First-year Honors Seminar
First-Year Honors Seminar is an honors literature seminar for first-year students where topics and materials vary each term.
Summary
Past student reviews · Karen Britland
Professor Britland’s approach pushed students to significantly improve their writing skills and close-reading of texts, indicating a focus on rigorous engagement with the material.
What you’ll be able to do
Identify and critique a particular element or elements of English literature/literary studies through in-depth research and analysis.
Identify and apply methods and approaches for analysis of literary and cultural texts to demonstrate literature's contemporary and historical relevance.
Analyze relationships among society, literature, and language that underlie the construction of beliefs.
Use reliable research sources; apply the writing process to develop ideas into papers, presentations, or projects; follow discipline-specific conventions for organization and formatting; and share work in writing and at least one other relevant mode of communication.
Source: UW Guide
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapFirst Year students only and declared in an Honors program
- First Year students only and declared in an Honors program
This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
- First Year students only and declared in an Honors program
Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
KAREN BRITLAND is recorded teaching in Fall 2016. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
MARTIN FOYS is recorded teaching in Fall 2014, Fall 2021. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
|---|
Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
No records available.
Student experience
the class
Past student reviews · Martin Foys
The course operates as a seminar where students engage in discussion with the instructor, a format that helped one student feel motivated and supported in expanding their literary analysis.
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.98 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=20 letter grades); Spring 2024: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=19 letter grades); Fall 2024: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=18 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
Past student reviews · Karen Britland
Professor Britland’s approach pushed students to significantly improve their writing skills and close-reading of texts, indicating a focus on rigorous engagement with the material.
Past student reviews · Martin Foys
Martin Foys was described as passionate and knowledgeable; while the seminar style initially felt like speaking to him, it became helpful for developing thoughts on literature.
Topics
- Literature
- English literature and literary studies
- Analysis of literary and cultural texts
- Relationships among society, literature, and language
Skills
- Critique elements of English literature through in-depth research and analysis.
- Apply methods for analyzing literary and cultural texts to show their relevance.
- Analyze relationships among society, literature, and language underlying beliefs.
- Develop ideas into papers or projects using reliable sources and discipline conventions.
Grades
Latest available · Fall 2024— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
Grades over time
Through Fall 2024
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
Sources & history
Catalog & offerings
Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.
Catalog observation history
Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.
Selected offering source records
No offering records for the selected term.
Raw records
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Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
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"requirements_status": "needs_review",
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"observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
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