Professor
Hannah Landecker
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2023 - Very reading heavy. If you don't usually do the readings for a class, then this isn't for you because the entire course is designed around the readings, with the midterms being "Reading Exams". That being said, this makes the class pretty manageable because as long as you do the readings, you should be successful. Lectures are helpful, but you don't need to attend them if you understand the readings well enough. There are "small writing assignments" that are 2-page essays, but they ask you to interact with a reading so as long as you do the readings, these should be easy and some of them are actually kind of fun, so if you're scared of writing essays this isn't bad at all.
Winter 2023 - Very reading heavy. If you don't usually do the readings for a class, then this isn't for you because the entire course is designed around the readings, with the midterms being "Reading Exams". That being said, this makes the class pretty manageable because as long as you do the readings, you should be successful. Lectures are helpful, but you don't need to attend them if you understand the readings well enough. There are "small writing assignments" that are 2-page essays, but they ask you to interact with a reading so as long as you do the readings, these should be easy and some of them are actually kind of fun, so if you're scared of writing essays this isn't bad at all.
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Most Helpful Review
Dr. Landecker is awesome. Luckily, this was one of the smaller classes. I was extremely nervous about taking this course because of the natural/biological science content. Im a soc major - I know NOTHING about biology or technical, scientific stuff and this course initially scared me. I actually expected to drop the class on the first day (I was THAT intimidated), but I'm SO GLAD I hung in there! Before taking her class, I would have been just fine going through my life not knowing what a genome is or does. Landecker really changed that. She doesnt expect you to have in-depth knowledge about science and she makes that very clear. The readings are long - some are difficult, but many are actually very interesting. She gives really good prompts for papers and makes them fun to do. I actually enjoyed the research I did for 2 of the papers - learned alot. She's a fair grader. Reasonable amount of assignments. She's strict on attendance, students browsing the internet during her lecture, and insists EVERYONE participate. She will randomly call on people and ask questions about the readings, etc, so you HAVE to do the readings, or you'll look like a dope. But like I said, the readings are interesting. If you're a soc major, I definately recommend taking her class - very informative, unlike any soc course I've taken. She's a great asset to UCLA - the woman knows her stuff and designs a great curriculum. Overall, it wasnt exactly the easiest class, but it wasnt the most difficult either. It will force you to really think about some things you may not have really thought about. Lastly, be NICE to her -aside from her taking a great interest in her students, she really is a nice person.
Dr. Landecker is awesome. Luckily, this was one of the smaller classes. I was extremely nervous about taking this course because of the natural/biological science content. Im a soc major - I know NOTHING about biology or technical, scientific stuff and this course initially scared me. I actually expected to drop the class on the first day (I was THAT intimidated), but I'm SO GLAD I hung in there! Before taking her class, I would have been just fine going through my life not knowing what a genome is or does. Landecker really changed that. She doesnt expect you to have in-depth knowledge about science and she makes that very clear. The readings are long - some are difficult, but many are actually very interesting. She gives really good prompts for papers and makes them fun to do. I actually enjoyed the research I did for 2 of the papers - learned alot. She's a fair grader. Reasonable amount of assignments. She's strict on attendance, students browsing the internet during her lecture, and insists EVERYONE participate. She will randomly call on people and ask questions about the readings, etc, so you HAVE to do the readings, or you'll look like a dope. But like I said, the readings are interesting. If you're a soc major, I definately recommend taking her class - very informative, unlike any soc course I've taken. She's a great asset to UCLA - the woman knows her stuff and designs a great curriculum. Overall, it wasnt exactly the easiest class, but it wasnt the most difficult either. It will force you to really think about some things you may not have really thought about. Lastly, be NICE to her -aside from her taking a great interest in her students, she really is a nice person.