing and is the most condescending bitch I have EVER met. There is a huge workload in this class and she takes attendance every day. Honestly, this has to be the worst professor at Cal Poly. DO NOT TAKE HER.

If you're an engineer, of course you are going to hate any english teacher you have. Although there probably are easier teachers for this course out there, DeMeritt isn't insanely hard or unjust in her grading. Make sure you get a good group for both projects because otherwise you will be doing the whole thing yourself. Otherwise go to class, suck it up, and power through each of the projects one weekend, and then you are done with it.

Everyone who comes to Cal Poly should take Ms. DeMeritt for Technical Writing for Engineers. Sure, the class requires many, many hours of work and study (especially groupwork, if the rest of your group isn't pulling its weight), but this class definitely prepares one for real-life situations. She grades based on how much time it seems you spent on assignments and projects (sort of like a tough boss), and the group activities and individual memos reflect real-life situations (i.e., working on a team with other engineers to finish a project within a deadline). She assigns much reading, and throws quizzes at the class nearly every week. As with all Tech Writing teachers, she dislikes the 'to be' verb. Heck, I haven't used it once yet! That's how important this class seemed...only time will tell if it truly will come in handy in the future.

This class blows if you get stuck with a bad group. Engineers can't write for shit, and when you get the shittiest of them, your grade reflects their skills. After realizing this, I did the project by myself to save my own skin. De Meritt is bearable, but just barely; she has extreme mood swings from day to day, and her ginormous ego is only inflated by her position on the Morro Bay City Council and her upcoming election race for mayor. If you can, try to avoid her. If you can't, good luck to you.

DO NOTTT TAKE THIS TEACHER she is ridiculous. we got two big team projects that we were assigned to do throughout the quarter and i spent at least no joke, 40 hours on the second one. she expects way too much for her class she is litterally the worst teacher i have ever had. do not take her. she picks favorites also. very judgemental.

Melody does not want anyone to know of this website as she is running for Mayor in Morro Bay. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZYXoY9yNxI or type in Morro Bay City Council Meeting on You Tube

Where in the heck did they get this professor? Foul mouthed, self centerd, and teaches you NOTHING. Just stay on her good side, she speaks more of her position on the Morro Bay City Council and run for the mayoral seat in Morro Bay then she teaches the class. Perhaps she should re-think her career.

Professor DeMeritt knows her material. She has taught this class for many years, so it runs smoothly. Taking this class as a senior, made the work load seem less than average engineering classes take. I liked her as a person, however, she does have an unusual personality. Be active in class and get on her good side! I probably wouldn't reccomend her for seniors, because you learn how to write a resume and cover letter, hopefully something you mastered earlier while searching for internships.

If you are interested in technical writing as a job or internship opportunity, this class is for you. If you are a freshmen or sophomore this class is also for you. If you're ready to graduate you might want to take a teacher who is more "memo's" based as opposed to writing projects based.

interesting personality. says an occasional sware word...or bashes a politican, which helps to liven up the class. you learn a lot, her blackboard site is also very thorough and she is always prepared for class. She is the type of teacher that wants to get very invloved with each group and every assignment you turn in. she wants to edits students work, and really goes out of her way to work with students schedules.

I learned a lot from this class. It will definetly help me in the future, especially with project write ups. DeMeritt doesn't have the highest PolyRatings, however, I would reccommend her. She probably isin't the easiest teacher you'll find, but she knows the material, and after the class you will too.

the workload is medium. Its not a lot of big tasks, its more about breaking up the projects and doing bit size pieces each day/week. We had several quizes and plenty of reading assignments in the beginning and middle of the quarter. I never read and did fine on her quizes, so consider the reading not a problem. You have to stay on top of the class to get an A, but a B is not too difficult to get.

The class consisted of 2 group projects and a few individual assignments. She e-mailed out a few homework exercises. All she wants you to do is make a paper look professional with simple content. The group projects were a huge time consumer. Most of our time was spent formatting the paper. Grades were based on how much she liked you.

I almost didn't take De Meritt, because of her polyrating, but I'm glad i did. She is sarcastic and funny and i had a good time the whole quarter. She also knows the material really well, completely explains it, and tries to constantly pound it into her head. She will lay out guidelines for you to use on her papers, and as long as you do, you will do fine in the class. I would definitely take her again.

This class is so much group work. More than a GE should be. But in the end, De Merrit was an excellent instructor and actually cared about her students. Go to her office hours and you will get an A.

As a person who normally hates English, I was dreading this class. But professor De Meritt made this class enjoyable. While there are quite a bit of reports and such, you actually learn something in this class with De Meritt teaching. She\'s great!

She can be quite harsh and mean to people. But she teaches you what you will actually need in the future as an engineer. Going to her office hours gets you an A as well, she\'ll make all the corrections on your papers and you\'ll ace em.

Initially, I was terrified to take DeMeritt, I’d read on polyratings that she was crazy. To be honest she is a little crazy, but she knows what she’s talking about. She’s very tough, but only because she cares about her students and wants to prepare them. She’s also kinda funny, in a cynical sort of way. If you go to her office hour early in the quarter and show interest on your part and make a good impression she’s very understanding and helpful. A MASSIVE part of the class is group work so be very careful who you team up with. I’ve recommended her to all of my engineering friends for tech. writing.

De Meritt is a great professor for this class. She teaches valuable lessons that are applicable to industry. She does consulting work for engineering companies, advising employees on how to communicate effectively, so she's obviously qualified. You'll need to respect her, and her lessons. About 60% of your grade is dependent on group work. I swear I would have gotten an A if I wasn't in a group with two frat-boy roommates. You need to demand a lot from your group, and do all the assignments way ahead of time. This class takes a moderate amount of time, just stay on top of it, and do assignments ahead of time, and do the assigned readings in preparation for pop quizzes. The textbook is worth buying. Take De Meritt.

You either love her or hate her... I loved her but didn't feel I learned anything... especially in class. I thought I would get an A for sure but ended up with a B+ somehow?!?!

Melody DeMeritt has good qualities, but not many. My group was very successful at completing projects weeks ahead of the due date and going over the project with her early. She would give her input and we would edit our project according to her suggestions. On one particular assignment we had finished it two weeks early. She was very surprised that we finished it so early and bragged about it during lab. As we went over our project she gave a lot of suggestions. We finished editing it a couple days later and showing it to her once more. She gave more edits and still we were ahead of schedule. We continued this until she was able to view our assignment FOUR different times. When we got our assignment back our grade was a crappy 35/40. She had marked our grade down for corrections that she didn't suggest previously and EVEN marked our grade down for doing HER corrections. For example she told us to remove a figure from a project THEN marked us down for not having that figure on the final version. This was on top of harassing myself and other students. She consistently calls one kid "blondie" in a demeaning manner and once after class told a student that he "needs to eat more" and if he "turns sideways he disappears". She even refers to a student as the student she hates, which she has openly discussed with a good number of other students. And on top of this is her open discussion of her drinking habits. But she does have her good moments. Hopefully you'll see those if you take her class, which I obviously do not suggest. Stay on her good side.

Do yourself a favor and don't take her even if she's the last choice. Her grading style is purely subjective....I tried going to her office hours to see if getting some one-to-one help would improve my grade and it somehow made my grade worse...I did everything she told me to do for one of the projects and I still ended up with a low grade....not sure how that works. Also, she tends to have frequent mood swings during class which gets really annoying after a few weeks and she gives pop quizzes.

Coursework was not difficult, and not a heavy workload. Most the work is in the group you form at the beginning of the quarter, but for a technical writing nazi she gives terrible unclear instructions. She is a very unpleasant woman and believes in "helping" you by putting you down and being a sour bitch jackass cock face. I am disgusted any portion of my tuition is going to her paycheck. VERDICT: take the course with De Merrit, but give her hell until she realizes she can become a more positive and helpful teacher.. instead of a rude bitch.

I wish she was not retiring honestly. She is hilarious, un-edited, real and teaches 149 so that you are ready for the real world. She doesn't hold back her thoughts, if you can't deal with that, toughen up. Your group will make or break this class. If you get a lazy group... you're screwed. it looks like I'm going to get B in the class if that helps. She is prone to mood swings and occasional pop quizzes. Generally her mood swings are hilarious though, she just starts laughing in class and says how stupid other 149 teachers are and how all the crap they do in english classes are nothing like the real world. She did take a liking to me, probably because I openly talk about my drinking plans for the weekend as well, and because of that I think I got some leeway and favoritism. Her resume creating lessons however are amazing. Bar none the most practical thing you'll learn at Poly. I literally got hired after changing my resume to her suggestions.

First off, any and all of the bad ratings are true, the hate in each ratings can be considered genuine. By far the hardest 149 teacher in this institution, while many of my friends were sailing and having fun in their 149's. Why you shouldn't take her: She is never pleased with anything you will turn in, even if it is flawless. You will get a shitty grade even if you work your damnedest, that's a fact. Oh did I mention that she doesnt allow "to be" verbs? Sure, you've had an english teacher that hates "to be" verbs, but you've never had a "to be" nazi that will ACTUALLY DEDUCT YOUR GRADE TO A C for using ANY FORM of "to be" even once. You can't even flippin' talk without using "to be", she can't even talk without using "is". Anyway this whole grading thing is true, to the skeptics, my grade is only a B because I had a group that carried me and the major ass kissing I did towards the end of the quarter (see next section) She plays favorites, oh boy does she play favorites, and that definitely will affect your grade. She definitely was jockriding this kid in my class for the whole quarter even as shamelessly as in front of the class "P is my favorite student" even when I went to office hours "...you know how P is my favorite student", I bet he even got an A even though his group's memo was the shittiest thing I've ever seen. She hated one of my group members though, and he probably ended up with god knows what. Also you do not understand how you are evaluated, making you question her credibility and qualifications as a teacher. You will buy a book that she will criticize to no end, making you question its purpose and justification of cost. If you can't stand her the first week, it won't get any better. She doesn't quite understand that we are ENGINEERS, we have shit tons of TECHNICAL CLASSES that require precious hours of studying, physics/statics/dynamics/calculus/drafting we have no need for this useless BUSY WORK! It's worthless. POO POO. This will definitely eat up all of your time and then some if your group members cannot coordinate. In sum: You will get a bad grade, waste your money, and most importantly waste your time. How I gave this woman 4 hours a week is beyond me, but please if you even care about yourself DO NOT TAKE HER, even if you have a bamf schedge DO NOT TAKE HER, even if you are a sadist DO NOT TAKE HER. The only useful thing I remember is to open a Roth IRA, do it, be rich. Anyway, if you read this far, untick this bitch on PASS and may the odds be ever in your favor at registration. Good day.

I read all of her polyratings going into Spring Quarter and decided to take her anyways. It is VERY true that this class will take up a lot of your time. There are two projects (one smaller than the other one, but not by much) in addition to reading. GET THE TEXTBOOK or she won't even give you the time of day because you aren't making an effort to learn. Quizzes are random and based on the reading the night before. And most of the time they are oral quizzes (discussions), but you are graded on your answer. -10 for bull&*#t (and she will call your bluff), 0 for no answer, or 10 for correct contribution to discussion. I would not recommend taking her if you already have a lot of other classes taking up your time. This class was the most demanding one I took Spring Quarter, so I put a lot of time and effort into it. The creativity in the We.Build.It. project was really fun and the presentations were enjoyable. On her last day she brought snacks for the presentations and thanked us for a great quarter. This class is what you make of it. She can be a great teacher with a lot of industry experience and advice if you're willing to take it in. I got an A- for effort and dedication to the class. She earned my respect because she wasn't afraid to call you out for half-assed work. Oh, and make sure you avoid "to be" verbs.

Out of all the professors I've had throughout the years I've been at calpoly, this one just about takes the cake. At first I thought she was a good professor, but when she cussed 6 times on the first day of class, I knew I was in for it. Throughout the quarter, she would assign homework reading, which was fine, but then when we got to class, she would just read it out loud, right after we took a quiz on it. Then she would give five minutes of instruction on our writing asignment. A few weeks into the quarter she made us pick groups, so to do our group projects. Well, my group only had 3 people. Now, this might just depend on who is in your group, but only two of us did the assignments and the third group member did nothing. DeMeritt did practically nothing to help us with this person. Then she would claim to give us time in class to work on our group projects, but she never did. On the few occassions that she did, it was only for five minutes at the end of class. When she would grade papers, she would grade on style, rather than clarity and writing ability (what technical writing course is based on). DeMeritt would claim to be a technical person but didn't understand that when speaking or teaching to engineering students, you must deal with facts to support instructions and arguements, not opinions. Overall, I would say to COMPLETELY AVOID DeMeritt!

I graduated a few years back, but read the ratings here and realuized I should speak up. I have been working in several writing industries over the past five years. The experience I gained in the Tech Writing Course by Ms. Demeritt was invaluable because it was so "real world." What I learned in those months prepared me for really challenging projects and really challenging teams on subjects that are volatile, or for which people lives depend on the outcomes. Whether speaking of the curriculum, her teaching style, the group, the group project, or the peer evaluation process, if you are planning to work at any time in industry, social services, science departments, small business, or big business, there are some very practical things to learn from this teacher. If you want to gain some skills for your life, this is the class for you. If you want to slide by without too much effort, take another course.

DeMeritt is the greatest teacher I've taken for English. (Maybe it's because she's retiring now...?) Her assignments and coursework were practical and applicable to daily life in business. She was always willing to help out with papers and improve my work. Warning: she comes into class moody sometimes and talks about random stuff in her life (it's hilarious). Attend her office hours or you will not succeed.

This is by FAR the WORST teacher (if you can call her that) I've ever had in my life. She's extremely moody, unclear about expectations and an all around lunatic. I had her for technical editing, a class I was taking for my certificate. I enjoyed the technical writing experience as a whole. Usually the classes were very "hands-on" and I learned a lot. However, Melody left a very bad taste in my mouth. She is awful, awful, awful. She is extremely unprofessional. I went into her office to discuss a low grade I'd recieved on an assignment. She told me not to worry, then to my utter amazement, she pulled out her grade book and showed me what my classmates had recieved!! She didn't even bother covering up their names!! I also found her to be one of the most insecure people I've ever met. I see there are a few people on this board who "loved" their experiences with Melody. I have a sneaking suspicion that the majority of these messages were posted by Melody herself. Bottom line: Avoid this teacher like the plague.

Ms. De Meritt has an excellent ability to keep the class intereted in the subject matter, and presents it very clearly and amusingly. Many students complain about the much higher than average workload; they're right about the high workload. However, this was by far the most worthwhile class I've taken at Poly. I know that every little thing I learned, and every project I did, will help me a LOT at any job I happen to land after college. None of the work was dumb busywork, and I was very proud of myself for getting it all done and learning so much. I also had her for 148 last year, and it was just as enlightening and effective as this class. You definitely want to take a class from this teacher.

Melody DeMeritt is an amazing teacher. She is not only incredibly intelligent, but she has a phenomenal sense of humor that will keep you pleasantly surprised throughout the quarter. Though she demands a lot from her students, you will learn a great deal if you apply yourself. Melody is available more than most professors at Cal Poly, and she is always willing to work with the student and provide additional tutorials to help you understand the material. Let's face it, our society is not smart when it comes to grammar and punctuation. But if everyone could take her editing class, we'd all be brilliant! If you are looking to learn quality knowledge, then take Melody's class. If you are a slacker who doesn't want to work, then don't waste her time. Melody, you're the best!

Kind of moody, stay on her good side at all costs. However, I'd advise against making your papers decorative in anyway, as she is all about solid content.

I went in to Tech Ed with a love for editing and proofreading, and left hating both. De Meritt is sarcastic and rude and is inept at presenting class material. The assignments are scattered and confusing and she delights in subtracting points for mistakes on areas not covered in class. She grades so hard, one student per week would drop out of the class until we were down to half the kids that enrolled at the beginning. If you are an English major, you should do fine in the class, although you really won't learn anything; otherwise, don't torture yourself with this class.

Professor De Meritt knows her material well. She not only teaches students how to edit various types of writing, but she works with the students to fix their own writing. I learned a lot about website publishing and many facets of MS Word under her. My grammar and clarity improved under her guidance as well. She is certainly very specific as far as what she wants, and she doesn't leave a lot of room for creativity, but she gets the job done. She lets you work with a partner for most of the assignments, and she always warns you if there's an upcoming test or assignment.

As an English major, I thought that Technical Editing would be an interesting and useful elective class to add to my skill set. The class does offer a lot of information and helps students with grammar, etc. However, Ms. DeMeritt is perhaps the worst teacher I've had a Poly. Her course load is RIDICULOUS. We had several tests, read almost an entire textbook, had quizzes regularly, turned in several VERY TIME CONSUMING editing projects and had to do a client project. For an elective, this class took up SO MUCH TIME. Ms. DeMeritt has no clue how much work she is giving her students and gets very upset when you haven't kept up on the reading. As an English major, I'm used to spending HOURS and HOURS reading and writing papers, but this class was more time consuming and FRUSTRATING than all of my English classes combined. Save yourself some time and just buy The Great Grammar Challenge to learn all your grammar and look at some editing websites. You can teach this stuff to yourself a lot easier than taking this course! You'll also skip out on all Ms. DeMeritt's bad moods.

I think she teaches the class just fine. She points out what you need to know, and if you do the homework and pay attention, you should pass the exams easily. The things that I have problems with are: 1) How she announces who got the highest grade on each assignment, and then comments out loud on each assignment she hands out. The last student to get an assignment handed back is the lowest score, and she always has a "funny" quip like "lay off the beers next time" or "did you even read the assignment?" 2) Her constant political and environmental rants at the start of every class. It's all Bush's fault, the Republican's are causing global warming, and Obama will save mankind from themselves. WAY too much info for a Tech Editing class! I think as a person she's just a bitter old lady who is waiting to retire and hang out with her granddaughter. She's an OK teacher - just ignore her B.S. do your work, and you'll do fine. I have learned lots from the class itself, and even have a summer job lined up to do some editing for the company that I got my client project from, so in that respect - English 317 is a good class.

This class is super intense. Melody gives the class most of the responsibility in finishing the projects and throws in her two cents along the way. She has no problem with that. Your nerves will rattle back and forth until the last day. When your group(our class consisted of research, writers, desktop-publishing and quality control)isn't needed you can absolutely chill but then its 0-60mph to get your work done. Real world experience in a semi-safe class environment.

By far the worst teacher i've encountered at CalPoly. Playing favorites and shameless self-promotion describes her to a t. Avoid at all costs. The selfproclaimed "queen of the tech writing department" walks around as though she did have a crown on her head. (More like horns.) The review below mine was either written by one of her favorites or by the teacher herslf. You have been warned.

To the obviously well-centered and knowledgeable student below, how the hell do you know if Dr. DeMeritt is biased or not? Because she gave you a bad grade? You don't have access to the scores of the class so, basically, you don't know and you're just slandering her in lieu of addressing your own performance. You write that she "automatically" has her own favorites the first week. Based on what? Looks? Smell? Hair color? Your whole review is ill-conceived, illogical and idiotic. ENGL 149 is the hardest class you've had in your entire life? Well, that really tells us something, doesn't it? Boo hoo, this class is hard and took up half your life. We'll all assume the other half is spent nursing a hangover or waking up each morning in a pool of your own sick. Signed, Dr. XYZ.

he sure does like his women, wet!!