First Year Seminars Learning Outcomes

Students in Whitman College's First Year Seminars can expect to achieve the following learning outcomes:

GENS 175: Exploring Complex Questions

Students will be able to:

• Read inquisitively and generously.
• Read with attention to detail and nuance.
• Engage with texts of varied genres and mediums.
• Formulate productive questions that guide exploration of a complex text (broadly construed).
• Use discussion as a means to discover and reconsider ideas.
• Learn collaboratively with classmates and professor.
• Use writing as a means to discover and reconsider ideas.
• Adapt writing to different forms, genres, and/or audience.

GENS 176: Making Powerful Arguments

Students will be able to:

• Read inquisitively and generously.
• Read with attention to detail and nuance.
• Practice respectful but rigorous debate.
• Learn collaboratively with classmates and professor.
• Use writing as a means to discover and reconsider ideas.
• Develop arguable and defensible thesis statements.
• Integrate appropriate evidence to support argumentative claims.