Absolute best guy ever.

Definitely aloof in understanding that students are busy. Very annoying because slides are not detailed and he obviously doesn't spend that much time on the class. That being said, the lectures are pretty chill... that being said, the midterm and final involve memorization of knowledge I deem unnecessary to memorize. God, the calamity...

Now that you have come to our excellent school, please take this excellent professor's class as a reward for yourself!

Chris is a great professor if you are looking at Writing courses! His assignments were really helpful for us to understand genre and the essence of writing. His grading is labor base, so as long as you do the work, he will give you the points.

The course material is boring and out-dated, the professor is old school. There is an overwhelming focus of anything that's not literature, which is funny because I took 101 & 103 and those courses bothered to actually talk about literature analysis. Not a bad guy but the reading material is r***st and s***st, and he spent time justifying them.

There r 2 essays and the 2 tests aren't hard if you do the reading. However it is very obvious that the guy has a huge ego and he only likes people who are willing to entertain his personal stories. This doesn't feel like a literature course but an author's autobiography course. The guy's anti-tech and I'm stupid to have done my notes by hand.

From the comments it seems like all the positive comments are from his writing course but i took an english literature course with him. The course material is more theology than literature and he does not encourage debate or alternative interpretations. I wouldn't have survived this course full of puritan old white guys if it weren't for my TA.

This prof seems to think that assigning hundreds of pages of reading a week is normal. And that everyone should be able to easily comprehend the subject that's being discussed. He seems to think that this is the only class you are taking and that you have no life, so you can fully dedicate yourself to his class. Do not take if you don't have to.

Loved coming to every class as we worked through writing in a sense of getting those topics clear as opposed to grammatical stuff really. Labor based grading which made for an easy A. Tried my best with everything I wrote and tried improving from my feedback. Tons of peer review. Also had to make a presentation and lead a discussion.

It IS a writing class, so there is a ton of writing involved. Had to write in discussion boards every week & had 3? papers which he helped us break it up into smaller chunks. Was in his ACE class, but his feedback was great! It was more about topic flow instead of grammatical stuff :). Labor based grading which was refreshing. Love him!

Chris is the nicest guy ever. One of the coolest professors I have had at UCSB. Cannot recommend him enough.

Would recommend the law class and Donelan as a teacher. Assignments were difficult but he gives extremely clear instructions and offers support to students. He's smart, articulate, and knows what he's talking about. Get ahead of reading and assignments or you will fall behind. Learned a lot!

Worst professor I've had at UCSB. He's overly critical and wants you to conform to his way of thinking and doing things instead of inspiring you to be creative and learn in a way that's best for you. He's negative, boring and unapproachable and makes things more difficult than they need to be. This class was a chore and I'm glad it's over

His lectures don't add anything to the material. Talks about himself a lot. Difficult to communicate with. Boring class. 2 tests and 2 essays, unnecessary amount of reading/work. Old school in approach to teaching

I never thought that I would enjoy a writing course, but Prof. Donelan really made WRIT2 an enjoyable experience! You have to do all the work he assigned to get a high score, but I really feel like that I have learned something. He is kind of a tough grader if you are aiming for an A, but I think that this applies to all writing course at UCSB.

Love Chris!! So passionate and really great assignments. Would 100% take another class with him, one of the best professors at UCSB

Still an incredible professor since the last person who said it. Change your plans to take a course with this man. A very kind educator who will likely be very well equipped to support you whatever your circumstances are. I'm serious, add the class now, they fill up quick. Be ready to do much of your most important work during class!!

A great professor! He is funny and kind, and his lectures are interesting though they don't add much to the reading material. He is a very fair grader and he wants you to succeed in his class, so do read!

I loved Chris, super nice guy, made sure to get to know you. Freedom of topic choice for final project. Classes were kind of long, but he made them fun. Interesting course topic, conspiracy theory and urban legend hasn't been something I've studied so much before. Brought donuts last day of class. 10/10 take for a GE

(I took 105R which wasn't an option for some reason on here) Prof Donelan is amazing, he is so kind, funny, and understanding. the class was really easy as well, i got excellent feedback on my writing and it was so entertaining to take! i love this professor!!

Professor Donelan is a super caring guy and truly wants all of his students to become better writers. However, he does not really offer a lot of writing feedback and just leaves us to do it ourselves. His grading on the 3 essays were pretty tough. He also values the Eli Review a lot so actually do it early on to get a high participation grade.

He is one of the most patient professor I've ever met in UCSB. I was in the first place in the waitlist but due to technical issues I couldn't enroll in it. He helped me and emailed me to get enrolled step by step. The course is also useful and teaches us how to write formal academic research paper. Take his class!

Labor base grading contract is the BEST. Get what you work for didnt worry about my grade the whole quarter. As long as you do the work youll get an easy A and improve your writing skills!

The assignments are not difficult and if you do all of them, you will be more than prepared for the 3 essays. Professor Donelan is available after class and through email, and he responds within a reasonable time frame. I genuinely believe that he helped improve my writing. Note: I took the class during FSSP and it was held online (pandemic).