Great lecturer, and really funny! Summer session is definitely easier and more relaxed compared to a typical quarter. Readings are interesting and not difficult to keep up with. Attendance is crucial, as he examines specific quotes and symbols during lectures that definitely appear on quizzes/tests.

one of my favorite professors ever at UCSB. third time taking his class. love love love him. expectations are very clear. he doesn't expect much more than thoughtful discussion.

Finished my Upper-div seminar with Donnelly and this class was probably my favorite of the quarter. You get the sense that he genuinely cares about the material/students, and lectures were always interesting. Haven't received my grade yet, but I wouldn't say his class was "easy." Regardless, I highly recommend taking any course with him!

I can go on for DAYS about how much I love Brian. He was not only an amazing professor -- he really stood up for me on a personal level when i was experiencing a housing crisis. He checked in with me and eventually helped me decide to take an Incomplete in his class while I got my affairs in order. He's just an incredible man and so charismatic

Really disappointed since previous classes with Donnelly have been so fun, but this class was so much work out of nowhere. Midterm had a lot of obscure/ambiguous questions and the final is absurdly long. Huge departure from his previous classes and I'm upset that this went the way it did as I was very excited about this subject.

The second class I've taken with him. Great class/content. He knew me by name in a 150-person room. That being said, this class is not an easy A. You need to do the work-- read, write, and come up with good and creative analysis, but that is most upper-div English classes. This course also has a highly specific midterm and tough essays (TA graded).

longest and most ridiculous expectations for a final i have ever seen, not at all understanding of students and their time, really basic lectures that summarize plot of books instead of analyzing, feel like i have learned nothing, he's an entertaining lecturer but i was extremely disappointed in the content of the class, i leave every class mad.

Great professor who obviously cares about what he's teaching and hearing the student. I struggled on the essays, but that was with the TA and not the prof. Only graded on 3 essays and attendance only required for section. Though, attending lecture was still fun to hear all the different perspectives on the reading.

He was a wonderful professor! Made me decide to pursue english further, and was very kind and understanding. He was also amazingly kind and personable! Take him if you can pookies

Donnelly is easily the best professor I've had, his lectures are hilarious and he's amazing at engaging student participation. Attendance to lecture isn't required but you're definitely missing out if you skip. Very lucky to be in the English department, will be taking more courses with him in the future.

TAKE THIS PROF!! He is stellar, I have never been so fascinated by lectures as I have been in his class. His lectures on the books you read in this class are uniquely top-tier. Great discussions. TAs are phenomenal. Mainly graded by 3 shorter essays-- do the reading and go to lecture (not mandatory but oh, so worth it), and you'll be set.

I think I attended less than half of the lectures over the quarter because they never seemed to have much important information that couldn't just be found on Canvas, and I still ended up getting an A-, so if you need the class, take care of something else during the actual lecture time

his lectures weren't very necessary for assignments, but could still be helpful just in general. I do wish he wouldn't speak about Judeo-Christian beliefs as mythology in respect towards those who practice those religions. Jesus loves you!!

Professor Donnelly was one of the most interesting professors I had. His class for Science Fiction was really interesting with some great reads, making the papers easy and fun to write. If you have an enjoyment for the subject I highly recommend taking his class. His lectures aren't directly necessary but can give an outlook on the readings.

Donnelly is one of those professors who make it so that lectures aren't necessary but extremely helpful. He was really accessible during hybrid which was nice, and even better in person. Pretty easy to pick and choose what you read for the papers, but make sure you read what you're writing on. My TA was very responsible so overall good experience.

Interesting lectures with amazing TAs. Homework due every Friday or Sunday, sometimes both, but very doable. 3 papers that had straightforward prompts and a lot of support from TAs/lecture. This class is an easy A if you put in the effort and keep up with assignments.

I'd just say pick topics you are passionate about to write for your papers and do not go over the page/word count. I think the course content is super interesting and he is a super reasonable guy! This class was my first upper div and was very satisfying to learn about. It's not just textual material, movies as well as music, TAKE IT!!

Good class with interesting material. The class is graded mostly by Nectir posts and essays. An easy A if you do the assignments. Lectures are short but are somewhat confusing on how it connects to the class. Overall, a good class but I did not learn too much.

Lectures are shortish and easy to understand. (20ish min) three small papers that are kinda confusing but TAs offer lots of help. Participation counts so make sure you watch lectures and post during Nectir segment.

Funny guy who seems to care about his students. Didn't take attendance. Lecture material was pretty self-explanatory; I still went b/c I enjoyed class. Lots of papers (that's to be expected), but he offered a lot of support. Go to lectures before essay due dates bc he gives you a lot of material that you can use in your papers.

Professor Donnelly is a great instructor. He is funny, and makes a potentially boring lecture pretty interesting. He offers extra credit, and your grade is determined by 3 mini essays, 3 medium ones(longest was 850 words), and section participation(mostly based on attendance). A great class to satisfy your English requirement!

I cannot recommend Prof. Donnelly highly enough! His dystopian sci-fi class was the most fun I've ever had in a class. We spent most classes just talking about the readings. He does a wonderful job of making the discussion interesting, fun, and natural. I looked forward to every class!

Great class with an even better professor. Typical amount of reading/writing for an English class, but the themes covered (dystopia, apocalypse, humans vs. androids, etc.) easily make this the most interesting English class I've taken.

When I took this class, it went from 6:30 PM to 7:45 PM, so I would say Prof. Donnelly did a good job making a class that late interesting. I showed up to most of the lectures, even though they were not mandatory and most people would not show up. I found him interesting and I hope to take at least 1 Upper-Div course with him someday!