Great professor. One of my favorite history professors at UCLA (I've taken quite a few: Ruiz, Woods, Yeager, Gantner, et al.) Basically, her 139A class is: 35% paper, 35% final, and 30% midterm. Studying for the midterm was annoying: there were 50 terms to study and we were given 2 weeks to prepare with a study guide list. 10 terms would appear on the exam. You couldn't eliminate 5 terms per se since the exam was divided into 2 sections. As for the final, I disagree with the user below: she made it very clear that it would be an essays exam. And she made note that the exam would be based on the three questions involving the civil war, as posed during the first lecture. Truly, it was NOT surprising that the final essay was based on why the Union won the war and what were its effects on Reconstruction (for instance, she devoted a select number of lectures for the latter event).

In order to do well in 139A do the following:
1) Go to every lecture and make IDs as you go along. For example, the names of all the battles, names of individuals from the online readings, general concepts such as 'slavery' or 'anti-slavery', etc... in order to prepare for the midterm.
2) Frame arguments around the three questions posed at the beginning, in order to prepare your final. You WILL answer questions relating to the causes of the war, the reason why the war won, and the effects of reconstruction. I don't see why she would change this format in future classes...

Yes, you should the books. You can probably get away with skimming it but you will need them towards the end of the course for the study guide. For example, 1 week before the final exam, she gave us the guide with 11 questions. Two of the questions referred to the particular experiences of soldiers in one book and the other was based on the arguments of one author regarding the demographics involved as a result of the Sherman campaign.

While Dr. Waugh's lectures are quite good, she was very inconsistent in the instructions she gave us throughout the quarter. Before the midterm, she told us that we didn't need to worry about providing dates for ID questions, as long as we gave enough context. When we got our exams back, I was shocked to discover that on several questions I received a perfect or near perfect grade, except for the point which she took off for lacking a date. Also in preparation for the midterm she told us that all of her exams will be terms-based, including the final. A couple weeks before the final, we were surprised to discover that the final would be made up entirely of essays, without a single term. This all seemed fine, because she gave us a review sheet with 11 potential final questions, saying that the final would be divided up into 3 parts; in each part, we would choose to write an essay on one of two questions given. Of course, this means that everyone could choose one essay question not to study in depth. The day of the final, I was again surprised to discover that the third section of the final included only one essay question, which everyone in the class had to answer. In short, take her class, but take everything she says about the exams with a grain of salt.

Prof. Waugh is really unique and extraordinary individual. I can\355t believe to meet a professor being so passionate about the Civil War and truly interested in student learning and participation. She is always around and happy to answer the same question over emails with so many little details as if she were writing an essay. However, as much effort she dedicates to the students in class, she expects the adequate level of involvement from you. Therefore, if you thinking of snoring on the lectures and getting an \354A\356, it is not going to happen. If you are decided to take her class, be ready to \326
1. Attend every lecture and take good notes because the material grasped in class would be a very handy for quiz, midterm and final.
2. Review weekly readings on the website to get familiar with supporting material for your essays
3. Allocate plenty of time for take-home final
4. Read the book on weekly bases. Make marks of important facts as you read since it would be harder latter to locate them when you would finally need them.
Despite the fact that the final wiped my energy off, I am glad I had taken the class. Thank you, professor