HIEU 2111

This was one of the best history courses I've taken at UVA. Professor Halliday is a little crazy, but so enthusiastic and is clearly passionate about what the course material. Your grade is essentially made up of five essays throughout the course of the semester (3 regular, and 2 make up the final) and 2 informal outlines. Halliday really stresses participation, in both lecture and discussion so you have to speak up! David Flaherty is a really great TA too. If you need a history course and English history interests you, I highly recommend this course!

LOVED this class. Charles Hamilton was a great TA. There were three essays that were more like take-home exams because you'd have 48 hours to complete them. For two of the weeks when you wouldn't have a paper due, you would submit an outline for the essay you might have written. There was a final but it was more like two different papers than an exam. Listed like that, it sounds like a lot but it's spread out well throughout the semester so it does not feel overwhelming. I mostly only did the reading when it was necessary for a paper or an outline. The lectures are very interesting and Prof. Halliday is a great teacher. Highly recommend!!

Paul Halliday is such a good professor! He's so nice and really tries his best to make the course interesting, especially in the COVID era. He really cares about his students and is passionate about the subject! It was 2 timed papers and then a final consisting of 2 timed papers. Lots of reading and you should definitely read. Recommend for history requirement

Professor Halliday is a great professor. He clearly cares a lot about the content and works to help students where he can. Detailed feedback is given on essays. All assignments are written ones, with two essays and a final exam, as well as discussion posts for each class. Sometimes the reading assignments are a lot, especially with only two days in between classes. The content can be interesting. I definitely did not know most of it before taking the class.

I have a real love-hate relationship with the course. Halliday is knowledgeable and clearly passionate about the subject, but he expects a lot out of students for a 2000 level course. 80 pages in reading per class was common and the reading often was sluggish. Your class grade is based on 4 1000-12000 word essays and participation (based on discussion posts and discussion section). The first two essays are given in a 48-hour time span about a month and a half apart, which means I was often staying up late to get them in on time. The final two essays were given together in a 72-hour period and they compose the final. The class was overall difficult and occasionally rewarding, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you really love English History.

Professor Halliday the absolute best and is probably one of the best teachers (if not the best) I have ever had in my life.

Who would have though British History from 1500-1800 would be so though-provoking (Halliday actually won an award from Princess Anne of Britain for his work in this field). I went into this class a little unsure, mainly because of the reviews which said that class was awesome, but a lot of work. For the first few weeks, that's what it felt like. But as the semester went on, I realized what I needed and didn't need to do.

1. You don't need to do all the readings. Most nights I didn't do all of the readings, and spent only 10-15 minutes (max) doing the discussion post and looking at the primary sources. You DO have to read though if it is in regards to your essay (only 2 a semester). That is true.
2. The class really is NOT a lot of work. There are TWO assignments all year excluding the final: two 1,000-1,200 word essays. These are somewhat of a grind, but I basically just sacrificed two Sundays for the entire term to do them, which is not really all that bad.
3. The in-class experience is amazing. Halliday is a fantastic lecturer, and makes class actually enjoyable. I do tend to fall asleep in class, but I never once did in this class. He engages you and keeps you interested, while still teaching you funny and interesting history lessons.

I recommend this class to everyone—especially if you are (slightly) willing to speak up in class, because it's easier for him to get to know you. I also recommend sitting in the front of the classroom, because it is just better that way.

As for the grading, I think if you are solid-enough writer and get Bs on your essays, but participate in class at least once every other week, you will receive at least an A- (that's what I did).

I took this class my first semester of my first year. First, professor Halliday was an incredible professor. He was extremely passionate and knowledgeable about the subject, and keeps lectures interesting. The grading of the class is completely based on essays. However, there were weekly discussion posts based on the readings. As someone that had only a slight interest in English History and does not typically like to read, this was not the class for me. I struggled to get through the readings every night, and wished lectures focused more on what was supposed to be taken out of the readings. The class was still doable if you don't complete the readings, as long as you read and understood the material needed to write your essays. This however just stressed me out, because it left me always second guessing myself about whether I was missing information and made it difficult for me to participate in class. I still managed to get decent grades on the essays, but never really knew where I stood in the class. Overall I would say this isn't the worst class to take for this requirement, but I would not recommend unless you are very interested in English History or think you can manage the heavy readings each week. Even my classmates that really enjoyed the class agreed that it should be higher than a 2000 level class.