PLAP 3700

Incredibly interesting syllabus, but scattered lectures. You can get a lot out of the reading, but you have to do most of the thinking for yourself

Do not take this class. Sanders constantly changed the syllabus making it hard to meet her expectations. Her disorganizations actually inhibits her ability to lecture.

This class has a lot of potential to be great. The conceptual material at the beginning at the class was hard to get through, but I really liked the books assigned to us. Sanders, although obviously really knowledgable on the subject, gets distracted easily and wastes a lot of time during lecture. The papers were dumb - they wanted us to have original ideas but it was hard because the topics didn't allow us much freedom - just regurgitation. I would still recommend this class, I did learn a lot.

Don't take this class. The amount of reading, the heartache over failed quizzes, and having to endure boring lectures was not worth the very little amount of knowledge I gained.

Sanders is a dumb bitch, first off, she's a disoriented idiot, her class is ridiculous, she assigns quizes every week, 2 papers, a midterm and final, and changes the format on everything constantly. Her lectures are boring and her voice is annoying. She lies about curving grades and takes herself way too seriously, flips out on people in class if they go to the bathroom, or look like they are not paying attention, literally goes out of her to lecture people about paying attention during class time, doesn't put up slides and wait for it...doesnt give back grades! So you can't even know what you got wrong or why. DONT TAKE THIS CLASS

Sanders' lectures can be interesting, but she doesn't seem to get to any main points until the last ten or fifteen minutes. Then she has to rush to get through all the information. The class also focuses too much on memorization. There are weekly quizzes that make up 30% of your grade; you can easily pass them if you go to class and take good notes, but if you want an A in the class then you need to read the texts thoroughly enough to memorize specific ideas and phrases. Overall, it's not a terribly difficult class, but it does involve a lot of reading and memorization. The readings can be very interesting, but they can also be dry and long.

Class focused on tons of readings and just memorizing terms and regurgitating facts. Class was disorganized. Grading relied on weekly quizzes where it was average to get an 80 and they weren't curved.

this class sucks. even if you do the readings you'll fail the quizzes. i took it as a gpa booster because i read that it wasnt difficult and then she changed her entire curriculum...for the worse

Attend class and at least read the intros/conclusions of articles/books assigned and you'll do well

I enjoyed the class a lot, the reading was very interesting. There are quizzes or papers every 2 weeks, but it's not too difficult. Professor Sanders is really nice, but can be a little disorganized and rushed during lectures. The final exam was pretty straight forward.

Emily will surprise you with lower than expected participation grades so be prepared for that.

The material was pretty redundant, but this was a fairly interesting course and definitely easy for the 3000 level. You don't need to do all the readings; there are "assessment opportunities" every other week which require you to take a pretty simple multiple choice quiz or write a paper. If you pay attention in lecture, the quizzes will be a breeze. Sanders is extremely liberal though; I can't imagine a conservative (at least someone who is conservative on racial issues) really enjoying this course. Adam is a great TA.

This class was pretty fun, easy and interesting. Readings were definitely helpful and supplemental to the lectures, however not absolutely necessary as the course is divided up by different readings, so heavily reading based thus she lectures on/about the readings, explaining them clearly. There was no midterm, and the final was very fair.

The entire grade is clicker questions, discussion attendance/participation, and alternative assessments (multiple choice, directly from reading and lecture). The final was multiple choice IDs and one essay. I really enjoyed this course; it was interesting and not too demanding. Sanders is a little scattered but enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

Very easy class. 60% of your grade was based off MC quizzes. As long as you keep up with the reading, attend class (for clicker questions), and review the pages that she highlights in lecture, you will get no worse than an A- in the class. However, Sanders is a pretty unorganized lecturer, so her lectures tend to be pretty boring (although the material is really interesting).

Sanders lectures are very liberally biased. Also very unorganized, only reason to go to lecture was for clicker questions.

tests are easy and are directly related to lecture. on the other hand papers come directly from the readings which are repetitive and boring. Still, a worthwhile class.

Very controversial and very informative. Sanders is a little disorganized if that bothers you but overall great class!

Really interesting class, Justin was a great TA! I would definitely recommend him!

Love this class, she kind of treats people like little kids sometimes, so people kind of do not quiet down. She really loves this topic and is a fascinating lecturer, but it is disorganized

Sanders is very nice, but her lectures sure are jumpy. She also asks too many questions to the class and stands there awkwardly if nobody raises their hand. With that said, her tests are incredibly easy, they are all mc with only one or two trick questions to pay attention to. I got an A- with a fair amount of effort. There are worse alternatives out there...

Don't take this class. Sanders is a poor lecturer. Her lectures consist of random facts and was not coherent. I feel that I didn't learn very much. My TA was better at presenting the material than Sanders. However, the class was not hard. 3 papers and 3 multiple choice quizes.

The professor was hard to follow and not a great professor. However the class was quite easy and required minimal work.

Very interesting material, and while Sanders has some days where she is just downright poor, for the majority of the time she's an engaging lecturer. Hopefully this year was somewhat of a fluke, but be prepared for some 'weirdness' and just bear with it. Class isn't too difficult; lots of material, but it's interesting and if you study it, the tests are straightforward and the papers are graded fairly. Lots of opportunity for some interesting debate should you get some good students in your discussion group.

It was an enjoyable class with good readings for the most part, and it isn't as difficult as the grade distribution makes it out to be.

This class for me personally wasn't that great because I have core conservative values and Professor Sanders seems to push liberal idealogies a great deal. She's scatterbrained at times, but overall the class was OK.

Incredibly easy class, but the professor is incredibly liberal and repetitive. Basically focuses on one simple idea for two weeks at a time.

Professor Sanders is a great professor, but her quizzes will throw you off. Her teaching style is far from normal, but her passion for hte subject definitely shines through in her lectures. She knows everybody's names and is very involved in getting to know her students.

Lots of reading, and quite a lot of things that are confusing

great class

From what I've gathered you either love or hate Sanders. Personally I dislike her. There is a ton of reading, she goes very quickly through lectures, grades are based on 2 mult. choice tests (on which often wording is confusing & we'll try to justify answers her later, my TA has even admitted she doesnt always understand what answer Sanders is looking for) 2 papers and a final, and has a very liberal bias.

Interesting class. worthwhile even if you aren't a politics major