PUB PLC 596
Directed Studies
Description: Tutorial, to be arranged. Limited to graduate students. Individual programming for selected students to permit pursuit of a subject in greater depth. S/U or letter grading.
Units: 2.0
Units: 2.0
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Most Helpful Review
Professor Sabl's Poli Sci 10 class was a good, straightforward class. He is an extremely droll speaker, and his lectures are very dry and filled with odd jokes that amuse him, and only him, to no end. I found his lectures to be largely useless, and I stopped attending them as soon as I determined that they weren't worthwhile (along with most of the rest of the class, apparently, as he sent out an email partway through the quarter complaining about the poor attendance, and requesting that we start coming to lecture again). His assigned readings were partly good and partly bad. Partly bad because the material is, unsurprisingly, dry and not as pertinent in our 21st Century society, and partly good because Sabl chooses great translations of these stuffy old politicos. I admittedly did not do all the reading, however I made sure to at least skim each weeks assignment, especially because I had a very good T.A. who made us write a one-page summary of any particular part of the reading that we wanted. This turned out to be a great boon in studying for the final, as I merely reviewed all of my 'favorite bits' from each reading, and was therefore able to expound greatly on what ended up being very broad essay topics, using only a handful of choice examples from each text. The midterm essays also allowed for great freedom, and I chose the topics that pertained to the authors which I found most interesting or, in the case of the second midterm essay, the authors which I had actually skimmed, versus the authors that I had not even picked up. I spent only about 5 hours total on each essay, and received an A grade on both. Do not be afraid about his final, as many people were, because he builds it up to be a very frightening test (he recommended we bring 2 or 3 Blue Books, in order to write more -- a ridiculous precaution), when it consisted of two short essays that had you to pick 1 out of 3 or 4 very broad topics that allowed you to write only on the two or three authors you knew best. So long as you at least skim a majority of his readings, and you have a T.A. who does a decent job of reviewing each author with you, you should fare very well in his Poli Sci 10 class.
Professor Sabl's Poli Sci 10 class was a good, straightforward class. He is an extremely droll speaker, and his lectures are very dry and filled with odd jokes that amuse him, and only him, to no end. I found his lectures to be largely useless, and I stopped attending them as soon as I determined that they weren't worthwhile (along with most of the rest of the class, apparently, as he sent out an email partway through the quarter complaining about the poor attendance, and requesting that we start coming to lecture again). His assigned readings were partly good and partly bad. Partly bad because the material is, unsurprisingly, dry and not as pertinent in our 21st Century society, and partly good because Sabl chooses great translations of these stuffy old politicos. I admittedly did not do all the reading, however I made sure to at least skim each weeks assignment, especially because I had a very good T.A. who made us write a one-page summary of any particular part of the reading that we wanted. This turned out to be a great boon in studying for the final, as I merely reviewed all of my 'favorite bits' from each reading, and was therefore able to expound greatly on what ended up being very broad essay topics, using only a handful of choice examples from each text. The midterm essays also allowed for great freedom, and I chose the topics that pertained to the authors which I found most interesting or, in the case of the second midterm essay, the authors which I had actually skimmed, versus the authors that I had not even picked up. I spent only about 5 hours total on each essay, and received an A grade on both. Do not be afraid about his final, as many people were, because he builds it up to be a very frightening test (he recommended we bring 2 or 3 Blue Books, in order to write more -- a ridiculous precaution), when it consisted of two short essays that had you to pick 1 out of 3 or 4 very broad topics that allowed you to write only on the two or three authors you knew best. So long as you at least skim a majority of his readings, and you have a T.A. who does a decent job of reviewing each author with you, you should fare very well in his Poli Sci 10 class.
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