I thought this was a great class. Professor Stahuljak is very knowledgeable and entertaining. If you have any interest in the Middle Ages, I think you’ll enjoy the class too.

Lecture:
PowerPoint presentations are used but only for images. Some of the images end up being uploaded to the class site, but not the presentations as a whole. The professor will write down certain terms on the board, but for the most part it’s important to take good notes based on what she says.

Required Reading:
The readings are all basically required and you’ll see why below.

Homework/Class participation (30%):
Basically, each week you have a reading (~100 pages) from the various books and then you write a question or statement about the reading and respond to it in a paragraph. Only book that we didn’t have a paragraph for was Silence. The paragraphs aren’t graded directly, but are factored into the participation grade and she returns them with notes and suggestions. Attendance is taken and it’s advisable to participate in class as much as you can.

Midterm (30%):
The midterm consists of 10 short answer questions and 5 long answer questions. The short answer questions are based on terms and only require a sentence or two. Essentially, anything in the lectures is free game, but images themselves are not part of the test. Dates are sometimes required. The long answer questions are based on the discussions of the readings.

Final paper (40%):
The final paper was due on the last day of finals week. Required length is 7 pages and you basically choose the book and topic you want to write about. You can use the previous paragraphs as a starting point.

She is an awesome professor for the most part. She is knowledgeable, interesting, fun, and really gets the whole class involved. However, she is hardcore, for lack of a better term. She is easily the most challenging and difficult professor I have ever had. I am a french major, holding over a 3.9 GPA cumulatively, and in my major,and I got B+ in this class (kills me!). Make sure you go to class because she WILL dock your participation grade big time for absences. Speak up everyday too. My only major complaint is that there was a ton of material covered for the midterm, and I feel like she could have been more explicit about what material was the most crucial for the test. So, if you're up for a class that is interesting, but a serious challenge, go for it. If you are concerned about keeping your GPA high,then you might want to pass. No easy A here.