Module review for PS1101E: Introduction to Politics

Taken AY2014/2015 Semester 1


PS1101E: Introduction to Politics

Like everyone else, I guess I’ll start this off with praise for Professor Yoshi. His lecture slides are one of the best I’ve ever come across: clear, informative, organized and complete with pictures of Doraemon to entertain. Also, he does not upload the slides before lectures, which is good, because then you’ll have the incentive to pay attention and take down notes.

The content for this module is very interesting, and it really invites you to look at politics in a whole new light, with topics ranging from ideologies to international relations to globalization. That being said, this module and the discipline of political science as a whole focuses greatly on theories and concepts, so if you absolutely hate that kind of stuff, you might want to give this module a miss.

While the lectures are fun and the content relatively manageable, the readings are killer (or so I’ve heard). Most of them are really long, and some of them in convoluted language that takes you double the effort to be able to understand them. I hate to admit it, but I gave up on the readings after looking at the first 2 pages of Fukuyama (oops, my bad). Thankfully, Prof Yoshi does a fantastic job of condensing the readings and exposing you to the critical ideas, so you’re not really at a disadvantage (at least, I think I wasn’t). However, I’m sure the readings help in reinforcing understanding, and you (and I myself, in the future) should really try to read them.

Assessment:
20%: tutorial participation
40%: individual written assignment
40%: finals

Tutorials are probably different depending on your tutor, but you should try to read up on the lecture content beforehand so you can contribute to discussion. Participation is 20% of the grade, so it’s no joke. Lucky for me, my tutor tended to call on students to answer his questions, and everyone gets a chance, so there was no competition/ struggle to be heard.

The written assignment is a 1,500-2000 words essay. You have 20 questions to choose from, and roughly 3 weeks from the time the questions are released to the deadline. Although no major research is needed, and only 2 academic sources are required, you should still try to cite a moderate amount. I cited only the minimum, and was probably marked down for lack of adequate referencing. You should get a decent grade for this paper if you understand the theories and apply them correctly to form your arguments.

The finals consist of an ID section and an essay. Like the history module, the ID section requires you to explain the broad significance of the term as well. Again, try to link it to the broader picture/impact/other events.

Workload:
The workload for this module is moderate. You only start feeling the heat when the paper questions are released, but once that’s over, all that’s left are the finals to worry about. There is quite a lot to remember, but not as much as HY1101E.


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