PLIR 1010

Took this class thinking about majoring in Foreign Affairs, and quickly realized it wasn't for me. While I'm glad I took it, I definitely think the class could be structured better. I learned a lot about the basics of foreign policy/diplomacy/cooperation/conflict resolution etc, but mostly through lectures without too much interaction. Professor Ong would ask questions and try to spark up a class discussion every now and then, but questions weren't too riveting. Prompts for writing assignments and exams were always somewhat vague and didn't explicitly state what she was looking for, but she always suggested topics during class and went on some thought-provoking tangents. We also had some really interesting guest speakers, and class notes were invaluable for exams, so make sure to go to lecture! Don't really have to do the reading, which is usually a couple chapters from the textbook, and your grade relies heavily on how you do on the Issue Analysis Paper and our exams, which were part-multiple choice and part-essay.