Prospective and Newly Enrolled Students

What is First Year Seminar?

First-Year Seminars a required course for all entering students. Designed to help you make the transition to college-level academic culture, the First-Year Seminar (FYS) is basically a crash course in getting you into the mindset needed to dive into our community of thinkers. FYS is taught by faculty across the curriculum, and every seminar focuses on sharpening students' critical thinking, writing, and info-gathering skills.

In regard to writing, FYS students are challenged to meet five main learning goals:

• Craft a clear and compelling thesis.
• Shape a logical argument that balances general statements, concrete details, and specific examples.
• Critically analyze an issue in a way that offers insight into how the parts contribute to the whole.
• Anticipate and satisfy an audience's need for information.
• Produce clear, concise, and error-free prose.

The Writing Program sponsors the First-Year Seminar Excellence in Writing Awards, which seek to celebrate and reward with a monetary prize the best First-Year Seminar essays. Fall 2025 seminars can be seen here, and may be subject to change. 

What resources will I have as first year? 

Almost every FYS will have a Writing Associate attached to it, a trained writing tutor from the Writing Center who acts as a bridge between professor and FYS students in order to enhance the learning and teaching of writing. WAs do not grade papers or teach, but they can do a variety of things that supplement and enhance instruction, including:

• facilitating peer review of papers either in class or outside of class;
• offering in-class mini-lessons on the writing process and/or a variety of writing skills (i.e. shaping a thesis, writing conclusions, documenting sources, etc.);
• modeling good discussion and learning techniques;
• holding office hours to assist with writing and clarify the professor's expectations and feedback;
• meeting with the professor to discuss observations and insights about how the students are learning;
• and acting as a writing resource by referring students to the Writing Center.

Dickinson's Writing Center provides 45 minute one-on-one writing consultations with trained peer tutors in Enlish and world languages. We employ writing tutors from across disciplines and majors, and all English writing tutors take a semester long course in anti-racist writing pedagogy. English and world language tutors are trained to help you:

• understand and interpret the requirements of an assignment;
• brainstorm, develop, or clarify ideas;
• shape effective thesis statements; 
• engage in critical analysis; 
• create organizational plans and focus an argument;
• make strong claims, provide supporting evidence, and address the “So what?”;
• recognize and correct grammatical and mechanical errors.

The Writing Center also offers more sustained writing support through Writing Studio. Students who sign up for Writing Studio are paired with a partner from the Writing Center for 4, 6, or 8 weeks of meetings. Some students use Writing Studio to build a stronger writing process, some use it to supplement faculty feedback on writing assignments, and some use it as an accountability measure. 

Can I work in the Writing Center?

Absolutely! All first year students are encouraged to apply to a job in the Writing Center in their first semester if they enjoy thinking about their own and other people's writing. Interviews are held in October, and successful candidates will have the opportunity to enroll in WRPG 214: Working with Writers: Theory and Practice for the spring semester. On successful completion of WRPG 214, students will be offered a spot in the Writing Center. Writing Center staff receive ongoing training throughout their time in the MWC and have the opportunity to take part in specialized Badge training and an undergraduate research program through the generous gift of the Judy Gill Professional Development Fund for Writing Center Tutors.