I feel somewhat catfished by this class. I was drawn in by the fact that it supposedly would be an analysis of rhetoric as used in modern-day popular culture. What became extremely evident within a few weeks, though, was that it was just a soapbox for the professor to extol her own pedantry to a captive audience. Let me make myself clear: There was no popular culture involved in this class. This is a class on obscure rhetorical theories posited by individuals the professor will make seem important, but really aren't. You will spend your time wondering when she will get to the point. Spoiler: There is no point. The tests are impossible, as she chooses to use a multiple-choice format for extremely subjective and nuanced material that is much better suited for short answer and essay questions. The essay prompts will require that you reread them multiple times just to be able to decipher the crazy language with which they are written. This class had me questioning my own ability to comprehend English and grasp concepts. Let it be known that this is the class that dragged down my GPA, as well. Please don't take this class that is sheer nonsense masquerading as academia.

This class was okay. I assumed it was going to be more about popular culture, but was heavily focused on all things rhetoric. You learn a lot about theories and the people behind the theories. There are 2 papers, a midterm, final, and a group paper. Kicenski is very knowledgeable and a good lecturer (she also provides slides which is nice) but the class was overall pretty difficult. I thought the final was wayyy easier than the midterm but I may have just prepared better knowing how she structures her tests since she has a very specific way she likes things (this goes for her papers too).

I thought this class was amazing. One of the best I took at UCLA. Don’t let any of the negative or neutral reviews scare you. This Professor is very helpful and has office hours. There are two exams, two papers (short), and one group project. If you have any questions she doesn’t go over in class she is more than happy to assist you and wants you to do well!
Take amazing notes, all will be on the test. No podcast, but allowed students to record audio to use as a study tool. The slides are extremely helpful. This class as fair, do the readings (they are short ), show up to each class, take great notes, review the notes and slides regularly. If you set aside a couple of hours each week to do this you should do fine imo, but do to the nature of the material I’d try to review them everyday until they’re familiar. The papers are based on following the prompt using information from material and your own thoughts. Our papers were only 2 pages long double spaced. For the group project it seemed most did a 5 page paper, but there are other options available. Overall great class and engaging lectures. The content was really really interesting. For anyone saying the course title of this class is misleading clearly misunderstood the definition of rhetoric. This class literally studies rhetoric of pop culture. Only a small portion, about 10% is theory, but that theory is what you will use to study the rhetoric of pop culture. This class will teach you to become a critical thinker, think analytically, critique, and avoid being brainwashed by consumer marketing and the media. If you already have these skills it’ll sharpen it and increase your comprehension. Great class, take it. If I would’ve taken my own advice for the the midterm I probably would’ve gotten an A instead of an minus A- . Make sure you give a strong midterm and you should have a smooth time in the class. There will be no surprises on the midterm or final. Just make sure you’re ready. This is the only review you’ll need.

This was one of my favorite classes I've taken at UCLA and Kicenski has been one of my favorite professors. A the other reviews say, this class is more focused on rhetorical analysis than what one might think of a pop culture course. I personally loved literary analysis is high school, and enjoyed it in this course as well. The course reader readings were all very short (3-5 pages each) and very doable. She also reviewed all the important concepts in lecture. Her lectures are super engaging, and she provided so many external examples from YouTube, real life, etc. She also was super helpful whenever anyone was confused about a topic or concept. The midterm was easy, it involved a rhetorical analysis of a newspaper article. The final was multiple choice, T/F. Both were open book and straightforward. Other assignments were two short memos relating to the course content, which took me about an hour each, and a short partner essay. I really enjoyed her class, even though I never attended it live. I would absolutely recommend this course or any other course taught by Kicenski!

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This class is honestly not what I thought it was going to be about. I would say it's more like 70% about rhetoric and 30% about pop culture. Though I learned a lot about rhetoric, I was more interested in analyzing pop culture and there was little opportunity to do that. The papers had some relation to pop culture, but she did not give feedback so it was difficult to see how I was doing throughout the course. Prof Kicenski was very kind and tried to be accommodating because of COVID. However, I felt that the exams were difficult and unnecessarily tricky. Overall, I would take a class again with this professor but would not take this class again. The title is misleading.

There's two essays, two exams including the final, and one group project. The final exam was way harder than I expected and it asked highly specific questions, including you having to finish particular quotes from the many readings. For the group project, we had to find a partner by ourselves even though this entire quarter was online, which was weird and a lot of people had trouble with. Overall, this class never felt super difficult (re: workload) but I kept getting lower grades than I ever do and she would never explain why essays were marked down. I would not take this class or professor again, although she seems nice.

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This class was an amazing break from my science classes. The material is very interesting and extremely easy. The exams are easy and fair. The essays and project did not take up a lot of time and were very easy to understand. Overall it is a great class to take if you're a science major because it relieves your mind from all of the other classes you have. Plus the professor is a sweetheart.

Professor Kicenski is one of the most caring professors I've had at UCLA. It is obvious that she really cares about student learning and told us several times that when she's at home she thinks about what she can do to make class better for her students. I always felt welcome in asking questions and seeking help outside of class. She had an effective lecture style (engaging, and she always asked us to discuss things with someone sitting next to us) and always used examples from her personal life that made theoretical course material easier to understand.

Graded material in the class involved 2 two-page essays, a 5-6 page group paper and presentation, 2 two-page reflection papers after the presentations, a multiple choice/true-false midterm, and a similar final. It was a decent amount of work but not overwhelming. For the short essays, we were asked to take a quote from a specified reading material and respond to it. I found this prompt pretty vague and the grading pretty subjective, but I don't think Kicenski grades too harshly overall. For the group paper we had to analyze a piece of pop culture, which sounds difficult but is much easier once you'd heard the lecture material. It actually aided my learning. The reflection papers are pretty much graded for completion. I think the in-class examinations were really easy and required minimal studying.

One issue I had with the class and Kicenski is that the quarter wasn't laid out very clearly ahead of time; due dates were uncertain and kept changing.
Another issue I have with the class is that Kicenski mentioned that the course has the words "pop culture" in its title just so that it entices more people to take the course. It is not as glamorous or interesting as you'd think from the title. This class is really theoretical and most of the material you learn is about different philosophers' ideas of what rhetoric means. The course description of the class gives a good idea of what it entails. That being said, I still enjoyed the class because Kicenski made it as interesting as possible.