WGS 3110

I thought this was a great class, and Doug was an effective at teaching the well-chosen and engaging content of the course. We watched a few documentaries during the semester and Doug allows 2 unexcused absences, so I think those aspects of the course added to a positive class environment. One criticism I have for this course, however, is that it should be labeled as a seminar, and not a lecture, as the class is mostly discussion with bits of lecture from the professor here and there for note-taking purposes. However, the class does not have quizzes or tests, or a requirement for memorizing dates in history, which I thought was a plus. Also, another thing to note is that while this class has a decent amount of reading, about 30 pages per class (more or less), I thought that the class was a bit heavy on writing. There were two 2-3 page response essays in the beginning of the semester, followed by a 9-10 page research paper due before Thanksgiving break (plus a 10 minute presentation on the research paper topic after the break), and an 8 page take-home final exam essay assignment. Overall, do not take this class if you don't want to be graded significantly by your writing, because that's where the majority of your grade will come from in the end.

This is a very unique and interesting class, and if you like reading this would be good for you, but I am a very slow reader, and there is A LOT of reading and writing for this class. The essays took me forever to write which sucks considering this class does not count as your second writing requirement. If you do like reading and writing I highly recommend this class because the subject is interesting and Doug is very fun and accepting of different opinions. I am also very bad at history, and this class was a lot easier to understand than other history classes. You have to buy a lot of textbooks, but they are all cheap and small. Doug will tell you which books you need to bring so you don't have to carry them around all the time. You will be graded on participation so make sure you keep up with the reading and understand the material, so you can participate in class.