Meeting the Foundational Writing & Information Literacy Requirement
UVM's requirement in Foundational Writing and Information Literacy (FWIL) affirms our long-standing commitment to writing throughout the curriculum, and throughout the disciplines. If you are an incoming, first-year student, you and your advisor should make sure you enroll in one of the following courses that will fulfill your FWIL requirement.
Courses in all three of these paths include practice in the 4 FWIL Learning Goals: rhetorical discernment, information literacy, critical reading, and substantive revision.
If you are in the College of Arts and Sciences
You will be encouraged to take a TAP (Teacher Advisor Program) seminar in the fall or spring. All TAP classes fulfill the FWIL requirement.
If you are in the Honors College
You will register for HCOL85, The Pursuit of Knowledge, in the fall, and an additional HCOL86 seminar in the spring. Taken together, the sequence practices and reinforces the 4 FWIL learning goals. More Information on Honors College curriculum.
If you are in any other college/school
You will register for ENGS 1, Written Expression, in either the fall or the spring, whichever best suits your schedule and your needs.
Which section of ENGS 1 should you take?
- If you wish to enroll in a section specifically designed for speakers of other languages please enroll in an "A" section (e.g. A1, A2, A3, etc.). If you are unable to register in an A section but would like to, please email Lise Larose for an override.
- If you do not wish to enroll in a section designed for speakers of other languages, please register for sections lettered B or above.
If you are transferring to UVM from another institution
The Office of Transfer Affairs will conduct the first review of your courses to determine whether they are comparable in content, nature, and intensity to course offerings in the corresponding discipline at UVM. If their audit determines that you have not yet fulfilled the FWIL requirement, but you believe that one or more of your prior courses should qualify, please complete the General Education Requirement Course Fulfillment Form. You will be required to submit a detailed syllabus of the transferred course in question. Responses generally take less than a week.
If you still have questions
Please contact your college advisor or the Catamount Core Curriculum Committee Coordinator John Sama jsama@uvm.edu