PLAP 3140

This is a really fun course; one of the best politics classes I've taken. The lectures are pretty enjoyable. Prof. Freedman shows lots of videos/political ads, and he is super engaged in what he's teaching. Everything you learn seems very applicable in real life (ex. net neutrality). There is a significant amount of reading every week, but he goes over the important readings in lecture. There are 2 papers, 2 online quizzes, and a final. The quizzes are super specific to information covered in lecture and in the readings. The papers apply what we learned in lecture, so I found they were enjoyable to write. The grade breakdown was: Sections: 15%, Paper 1: 15%, Paper 2 20% , Quizzes: 25%, Final: 25%. I had Rachel as a TA. She was a fair grader, and her discussion sections were fairly interesting.

Most of the old reviews still apply. Professor Freedman is an engaging lecturer, and class is generally fairly interesting/informative. That being said, there is a ton of reading assigned in this class, and these are generally fairly mixed in quality and usefulness. You do have to know these fairly well because the quizzes are incredibly specific. Two papers in this class, which isn't terrible, but they're graded somewhat harshly off of a rubric. Discussions are kind of a mixed bag depending on who your TA is. This is far from the worst class in the department, and is generally easier to get into, but you should evaluate what other choices are available if you are able to.

This is a great class, I highly recommend. Professor Freedman is very knowledgeable on this subject. However, there are quite a few readings each week and some of the quiz questions tend to have direct quotes from the readings. The two papers were very manageable, however it is a good idea to talk to your TA about your paper ideas to see what they are looking for while grading.

This class is soooo relevant and incredibly intriguing. Professor Freedman does an incredible job of connecting the class material to reality and emphasizing the importance of the material. He seems like an even more impressive professor to have in-person. I never resented this class and the readings for the most part were short, easy to read, and had lots of pictures, graphs, tables, etc. However, my only critique is with the quizzes and the final questions. The questions were VERY specific, including questions that asked for specific numbers, passage/quote IDs, and trivial questions. I felt like they much more of the "gotcha" type questions than truly assessing your understanding of the course. Other than that, this class was great. #tCF2020

This class has been my favorite at UVA so far. Paul Freedman is a great lecturer and helpful professor plus the course content is very engaging and meaningful in our current political context. Topics covered include history of the media, decline of newspapers, ownership, legal regulation of the media, the media as a tool of politicians, fake news, bias, etc. Assignments include two papers a midterm and a final plus participation in discussion. My TA was Richard Burke, he was great!

I found this class to be super interesting. Professor Freedman is one of the best lecturers I have ever heard and is really engaging and funny. I was always excited for class and it is 100% thanks to him. I really hope I can take more of his classes in the future.

With that being said, the grading for this class is really strange. There are 2 quizzes, two papers, final exam, and section participation. Your TA determines your entire grade. It is really difficult to understand the expectations for the papers because the rubric is very loosely written. The quizzes are also extremely specific, think gotcha questions. It felt trivial at times.

I really enjoyed this class, but I would not count on it as an easy A or A-. I completed all the readings, went to office hours and it is looking like I'll finish with a B+. If you have a true interest in media and politics, you will enjoy this class.

Professor Freedman is so engaging, and his teaching is really interesting. There are lots of fun tidbits in lecture, like wacky political advertisements and Trump tweets. In this class we learned a lot about how the media interplays with politics, and now I see the media in a whole new light. The material tends to be pretty straightforward, and the tests were pretty easy (if you pay attention in lecture). There were also two essays, but they weren't extremely hard. I recommend this class, as well as the TA Rachel Smilan-Goldstein. #tCFfall2021

This class wasn't the best, but I'd still recommend taking it if you are a politics major due to the lack of better options. There's a lot of readings which can often amount to like 200 pages per week, and while some are quite skimmable, you often have to read them all because quiz questions can be VERY SPECIFIC. It's kind of annoying because some questions will be exceptionally broad and others will judge your ability to remember everything you read. You also have to go to lecture because the quizzes again ask for very specific details, but Freedman is a fun lecturer so it's not too bad to pay attention. I'd recommend sharing notes with a friend to make sure you don't miss any details because Freedman moves pretty fast and he does not post the slides. However, quizzes are still pretty reasonable. There are only a few really detailed questions which is only a pain if you're aiming for an A because even missing more than 2 questions will bring you down to an A- on the first quiz. The first paper was really annoying to write because the prompt asks for so much, but it's possible to do well. Just make sure you cite enough readings for the first one and PLEASE REACH OUT TO YOUR TA. They're the ones doing the grading and will answer your questions about the specific criteria they're looking for. I used 5 readings in the first paper and my TA still recommended adding another. The TAs are also a bit nitpicky but not necessarily harsh. The second paper is a research design and honestly wasn't too awful, but you still need to be thorough in all papers. You cannot get away with doing the bare minimum and citing random things. The final exam was honestly really easy. I did all the readings on time so I just skimmed over some of them to remember what the authors said and then looked over my notes sporadically. Studying for 3-5 hours should be sufficient to get an A depending on how fast you read, and you can probably get away with studying even less if you need to prioritize other classes. The MC section has a lot of repeat questions from the quizzes so you're basically guaranteed an A on that part. The short answers are also fairly easy. You just need to remember the gist of what each author said and a bit about their experiments. I had Richard Burke as my TA and he was pretty chill. Discussion section wasn't that interesting but it was somewhat helpful since he went over the main points of some of the readings. Overall, the class wasn't my favorite and the material seemed a lot like common sense, but if you need a PLAP class you should consider this one. There isn't that much work on a weekly basis since there's just two online quizzes, two papers, and the final. Grade breakdown: each quiz was 12.5%, first paper was 15%, second paper was 20%, participation in discussion was 15%, and the final was 25%. Overall, it's an okay class. Freedman is a great lecturer, and even though he does mention a lot of specific details, I was still able to take notes as well as do work for other classes during lecture. I ended up with an A without an insane amount of effort, but I wouldn't say it's an easy A. Not too difficult to get a B+/A-.

This is a fun, engaging, and easier course for those taking their first 3000 level politics course. Professor Freedman is an engaging lecturer and promotes you to be involved and pay attention to what he's lecturing. He specifically cut down on the amount of required reading this semester which made this course much easier. The quizzes can be a little tricky because he will ask very specific questions about things that he said in lecture that you might sometimes dismiss as trivial information, so I would recommend being as extensive in your lecture notes as possible. I definitely recommend this course to anyone interested.

This course was definitely interesting and I am a Foreign Affairs major. It was difficult for me to find the motivation to go to class every week though. It is important to always do the readings. He assigned a lot of them, but if you picked up the vocab and main themes and authors then you'll be fine. You definitely need to also go to section because that is where the TA analyzed the scientific papers which are extremely important for the midterm and final. There are also 2 quizzes due throughout the semester.

#tCFFall2022