Taken AY2014/2015 Semester 2
PS2258: Introduction to Political Theory
This module was a good foundational module for any student considering specialisation in PT. However, it was very broad and had a huge amount of content, which made it more difficult to study for and remember details for.
The lecturer is quite good, although he is new to the school. Unfortunately, he did not provide his lecture slides, and went very fast, so it was sometimes difficult to catch what he was saying. With that said, he was passionate and enthusiastic about the subject, and more than willing to help students with consultations or email queries, and he was understandable as well.
The number of readings for this module was out of this world – PT readings tend to be of another nature altogether, being more difficult to understand due to the writing style, so reading them took ages. It seems fairly unsustainable to be reading every single reading each week, although it is definitely advised when you’re doing your essays (you need to cite, obviously) and the lecturer actually tests specific things that may not be covered in enough depth within the lecture itself.
Assessment: There was tutorial participation (20%), one 1,000 word essay (10%), one 2,000 word essay (20%), and finals (50%). Tutorial participation includes a presentation on one of the readings, and tutorials consist of presentation after presentation by students (who can choose to present alone or in a pair). Usually, this leaves very little time for discussion during tutorials, and presentations take up most of tutorial time. After a while, it’s possible to start zoning out due to the overload of information, although you should take down some notes as it might be helpful later on.
The essays require you to cite from readings that you pick in order to bolster your argument on a chosen topic. You would do well to read them in detail and try to use other topics when necessary, to show that you’ve a good command of the content and of the readings. The questions tend to be fairly interesting, and it is very important to have a strong opening thesis statement, and arguments, as well as to consider the arguments of philosophers who counter your point. One must show that they have credible counter-arguments in order to do well for this essay component.
For finals, there were ID terms tested, with students being required to choose 7 out of 10. Warning: The ID terms will not all be easy; terms like positive liberty, for example, did not make the cut. Most terms were of the more obscure nature, and even the easier terms often were named in such a way that made you stop to think what it was, before you finally realised what it is was testing. If you were to spot, you could be in serious trouble, and it is ill-advised to drop too many topics. Perhaps at max you can only safely drop 1-2 topics. There was also an essay section, and all the essays were difficult, much more dififcult than I expected. They were also topic-specific (the first was on Citizenship, the second was on Equality and the third was on Toleration), and if you did not study those particular topics in depth, you could be well and truly screwed. Unfortunately, even if you did study them, it is highly possible that you still may not quite know how to approach the question, and I was thrown off guard by the questions. It also did not help that I did not have the time to read the readings during my exam prep for the topic I eventually chose to do during the exam itself.
Workload: This module is heavy, as I suspect all Intro modules are; but I liked the readings and most of the content seemed fairly interesting, although some topics were boring. I would take this module again if I were given the chance to, but I would also be more mentally prepared regarding finals and what I had to do to prepare.
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