Complete the Advising Placement Questionnaire, available on your myPugetSound account after depositing and after completing your Math Placement Test (if you are a student interested in studying business, economics, engineering, exercise science, math, any of the natural sciences, or psychology, or are interested in health professions [physician, dentist, veterinarian, occupational or physical therapist, etc.]), to select your advising class, first-year seminar, and other fall courses.

Seminar in Scholarly Inquiry 1

First-Year Seminars at Puget Sound introduce students into our academic community and engage them in the process of scholarly inquiry. In these discussion-based seminars, students develop the intellectual habits necessary to write and speak effectively and with integrity. Students increase their ability to develop effective arguments by learning to frame questions around a focused topic, to assess and support claims, and to present their work to an academic audience both orally and in writing. As part of understanding scholarly conversations, students learn to identify the most appropriate sources of information and to evaluate those sources critically. Students take a Seminar in Scholarly Inquiry I (SSI-1) in the fall semester, with the Seminar in Scholarly Inquiry II (SSI-2) taken in the spring, pending successful completion of SSI-1.

In the first seminar in this sequence, students engage challenging texts and ideas through guided inquiry led by the faculty member. Students begin to develop the academic abilities of reading, writing, and oral argument necessary to enter into academic conversations. Assignments in this seminar largely involve sources prescribed by the instructor, rather than sources students search for and identify themselves. Each seminar is focused around a scholarly topic, set of questions, or theme. These seminars may be taken only to fulfill the SSI core requirement, and may simultaneously fulfill the KNOW graduation requirement.

Residential seminars (seminars whose students live together on the same floor of a residence hall) are denoted as “RS” after the course title. Some seminars will only be residential and others will have one section that is residential. Students in these seminars enjoy living together on the same floor, where they often form a vibrant community by working collaboratively on assignments for their writing seminar, and by participating in co-curricular events such as film screenings, open-mic nights, guest lectures, dinner parties, and trips to Tacoma and Seattle cultural venues.

Important Note

The offerings on this page are current as of April 1, 2020. Changes to these offerings may occur and will be reflected in choices available online through Puget Sound's Advising Placement Questionnaire tool.

Residential Seminars

The offerings on this page are current as of April 1, 2020. Changes to these offerings may occur and will be reflected in choices available online through Puget Sound's Advising Placement Questionnaire tool.

Residential seminars are indicated with "RS" in the title. The students in a residential seminar live together on the same floor of a residence hall. Students in these seminars enjoy living together on the same floor, where they often form a vibrant community by working collaboratively on assignments for their writing seminar, and by participating in co-curricular events such as film screenings, open-mic nights, guest lectures, dinner parties, and trips to Tacoma and Seattle cultural venues. These courses are denoted as "RS" in the course title.

All residential seminars are a wonderful opportunity for first year students to extend their learning beyond the classroom. Faculty and Residence Life staff working with residential seminars provide the students with a variety of enrichment events that connect to their coursework and will enhance their learning experience. Some activities offered in the past include films, field trips, and guest lectures.