Advisor/instructor script for student questions

What is Arts First and why do I have to take ARTS 130 and 140?

  • All Arts students take two small seminars in first year to help you practice and improve your foundational academic skills, so that you can become a better writer, speaker, and thinker.
  • Arts First courses also strive to build a community of connected, engaged, thoughtful, and eloquent students across the Faculty of Arts. It is an opportunity to get to know your fellow students in a small class setting (there are a maximum of 25 students in each class).
  • ARTS 130 is your chance to practice and improve your writing, speaking, and critical reading skills so you’ll be more prepared for your upper-level courses.
  • ARTS 140 is your chance to practice and improve your ability to analyze, interpret, and understand information, evidence and data so you’ll be more successful in your upper level courses.

What kind of work will I do in an Arts First course?

  • All Arts First seminars include informal writing and speaking exercises that often build on each other, reflective work, and high levels of student engagement, including collaborative work such as group projects and peer review.
  • The quantity of work remains consistent from seminar to seminar (including the amount of formal and informal writing or speaking you will do). Expect to write many short assignments and give several short presentations throughout the semester. You may also be asked to collect and reflect on your work in a final portfolio.

Why do the courses have different topics? What if I’m not interested in the course topic?

  • The topic of each seminar represents a timely and important area of research in the Faculty of Arts. Faculty members choose topics that matter to them, and so there are a range of different topics for the courses.
  • The topics provide you with exciting content to research and to write and speak about - they are designed to be engaging ways for you to practice and improve your foundational skills.
  • Despite the different topics, each Arts First seminar primarily focuses on helping you to develop fundamental skills of communication and analysis as the common learning outcomes for all of the different sections.