Professor Waugh is knowledgeable ,and excellent as a lecturer. The class is very well organized, and I feel like I learned a lot about the Gilded Age. The workload is normal for a history class, but she is a tough grader. You'll have to put in extra work if you want the A.
There's an in class midterm, an essay based on a novel, and a take-home final consisting of a few short essays. For the essay, my advice would be to write it about My Antonia, and take careful notes during lectures about the settling of the west. Most students I talked to agreed that writing about Looking Backward was more difficult.

I'm not a history major and I took this class for upper-div GE. It's actually pretty enjoyable as far as history classes go. The grade is made up of one reading response, one midterm, and one take home final.

Lectures: Prof. Waugh is clearly passionate about the subject which makes her lectures pretty entertaining. She emphasizes on certain terms so it's really helpful to attend lectures.

Readings: She posts essays and articles- there are several for each lecture but definitely not as overwhelming as writing II classes. They're mostly supplemental; I just skimmed the ones that seemed relevant to my essays and the midterm.

Midterm: She gives us a list of terms to choose from and we define them. To get full credit, you should fill up at least one and a half side of a page. The terms are pretty broad so there's a lot you can say about them, and you get the definitions mostly from lectures (she doesn't have slides). But since it's history terms, you can always do some online research on your own.

Reading response: Five-page paper. There are two books to choose from. I read Looking Backwards and though I found it kind of ridiculous, it was an interesting read. There isn't really any guidelines on what to write about in the essays (i.e. how much class material we should incorporate) but as long as you have a strong and supported thesis, you should be able to do well. She's also willing to go over your draft with you and provide feedback.

Take home final: We didn't know what this entailed so I couldn't really prepare for it. We got the prompt during tenth week and had about a week to complete it. It's two parts, 6 pages for two short questions about topics covered in the later half of the course and 4 pages (if I remember correctly) for a reading response to The Devil in the White City. There are two prompts (more specific this time) to choose from and I had a lot of fun with mine.
The Devil in the White City was an entertaining read but I wish she told us what it was for earlier in the course. It was listed as required reading but I don't think its purpose was ever brought up during lecture. It would be easier to gather quotes if we had the prompts while reading.

Overall, the class was a good overview of the Gilded Age, and I can't think of anything that I'd change for the materials covered (maybe going into greater depth on certain topics, but I guess that's for more a specialized course). I would have preferred more structure and instructions. If you want to a general introduction to the social, cultural, and economic issues of the Gilded Age, this is the class for you.

This class is a serious time commitment as previously mentioned. I've taken a class with her before, and she is a nice woman herself who makes herself available to students for office hours, etc. However, she is a super hard grader. No matter how many times you go into the history writing center or get your paper looked over, it's near impossible to get an A on an essay. She did a in-class midterm and then a take home final which was nice and straightforward, but who gives the prompts to the final essays 4 days before its due??? Also lectures made me fall asleep every class. Nice woman, but not so good professor.

Be careful when taking this class! Your If you don't go to lecture, you won't be able to pass. If you don't read you won't be able to pass. This class is a serious time commitment.

Professor Waugh is my favorite professor thus far into my college career. She a very entertaining and passionate lecturer. When I took the course, it consisted of an in-class midterm, a Final Paper and a Book Report based on a novel from the class. All of the assignments are straight forward and she is a fair grader. As long as you attend lectures and do most of the readings, you should earn a solid grade. She is always available to answer questions via office hours, e-mail, or the class discussion board. She is overall one of the best professors I have had in the History Department.

139B

Excellent professor. She makes the gilded age an exciting time period to study. Always finishes lectures right on time. Highly recommend!