One of the best professors I've had at UCSB. Has a little bit of an ego, but if you don't take him too seriously it shouldn't affect your experience. Demands a lot, but values students who work hard.

Norris is brilliant, assigns awesome readings, and is a very witty lecturer. But he demands A LOT from his students. Tons of critical reading. If you don't spend the necessary time on readings you will get a horrible grade. He demands precision and high level writing. Also, lots of cocaine references in lecture.

Norris isn't that bad, but he assigns a ton of really dry reading and isn't that helpful in his explanations. paper questions were boring and final was really big. TA Jasmine Yarish sucked. worst TA of my life, avoid at all costs.

Ok prof, tries to make class interesting but he isn't a great lecturer. Above avg amt of reading, required to get a good grade in class. 3 essays and a final. He eliminated the quizzes, which helped. TAs are tough graders, and the essay topics are vague. Just try to get through this class bc its required for PS majors, it isn't the best.

Professor Norris's class is interesting. He is very smart and knows the course material very well. I enjoyed his lectures very much (attendance is not mandatory since he posts the notes on gauchospace). Although I think the class is interesting but it is very difficult and challenging to get good grades. TAs are demanding on paper assignments.

Prof Norris was a good professor. The problem was that the material was so horrible. He tried his best to clarify the readings but it was nearly impossible. Unless you have to or like philosophy, DON'T take this class. There is so much reading and it is all extremely difficult to understand. Your grade is based ENTIRELY on 3 papers and no MC final.

This is a course about pol phil with like 700 students and so much material your head will hurt. Because there are so many ppl there is non one on one. Even with the TA you won't have enough time to cover and actually understand even half the material. We had 3 papers and a final. In summation, DO NOT take this professor. Teaching not forte.

Very judgemental. Seems passionate about the subject, but heavily opinionated. Not particularly kind. Is not here to help the students, not by a long shot.

Norris is a very intelligent man...and knows it. Likes to talk down and openly insult the students who actually attend lecture. Reading is interesting, but the quizzes were excessive and ridiculous. Jason P is the best TA in the dept, try to get him if you can.

Norris was a very difficult professor, especially for an undergrad poly sci class. Unless you are thoroughly interested in the subject i would not take this class. there is tons of reading that must be done because of pop quizzes. Overall, i really enjoyed it. 3 papers, which are graded extremely tough. The final was part paper and part in class.

50 percent of your grade is quizzes and the final which is a 5 page paper outside class and a very broad vague in class final. Discussion is only worth 10 percent of your grade. So by the last day of class you only have 40 percent of your grade accounted for so you can literally go from an A to an F in a blink of an eye. Horrible class overall.

Norris if you ever read this Ill give you one tip. Your class would actually be interesting and worth while if you didnt make quizzes worth 20 percent of your grade. Maybe 5 percent max, and 20-25 percent for discussion. Your class is a joke having pop quizzes every week and making them worth way to much. Stop being a sarcastic jerk please.

this class is hard, quizzes worth 20% of your grade every week so you cant miss lecture. 3 papers due, no midterm but a in class and take home final(take home final is a paper)Brian is not the greatest TA he has puts no effort in section. Basically if you dont need the class dont take it!

Very enthusiastic about the subject, and has a pretty sarcastic but amusing sense of humor that keeps the class entertaining. We read Plato and Mill, which are tough to get through, but he does a good job of clarifying it in lecture. Weekly quizzes that are worth way too much, but no midterm. 3 papers. He's not as bad as everyone says, seriously.

To make it short and quick Norris is a tyrant. He force feeds the class quizzes and claims they are simple if you do the reading, strange that I have never had any complains with a class at UCSB until I ended up in this one. Norris is just a bad teacher plain and simple, he finds the hardest T.As to grade your papers to. Dont take him.

Norris is great! His humor is dry but i found it entertaining. The only time he calls people out is when youre doing something stupid like sleeping in the front row. Frequent quizes (so go to lecture!!) but as long as you do the readings youre fine. wasnt terribly interested in the subject but norris made it interesting!

His lectures can be at times, interesting, but usually they are monotonous. There are weekly pop quizzes. Oh, and he is really rude in person. Both my friend and I had a bad experience with him during his office hours. He actually YELLED at my friend for not knocking. Oh, and he humiliates people, reading some papers aloud in class.

To make it short, we had an essay due the other day, the second after we get to class and he talks about turning them in to our T.A's I quote him "Get out a peace of paper, Quiz Time! Oh I bet you all hate me, you knew it was coming, I love my job". What jerk gives a pop quiz the day an essay is due and our minds are fried. This prick of course.