ENGL1080 · English
Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences
In Literature Core, students explore the principal motives which prompt people to read literature: to assemble and assess the shape and values of one's own culture, to discover alternative ways of looking at the world, to gain insight into issues of permanent human importance as well as issues of contemporary urgency, and to enjoy the linguistic and formal satisfactions of literary art. Literature Core will strive to develop the student's capacity to read and write with clarity and engagement, to allow for that dialogue between the past and present we call history, and to provide an introduction to literary genres. For course descriptions of the individual sections please see:www.bc.edu/literaturecore
Course experience
Averages use the original five-point historical evaluation scale.
Organization
4.4 / 5
How well the course was organized
Challenge
4.3 / 5
How intellectually challenging students found it
Attendance
4.4 / 5
How necessary attendance was
Assignments
4.3 / 5
How helpful assignments were
Weekly effort
~4
hours per week
Estimated from the original workload response buckets. Individual sections may differ.
Instructor options
Ratings below reflect only recovered evaluations connected to this course.
Associate Professor of the Practice, English Department
4.4 / 5
4.2 / 5
Professor of the Practice, English Department
4.3 / 5
4.1 / 5
Associate Professor of the Practice, English Department
4.4 / 5
4.1 / 5
Professor of the Practice, English Department
4.2 / 5
3.8 / 5
Professor, English Department
3.7 / 5
3.6 / 5
Assistant Professor of the Practice, English Department
3.9 / 5
3.7 / 5
Associate Professor of the Practice, English Department
4.8 / 5
4.5 / 5
Part Time Faculty, Dean MCBC Administration
3.8 / 5
3.5 / 5
Associate Professor of the Practice, English Department
4.3 / 5
4.1 / 5
Professor of the Practice, Classical Studies Department
3.8 / 5
3.5 / 5
Assistant Professor of the Practice, English Department
4.3 / 5
4.0 / 5
Professor of the Practice, English Department
4.8 / 5
4.4 / 5
Professor, English Department
4.4 / 5
4.0 / 5
Associate Professor, English Department
3.9 / 5
3.6 / 5
Associate Dean, Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences
4.2 / 5
3.9 / 5
Professor Emeritus, English Department
4.4 / 5
4.2 / 5
Professor of the Practice, English Department
4.0 / 5
3.7 / 5
Professor, English Department
4.4 / 5
4.1 / 5
Assistant Professor of the Practice, English Department
4.0 / 5
3.7 / 5
Associate Professor of the Practice, English Department
4.6 / 5
3.9 / 5
Assistant Professor, English Department
4.8 / 5
4.5 / 5
Professor, English Department
3.9 / 5
3.8 / 5
Professor, English Department
4.1 / 5
3.8 / 5
3 evaluations for this course
4.4 / 5
4.0 / 5
Associate Professor, English Department
4.4 / 5
4.2 / 5
Cooney Family Sesquicentennial Assistant Professor, English Department
3.5 / 5
3.1 / 5
Professor, English Department
4.7 / 5
4.4 / 5
Part Time Faculty, English Department
3.6 / 5
3.3 / 5
Assistant Professor of the Practice, MCAS College Faculty
4.5 / 5
3.9 / 5
Part Time Faculty, English Department
4.0 / 5
4.0 / 5
Professor, English Department
4.3 / 5
4.0 / 5
Assistant Professor, English Department
3.9 / 5
3.9 / 5
2 evaluations for this course
4.3 / 5
4.0 / 5
Professor, English Department
4.7 / 5
4.4 / 5
Part Time Faculty, English Department
4.2 / 5
4.0 / 5
Part Time Faculty, English Department
4.9 / 5
4.8 / 5
Associate Professor, English Department
4.4 / 5
4.0 / 5
Professor, English Department
3.4 / 5
3.0 / 5
Associate Professor, English Department
4.8 / 5
4.6 / 5
Part Time Faculty, English Department
4.5 / 5
4.0 / 5
Associate Professor, English Department
4.6 / 5
4.3 / 5
Professor, English Department
4.7 / 5
4.6 / 5
Director, Journalism Minor, Interdisciplinary
3.7 / 5
3.5 / 5
Part Time Faculty, English Department
4.2 / 5
3.9 / 5
Professor, English Department
4.3 / 5
4.0 / 5
Assistant Professor, English Department
4.4 / 5
4.2 / 5
Professor Emeritus, English Department
4.7 / 5
4.3 / 5
Professor, English Department
4.8 / 5
4.5 / 5
Professor, English Department
4.1 / 5
3.8 / 5
Core Visiting Assistant Professor, MCAS College Faculty
3.8 / 5
3.3 / 5
Part Time Faculty, English Department
4.6 / 5
4.4 / 5
Associate Professor, English Department
4.4 / 5
3.8 / 5
Assistant Professor, English Department
4.6 / 5
4.1 / 5
Assistant Professor, English Department
4.4 / 5
4.2 / 5
Assistant Professor, Art, Art History, and Film Department
4.8 / 5
4.6 / 5
Associate Professor, English Department
4.9 / 5
4.5 / 5
Professor, English Department
4.8 / 5
4.4 / 5
Digital Teaching Programs Administrator, Center Digital Innovation in Learning
4.9 / 5
4.9 / 5
Part Time Faculty, English Department
3.8 / 5
3.6 / 5
Associate Professor of the Practice, MCAS College Faculty
3.6 / 5
3.4 / 5
Student perspective
Recovered and new anonymous comments are shown as written and may reflect different course formats.
May 19, 2026 · Historical comment
Professor Crotty is an awesome professor and clearly really loves teaching, although she does have an obsession with Ireland that made for a kind of unexpected secret third theme of the class. I thought the assignments were relevant, clear, and fairly graded. A solid choice for Lit Core.
May 15, 2026 · Historical comment
Genuinely the best human being alive. such a sweet professor and class is easy only 2 major essays and a creative project. love him so much hes the best
May 7, 2026 · Historical comment
She is very nice, but the class is incredibly boring and unnecessarily hard. The readings are extremely long and hard to get through. She is also a pretty harsh grader.
Apr 29, 2026 · Historical comment
He's a funny guy, very warm professor but sometimes I do find myself zoning out in class
Apr 27, 2026 · Historical comment
Shes awesome. Definitely says some out of pocket stuff but it's funny and the workload is super light
Apr 22, 2026 · Historical comment
Hard to know what she expects on papers and other large assignments, but nice.
Dec 5, 2025 · Historical comment
offers informative feedback, and never outright says what you are saying is wrong. easy class and max 20 min of reading every class. only had one essay and gives opportunity for draft feedback.
Dec 4, 2025 · Historical comment
Great guy and pretty straightforward class. Takes, attendance, and participation are a large part of the grade. If that doesn't bother you, there are some interesting readings, but some are pretty long. Three essays and a fair grader. No final and keeps class interesting, lots of discussions.
Nov 21, 2025 · Historical comment
Very nice and approachable, also very understanding of any delays or mistakes. Not that much work and she always tries to make class as interesting as possible.
Apr 16, 2025 · Historical comment
I had her for Lit Core, and she was fine. Class is very discussion-heavy and quite boring. The final is an oral exam but she graded it pretty fairly.
Apr 14, 2025 · Historical comment
She is an amazing teacher who is really flexible. You do have to buy books but there are only discussions, no quizzes. Make sure to go to OH before essays are due and you will get a good grade
Apr 11, 2025 · Historical comment
One of my favorite professors at BC. Very engaging and he knows a lot, which makes the class super interesting
Dec 14, 2024 · Historical comment
DP is EPIC, amazing lecturer and he is very knowledgeable about everything. I had him for Europe in the world 2 and it was my favorite class. Midterms aren’t hard if you go to class.
Dec 14, 2024 · Historical comment
She is super sweet and caring. Very few assignments and the final was super easy. A lot of time she would get carried away in discussion so class time went by fast. Heavily recommend for FWS.
Dec 9, 2024 · Historical comment
Very kind and understanding about extensions. A bit boring at times but it is what it is... it's a lit core class. I would definitely recommend
Across time
Section-level results available in the recovered archive.
Spring 2025
28 sectionsFall 2024
25 sectionsSummer 2024
5 sectionsSpring 2024
31 sectionsFall 2023
11 sectionsSummer 2023
2 sectionsSpring 2023
31 sectionsFall 2022
18 sectionsSummer 2022
6 sectionsSpring 2022
28 sectionsFall 2021
17 sectionsSummer 2021
2 sections