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'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.

The best professor I have ever had in my three years at UCLA. Very knowledgeable with the subject, is very helpful in mastering the coursework, flexible and understanding, adds humor to the class, workload is perfect and assigned weekly, not overwhelming and reinforces the knowledge being learned that given week. Overall a great professor, would recommend to anyone looking for an awesome class/professor to have.

Dr. Trojan was extremely engaging during lectures, he was always dressed nicely (which made class feel a little more like class) and had a huge smile on his face ready to lecture. Every week, Tuesday's and Thursday's it was required that we submitted annotations on Perusall.com, they were due before class which was at 1230PM. It was a tedious task, a lot of reading which made the workload a little heavy. We would discuss the readings in class, Professor would typically ask questions and engage in the discussion with the students. We also had two mini essays, 4-6 paragraphs each due twice during the quarter which weren't too difficult, his instructions were clear and he gave great, meaningful feedback. I am taking another course with him since I did really well and also really enjoyed his class. Definitely recommend!

A horrible class definitely do not recommend taking! He just strays from the subjects and then the time flies by and its just frustrating plus he is a hard grader and does not allow tardy work

He just rambles on for ages and then doesn't actually explain anything relevant. He's a great guy but just isn't all there, so I changed to P/NP in the week 9, because term paper is 50% of grade!!!!