If you're looking for an easy GE this class might not be it simply because of the amount of writing you have to do. Although the material itself isn't hard, there's atleast one thing always due at the end of the week. There are weekly 1 page "activity journals" that you have to complete by Friday 11:59 pm, alongside any other assignments, and often you had to have watched the lectures in order to answer the prompt.

Some of the readings are short but most of them are pretty long, usually 20+ pages. I got by without really reading anything, besides skimming for quotes when I needed them for the paper/weekly activities. Watching the pre-recorded lectures and TA videos are required for participation, as well as having two zoom meetings with your TA. Alonside the weekly activity journals is a 3-4 page paper on Michael Mann's book on "Sources of Power" (due week 3), which is a topic you pretty much have to deal with the rest of the quarter. A general consensus the class had on Michael Mann's book is that he talks a lot but says nothing, where he goes on long tangents that aren't always entirely related to what the TAs are looking for. You will have to implement Michael Mann's IEMP model into your research paper/podcast.

There is a project that can either be done in paper or podcast form. There was very little guidance/detailed instructions on how to do the podcast, and because this class is online/asynchronous, it is hard to get help on it. Thus, I did the paper and I will only give details on that. The final research paper is due at the end of week 10/beginning of finals week depending on your TA. It has four parts to it. The first part is introduced around week 4 in which you have to start an annotated bibliography and begin forming your preliminary thesis/research argument. The annotated bibliography needs 4 primary and 4 secondary sources, each with a summary of what it is, who its written by, how is it useful for your research, etc. This portion was due week 6 at 11:59pm and is 5% of the total grade.

The second part of the final paper is your rough draft, which must be 10-12 pages in length, and must include a bibliography and a "figures sheet," which is pretty much where you put images of primary sources you used, considering many primary sources you will use consist of ancient relics like tombs, stone carvings, etc. This portion is 10% and due week 8 at 11:59pm. Week 8 is also the only week where there was no activity journal due.

The 3rd portion of the final paper is a peer review due week 9 at 11:59pm and is part of the participation grade. The 4th portion is the final/revised draft due around week 10 at 11:59pm and is worth 30%. A recording of you presenting your research is the final assignment, and is worth 5%.

I personally did not read or buy the professor's book. She also includes online access to other required readings, but her book is not one of them. Professor Cooney's lectures are engaging and she is a great presenter. However, there isn't much guidance on how to formulate your research psper, but it helps to base it on how she dissects each ancient society and what it means for a woman's access to power there. She has a total of two live events, and attending them in full gives one extra credit point for each event.

Overall grading breakdown:
Participation 20%
Reading Journal 20%
Assignment #1- Mann Synthesis 10%
Assignment #2- Research Paper (45% total)
• Part I- Thesis & Annotated Bibliography (5%)
• Part II- Rough Draft (10%)
• Part III- Peer Review (part of participation)
• Part IV- Final Draft (30%)
Assignment #3- Final Presentation/Podcast 5%

Depending on your TA, the grading can be strict or lenient. I had Aaron Samuels; although he can be a bit curt, I found him to be pretty chill and a lenient grader conpared to other TA's. Overall, the class material can be interesting but I wouldn't go out of my way to take it.

Overall, this class is a great and straightforward Writing II + GE class to take. It was fully asynchronous for this quarter, with there being weekly lectures, readings, one page activity journals (basically writing reflections), and TA videos. It was interesting to look at the ancient world in a different perspective as well. There is only one full paper and the way planning elements of it are due make it not too stressful to complete.
Your grade is made up of the following:
Participation 20% : Watching all the videos, peer reviewing for final paper, two mandatory TA meetings
Activity Journals 20%
Mann Synthesis Assignment: basically a summary/reflection of this paper which you will constantly refer to 10%
Research Paper/Podcast 45%: You can either write a 10-12 page research paper or record a podcast for the final project. 5% Thesis/Annotated Bibliography, 10% Rough Draft, 30% Rough Draft
Final Presentation/Podcast Audio 5%: basically a verbal summary of research paper (5-7 min) or something else if you did podcast.

Pretty easy writing 2. I suck at writing but was able to scrape by with an A. Most of your grade relies on your research paper so if you’re good at doing research it isn’t that bad. I did mine on women in Ancient Hawaii because I thought Hawaii was interesting. Really recommend doing your paper on something interesting so it’s more bearable!

This is a much easier writing II class than a lot out there, I'd recommend taking especially if you're interested in the subject as a whole. Depending on your TA, this could be very easy, especially if you ask for feedback on your activity journals. Fs my favorite summer class, would take again :)

I agree with some of the Fall 2021 reviews, as this class was relatively interesting and truly is about what the class entails, women and power in the ancient world. Professor Cooney's lectures were engaging and you can tell how passionate she was about the topic, but besides that, this is mainly a review of the structure of the class since this is what a lot of people want. There is a LARGE AMOUNT of writing to be done in this class because it is a writing II and a GE requirement. The material isn't hard to grasp but the work itself is very tedious sometimes. There are weekly activity journals (with a prompt) that you'd have to look at the readings and lecture to answer + other participation (40%), a 3-4 page Mann synthesis paper (10%), final 10-12 page research paper/podcast script (45%), and a final presentation (5%). It is a lot I will not lie, but it's split into the quarter fairly well, especially since the course is all online-asynchronous(for the in-person discussion I think they had discussion participation instead of writing activity journals). The prompts were very open-ended but it made it sort of hard to formulate some form of ideas and even tell if your ideas are valid... but your TA is the main source of support and also your grade as well. The stressful part was mainly just the final paper because of the page requirement and how much of your grade it determined, but your TA gives you feed back on your rough draft for you to improve your grade. So yes, this course is heavily reliant on your TA. Thus, this class was exhausting I won't lie but I can definitely say I learned a lot from the course... but I would not really go out of my way to take it out of interest simply because of the amount of work that there was to do!

Professor Cooney has been such a pleasure to be taught by. She is the definition of a boss woman and always manages to make lectures so engaging...and not just interesting, like a literal TV show. I absolutely adore this course despite the fact that there is a MASSIVE workload of readings and discussions and etc.

This class is amazing if you want to learn about what women power entails in a society. All the material is intriguing to read. However, this class is quite tedious. We have to write a 1-page essay every week that is based on the week's readings. The readings can be short or super long which can take up to hours to read. Professor Cooney is super cool.

This class was absolutely spectacular. It fulfills three GE's (Historical Analysis, Diversity, and Writing II) and the professor is so inspiring and interesting to listen to. The class was built around having weekly readings and lectures that cumulated in a one-page Activity Journal at the end of the week. The readings and lectures were awesome and super helpful and could often be skimmed. The lectures and videos took maybe two hours to knockout with the most readings and lectures at the beginning of the class. Then, every week a one-page activity Journal was due based on what you learned that week. Super easy. There was only ever one super hard reading but the TA spent a lot of time making sure we understood. There were only ever two real "tests" in the form of essays and neither was particularly difficult. The lecture videos are wonderfully produced and extremely engaging and the workload is so minor that most of the class would finish the week's work in a day (though I don't recommend that lol) Overall, I will highly, highly recommend this class.