PLAP 3140

This course was definitely interesting and I am a Foreign Affairs major. It was difficult for me to find the motivation to go to class every week though. It is important to always do the readings. He assigned a lot of them, but if you picked up the vocab and main themes and authors then you'll be fine. You definitely need to also go to section because that is where the TA analyzed the scientific papers which are extremely important for the midterm and final. There are also 2 quizzes due throughout the semester.

#tCFFall2022

This is a fun, engaging, and easier course for those taking their first 3000 level politics course. Professor Freedman is an engaging lecturer and promotes you to be involved and pay attention to what he's lecturing. He specifically cut down on the amount of required reading this semester which made this course much easier. The quizzes can be a little tricky because he will ask very specific questions about things that he said in lecture that you might sometimes dismiss as trivial information, so I would recommend being as extensive in your lecture notes as possible. I definitely recommend this course to anyone interested.

This class wasn't the best, but I'd still recommend taking it if you are a politics major due to the lack of better options. There's a lot of readings which can often amount to like 200 pages per week, and while some are quite skimmable, you often have to read them all because quiz questions can be VERY SPECIFIC. It's kind of annoying because some questions will be exceptionally broad and others will judge your ability to remember everything you read. You also have to go to lecture because the quizzes again ask for very specific details, but Freedman is a fun lecturer so it's not too bad to pay attention. I'd recommend sharing notes with a friend to make sure you don't miss any details because Freedman moves pretty fast and he does not post the slides. However, quizzes are still pretty reasonable. There are only a few really detailed questions which is only a pain if you're aiming for an A because even missing more than 2 questions will bring you down to an A- on the first quiz. The first paper was really annoying to write because the prompt asks for so much, but it's possible to do well. Just make sure you cite enough readings for the first one and PLEASE REACH OUT TO YOUR TA. They're the ones doing the grading and will answer your questions about the specific criteria they're looking for. I used 5 readings in the first paper and my TA still recommended adding another. The TAs are also a bit nitpicky but not necessarily harsh. The second paper is a research design and honestly wasn't too awful, but you still need to be thorough in all papers. You cannot get away with doing the bare minimum and citing random things. The final exam was honestly really easy. I did all the readings on time so I just skimmed over some of them to remember what the authors said and then looked over my notes sporadically. Studying for 3-5 hours should be sufficient to get an A depending on how fast you read, and you can probably get away with studying even less if you need to prioritize other classes. The MC section has a lot of repeat questions from the quizzes so you're basically guaranteed an A on that part. The short answers are also fairly easy. You just need to remember the gist of what each author said and a bit about their experiments. I had Richard Burke as my TA and he was pretty chill. Discussion section wasn't that interesting but it was somewhat helpful since he went over the main points of some of the readings. Overall, the class wasn't my favorite and the material seemed a lot like common sense, but if you need a PLAP class you should consider this one. There isn't that much work on a weekly basis since there's just two online quizzes, two papers, and the final. Grade breakdown: each quiz was 12.5%, first paper was 15%, second paper was 20%, participation in discussion was 15%, and the final was 25%. Overall, it's an okay class. Freedman is a great lecturer, and even though he does mention a lot of specific details, I was still able to take notes as well as do work for other classes during lecture. I ended up with an A without an insane amount of effort, but I wouldn't say it's an easy A. Not too difficult to get a B+/A-.

Professor Freedman is so engaging, and his teaching is really interesting. There are lots of fun tidbits in lecture, like wacky political advertisements and Trump tweets. In this class we learned a lot about how the media interplays with politics, and now I see the media in a whole new light. The material tends to be pretty straightforward, and the tests were pretty easy (if you pay attention in lecture). There were also two essays, but they weren't extremely hard. I recommend this class, as well as the TA Rachel Smilan-Goldstein. #tCFfall2021

I found this class to be super interesting. Professor Freedman is one of the best lecturers I have ever heard and is really engaging and funny. I was always excited for class and it is 100% thanks to him. I really hope I can take more of his classes in the future.

With that being said, the grading for this class is really strange. There are 2 quizzes, two papers, final exam, and section participation. Your TA determines your entire grade. It is really difficult to understand the expectations for the papers because the rubric is very loosely written. The quizzes are also extremely specific, think gotcha questions. It felt trivial at times.

I really enjoyed this class, but I would not count on it as an easy A or A-. I completed all the readings, went to office hours and it is looking like I'll finish with a B+. If you have a true interest in media and politics, you will enjoy this class.

This class has been my favorite at UVA so far. Paul Freedman is a great lecturer and helpful professor plus the course content is very engaging and meaningful in our current political context. Topics covered include history of the media, decline of newspapers, ownership, legal regulation of the media, the media as a tool of politicians, fake news, bias, etc. Assignments include two papers a midterm and a final plus participation in discussion. My TA was Richard Burke, he was great!

This class is soooo relevant and incredibly intriguing. Professor Freedman does an incredible job of connecting the class material to reality and emphasizing the importance of the material. He seems like an even more impressive professor to have in-person. I never resented this class and the readings for the most part were short, easy to read, and had lots of pictures, graphs, tables, etc. However, my only critique is with the quizzes and the final questions. The questions were VERY specific, including questions that asked for specific numbers, passage/quote IDs, and trivial questions. I felt like they much more of the "gotcha" type questions than truly assessing your understanding of the course. Other than that, this class was great. #tCF2020

This is a great class, I highly recommend. Professor Freedman is very knowledgeable on this subject. However, there are quite a few readings each week and some of the quiz questions tend to have direct quotes from the readings. The two papers were very manageable, however it is a good idea to talk to your TA about your paper ideas to see what they are looking for while grading.

Most of the old reviews still apply. Professor Freedman is an engaging lecturer, and class is generally fairly interesting/informative. That being said, there is a ton of reading assigned in this class, and these are generally fairly mixed in quality and usefulness. You do have to know these fairly well because the quizzes are incredibly specific. Two papers in this class, which isn't terrible, but they're graded somewhat harshly off of a rubric. Discussions are kind of a mixed bag depending on who your TA is. This is far from the worst class in the department, and is generally easier to get into, but you should evaluate what other choices are available if you are able to.

This is a really fun course; one of the best politics classes I've taken. The lectures are pretty enjoyable. Prof. Freedman shows lots of videos/political ads, and he is super engaged in what he's teaching. Everything you learn seems very applicable in real life (ex. net neutrality). There is a significant amount of reading every week, but he goes over the important readings in lecture. There are 2 papers, 2 online quizzes, and a final. The quizzes are super specific to information covered in lecture and in the readings. The papers apply what we learned in lecture, so I found they were enjoyable to write. The grade breakdown was: Sections: 15%, Paper 1: 15%, Paper 2 20% , Quizzes: 25%, Final: 25%. I had Rachel as a TA. She was a fair grader, and her discussion sections were fairly interesting.

A lot of the reviews for this class from previous semesters definitely still apply. Professor Freedman is a great lecturer and makes the class very engaging. While lectures were great, the readings were the opposite. It is almost necessary to skim the readings unless you have nothing else to do. Professor Freedman even emphasized this at the beginning of the semester, as he went over tips to skim efficiently. The class also features quizzes, which having taken are ridiculously detailed. Definitely study EVERYTHING from your notes, including data, reading summaries, terms, and certain facts or events notable in the media world. Overall, I highly recommend this class, Professor Alexander is great and so is the information, but be prepared for the amount of work necessary to do well.

So much potential...but this class fell short of my expectations. As a lecturer, Freedman is mediocre at best. The lecture itself is always easy to comprehend, but he barely covers anything, so he's constantly behind. Also, ignore the comments about online quizzes. I scored 100% on both--they are grade boosters, in my opinion. Sure, there are a few idiotic questions, but nothing too wild. If you were in class and listening--and writing everything down--it's not a problem. Also, the final was an absolute joke. The two essays were irritating. My advice: avoid Daniel as a TA. At the end of the day I got an A so can't complain too much. The class is just tedious and requires too much of your time.

This was the class I was most excited for and it ended up being the class I was most disappointed in. For starters, the amount of reading for this course is ABSURD and just way too much- readings are repetitive, super long, and at times outdated. The amount of reading in this course should be cut in half. For this class you must do all of the reading, as there are two (almost) 50 question reading quizzes that are super specific, so you must have a thorough understanding of the readings. The quizzes are another issue I have with this class- they are far too specific for the amount of information that students expected to obtain, AND there are questions about authors (info from their readings and quote IDs). The author questions are unfair in my opinion due to the vast amount of authors and readings. There are 2 essays- the prompts aren't difficult but the rubrics are vague. TA's grade the essays and I found my TA (I will not name him) to be an unfair grader. Discussion with him was also super unhelpful. Professor Freedman is a good, engaged lecturer and because of that I think this course has the potential to be great, but it was simply not. If you are not a MDST or Politics major I would not recommend this course, and if you are, I would seek out other courses before taking this one unless the

One of my favorite classes at UVA! Professor Freedman is so great and approachable. The material is all very interesting and really relevant, and Professor Freedman picks really funny and entertaining examples of the material in lectures. That being said, this class has a LOT of reading. Most of it is pretty interesting and easy to understand, and it gets easier as you go on and get more familiar with the concepts, but it really is a lot. There are two online quizzes which aren't too hard, they're short and specific questions from the readings and lectures, but if you study well you'll be fine. Two papers which were graded very fairly by the TA's (I had Kim and she was great).

The class is interesting (though if you've really ever learned about the media, it's lots of review before you start talking about some fascinating trends), but I agree with other reviewers that there is a TON of reading. Luckily, you can skim through most of it and really look for repetition (because the readings repeat so often). The TAs really depend on who you get (my section was a complete waste of time, but I went to another section one time, and it was amazing, so obviously the experience is variable). The papers are not too tricky, and the quizzes honestly shouldn't be too stressful if you have been keeping up with the readings and going to lecture. There are some minute things, but it's mostly remembering the authors and big ideas. Some of what people have been posting in here is ridiculous.

Everyone said this class was so awesome so I was super excited to take it this fall, but was a little underwhelmed looking back. There is an OBSCENE amount of reading, and even though Professor Freedman tells you to "strategically skim" the readings, if you want to do well on the quizzes you have to read them carefully. The quizzes are SO specific and if you were not intensely paying attention and writing down literally everything that Freedman says then you'll probably miss some of the really detailed questions. Go to the TAs before the papers are due and talk about ideas/outlines, it will improve your grade so much because they have a pretty specific rubric. Final was not hard if you studied the facts and authors/themes. The big advantage to this class is that Professor Freedman is really funny and a nice guy, so lectures aren't bad at all.

Freedman was great. He was very funny and engaging, which was nice for a 9 am lecture. There was way too much reading for this class though. Don't read all of it, just skim and look for the main ideas. Also, try to get a good TA. My discussion section was completely pointless, but my friend who had a different TA got great resources from their discussion section. The quizzes were pretty specific, but the essays were graded easily. The final was pretty easy too. I'm also pretty sure there was an upward curve on the final grades at the end of the course. Overall, an easy and fun course.

Overall I would recommend this class if you're interested in American politics. Freedman is a very engaging lecturer, and I found the course concepts incredibly interesting. There is too much reading, but you can get away with skimming things if you primarily study the readings that Freedman mentions in lecture and just know the general point of the other ones.

This class was pretty boring until the final 2 weeks. Professor Freedman is a great guy, but the material was pretty dumb and anyone with any common sense would know the first 3/4 of the class already. The TAs were a particular disaster. The quizzes that you have to take are extremely random and do not test your knowledge of the subject. Instead Prof. Freedman throws in questions like "How many starbucks are there in the US". It had nothing to do with the readings, just extremely small details he randomly said during class. I thought it would be an awesome class during election year since I am also a politics major, but it was dreadfully boring. TAKE ANOTHER CLASS THAT'S MORE INTERESTING!

An incredibly informative class which provided an introduction to the intricate relationship between today's mass media to the American political realm (and particularly topical, given the 2016 Presidential election). You'll want to attend lecture (as some test questions are dependent on lecture material), and there's a significant amount of reading each week (nothing too hard, though). Make sure to see your TAs for essay help, because there's only two quizzes, two midterms, and a final - so if you screw up horribly on one, you'll be hard-pressed to improve your grades.

Overall, though, the workload is easily manageable - as long as you read carefully and attend every lecture and discussion section (if you can, Heersink's a great TA!), you'll pass the class.

I loved the class. I really recommend taking this as your first 3000 PL class because it's just the right difficulty to ease you in. The class is composed of 2 essays, 2 quizzes (basically midterms), participation (including attendance in discussion), and a final. The essays aren't graded hard, though they require a lot of thought, so I recommend starting on them early. Also make sure to cite plenty of class readings (at least 5 for each essay) because that's always a problem for the first essay--people get too caught up analyzing the article and forget to include class readings. The quizzes are not bad either, although there are always 1-3 questions of the ~45 that are unfair/unreasonable. The final was surprisingly easy too--we were allotted 3 hours and most people finished in 1 hour. In terms of studying the authors, the most you have to know is a 1-2 sentence summary--there's no point in re-reading anything. It's not difficult to get an A-/B+ as long as you go to class and keep up with the readings, but getting an A requires a bit more effort.

I really did not like this class. Professor Freedman was entertaining in lecture, and he clearly knows a lot about the topic. However, it took until the very end of the semester (political advertising) for us to learn anything particularly interesting in this course. The readings do not provide much insight, and the hyper-specific, multiple-choice quizzes reminded me of high school reading quizzes. Additionally, the class emphasizes research methodology more than anything else towards the middle/end of the semester. The papers weren't graded too harshly, and the final is not bad at all, so it isn't hard to end up with a good grade if you put in the work. For me, though, I was most looking forward to this class heading into the semester, and it left me the most disappointed. I don't feel like any of us learned that much.

I loved this class - it is definitely one of the best offered by the politics department. Honestly what makes this class is Prof. Freedman. The material is somewhat interesting and I definitely learned a lot, but I was always engaged in lecture because of Prof. Freedman is hilarious. The class has two papers (the second one is a research design so kind of annoying) as well as two collab quizzes and a final. The final is not bad at all and used a lot of the questions from the previous quizzes, but don't underestimate the quizzes - they are tricky and particular. Nick was a really great TA. Overall, I really loved this class and would recommend it to anyone! You definitely don't have to be a politics or media studies major to take it, it's accessible to anyone.

Readings were very manageable for a politics class (~50-100 pgs per week). You definitely had to do the readings or at least skim them to get an A on the quizzes. Freedman's lectures were interesting and coherent, and the TA goes over the material in discussion anyway. Easy final.

This was a good PLAP class. Well-balanced, great prof., and solid readings that are very interesting and applicable. I'd not only recommend this, but would go as far as saying that I'd take it again if I had the choice.

I highly recommend this course. Your grade is made up of 15% discussion, 15% for a 5-7 paper, 20% for a 7-8 page paper, and 12.5% for each of two take home, closed note quizzes, plus an in class 25% final. Since your grade has so many components, it's easy to bounce back if you get a slightly low grade on one thing. There is a lot of reading, but it isn't really necessary. You can get away with just reading the conclusion of each study. The papers are a bit hard if you didn't do the reading, but I wrote mine the night before they were due without having read and got an A by just skimming for random quotes to throw in. The final is half multiple choice, and most of those multiple choice are from the previous multiple choice quizzes, and you get the answer key on Collab after you take it, so if you just study those you're guaranteed a good grade on the multiple choice part of the final. The rest of the final is short answer and based off of knowing what each author said in about one sentence, which probably takes about 2-3 hours of studying to memorize them all if you didn't do the reading. Probably 4 hours of studying is all you need to do to get an A on the final.

Prof. Freedmam is awesome--he makes learning the course topic enjoyable

TAKE THIS CLASS! Professor Freedman is amazing, and he really cares about his students. He tries to keep his lectures interesting and funny, and the paper topics are actually good. Grading wise, you have two online quizzes and two papers, along with a final. As long as you pay attention in class, you'll do fine on the quizzes. Do the readings and talk to the TA about the papers, and you'll be golden. To put it in perspective, I was a first-semester first year when I took the class, and I got an A. I highly recommend Alex Welch as the TA.

Great class and really interesting! Freedman is a great lecturer. Papers and midterm/final aren't too bad but the quizzes can be a little tricky, so pay attention to details in class.

EXCELLENT class. Especially good during an election year. Freedman is a very engaging professor and it's hard to not pay attention. Good if you notice news bias already. I haven't been doing the readings very much but it's okay because you go over them in depth in discussions. Adam is a good TA and can definitely explain things. 2 papers, 2 mini-quizzes (Freedman calls them quizlets), and a final. Would definitely recommend.

This class was very interesting and pretty easy. I recommend it. Freedman made it easy to listen to his lectures and was very engaging with the class. Emily was an awesome T.A.

Freedman is a very entertaining lecturer. He is very energetic and knows how to capture the attention of an audience. That being said, the readings are completely boring. However, you can get away with just skipping to the conclusion of the articles (the main points are emphasized on the quizzes). Having to memorize the names of authors for the ids is pretty pointless if you ask me. Emily is a good TA, and very fair.

Freedman is a charismatic lecturer and makes the classes enjoyable to attend. He attempts to make some of the material relevant which is appreciated but really needs to rethink his exams. The majority of the questions on the quizzes and the final required inane knowledge of which author covered which theory, instead of whether we actually knew what the theories meant. Stupid stupid stupid. Besides that, two reasonable manageable papers of 7 and 10 pages.

This class was so boring. I was really excited to take it, and there's so much emphasis on experimental research and content analysis, and there's so many readings that are incredibly boring I could barely keep up. You also have to know the authors and id them on the final and the quizzes, and they were all so boring I couldn't keep them straight.

This class is very interesting. Freddman gives really interesting lectures that the quizzes are almost completely based on. The quizzes are not too hard if you attend lecture. There are two papers that require some work but if you have a good TA are manageable. Discussion sections are mandatory, but is just the class debating on things covered in class so they are entertaining. A good 3000 level plap!

A fair amount of reading in the class, write 2 papers and have 2 online quizzes and a final. you need to do most of the reading to understand what he's talking about because the quizzes are very specific to the readers and ideas but freedman is an entertaining teacher to say the least

loved it, quizzes can be a bit tricky but Freedman is really entertaining. Great course!!

he was great, but the midterms were hard

you won't get in off the waitlist, don't bother

Freedman is a fantastic professor, very funny and knowledgeable. Assignments and quizzes aren't too hard, and no midterm.

Fantastic professor. You end up learning a lot.

Great Class!

Professor Freedman is a very good lecturer, and the course material is interesting. There is a lot of reading assigned, but you don't have to do it if you go to class. There are two papers, neither of which are too difficult. Overall the class is interesting and pretty easy, I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the subject.

Do not take. WAY overrated. If you do take it, don't both buying the textbook. And go to class.

be sure to get justin peck-- his sections are hilarious and he is extremely chill and never runs over. he also really does a good job of going over the class info while still incorporating new current events

Freedman makes the lecture itself very enjoyable. This class involves a ton of reading, and by the end of the semester, most people have stopped doing all of it. Two good-sized papers. Midterms aren't bad.

great class, his lectures are awesome, his tests are fair, steve was a great TA...well designed class with interesting material

good class, fun info, pretty easy, although freedman tends to repeat info a lot. go to lectures and take good notes and you should be fine.

good class- simple material and freedman is a good lecturer. Take this class for a comprehensive but basic overview of media and politics

Belcher was a great TA! He is really enthusiastic and liked to keep discussions on topic, and he doesn't grade unfairly hard. The lectures can be boring/repetitive, but it is still worth it, especially after the 2008 Election.

Interesting material, but lectures can be very redundant. Your TA does all of the grading, so try to get a good one!

everyone should take this class!

Great class. Really enjoyable, so fun and really interesting material. Definitely something everyone would enjoy, regardless of major or area of interest. I've never met anyone who hasn't felt the same. However, I'd steer clear of the TA I had (Drew), he was sometimes bitter and would let his personal life interfere with his teaching.

Excellent professor - his lectures are hilarious and the material's pretty interesting albeit somewhat repetitive. Quizzes and papers are pretty easy and fair as long as you do the article readings. Unlike most other classes, the information you learn really stays with you beyond just that one semester.

Very interesting subject material, and Professor Freedman makes it pretty straight forward. If you are interested at all in american politics, take this class.

Lectures are fun and interesting, though sometimes they can get repetitive and seem to be straying off the topic. A lot of things for tests can be found in the lectures, and he makes it pretty clear what are really important concepts for the class.

The subject matter in this course is so interesting. It's so much fun going to class. If nothing else, take it to listen to Freedman rant about the weather bias. He's probably one of my favorite professors. He's accessible, fun, smart, challenging, and really wants to help you.

I loved this class- Freedman is a great lecturer, and while some readings are simply too long or too redundant, most are interesting. Midterm, quizzes and final are pretty straightforward- definitely know AT LEAST the authors of readings and their main ideas if you're not willing to do the readings. Great class!

Such a great class. Freedman is very interesting and funny. Reading can be heavy, but its still interesting. Going to class is the best part about taking this class - I always learned something new.

Getting a good TA is essential - I got a terrible one, discussions were a complete waste of time. Freedman gives great lectures, but they are not about the reading - he gives you modern-day context to understand the material. Exams are easy if you go to class and skim the readings. He really harps on knowing which author wrote about what more than the content itself.

Good class, pretty interesting lectures that go back and forth between new material and stuff that you should know anyway. Loved the campaign ad stuff. He's an engaging lecturer as well and the tests and papers are easy enough.

Lots of excessive reading, but interesting nonetheless.

The class is not near as good as the hype. Lectures are boring and unsubstantial and the reading is dry. The campaign commercial analysis is the only good part.

pretty interesting class. exams are kinda hard since he talks about non-testable info in his lectures. hes a dynamic speaker, but goes off on tangents. lots of readers, but its a decent class

This is a very bad class. It is boring and substanceless, and you will learn nothing of value. Good only as a gut.

Great class, great professor.

Overrated gut course. Freedman's lectures were completely worthless, and the readings were god-awful boring. Freedman read straight from his PowerPoint slides, and 25% of each lecture was redundant material from the previous one. Worth it only if you need the 300-level PLAP.

He is a great lecturer and genuinely interested in his students

Freedman is a terrific lecturer and the political ads are a lot of fun to watch.

This class is AWESOME!! I took it in summer school, but I feel it would be just as great during the school year. Professor Freedman truly cares about his students and teaches material in an interesting and fun way.