POLS V1101

Only three graded assignments: one midterm and two essays–no final! Lots of reading, about 5 hours per week. Not an "easy" A, but doable if you put your best foot forward (i.e. participate regularly in discussions, do most–if not all–of the reading, and ask for help when you need it).

I have to admit that at first I did absorb much of what Dalton said like the pathetic sponge I was. As the semester wore on, though, I started to see a sick sort of Dalton-worshiping in the halls of Barnard. No one saw the hypocrisy in that they were unquestioningly following the words of a man who preaches questioning our sole existence. If nothing else, this class made me embarrassed by my swooning Barnard peers and the mindlessness with which they took in his words. He blatantly discouraged students from following their dreams by handing out papers and advice pitted against certain professions. His closemindedness towards professions in law, business and government make it all the more obvious that he himself could use a little truth- pursued indoctrination.

Far too much work to cover in class or discussion. Not treated as an intro class. Might be digestible or interesting if you have a background in political theory. Otherwise, I would say take a different class with an entirely different teacher. Avoid Evan Gregoire as well. I would spend about 6-7 hours on the readings per week. Readings are not lightened even when there are assignments. There was one week with readings, a midterm, and a paper all expected to be done within 5 days of each other.

3 Papers! First is 20% of your grade and the other 2 are 30% If you don't do the main readings for the class you will have no idea what to write about.

Readings for every class. Not too long and not difficult readings by any means. Not even necessary to do all of them, but helpful. Must attend a discussion section with the TA who will be grading paper and attendance/participation. Three papers: 1: 4 pages, 2: 5-6 pages, 3: 5-6 pages. Recommended to do lots of in-text citations (as long as you integrate it well and do not quote-plop). Overall workload was quite easy in my opinion. Do not participate in lecture class, but need to participate in discussion section (1x/week)

several small writing assignments 10 pop quizzes required discussion section with randomly chosen people presenting each week (out of a hat that class, again with the "pop" theme of the class) final "research" paper -- repeat smith's opinions and you will get an A

2 essays, 1 final, about 10-30 pages of reading a night (but the readings are pretty dense)

depends on the background. 6 problem sets (40%), mostly based on relatively easy examples in the textbook; an average problem set took me about 6-7 hours. a midterm (20%) and a final (40%). in addition, i spent about 20-30 hours reading the two textbook and practicing problems unrelated to the problem sets.

A crap-load of reading. I'm talking upwards of 100 pages some classes. I honestly did not read until the paper, the midterm, and the final, and that was probably a mistake. You can probably get a "B" if you at least buy all the books and bring them and a highlighter to class as he tells us all of the most important quotes. The paper, the midterm, and the final are all very creatively done. In our final, we were supposed to take 12 of the 13 theorists and work them into a couple of essays of various lengths, comparing them to each other, and make a Haiku about the remaining 13th theorist.

Many students (myself included) went into this course expecting to encounter a diverse cast of political theorists, engaging discussion, and a critical, modern lens in the study of political theory. I was disappointed to discover that many of these aspects were sorely lacking. Professor Urbinati is a brilliant scholar on populism and other modern aspects of political science, but none of this comes out in her lectures–which are instead long-winded, repetitive, and serve only to summarize each theorist's writings rather than critique them or make connections to modern issues. As a result, the readings are seldom engaging. Discussion sections led by TAs are a bright spot, since they essentially force you to participate and give you some freedom to engage with the texts on your own terms. Essays (which make up the bulk of your grade) are straightforward and TAs are more than willing to help if you ask. TLDR: subpar lectures and readings BUT good discussions and very manageable assignments (become friends with your TA!)