Academic Inquiry Seminars (AIQS) offer an introduction to the forms and processes of academic writing at the university. They focus on helping students develop effective writing processes & contribute to meaningful scholarly and community conversations.
Environments
Students complete a First-Year Writing Seminar Selection process prior to matriculation, in order to determine which of several environments will provide the best seminar experience for them. (This process is sometimes also referred to as "Directed Self-Placement" or DSP.) Each Academic Inquiry Seminar meets the same course outcomes and receives equivalent academic credit.
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Topical Seminars (AIQS 100) are organized around a topic of study, through which comprehensive instruction in academic writing is delivered. The majority of first-year students will take Topical AIQS.
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Community Engaged Seminars (AIQS 130) - we are currently piloting a small number of AIQS seminars that include substantial engagement with local communities. These seminars are four (4) credit hours and have an additional weekly class meeting for engagement activities. In addition to satisfying the AIQS requirement, the also satisfy the UGER Local & Global Engagement perspective requirement.
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Foundations Seminars (AIQS 110) provide more direct writing support to students who need or want more experience with the writing process. These courses provide students with opportunities to develop their own writing processes and their confidence about their ability to perform college level writing.
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Seminars for Non-Native Speakers of English (AIQS 120) are designed for students whose first language is not English (including students who have attended high school in English-speaking countries) and who need or want direct support in reading and writing in academic English. These courses devote extra time to grammatical, rhetorical, and other concerns specific to non-native speakers of English; they are taught by faculty members who have special training in teaching English as a second/other language.
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Some students may begin their experience in an Academic English Seminar (AIAE 100), which is designed to improve the fundamental reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills of students for whom English is not their first language. This course is taken prior to enrollment in an Academic Inquiry Seminar; it earns regular academic credit, but it does not satisfy the AIQS requirement.
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AIQS Learning Outcomes
During their AIQS experiences, students will:
- Establish the dispositions, habits, and writing processes that support successful academic engagement
- Participate in academic inquiry by formulating questions based on information gaps or by reexamining existing information, and by contributing their own insights
- Think critically and deliberate ethically about differences in values and assumptions, including describing the way that systems privilege some perspectives and present barriers to others
- Identify and use (analyze, engage with, attribute appropriately) authoritative information sources and scholarly concepts in written, oral, and/or multimodal projects
- Effectively communicate information and ideas in formats appropriate to the assignment and in ways that meet the needs/expectations of the audience, context, and purpose
AIQS Course Descriptions
Academic Inquiry Seminars (AIQS) are are small classroom communities where students read and write critically, discuss complex topics with their peers and instructors, and develop essential academic communication skills. Each semester, detailed course descriptions are listed in the Notes section of Student Information System (SIS) entries, and you can also view a compilation of course descriptions from current and past semesters.