Courses in the Honors College
A wide variety of course topics are available to Honors College students. Please check back often, as changes may occur until the semester begins. Need an appointment with an Honors College advisor? Stop by the Honors College main office in Elmina White Honors Hall 130 or phone 509-335-4505. NOTE: Advising will be offered by email or telephone ONLY to students currently studying abroad.
Course descriptions are intended to provide general information about the scope of the class, the name of the faculty member teaching it, credits, and texts. All descriptions are posted as soon as possible the semester preceding so students can consider their options and plan accordingly with their Honors College academic advisor. Listings from previous semesters are located at the bottom of this page.
Fall 2018
HONORS 270.1
MWF 2:10pm – 3pm
Principles and Research Methods in Social Science
Instructor: Karen Phoenix
Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student
US Cultural Diplomacy in the 20th Century
When we think of US “foreign relations,” we tend to think of diplomats, treaties, and embassies—the formal ways that the United States interacts with the rest of the world. Yet this involves a relatively small group of people, who, while their actions may be very influential, have a relatively limited reach.
In contrast to this formal diplomacy, this class will examine informal foreign relations, or cultural diplomacy. We find cultural diplomacy in non-governmental organizations (including medical groups like the Red Cross, religious groups like the Young Women’s Christian Association, global governance like the United Nations), in the expansion of US commerce, and in popular culture media such as film and television. Over the course of the semester, and in your independent research papers, we will explore the ways that the US not only expanded militarily and politically, but it also spread out across the globe culturally and socially over the course of the 20th century. In the process, US ideas and ideals influenced a variety of developments abroad, including: the consumption of products like Coca-Cola; technological development; public health policy; and cultural mores in music, television, and film.
HONORS 270.2
MWF 9:10am – 10am
Principles and Research Methods in Social Science
Instructor: Season Hoard
Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student
This three-unit course is designed to introduce students to research methods and methodological issues in Political Science. With all sides of the political spectrum utilizing scientific arguments and statistics to bolster their points, understanding and evaluating scientific claims is increasingly important. This course is designed to give students the introductory skills to conduct research and evaluate empirical claims made in politics. Students will learn both qualitative and quantitative methods utilized in political science, and conduct their own research projects using these methods. We will discuss the sub-fields in political science, and major research topics in the field, including onset of civil wars, democratic transition, public policy, gender and politics, and political behavior. The breadth of political science research will be explored, as well as methods specific to sub-fields within the discipline. We will devote considerable attention to the application of research methods, in particular survey and observation research, and students will have the opportunity to utilize these methods to examine a research question in political science. This class will help students develop their research skills, encourages critical and creative thinking, and provides opportunities to improve both written and oral communication skills. Finally, this class promotes research evaluation, and provides the opportunity for students to better understand political claims.
HONORS 270.4 – 3 units
TuTh 10:35am – 11.50am
Principles and Research Methods in Social Science
Instructor: Brendan Walker
Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student
The objectives of this course are to familiarize the students with both an historical and contemporary perspective on the field of psychology. This will be achieved by evaluating the genetic, biological, and environmental contributors to the behavior of both humans and animals in a manner designed to promote critical/creative thinking, quantitative/symbolic reasoning, information literacy, communication, and a sense of self in society. By striving to embrace these course goals, the students should depart with an enhanced level of disciplinary knowledge that should translate into effective long-term strategies for the evaluation of information over their life span. The course will begin by identifying important historical ideologies and theories that have been instrumental in shaping the way we now view the field of psychology and introducing the concept of psychology as a science. This will be followed by an exploration of the various sub-domains of psychology that will provide a solid understanding of the many systems designed to assist us in navigating through the trials and tribulations of our daily existence. The course will also have a generalized sub-theme in which different aspects of the substance abuse research field will be applied to different sub-fields of psychology that are presented during the course as a means to enrich the learning experience and allow for a more in-depth exposure to experiment-based methodologies.
Required texts:
Introduction to Psychology, by Wayne Weiten, 8th ed., ISBN978-0-495-60197-5
**For more information on this section, please contact the instructor directly.
HONORS 280.1 – 3 units
TuThu 10:35 – 11:50am
Contextual Understanding in the Arts and Humanities
Instructor: David Shier
Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student
The Good Life
“The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.” – Bertrand Russell
Everyone wants the good life, but what does that really mean? What makes a life most worth living? Wealth? Happiness? Wisdom? Balance? Virtue? Freedom? Power? Piety? Service? Love? These are among the proposals we will investigate.
The ideas of philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Aurelius, Kant, Nietzsche, and Nussbaum will be central to our investigation, but we will also discuss visions of the good life in literature, history, architecture, religion, and the arts. The class will feature guest speakers from a range of disciplines, as well as approximately six films that we’ll view and discuss.
You will be encouraged to develop your own answer to the question “what is the good life?” The coursework will include “theory to practice” assignments for which you’ll spend a day trying to live your life in accord with one of the theories we study, and you will perform a community service project of your choice and do a class presentation on it. Graded work will also include a mid-term exam, in-class activities, and short essays on the assigned films.
Assigned texts and films: To be announced
(We will use free, open source materials wherever possible)
HONORS 280.2 – 3 units
TuTh 2:50pm – 4:05pm
Contextual Understanding in the Arts and Humanities
Instructor: Annie Lampman
Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student
Fiction: The Short Story
This course is an introduction to the art and craft of short-form fiction writing. We will read, analyze, and discuss award-winning short stories, complete weekly writing exercises, and write a full-length short story (employing research/annotated bibliography) while working to explore and develop short-story craft elements including characterization, point-of-view, dialogue, plot, scene and summary, setting, and the use of metaphorical language and themes. Throughout the semester, each student will have their story workshopped with written peer reviews and instructor feedback provided.
Required Text:
Method and Madness: The Making of a Story, Alice LaPlant. ISBN#: 9780393928174
HONORS 280.3 – 3 units
MWF 10:10am – 11am
Contextual Understanding in the Arts and Humanities
Instructor: Nathan Nicol
Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student
Ethics and Public Policy
This course has two overarching aims: (1) to study the ethical theories most prevalent in contemporary thinking about public policy, and (2) to master the core critical thinking skills essential to all walks of life, but perhaps most especially to the critical evaluation of public policy. We will begin with a brief tour of the main ethical theories. Our central text, however, will be: Ethics and Public Policy: A Philosophical Inquiry, by Jonathan Wolff. This will lead us into arguments about the ethics of testing on animals, the legalization of drugs, public safety, health-care, the “free market,” and several others (which we can pick out together in class). We will be concerned to find the good arguments in these issues, but also to identify exactly what makes the bad arguments bad: we will thus acquaint ourselves with a great variety of fallacies, sophistry, and other shenanigans.
Required texts:
- Blackburn, S. 2001. Ethics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford.
- Wolff, J. 2011. Ethics and Public Policy: A Philosophical Inquiry. Routledge.
HONORS 280.4 – 3 units
MWF 1:10pm – 2pm
Contextual Understanding in the Arts and Humanities
Instructor: Nathan Nicol
Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student
Ethics and Public Policy
This course has two overarching aims: (1) to study the ethical theories most prevalent in contemporary thinking about public policy, and (2) to master the core critical thinking skills essential to all walks of life, but perhaps most especially to the critical evaluation of public policy. We will begin with a brief tour of the main ethical theories. Our central text, however, will be: Ethics and Public Policy: A Philosophical Inquiry, by Jonathan Wolff. This will lead us into arguments about the ethics of testing on animals, the legalization of drugs, public safety, health-care, the “free market,” and several others (which we can pick out together in class). We will be concerned to find the good arguments in these issues, but also to identify exactly what makes the bad arguments bad: we will thus acquaint ourselves with a great variety of fallacies, sophistry, and other shenanigans.
Required texts:
- Blackburn, S. 2001. Ethics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford.
- Wolff, J. 2011. Ethics and Public Policy: A Philosophical Inquiry. Routledge.
HONORS 280.5 – 3 units
MWF 9:10am – 10am
Contextual Understanding in the Arts and Humanities
Instructor: Kim Burwick
Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student
The Environmental Documentary
The aim of this course is to consider how environmental documentaries can help communicate, critique, and educate the public about the complex environmental and social issues of our times. There are many excellent (and not-so-excellent) documentaries that focus specially on climate change, but we will go beyond this and also investigate issues of oil, activism, pollution, waste, animals and extinction and the role of film as it relates to these topics.
Learning Outcomes (SLOs): At the end of the course students should be able to: 1) Describe the relationship between humans and healthy ecosystems, 2) Name ways in which humans have impacted the environment, 3) Discuss environmental problems, especially in relation to causes and potential solutions.
HONORS 290.1 – 3 units
TuTh 1:25pm – 2:40pm
Science as a Way of Knowing
Instructor: V.S. Mano Manoranjan
Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student. Any B, BSCI, P, PSCI, or SCI lab or concurrent enrollment.
This interdisciplinary course will focus on two major topics – spread of diseases and population growth. As part of their learning, students will write papers and hold a debate on an issue of their choosing. The papers and the debate can address possible economic, political and societal impacts due to disease epidemics and/or rapid population growth. Also, students will learn how to construct simple quantitative models that can be used as predictive and decision making tools.
HONORS 290.2 – 3 units
TuTh 9:10am – 10:25am
Science as a Way of Knowing
Instructor: Joanna Schultz
Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student. Any B, BSCI, P, PSCI, or SCI lab or concurrent enrollment.
Two bestselling novels by MR Carey, the first in the “The Hungry Plague Series, “ depict the following: a future dystopian Earth caused by a worldwide plague due to a highly infectious fungal pathogen, resulting in the total demise of Homo sapiens as we interpret our species. We will examine how near human extinction occurs and evolution/natural selection operates in this post-apocalyptic environment.
In this course, we will use shared inquiry/the Socratic Method to assess the bridge between MR Carey’s bestselling novels, “The Girl With All The Gifts” and “The Boy on the Bridge” and the evolutionary processes driving the fungal pathogen, Ophiocordiceps unilateralis, which at its core, is the fundamental element in the novel and the primary force behind the downfall of our species.
We will spend the first third of the term examining evolutionary patterns and processes in a discussion format reading essays from Stephen J. Gould’s “Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History” as you read the novels. Subsequently, we will break into shared inquiry for the remainder of the term. For each remaining class meeting, two students will develop a “Basic Question” based on evolution/natural selection from the novel, which you will present to your peers during the class period. The two student facilitators can only ask questions to maintain the discussion, as the remainder of students discuss the facilitators’ questions derived from the basic question.
This course requires discussion and attendance and your grade in the course is derived from your contributions to the discussion. You will be challenged to develop creative and critical thinking, information literacy, and oral communication skills in this course. If you are not comfortable in this type of learning environment, you should not enroll in the course.
Black Box Warning: The novel contains language that might be offensive to some students (R-rated).
Required texts:
The Girl With All The Gifts, MR Carey, Publisher: Reprint Edition. 2015.
ISBN-10: 0316334758
ISBN-13: 978-0316334754
The Boy on the Bridge, MR Carey, Publisher: Orbit Reprint Edition. 2018.
ISBN-10: 031600349
ISBN-13: 978-0316300346
Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History, Stephen J. Gould, Publisher W.W. Norton and Company. 1993.
**This book can also be downloaded free at
https://www.docdroid.net/wx3my2U/eight-little-piggies-stephen-jay-gould.pdf
HONORS 290.3 – 3 units
W 2:10pm -4:40pm
Science as a Way of Knowing
Instructors: Julie Padowski / Stephanie Hampton
Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student. Any B, BSCI, P, PSCI, or SCI lab or concurrent enrollment.
Dimensions of Environmental Change
Balancing human well-being with environmental sustainability is a critical, global challenge. This interdisciplinary course is organized around the CEREO seminar series and explores a broad range of environmental issues and the research currently underway to address these problems. Students will be responsible for attending CEREO seminars and participating in a structured discussion centered on the seminar topic each week. In addition, students will also develop their own environmental research proposals, culminating in a final, written proposal and a short oral presentation of the proposal by each student. This course will be especially useful to students interested in pursuing an Honors Thesis with an environmental focus.
HONORS 290.4 – 3 units
TuTh 10:35am – 11:50am
Science as a way of knowing
Instructor: Julie Menard
Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student. Any B, BSCI, P, PSCI, or SCI lab or concurrent enrollment.
History of Space Exploration
Space exploration started long before the first man-made object reached space in 1949, and is still in its infancy. Throughout this course, we will discuss worldwide space exploration in a historical context, from star gazing to landing on a comet. We will talk about the past, present, and future mission objectives of the world’s major space agencies, as well as the corresponding payloads and outcomes.
Students will be tasked, as a group, to plan out a space exploration mission to the planetary body of their choice, including mission objectives and instrument payload.
Students will be encouraged to develop information literacy, and critical and creative thinking throughout the course readings, discussions and group project, which they will present orally at the end of term.
HONORS 370.1 – 3 units
TuTh 10:35am – 11:50am
Case Study: Global Issues in Social Sciences
Instructor: Marsha Quinlan
Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student; Honors 270 or ECONS 198.
Human Health and Healing Across Cultures
This case study explores contemporary cross-cultural trends in health and healing. Across societies, what healing features do we share, what features vary and how? What explains these patterns? Lectures and readings will survey medical anthropology subfields including ethnomedicine, epidemiology, nutrition, reproduction, and mental health. Environmental, genetic, physiological, psychological and sociocultural forces are examined in relation to health. Students will conduct their own medical anthropology research, either via interviewing or using a database for cross-cultural research. They will learn the steps involved in framing a research question, deriving hypotheses from theory, design of measures, coding procedures, reliability, analyzing results, writing an article, how to perform and respond to peer review, revision, and, potentially, publication. Students will develop global understandings of human medical systems they experience the professional academic research process.
HONORS 370.2 – 3 units
TuTh 12pm – 1:15pm
Case Study: Global Issues in Social Sciences
Instructor: Bill Smith
Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student; Honors 270 or ECONS 198.
“Working with, in, and through the International Community”
While class members will determine the specific focus the course will take, it will broadly track the development of a global, multilateral system that takes into account what developing nations “want” alongside the aims of the developed world. Governmental actors, intergovernmental groups, and nongovernmental organizations all factor into the framework as we consider how various entities “act and interact” in the global sphere.
Enrolled students have the option of joining the Spring 2019 Honors College delegation to the National Model United Nations conference in New York City.
HONORS 370.3 – 3 units
TuTh 1:10pm – 2pm
Case Study: Global Issues in Social Sciences
Instructor: Vilma Navarro-Daniels
Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student; Honors 270 or ECONS 198.
“From the End of the Earth: Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay through Film.”
This is a variable content course. This Fall semester, the course will focus on the recent history of Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay through films made in those countries. These nations have been traditionally considered and named the “Southern Cone.” Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay have many things in common, such as the waves of immigrants that came from Europe, the right-wing dictatorships that ruled these countries in the 1970s and 1980s, and the thousands of “disappeared” political prisoners during those years. Nevertheless, toward the end of the 1980s, these countries celebrated the advent of democratic governments, which have not been exempt from social problems related to the implementation of neoliberal economic reforms and globalization.
HONORS 380.1 – 3 units
TuTh 4:15pm – 5:30pm
Case Study: Global Issues in the Arts and Humanities
Instructor: Annie Lampman
Prerequisite: Must be an Honors student; HONORS 280.
Creative Nonfiction: Writing the Personal Narrative
Welcome to the exciting world of creative nonfiction! In this creative writing course we will examine the role of the personal voice in shaping and defining how we see and experience the world. Through readings and analysis, classroom discussion, and a variety of writing exercises and essays (including explorations in memoir, flora/fauna, and place) we will explore the following questions: As global citizens, how can we represent our own experiences and stories through creative writing in a way that is universally understood and felt? How do we (and the authors we read) define/explore/write about the issues that trouble or fascinate us? What are we (and the authors we read) struggling to make sense of or understand about our own lives and the world around us? No previous creative writing experience is necessary, although strong general writing abilities are a benefit in this course. Throughout the semester, we will work on developing the basic craft elements of creative nonfiction and at the end of the semester each student will have one of their essays “workshopped” with written peer reviews and oral feedback provided.
Required Texts:
Tell it Slant, Second Edition, Brenda Miller & Suzanne Paola, ISBN#: 9780071781770
Short Takes: Brief Encounters with Contemporary Nonfiction, Judith Kitchen, ISBN#: Schultz 390 Working on it
HONORS 380.2 – 3 units
TuTh 10:35am -11:50am
Case Study: Global Issues in the Arts and Humanities
Instructor: Kim Andersen
Prerequisite: Must be an Honors student; HONORS 280.
The Vikings – in History, Saga, and Myth
In A.D. 793 the Vikings – the Norse – entered the annals of history with the attack on the monastery at Lindisfarne, England. The following 300 years have become known as ‘the Viking Age.’ During these years the peoples of Scandinavia put their cultural imprint on the British Isles and all over Europe, including the Eastern Mediterranean and North America – rarely to the delight of locals. They were pirates and conquerors but also trade-partners in a vibrant, early-Medieval world of commerce and cultural expanse. Who were they? Were they all pirating Vikings or were they also farmers and poets? How did they live when they weren’t on the longboats? Were law and order part of their societies? What were their beliefs before they converted to Christianity in the 10th century? Did they indeed ‘discover’ America?
In this course we will study this fascinating chapter of history, with particular emphasis upon the Norse in the North Atlantic. We will read a selection of the original texts largely responsible for our knowledge of their exploits in addition to examples of their own literary legacy, the Icelandic Sagas. We will make use of film and documentaries to gain insights into this age so distant from our own.
Final grade to be determined by active participation, written assignments, and an in-class presentation.
Required texts:
Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney (Penguin Classics)
Laxdaela Saga (Penguin Classics)
Other texts handled in class available on Blackboard.
HONORS 380.3 – 3 units
TuTh 9:10am -10:25am
Case Study: Global Issues in the Arts and Humanities
Instructor: Ken Lokensgard
Prerequisite: Must be an Honors student; HONORS 280.
Religion, Sport, and Water: Contemplation and Play in “Nature”
This course is an introduction to the literary history, religious significance, and cultural impact of fishing and outdoor recreation. Students will read sporting texts from Ancient Rome, Medieval Europe, and contemporary North America. All of the texts emphasize a relationship between religious experience, outdoor sport or recreation, and the environment. We will explore this relationship, considering the cultural settings of each text while also learning about the overlapping aesthetic, ritual, and ecological dimensions ascribed to the activities—particularly fly fishing—by some of the most influential writers and intellectuals in European and Euro-American history. For comparisons’ sake, we will briefly examine religion and fishing in cultures outside of the European and North American literary worlds, as well.
HONORS 380.4 – 3 units
TuTh 1:25pm – 2:40pm
Case Study: Global Issues in the Arts and Humanities
Instructor: Kim Andersen
Prerequisite: Must be an Honors student; HONORS 280.
Art & Theory of Art
For a good 30,000 years humans have produced images, tales, spectacles, and much more which we now call art. Cave paintings, graffiti, murals, fetishes, drama, sitcoms, literature, performance, pottery, painting, architecture, jewelry, carvings, music, country, western, medieval cathedrals, tattoos, rap, twist, hip, funk, bop, American Idol, and The Blue Heart—we call it all art, we call them all artists! Does it make sense?
In this course we will seek enlightenment on the nature of art. We will investigate theories of art (a selection, from Plato onwards) to try to determine what it is we appreciate about art. We will discuss art theories that offer specifically discriminating viewpoints on the nature of art as we assess the possibilities for obtaining an all-encompassing perspective on art. Simultaneously, we will actively experience, review, discuss, and present artworks, especially painting. We will make use of videos and excursions to local museums and exhibits.
As we develop our contextual understanding of art – as art is created in the flux of individual human creativity and social norms – we will also develop an appreciation for the function, methods, and value of research and scholarship in the Humanities.
Final grade to be determined by active participation, written assignments, and an in-class presentation.
Required text:
But Is It Art? by Cynthia Freeland, Oxford University Press, ISBN:10-0192853678
Other texts handled in class, available on Blackboard.
HONORS 390.1 – 3 units
TuTh 12 – 1:15 pm
Case Study: Global Issues in the Sciences
Instructor: Joanna Schultz
Course Prerequisite: HONORS 290, SCIENCE 299, CHEM 116, MATH 182, PHYSICS 205, or PHYSICS 206.
Imagine living in a future dystopian Earth following the consequences of cataclysmic climate change, disease, food shortages, and other anthropogenic impacts. The world is reliant on genetic/bio-engineered products, including foods, human organs, medicines, genetically engineered plants and animals, and even beauty treatments generated and marketed by large corporations, who employ scientists and all the required personnel necessary to market these products. These employees live well in secure, guarded compounds. The remainder of the human population persist outside these pristine, fenced areas at various income levels, but all live at risk. A bio-engineered worldwide plague breaks down the entire infrastructure, killing most Homo sapiens. One man remains, who believes he is the last human and he becomes guardian to a genetically engineered human species, known as the Crakens.
In this course, we will explore many issues raised by Atwood in “Oryx and Crake”, with genetic/bio-engineering at the core of our discussions, at the scientific, economic, social, and ethical levels.
We will be using an approach called shared inquiry/the Socratic Method. Two students will develop a “Basic Question” based on a topic derived from the novel, which you will present to your peers during the class period. The two student facilitators can only ask questions to maintain the discussion, as the remainder of students discuss the facilitators’ questions derived from the basic question.
This course requires discussion and attendance and your grade in the course is derived from your contributions to the discussion. You will be challenged to develop creative and critical thinking, information literacy, and oral communication skills in this course. If you are not comfortable in this type of learning environment, you should not enroll in the course.
Black Box Warning: The novel contains language that might be offensive to some students (R-rated).
Required texts:
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. 2004.
Publisher: Anchor, Reprint Edition
ISBN-10: 0385721676
ISBN-13: 978-0385721677
HONORS 390.2 – 3 units
MWF 11:10am – 12pm
Case Study: Global Issues in the Sciences
Instructor: Ray Quock
Course Prerequisite: HONORS 290, SCIENCE 299, CHEM 116, MATH 182, PHYSICS 205, or PHYSICS 206.
Mental health is a state of psychological well-being in which people realize their own potential, cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively and are able to contribute to their communities. Mental disorders interfere with these functions. The topics in this course will 1) provide a scientific background in mental disorders and the psychopharmacology of drugs used in their treatment; 2) discuss the societal impact of mental illness; and 3) analyze trends in addressing the burden of mental disorders.
HONORS 390.3 – 3 units
TuTh 9:10am – 10:25am
Case Study: Global Issues in the Sciences
Instructor: Sergey Lapin
Course Prerequisite: HONORS 290, SCIENCE 299, CHEM 116, MATH 182, PHYSICS 205, or PHYSICS 206.
It is evident that our society is embedded in an international context that has undergone significant changes in recent decades and will undergo even more transformations in the future. Understanding the interdisciplinary nature of modern sciences has become increasingly important.
The main goal of this course is to help students see the real-world relevance of the various academic disciplines and their comparative strengths and weaknesses by looking at the history of several scientific inventions. It is well known that many famous scientists of the past were known as homo universalis, being able to work successfully in very diverse fields. We will then turn to modern society and look at several cases where scientists from different disciplines join forces to address complex global issues, such as environmental, ecological, and global health problems. We will also discuss the cultural and social impacts of scientific research and relations between the liberal arts and sciences.
**For more information on this section, please contact the instructor directly.
HONORS 398.1 – 1 unit
W 2:10pm – 3pm
Honors Thesis Proposal Seminar
Instructor: Kim Andersen
Prerequisite: Must be an Honors student; sophomore standing (45 semester hours recommended).
This is a seminar with the purpose of assisting and supporting each participant in completing an Honors thesis proposal. By the end of the course students will submit an Honors thesis proposal and be ready to initiate honors thesis research. The course will focus on how to generate an Honors thesis topic, how to formulate a thesis question, how to identify a thesis advisor, and how to prepare the thesis proposal. In addition, we will discuss ways to structure an honors thesis, how to perform a literature search, and how to evaluate information relevant to a chosen topic. During the course we will constructively support and critique projects as they develop in the proposals. Each student will submit a complete proposal including title, introduction, research question, methodology, preliminary annotated bibliography, as a final product. S/F grading.
Required text:
Writing A Successful Research Paper: A Simple Approach by Stanley Chodorow. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Co.
HONORS 398.2 – 1 unit
Tu 9:10am – 10am
Honors Thesis Proposal Seminar
Instructor: Annie Lampman
Prerequisite: Must be an Honors student; sophomore standing (45 semester hours recommended).
This is a seminar-style course with the purpose of assisting and supporting each participant in completing his/her Honors thesis proposal. In the course, you will generate an Honors thesis topic, formulate your thesis question, identify a thesis advisor, and prepare you thesis proposal. We will discuss ways to structure your thesis, perform research, and evaluate the information you obtain in relation to your chosen topic. During the course, we will discuss and constructively support and critique projects as they develop in the proposals. Each student will present their proposal to the class, and submit a complete proposal—including title, introduction, research question, methodology, and annotated bibliography—as a final product. S/F grading.
ECONS 198.1 – 3 units
MWF 1:10pm – 2pm; Section 2 – MWF 12:10pm – 1pm
Economics Honors
Instructor: P. Kuzyk
Prerequisite: Admitted to the Honors College. Enrollment in ECONS 198 is not allowed if credit has already been earned for ECONS 101 and 102. Introduction to economic theory and policy issues.
This is an introductory course that covers principles of both micro and macroeconomics. My goal is for the student to learn, rigorously, the economic concepts that are crucial for her to understand how our political-economic system works, and to build a framework for analyzing social issues that dominate today’s political dialogue. Proficiency in algebra and graphing is necessary for keeping up with the pace of the course. If you haven’t taken a Math class since Algebra I, wait until you’ve taken college Algebra before signing up for EconS 198.
ECONS 198.2 – 3 units
MWF 12:10pm – 1pm
Economics Honors
Instructor: P. Kuzyk
Prerequisite: Admitted to the Honors College. Enrollment in ECONS 198 is not allowed if credit has already been earned for ECONS 101 and 102. Introduction to economic theory and policy issues.
This is an introductory course that covers principles of both micro and macroeconomics. My goal is for the student to learn, rigorously, the economic concepts that are crucial for her to understand how our political-economic system works, and to build a framework for analyzing social issues that dominate today’s political dialogue. Proficiency in algebra and graphing is necessary for keeping up with the pace of the course. If you haven’t taken a Math class since Algebra I, wait until you’ve taken college Algebra before signing up for EconS 198.
ENGL 298 – 3 units
Writing and Research Honors
Instructor: Jacob Hughes
Prerequisite: Must be an Honors student
Have you ever wondered at the deeper meaning or significance of your favorite books, films, or pieces of music? Are you interested in literature, drama, mythology, or popular culture? Have you ever felt compelled – as Hildegard of Bingen once did – “to tell and write”?
In this class you’ll develop an interdisciplinary research topic of your choosing and sustain a semester-long scholarly conversation. Since research arguments shouldn’t exist in isolation, you’ll have the opportunity to actively engage with other members of your learning community in class, both through writing and presentational formats.
We’ll discuss the nuances of participating in academic conversations as you conduct your own, and dwell on the significance of what it means to be a participant in scholarship, rather than just a consumer of it.
My own area of expertise is in medieval and Early Modern literature – Shakespeare and Chaucer more specifically – though inquiries and arguments concerning any aspect of the humanities are welcomed and encouraged. The idea here is for you to take the reins and drive research you’re passionate about.
ENGL 298 – 3 units
Writing and Research Honors
Instructor: Debbie Lee
Prerequisite: Must be an Honors student
Your Idea, Your Voice, Your Style: Writing for College and Life
As writers, most of us have many voices. Our voices and styles change as we do, evolving or devolving across situations and lifetimes. In this course, you will choose a topic that you are personally and intellectually passionate about and use that topic to engage different audiences for different purposes. You will try on different voices and practice a variety of styles from journaling, social media writing, personal essays, and artistic forms to narration, reflection, analysis, comparison, argumentation, and research writing. The course will cover those styles you’re likely to encounter in your college career while highlighting the value of writing beyond your university experience. You will leave the course knowing which voices and styles work best for you and why, keeping in mind what writer Elena Poniatowska said: “One does not develop a style. One develops oneself.” Class readings will be grouped thematically and provide examples and prompts.
ENGL 298 – 3 units
Writing and Research Honors
Instructor: Robert Eddy
Prerequisite: Must be an Honors student
My approach to English Honors 298 helps us engage cross-cultural rhetorics and understand that language diversity is crucial to our work as professionals and informed citizens in our twenty-first century multi-racial democracy. We focus on the rhetoric of academic discourse. A “discourse” is the formal conversation of a group. Academic writing is “rhetorical” in that it cannot be objective or unbiased because writers are not machines. Writers have points of view; we have world views that influence our perceptions and judgments. We must certainly try to be fair, and remember that academic discourse is collaborative: a team sport. The more voices the better. College writing is a contact zone of difference where students have to deal with changing selves “being formed and reformed” (Min-Zhan Lu) in response to changes in language and definitions. Doing research is entering a new culture by carefully considering a different argument. Being a fair reader of a different argument involves overcoming “a colonial unconscious which repeatedly shuts down the possibilities for the content and terms of debate” (Damian Baca). If we finish the research project – finish our time in the new community, or in the new discourse – we will have been changed by the experience, however subtly or substantially. If we listen to “others” with engagement, if we engage researchers with points of view different from ours as equals in a contact zone, exciting possibilities for change and growth are opened. 1. Take this course if you want to get better at research in your future major; 2. Take this course if you want to get much better at cross-cultural communication; 3. Take this course if you want to work with a professor whose names are Robert Eddy/Mu Jingru 穆鏡如 /Salah Al-Din and they are all the real person.
https://english.wsu.edu/robert-eddy/