American Congress · Political Science
midterm worth 25%, final worth 50%, research paper worth 25% of grade
20-30 page research paper 3 1200 word responses Take home mid term and final
i like prof wawro! i found his lectures honestly very interesting. you don't need to do the readings but definitely need to attend every class. his passion for the subject he's teaching shines through and he is a nice and approachable guy. he makes difficult content easy to digest. the only thing is i wish that there were more grades in the course -- there was only a midterm, a paper, and a final with the midterm and final being pretty hard so you remain worried about your grade for most of the semester. also, i wish i knew there would be as much graphing type content in the course because that was unexpected. i truly learned a lotttt from this class and am really glad i took it. take this class if you're willing to put in the work and want to learn!
I am registered to take this class this semester, however, after seeing the workload I plan on dropping it. The previous reviews made this class look appealing because though it has a moderate to heavy reading load, the only work (based on previous Culpa reviews) was supposed to be three short essays and a take home midterm and final. This is wrong. There is also a 20-30 page research paper due. Gertzog also made it very clear that while the midterm and final are take home, they are very difficult. Gertzog also takes random attendance in the beginning and end of class. This class is not good for anyone that has a heavy schedule or a heavy reading/writing load. Gertzog himself seems to be knowledgable about congress and able to explain the concepts, and he does seem to be somewhat organized but can ramble a small bit.
A midterm where he wouldn't tell you any of the topics on it A paper proposal that was supposed to be graded but never was An 8-10 page paper which was quite easy to do if you just answered the questions and found all your sources for the proposal A cumulative final which wasn't horrible but it was a lot to study beforehand
3 papers (or not? he randomly changes assignments periodically, including a few weeks before the due dates) Reading every week that redefines "optional"
Wawro obviously loves Congress, but is the most boring professor at the university. He was never great at answering questions, but he definitely tried. He and the TA's were always on different pages. I ended up getting an A in the class and received a perfect score on the midterm, but it was still painful sitting through his lectures. He didn't understand when his students understood a topic or were completely lost. The readings were completely useless and were around 300 pages per week. I did the first three weeks but then felt the added nothing since he wrote a bunch of them and would just do the material in class.
I suspect Professor Gertzog got a silver star by petitioning President Eisenhower for one, as 1952 was probably the last time this man organized a thoughtful and coherent lecture. Topics in class come under bold and promising titles - "Congressional Leadership," "Congress and the Supreme Court," "Interest Groups and their Influence" etc. These topics, however, are substantiated by vague reading (the reading on congressional committees spanned six chapters of a book, none of which actually covered committee systems in depth). The exams have little to do with the reading or lecture material, and are often vaguely political questions surrounding "how to get into Congress" or something of that nature. In terms of feedback, there's just about none - both papers came back with a number and cryptic rune-like symbols that resembled celtic spiritual symbols. Visually pleasing as they were, they provided 0 guidance or constructive criticism. It's very easy to skate by in this class - but I suggest you avoid it, even if you're looking for an insubstantial poli-sci course. Attending class is a chore. Writing the papers feels arbitrary. Class participation is an occasional question a week, if you're lucky.
midterm worth 25% of grade , paper (10-12 pages choose from topic list) worth 35% of grade, final worth 40% of grade. I earned an A in the class-- I went to every class, took thorough notes, and studied hard for tests however I did NONE of the readings. All of his assigned readings are basically his lectures so doing both is overkill. He says you are responsible for readings but never actually tests material.
No homework. Number of exams and their format depends on Gertzog's mood, which varies from one week to the next. Gertzog assigns 5-6 books at the start of the semester, but there's no need to read all of them.