PUBPOL-704

MASTER'S PROJECT PREPARATION

Offered Fall 2026

PPS · Taught by Mirovitskaya, Natalia · Last offered Fall 2025

Overview

Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that students say they actually learn something useful. Best for students who want substance, not a disposable elective.

DepartmentPPS

Terms offeredFall

Typical enrollment18–24

Semesters of data3

4.3

Hrs / week

Responses

Enrollment

63%

Response Rate

Evaluation Scores

Overall quality

Teaching, content, and experience combined.

4.1

12345

Intellectually stimulating

Challenges students to think deeply.

4.1

12345

Instructor effectiveness

Explains concepts and facilitates learning.

4.4

12345

Difficulty

Higher means harder.

2.5

12345

Feedback Analysis

Feedback Analysishigh

Analysis based on student evaluations

Based on 88 comments across 3 sections

Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that students say they actually learn something useful. Best for students who want substance, not a disposable elective.

Student Reports

How hard is the A?

A is doable but not automatic

The signal here is more do-the-work-and-you-should-be-fine than easy-A chatter. Students do not describe the A as automatic, but the evidence also does not paint grading as punishing.

Homework Load

Moderate homework load

Homework load looks moderate. The recurring signal is steady weekly work, but not a course that turns every assignment into a grind.

Lecture Load

Regular lecture load

Lectures matter here, but the evidence points to a fairly standard lecture burden rather than a course dominated by long or exceptionally dense lectures.

Strengths

• Students repeatedly say the course teaches something concrete, whether that is content mastery, research skill, or a strong foundation.

Tradeoffs

• There is no single dominant complaint theme, but the feedback is not uniformly glowing either.

Best fit for

Best for students who want substance, not a disposable elective.

Watch out for

• A large share of the evidence comes from one instructor's version of the course, so this may not generalize cleanly.

Student Responses

Time Management and Project Planning; Research Design and Methodology ; Critical Literature Review Skills.