An Embedded Model: First-Year Success in Writing and Research

Abstract

First launched in 2003, Central College’s first-year seminar, Intersections, has introduced thousands of first-year students to the college’s liberal arts tradition, writing across the curriculum program, and information literacy initiatives. This course, one of four writing-intensive courses required of all Central College students, is characterized as “a glimpse into the critical thinking and rigorous research and writing typical of the liberal arts…it explores the complex relationships between the sciences, arts and humanities” (“Intersections”). The course also introduces students to the college’s recently adopted Integrated Learning initiative, a practice through which classroom content is linked to “the learning taking place outside it” (“Integrated”).