First Year Seminar

FYS Program Outcomes

Drake students will be introduced to the skills and dispositions necessary to develop a meaningful career at the university. The First Year Seminar (FYS) Program:

• Aims to establish a sense of community among members
• Encourages active participation by students in the class.
• Helps integrate first-year students into an academic culture.
• Sharpens students' writing and verbal communication skills.
• Focuses on a topic, approach or theme.
• Utilizes the course topic to introduce students to key skills in critical thinking and information literacy.
• Invites connections among several ways of knowing, areas of study, or disciplines.

FYS Learning Outcomes

Through FYS coursework, students will:

• think critically by learning to identify key ideas and issues; apply and analyze problems and concepts; evaluate information and ideas; and construct sound reasoning to inform beliefs and actions.
• write, and revise their writing, to process, assess, and clearly communicate ideas and to incorporate constructive feedback.
• read carefully, to comprehend and interpret texts and to recognize aspects of style, rhetorical strategy, diction, and context that may enhance understanding.
• evaluate sources of information by learning how information is created and utilized within different fields; learn to use information effectively and ethically; and reflect on how they are consumers and creators within rapidly changing information ecosystems
• engage in good faith with diverse viewpoints, including those differing from their own, through engaging thoughtfully and productively in frequent and robust class discussions.

First-Year Seminar Writing

The First-Year Seminar should offer a writing-intensive experience for students. Typically, this will involve a series of short writing assignments beginning early in the term. The instructor should provide substantive feedback and students should be allowed an opportunity for correction and revision on at least some assignments.

First-Year Seminar Critical Thinking

The First-Year Seminar will focus on the development of the student’s critical thinking skills. This is part of the Drake Curriculum’s intentional effort to guide students to acquire the skills for rational analysis and argumentation that is purposeful, rigorous, self-reflective, and based on a careful consideration of the evidence. Students will learn to:

• clearly define a question or problem.
• gather information that is relevant to that problem.
• rigorously identify assumptions and preconceptions, including their own, that influence analysis of that problem.
• organize and prioritize the information to develop a rational argument that states a clear claim or thesis, provides reasons for holding that claim, provides relevant evidence to support each reason, and considers alternative explanations in reaching a conclusion.
• communicate that reasoned argument effectively in speech, writing, or other mediums as appropriate.
• realize that results are tentative and open to revision.

2026 Fall FYS Courses

2026 Fall FYS