One of the worst professors I have ever had at UCLA. He has a very arrogant take and approach on topics that are supposed to be “ambiguous.” He graded harshly and didn’t teach the materials at the level he graded at. Never take him if you have a choice, good luck!

I just want to preface this by saying that to be quite honest, I am usually the type of student that does the bare minimum to get an A and does everything last minute.

Dr. Trojan is a great professor. There are definitely ways to finesse not doing all of the readings for this class, but his lectures really made me think deeply and question and strengthen my own political beliefs by the end(which really took me by surprise, as I am not someone who tends to be that interested in American Politics). He does go on weird weird little tangents but honestly in the most charming way. He facilitates great discussions, and if you make yourself go to the unrequired live lectures the first few weeks, you'll find yourself wanting to go and participate. Take this class. It'll make you think.

I honestly dont think I learned much in this class. readings are overwhelming and very fast paced. pop quizzes probably once a week that are 30% of your grade. and are honestly what hurt my grade. The questions are pretty detailed and pretty stingy with points. He's a passionate and nice guy but lectures are a waste of time and the only reason anyone goes is because of quizzes.

General Comments
There are a lot of reading each week, but you are supposed to skim them instead of reading them in depth. You also need to keep track of the assignment deadlines as there are several due each week.
Here is the class breakdown from when I took it:
Perusall Annotations (15%)
You need to write seven annotations on each reading on Perusall. You don't really need to think about writing them, but they each have to be spaced out through the reading and a certain length. These are due at every class meeting.
Interventions (20%)
There are two of them. They are basically mini essays. Aim for about four or five pages. He wants you to write a persuasive argument about the text by analyzing its contradictions.
Commonplace Book (10%)
There are ten of these. You have to draw a picture for the readings of the week.
Peer Review (10%)
This is a short essay about someone else's paper. He gives a template for it and should be about one to two pages long.
Term Paper (45%)
This is worth almost the entirely of the grade. I got an A on almost every assignment throughout the quarter and received a B+ because of a low grade on the term paper. I recommend going to office hours to make sure your argument conforms to his standards. For secondary sources, make sure to bring down people that disagree with your claim in order for you strengthen your argument based on them. While length matters, it is not at all sufficient to get a good grade. Aim for about 13-15 pages.
Final thoughts:
I was shocked by my final grade in the class. I thought that I was doing well throughout the quarter, but my grade ended up plummeting due to term paper at the end.

Do not take this class if you’re uninterested in political theory. The content was difficult to understand and Dr Trojan spent at least half the class allowing students to do his job for him in explaining what the readings are about. He would give pop quizzes (closed note) on random days that could not be made up so even if you attended most classes, missing one day could ruin your grade. The readings for each class were at least 75 pages long along with an essay every two weeks not including an 8 page final paper. I ended up having an 89.6% in the class and tried to ask Dr Trojan to round and he refused without any explanation as to why. Wouldn’t recommend in the slightest.

Whatever you do, don’t take a class with this guy. He is the worst professor I have ever had at ucla. If you’re not one of his “chosen” students that he only calls on during class, he will not like you. His lecture style is confused, unclear, and disorganized so don’t expect to understand anything that he teaches. He’s an insane grader and the assignments are impossible given that you will not understand a thing in this class. Please save yourself

Horrible professor. Not clear. Not helpful. Would not take again.

I'd like to preface my review by urging everybody to take the other student's reviews of Dr. Trojan with a grain of salt.
Dr. Trojan is an extremely knowledgeable professor who goes out of his way to both help and challenge his students to do well and learn something new. These intentional challenges come in the form of identifying students' preconceived notions of text and concepts that most don't even realize they carry with them. Dr. Trojan has a very lively, happy, upbeat personality that carries with it a contagious aura of happiness and an excitement for attending class. Dr. T takes a more modern approach to lecture and allows for constant student engagement, discussion, and questions throughout lecture while he guides conversation in various directions, typically on the basis of the required readings. This method is effective for identifying key concepts and ideas that many students often miss or have a tough time understanding. Some students have pointed out his lecture style is terrible, but I'd rebuttal by stating that they more than likely are not attending lecture and are not engaging with the text/lecture itself. The workload of this class is quite heavy with a huge emphasis being placed on multiple weekly readings, which are provided free of charge, as well as annotations for the text being required. The majority of students' grades rely on two papers throughout the course and a large 10-15 page final paper. Participation is greatly encouraged, helpful, and will provide a better experience and platform for learning. Overall, the workload is tough, but if you manage your time well and put in the time and effort, you'll do well. Dr. Trojan is a great professor with so much to teach and give. It is obvious he loves his job and truly cares about his students' learning and doing well. I strongly encourage any poli sci student willing to stick through the heavy workload to give Dr. T a try at least once to experience something new and exciting with an extremely unique and likable individual.

Quizzes (30%)
Generally 4-point quizzes with two questions each throughout the quarter. I highly recommend doing the readings to be prepared for the quizzes because he will sometimes ask obscure details. However, he's very helpful by posting study guides for the readings that we will likely be quizzed on. If you want to do well on the quizzes, do all the study guides and you should be good. The quizzes also, sometimes, included questions from lecture. So definitely keep track of those. He's also very generous and drops your lowest quiz score.

Close Reading (10%)
He asked us to choose a quote or section from the text to analyze. It was a simple assignment and I think everyone got a 100 on it. It was only a 1-page paper.

Peer Review (10%)
When preparing your term paper, you will have it reviewed by one of your classmates. It was a simple one-page assignment.

Term Paper (50%)
According to the syllabus, a good paper is usually about 10-15 pages. I strongly recommend hitting that number of pages. Also, definitely talk to him during office hours for your paper. He was very kind and helped me outline my paper. My paper essentially contained three sections that each evaluated one of the author's arguments, a counterargument, and a summary that includes additional readings he recommends (but doesn't require for the class). He was super helpful during office hours and gave me an A for the paper.

Overall:
I really enjoyed the class. It was very engaging and he constantly encouraged debate. I would pay attention during his classes because he often presents opposing arguments/interpretations about the readings that you could use as inspiration for your term paper. Unfortunately, he doesn't record his lectures, so I strongly recommend going to them to succeed on your term paper. Overall, great class, great professor, and would definitely take again.

He does not upload his slides, tends to talk about the same thing extendedly. Boring but fairly easy class, participation matters for discussion because its part of you grade. we have weekly or biweekly "interventions" which are mini papers but the instructions given tend to be unclear. Trojan says one thing then the TA says a completely different thing. My TA was a pretty harsh grader