Professor
Richard Lesure
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - My first GE and in my opinion a very easy one. There are definitely quite a lot of readings, but for most, you only have to read the parts that the study questions refer to as only these will show up on the exam. You can pretty much ignore the rest of the readings which reduces the amount significantly and makes the workload very manageable. You also have to do 3 papers, but they'll drop the one with the lowest grade, so if you received an A or whatever grade you're happy with on the first two, you can ignore the third. The prompts were a little open ended, but this also made it quite easy to come up with stuff to write. The professor mostly explains material clearly in lectures, but there are times where he would rush at the end of lecture due to running out of time. Overall, the professor is very helpful and provides a study guide for each midterm and final. Nothing that isn't on the study guide will show up on the exams, so you only need to study the topics listed on the study guide. On all the exams, there were more questions than needed to get 100%, meaning the rest is extra credit, giving you some room for error. As a STEM student who typically hates history and the likes, I found this class to be quite interesting and easy. Grading is the standard UCLA grading scheme without A+.
Fall 2025 - My first GE and in my opinion a very easy one. There are definitely quite a lot of readings, but for most, you only have to read the parts that the study questions refer to as only these will show up on the exam. You can pretty much ignore the rest of the readings which reduces the amount significantly and makes the workload very manageable. You also have to do 3 papers, but they'll drop the one with the lowest grade, so if you received an A or whatever grade you're happy with on the first two, you can ignore the third. The prompts were a little open ended, but this also made it quite easy to come up with stuff to write. The professor mostly explains material clearly in lectures, but there are times where he would rush at the end of lecture due to running out of time. Overall, the professor is very helpful and provides a study guide for each midterm and final. Nothing that isn't on the study guide will show up on the exams, so you only need to study the topics listed on the study guide. On all the exams, there were more questions than needed to get 100%, meaning the rest is extra credit, giving you some room for error. As a STEM student who typically hates history and the likes, I found this class to be quite interesting and easy. Grading is the standard UCLA grading scheme without A+.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - Professor Lesure is an amazing professor and I would 100% take him again. Our grading is based on attendance (he takes attendance often but always takes attendance on discussion days), two papers which are our midterm and final paper which are each worth 35% and total 70% of our grade and they are five pages long and he allows you to choose one question out of two or three to answer in your paper, a quiz online which is literally based off of how he wants your citations to look, and 5 reading responses to the readings we have assigned and you just do a short answer and choose two questions to respond to out of about 12 questions which are each worth 3% but the top four contribute 12% towards your grade. If you do the work and take notes during lecture especially discussion days, no doubt you will get an A. I would take him every quarter if I could!
Winter 2025 - Professor Lesure is an amazing professor and I would 100% take him again. Our grading is based on attendance (he takes attendance often but always takes attendance on discussion days), two papers which are our midterm and final paper which are each worth 35% and total 70% of our grade and they are five pages long and he allows you to choose one question out of two or three to answer in your paper, a quiz online which is literally based off of how he wants your citations to look, and 5 reading responses to the readings we have assigned and you just do a short answer and choose two questions to respond to out of about 12 questions which are each worth 3% but the top four contribute 12% towards your grade. If you do the work and take notes during lecture especially discussion days, no doubt you will get an A. I would take him every quarter if I could!
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Most Helpful Review
if you are not an antro major it can get somewhat boring (Some Archaeology). grading is based on participation and three out of four (5 pg) papers. papers are all based on articles from your reader. the class only requires one reader and the readings are not too long. Athough his lectures help you to understand the readings, you cannot depend on the lectures for your papers. overall the class is interesting and not too dificult. if you are looking for a class with out too much stress, this is the class for you. oh yea, i almost forgot, he also stresses on plagiarism, he sometimes dedicates an entire session to it.
if you are not an antro major it can get somewhat boring (Some Archaeology). grading is based on participation and three out of four (5 pg) papers. papers are all based on articles from your reader. the class only requires one reader and the readings are not too long. Athough his lectures help you to understand the readings, you cannot depend on the lectures for your papers. overall the class is interesting and not too dificult. if you are looking for a class with out too much stress, this is the class for you. oh yea, i almost forgot, he also stresses on plagiarism, he sometimes dedicates an entire session to it.
Most Helpful Review
I have to disagree with the reviewers here. I had a great seminar style (15 people max) class with him and was constantly impressed by his knowledge. He has a great sense of humor and keeps things interesting. Although, not an all-time fav, dont be scared away from a great professor.
I have to disagree with the reviewers here. I had a great seminar style (15 people max) class with him and was constantly impressed by his knowledge. He has a great sense of humor and keeps things interesting. Although, not an all-time fav, dont be scared away from a great professor.
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