<p>For those that have taken Magagna… Everyone says this guy gives A’s. How exactly do you approach his papers then (6-8 pages, citing lectures and books)? I may just be a bit paranoid but the material seems a bit hard to write 6-8 pages about. Any tips would be great.</p>
<p>Yes I am a senior taking this class for the A.</p>
<p>It’s easy to forget in the Magagna-Free-A-! crazyness that he’s also a very organized, fulfilling lecturer. I’ve found that the most effective way to write his papers is just to go off his framework and toss in a few meaningful citations to the assigned readings. </p>
<p>Also, there are always one or two prompts that are broad enough that they could be interpreted to encompass much of the class. That would probably be the path of least resistance if you’re just looking to get through the class with minimal time expended. Besides, I have a sneaking suspicion that some of the papers aren’t even read. I had a piece of double-sided tape in the middle of my paper one quarter, and it came back seemingly untouched with tape intact and a grade on the front.</p>
<p>It’s never too hard writing for length; writing for concision is the tough part.</p>
<p>What separates a good writer from a great one is the ability to communicate what one intends. To do this, make sure any assumptions in your argument are explicitly referenced; identify and explain any variables/constructs/concepts that a reader from outside of PoliSci would have trouble understanding; and walk the reader through your argument.</p>
<p>Doing that as an explicit exercise will add a lot of content to an otherwise skeleton of a paper. When you write, you know what you are trying to express, but it does not always come across that way on paper (the reader cannot read your mind and think the way you do). </p>
<p>In grad school, our term papers vary in length between 5-25 pages, and it is definitely the shorter ones that give us trouble. It is easy to be clear when your page requirement is high. It is much more difficult to be clear and get into the substantial part of the argument with a shorter limit. It’s a bit counterintuitive, but I typically crank out a 20-25 page paper in a couple of days with little revision, but a shorter paper will take me upwards of a week because of all the tweaks I need to make in order to refine my argument in limited space.</p>
<p>The question is, how much concision writing is taken into a consideration with a professor that gives like 95% A’s? </p>
<p>I doubt the student body could write that concise to Dr. Magagna’s true expectations.</p>
<p>None now that the AS grades database has pretty much confirmed that 95-98% A rate. If you have a rough idea of what the class is about, you can pretty much write 8 pages of unedited stream-of-conscious commentary on your topic and get away with it. Considering how his three classes cover generally interesting stuff, it shouldn’t be hard either way.</p>
<p>What MiqueMaus said.</p>
<p>Writing on an interesting topic uninhibitedly should me no problem for almost any length requirement.</p>
<p>I find the topics extremely interesting. I liked writing the paper, but I am concerned at this point at him nitpicking the papers and to what extent he may or may not. I have not taken many writing courses.</p>
<p>95%-98% of students get As in the course.</p>
<p>Do you really think 95%-98% of UCSD students (especially the ones electing to take a Magagna course) are this mindful of their writing? Haha.</p>
<p>You should get an A just for starting a thread on Magagna papers. Gunners gonna gun.</p>
<p>Why is it that he gives this many A’s? There are rumors flying around about him being attacked by a student before etc etc.</p>
<p>This not entirely related to the thread but is Magagna teaching a class next quarter?
Thanks in advanced</p>
<p>Yeah but you won’t get in. It’s totaly filled already.</p>
<p>lol. The student-attack rumor again? I’m under the impression that he was stabbed/assaulted by a homeless person at some point during his teaching career, and that a student had publicly complained about his grading policies while he had been at Berkeley. As expected, some enterprising student combined them into a single, far more interesting tale.</p>
<p>As for his classes being full, they take quite a few students off the waitlist, so if you’re in the first few dozen, I’d stick with it.</p>
<p>Fall - East Asian Comparative (Confucianism / Daoism)
Winter - Western European Political Thought
Spring - Politics of War</p>