Professor
Sebouh Aslanian
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Most Helpful Review
While Prof Alsatian was definitely knowledgable about the course, it was so disorganized that it was overall a hugely negative experience. The midterm and final were both papers derived entirely from the texts, and the map quiz was incredibly easy. I got an A- with minimal effort. The TAs absolutely make your grade though, so pick wisely and attend discussion sections, because they will offer really helpful advice for the direction the papers should take.
While Prof Alsatian was definitely knowledgable about the course, it was so disorganized that it was overall a hugely negative experience. The midterm and final were both papers derived entirely from the texts, and the map quiz was incredibly easy. I got an A- with minimal effort. The TAs absolutely make your grade though, so pick wisely and attend discussion sections, because they will offer really helpful advice for the direction the papers should take.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2016 - Your success in this class depends on doing the readings as they are assigned and not leaving them to the last minute. Your grade is based on one take-home midterm, consisting of two essays, a take-home final, which is also in the form of two essays, and two quizzes. The professor's lectures are a bit unorganized, so I would recommend typing your notes. He is pretty picky when it comes to grading, but he's really approachable and encourages students to come to him for help on the assignments. He basically tells you exactly how you should write your papers to get the best grade possible.
Winter 2016 - Your success in this class depends on doing the readings as they are assigned and not leaving them to the last minute. Your grade is based on one take-home midterm, consisting of two essays, a take-home final, which is also in the form of two essays, and two quizzes. The professor's lectures are a bit unorganized, so I would recommend typing your notes. He is pretty picky when it comes to grading, but he's really approachable and encourages students to come to him for help on the assignments. He basically tells you exactly how you should write your papers to get the best grade possible.
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Winter 2020 - Okay the simple thing is that you possibly can not know what grade you are going to get. He grades completely unfairly. He makes no comments whats so ever on essays, rather makes grammar corrections, then gives you a B/B- (WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN) Okay so lets begin First you have a ID, Map Quiz (the ID's are not hard as long as you put the correct information and memorize the info) The Map on the other hand makes no sence. He gives you locations, send you home and says google them. Literally the places he gives overlap one another so it makes absolutely zero sense... Anyways I got an A+ on the ID portion and a B on the map, combined I received an A for the exam (this is in week 4) Then you have your first essay (4 pages, you CAN NOT pass 5). He cares more for grammar than content. Your introduction paragraph make or breaks you. Literally take it for him to read because if he dosent like you intro then you will get a B on the essay. INTRO IS MORE IMPORTANT THEN THE ENTIRE ESSAY. In addition, make sure you make your intro exactly I repeat exactly like the example he gives. He says you can write it differently, even approves it during office hours, then claims you did not do it exactly as he wanted. Final is the same. Pay attention to page numeration, citations, sentence structures. Advice from me is read up to week 4 as it is essential to for the ID exam, you can stop after. The essays he covers in lecture, you can just go back and incorporate in your essay. Anyways, I got an A but this guy gave me ANXIETY. I really don't recommend since he is highly unorganized and dosent really seam to care much (even though he says he does). I learned things I didn't know before, it was interesting I am not going to lie, but the stress was not worth it.
Winter 2020 - Okay the simple thing is that you possibly can not know what grade you are going to get. He grades completely unfairly. He makes no comments whats so ever on essays, rather makes grammar corrections, then gives you a B/B- (WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN) Okay so lets begin First you have a ID, Map Quiz (the ID's are not hard as long as you put the correct information and memorize the info) The Map on the other hand makes no sence. He gives you locations, send you home and says google them. Literally the places he gives overlap one another so it makes absolutely zero sense... Anyways I got an A+ on the ID portion and a B on the map, combined I received an A for the exam (this is in week 4) Then you have your first essay (4 pages, you CAN NOT pass 5). He cares more for grammar than content. Your introduction paragraph make or breaks you. Literally take it for him to read because if he dosent like you intro then you will get a B on the essay. INTRO IS MORE IMPORTANT THEN THE ENTIRE ESSAY. In addition, make sure you make your intro exactly I repeat exactly like the example he gives. He says you can write it differently, even approves it during office hours, then claims you did not do it exactly as he wanted. Final is the same. Pay attention to page numeration, citations, sentence structures. Advice from me is read up to week 4 as it is essential to for the ID exam, you can stop after. The essays he covers in lecture, you can just go back and incorporate in your essay. Anyways, I got an A but this guy gave me ANXIETY. I really don't recommend since he is highly unorganized and dosent really seam to care much (even though he says he does). I learned things I didn't know before, it was interesting I am not going to lie, but the stress was not worth it.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2016 - Honestly the fact that I got a B+ was totally on me, my head just was not in this quarter. That being said, getting an A in Aslanians class is completely possible. The map quiz is easy, but do at least half the readings bc the midterm and final are based off of the readings. He grades easy on the quiz and harder on the midterm and final which consist of two essay questions...take home. He tells some funny stories here and there so he's a really likeable person but he knows his stuff very well so he goes fast and it's easy to get lost while taking notes. The best thing you can do is go see him during office hours especially when in regards to your midterm and final.
Spring 2016 - Honestly the fact that I got a B+ was totally on me, my head just was not in this quarter. That being said, getting an A in Aslanians class is completely possible. The map quiz is easy, but do at least half the readings bc the midterm and final are based off of the readings. He grades easy on the quiz and harder on the midterm and final which consist of two essay questions...take home. He tells some funny stories here and there so he's a really likeable person but he knows his stuff very well so he goes fast and it's easy to get lost while taking notes. The best thing you can do is go see him during office hours especially when in regards to your midterm and final.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - Aslanian is incredibly knowledgeable about Armenian history. You can tell he's a brilliant man who's read widely and deeply. I learned quite a bit. Ethnic Armenians may find it more interesting, but if you come to the class with an open mind your background doesn't matter, a fact he stresses. He's not particularly hard, especially if you are a good writer. I STRESS that you communicate with him throughout!! The class consisted of 10% for attendance and participation (make sure to raise your hand, he likes that stuff), 30% for the in-class ID/map exam which happened W4 Thursday, 25% for the take-home midterm (two 3-4 page essays), and 35% for the take-home final (two 3-4 page essays). The midterm/final are submitted on Turnitin, no hard copies. He gives you a study guide beforehand for the ID/map exam. I had 15 locations given and had to locate 10 of those on a map. I also had 12 terms to study, 8 of which were on the exam. There was 8% extra credit on this exam if you got everything I believe. The midterm/final were given a week or two in advance. Both had several straightforward prompts to choose from. For each "exam," you pick two prompts and write 3-4 page essays for each one, 6-8 pages total. Honestly, he has answered these prompts already in his lectures in his class if you paid attention. His essays do not take a terrible amount of creativity. You just have to make sure you synthesize all the sources that are relevant to the prompt in a way that makes sense. Your thesis should make sense. Don't include any cliches or flowery language - just be straightforward and answer the prompt, he hates filler. He assigns like 100-200 pages of reading every week. I didn't do any of them until the midterms/finals were assigned and I turned out fine. Honestly, it'd be helpful to skim them week to week so you don't get overwhelmed come essay time. You can't completely BS the sources, as he's fully familiar with them and several of them are his or his wife's own writings. The man is chill, but take him seriously. ALL THE READINGS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE FOR FREE ONE WAY OR ANOTHER! He provides like half of them, the others you can find with some smart Googling. You do not need to purchase anything. A strong command of the English language, citing every relevant source, and paying attention/participating in class should get you far. He responds to emails relatively quickly and will even look at your introduction/thesis for you if you email it to him. I highly recommend communicating with him so you don't do something stupid on the essays. He's a pretty chill guy. He acts like he's harder than he is, I think, but the work is straightforward enough. Occasionally, his lectures can get a bit dry and off track. He'll spend too long on a point that isn't too pertinent. Not a big deal though. He has some funny anecdotes.
Winter 2019 - Aslanian is incredibly knowledgeable about Armenian history. You can tell he's a brilliant man who's read widely and deeply. I learned quite a bit. Ethnic Armenians may find it more interesting, but if you come to the class with an open mind your background doesn't matter, a fact he stresses. He's not particularly hard, especially if you are a good writer. I STRESS that you communicate with him throughout!! The class consisted of 10% for attendance and participation (make sure to raise your hand, he likes that stuff), 30% for the in-class ID/map exam which happened W4 Thursday, 25% for the take-home midterm (two 3-4 page essays), and 35% for the take-home final (two 3-4 page essays). The midterm/final are submitted on Turnitin, no hard copies. He gives you a study guide beforehand for the ID/map exam. I had 15 locations given and had to locate 10 of those on a map. I also had 12 terms to study, 8 of which were on the exam. There was 8% extra credit on this exam if you got everything I believe. The midterm/final were given a week or two in advance. Both had several straightforward prompts to choose from. For each "exam," you pick two prompts and write 3-4 page essays for each one, 6-8 pages total. Honestly, he has answered these prompts already in his lectures in his class if you paid attention. His essays do not take a terrible amount of creativity. You just have to make sure you synthesize all the sources that are relevant to the prompt in a way that makes sense. Your thesis should make sense. Don't include any cliches or flowery language - just be straightforward and answer the prompt, he hates filler. He assigns like 100-200 pages of reading every week. I didn't do any of them until the midterms/finals were assigned and I turned out fine. Honestly, it'd be helpful to skim them week to week so you don't get overwhelmed come essay time. You can't completely BS the sources, as he's fully familiar with them and several of them are his or his wife's own writings. The man is chill, but take him seriously. ALL THE READINGS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE FOR FREE ONE WAY OR ANOTHER! He provides like half of them, the others you can find with some smart Googling. You do not need to purchase anything. A strong command of the English language, citing every relevant source, and paying attention/participating in class should get you far. He responds to emails relatively quickly and will even look at your introduction/thesis for you if you email it to him. I highly recommend communicating with him so you don't do something stupid on the essays. He's a pretty chill guy. He acts like he's harder than he is, I think, but the work is straightforward enough. Occasionally, his lectures can get a bit dry and off track. He'll spend too long on a point that isn't too pertinent. Not a big deal though. He has some funny anecdotes.
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