The course provides a solid structure on which to build academic essays. The content of the videos is generally good and seems appropriately targeted but the sample essays are disappointingly trivial (and not terribly well written). They seem more suited to young High School students rather than would-be college level writers.

The big issue is in the peer assessment process which forms the centre of the practical experience in the course. There is a tremendous time lag apparent between essays being submitted and being reviewed. Mine took between 3 and 4 weeks to get through the process. This is obviously an issue for Coursera to address as it relates to the platform design rather than the course team but it is nevertheless frustrating.

There is a big disconnect between the standards the instructors seem to expect and the assignments submitted. The vast majority of students clearly do not have English as a first language and for many writing an academic essay is really some way ahead of their current position. Perhaps more disturbing is that most of the (apparently) native English speakers seem not to have taken any notice of either the lectures or the peer grading rubrics.

Despite the shortcomings in the peer review process the material is well presented and offers a strong framework around which students can build good effective essays.

Once again, the lack of a forum in this course makes life unnecessarily difficult and frustrating and for me pushes my rating down from a low 4 to 3 stars.

Thank you for teaching me how to write basic essays. This has been one of my most important goals for years. I've tried several other ways of learning but your method worked for me. Thank you so much.

I am only on the second week an have done my essay and feel very powerful. English is not my first language but the instructor made it easy for me by detailing every aspect of essay writing. Thank you

I always loved writing. What I didn't know, however, was that writing had some scientific structures that could make it very interesting. Take this course and know why. I took and was very successful.

I liked the course very much. It extended my knowledge about essay writing a lot. Also, I got many useful feedback from peer-reviewed assignments. Thank you to the instructor and to the classmates.

There is absolutely no supervision on this course. My essay has been sitting in a student review cue for two months now - so, no completion of course and the program has the audacity to mark me as 'late submission'. I have reviewed 7 papers (requirement of 3) and am shown as being deficient. It is as if I dropped into a void.

I paid a decent amount of money to attend this course and very disappointed that it is simply run on auto pilot with no place to go for resolution, questions or help.

I would NOT recommend taking this course and would better advise you to find something in another online teaching program or course within Coursera that has at least a modicum of personal interaction.

Peer review assessments in this kind of course, with more complexity, are a little bit annoying. Someone reviewed my essay (1 introduction + 3 body paragraphs + conclusion) saying stuff about my "5 body paragraphs", showing that she has not even understood what a body paragraph was. This same girl also noticed "lots of punctuation mistakes" in my essay, while others evaluated it as "almost perfect". I know it is kind of complicated to teachers and mentors review the essays, but this model is a bit frustrating. :/ Other than that, the course was just amazing! I loved the videos, the format, the quizzes and games really helped me to learn, and the proposed essays were nice. Thanks!!

Course has great material and I do like how the teacher explains the topics. I wish course was fully free so I could have the chance to write my essays and get them reviewed.

I give 5 stars to Getting Started with Essay Writing.

First and the most, it gives a profound insight to an essay writing. Also, I enjoyed the course design. The articulate lectures, clear instructions, and a good follow-up of the theory blocks by practical assignments gave me a good opportunity for hands-on experience. Finally, it provides the essential content for the beginners and undergraduates.

All in all, I recommend it for its quality content, design, and take-aways.

Excellent entry level course for students and professionals who are starting to develop and improve skills needed for academic/professional essay writing. Although the focus of the lessons is for college level writing, they will help to develop the basic skills needed to brainstorm, organise, draft and write down good quality essays for the on-stage work. Highly recommended for anyone who is eager to improve his/her writing skills.

I love this course so much, for it is an introduction for a non-native English speaker to learn academic writing. I will definitely learn the entire specialization! Big thanks to the lecturers.

This course has good content and the lecturers are good at explaining the subject clearly. I learned many things I didn't knew before. But the only drawback I find in this course is peer graded assignments. There is no involvement of teachers to review students works. Only students review each others works and sometimes it takes a lot of time to get yourself a review. Furthermore, one student has to review 3 other assignments in order to complete one week. But sometimes, you won't see others' assignments and have to check back many times to find others' assignments. So, that's a big weakness I find in this course. Moreover, there is no community discussion forum for this course. So, it is also lacking here. Overall, I find this course very helpful but, it would be better if the creators can fix above mentioned problems. Thank you!

Peer review assessments in this kind of course, with more complexity, are a little bit annoying. Someone reviewed my essay (1 introduction + 3 body paragraphs + conclusion) saying stuff about my "5 body paragraphs", showing that she has not even understood what a body paragraph was. This same girl also noticed "lots of punctuation mistakes" in my essay, while others evaluated it as "almost perfect". I know it is kind of complicated to teachers and mentors review the essays, but this model is a bit frustrating. :/ Other than that, the course was just amazing! I loved the videos, the format, the quizzes and games really helped me to learn, and the proposed essays were nice. Thanks!!

I am really thankful to the instructors and the peers in this unforgettable journey. This was an amazing experience. I loved the lectures and especially the patterns of the quizzes. Most importantly, this lesson has given me a wonderful opportunity to review what I had learned in my university and somehow I feel very confident after completing this course. Obviously, writing the basic 3 types of essays after a long time was a bit tough but I enjoyed it fully.

Happy to complete such a great course. I have learned so much about how to write an essay. How to make an essay structure, which acts as a skeleton of writing, how to get attention from readers by using hooks, and how to write a thesis statement are the main key things of this course. I would like to recommend this course to college-level students who are concern about their writing, especially organize and coherent writing.

It is actually quite a simple course, easy to attend as it does not require a long time each week. However it did improve my writing skills, I'm considering to attend the next advanced writing course.

Excellent short course. It covers the necessary things and is helpful overall.

Excellent and good sources.

Great

LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have enjoyed a hundred percent of the content of the essay writing course. The instructor motivated and teaching professionally. I should enroll more Congolese from DRC Students or anyone or friend to enroll in this course, which is more valuable.

Again many thanks to the Instructor and why not Coursera. For the implementation of a beautiful platform, which serves as a benchmark for all students.

Sincerely,

John Paco

I could not find any online basic writing course better than this one. It is a must for every non-native speakers of English who want to improve their basic writing skills.It will teach you everything from topic sentences,thesis statements to body paragraphs and essay writing. One thing which I missed in this course is the lack of feedback from teachers.But, overall a very comprehensive course.

Excellent course, well taught by instructors. Peer review system enables you to know what exactly graders are looking out for. I took the course to help me prepare for a test. The test is a prerequisite for a graduate course I needed to take at Harvard University. Taking this MOOC course paid off because I passed the test and I am going on to register for my graduate course.

The "Essay Writing" program offered by the university seems to be a great platform for students who wish to improve their writing skills. The program covers a wide range of topics such as reading for general interests, basic grammar, and paragraph writing, which are essential for effective essay writing. By enrolling in this program, students can develop their ability to express themselves clearly and persuasively through written communication. The university's commitment to providing quality education through this program is highly commendable and can greatly benefit students in their future academic and professional pursuits. Overall, the "Essay Writing" program is a valuable and positive addition to the university's curriculum, which enhances the learning experience for the students.

This course taught us students in a well-presented step-by-step way how to write a well-structured compare/contrast essay, a cause/effect one and, last but not least, an argument essay. Writing these 3 kinds of essay for peer review was an interesting task and very helpful to deepen the knowledge. Unfortunately in such courses the range of peer assignments I reviewed is very large. Some of the fellow students make every effort to deliver a good work, others are obviously not honest, a few just copy an article from internet example resources.