Outstanding Gateway Papers

Gateway Colloquia are small, discussion-oriented classes designed to develop students’ proficiency in writing academic and public discourse. Although each colloquium investigates its own issue or question, all focus on writing as a major component of intellectual inquiry. Students are expected to participate in discussion and to analyze, integrate and evaluate competing ideas so as to formulate their own arguments about an issue. In keeping with the overall goals of the IWU General Education program, in particular the goals of developing students’ proficiency in writing and its use as a means of discovery and understanding, and of developing students’ capacities in critical thinking, independence, and imagination through active learning, Gateway Colloquium seminars seek to:

• introduce students to the process of intellectual inquiry and develop students’ critical thinking skills;
• develop students’ ability to evaluate competing ideas and experiences;
• develop students’ skills in the conventions and structures of presenting knowledge in written academic and public discourse, and in strategies for effective revision;
• engage students in learning activities that prepare them for academic life in the university. This group has not submitted outstanding papers since 2018.