Dual-Designated W and Breadth Courses

In order to fulfill the university Writing and Breadth course requirements, students may consider selecting a course that allows them to "double their money" -- a course designated as both W and B-Hum, or W and B-Soc, or W and B-Sci. Students who successfully complete such courses with a minimum C- grade will be able to count both W and B designations towards their graduation requirements.

Check Course Schedules each term for offerings of the following courses (listed alphabetically):

ARCH 272W-3 Archaeology of the Old World - W and B-Soc - W effective September 2012

  • A survey of the major centres of Old World cultural development from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age. Basic concepts used in reconstructing prehistoric cultures, and the artifactual and contextual evidence for the development of culture. Prerequisite: ARCH 100 or 201.

CA 257W-3 Context of Theatre l - W and B-Hum - B effective May 2013

  • A conceptual approach to a selected body of dramatic work focusing on the detailed structural analysis of dramatic texts, their historical context, their development and production histories. Particular emphasis will be placed upon the evolving relationship between theatre and its audience. May be of particular interest to students in other departments. Students with credit for FPA 257W may not take this course for further credit.

CA 357W-3 Context of Theatre ll - W and B-Hum - B effective May 2013

  • A conceptual approach to a selected body of dramatic work. The detailed structural analysis of dramatic texts, their historical context, their development and production histories. Particular emphasis will be placed upon the evolving relationship between theatre and its audience. May be of particular interest to students in other departments. Prerequisite: 24 lower division units or prior approval. Students with credit for FPA 357W may not take this course for further credit.

DIAL 390W-5 Undergraduate Semester: Dialogue - W and B-Soc or B-Hum - B-Hum option effective May 2012

  • The Dialogue component of the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue will immerse students in the art and practice of thinking and communicating. The focus will be on strategies and methods to use in understanding diverse perspectives. Students will have an opportunity to expand their verbal and written communication skills as well as explore dialogue as a developing academic field. Prerequisite: 45 units. Students should apply prior to the term in which they wish to enrol. Students can be accepted into either the Summer Institute in Dialogue (DIAL 390W and 391W, 10 units) or the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue (fall or spring term, DIAL 390W, 391W and 392W, 15 units), but not both.

DIAL 391W-5 Undergraduate Semester: Seminar - W and B-Soc or B-Hum - B-Hum option effective May 2012

  • Topics covered each term will vary, but generally each course will examine a subject that encourages broad approaches and probes provocative issues. The course will consist of discussions led by faculty, frequent visits from relevant off-campus experts, a heavy reading load, and a number of individual and group student projects. Learning will be active rather than passive, stimulating students to research, explore and discuss rather than following a lecture format. Prerequisite: 45 units. Students should apply prior to the term in which they wish to enrol. Students can be accepted into either the Summer Institute in Dialogue (DIAL 390W and 391W, 10 units) or the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue (fall or spring semester, DIAL 390W, 391W and 392W, 15 units) but not both.

DIAL 392W-5 Undergraduate Semester: Final Project - W and B-Soc or B-Hum - B-Hum option effective September 2012

  • For their final project, each student will produce a manuscript suitable for submission to a major public media outlet on a topic relevant to the course focus for that term. Prerequisite: 45 units. Students should apply prior to the term in which they wish to enrol. Students can be accepted into either the Summer Institute in Dialogue (DIAL 390W and 391W, 10 units) or the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue (fall or spring semester, DIAL 390W, 391W and 392W, 15 units), but not both.

EDUC 100W-3 Selected Questions and Issues in Education - W and B-Hum

  • An introductory course designed to explore a range of educationally important ideas and is aimed at students who may or may not be interested in pursuing educational studies. Selected issues and questions relating to the concept or idea of education, in conjunction with those that arise from students’ discussions and interests, will be explored in a variety of ways.

ENGL 111W-3 Literary Classics - W and B-Hum - effective September 2016

  • Examines literary “classics”, variously defined, apprehending them both on their own terms and within larger critical conversations. May incorporate the comparative study of work in related artistic fields and engage relevant media trends. Includes attention to writing skills. Students with credit for ENGL 101W may not take this course for further credit.

ENGL 112W-3 Literature Now - W and B-Hum - effective September 2016

  • AIntroduces students to contemporary works of literature in English and/or contemporary approaches to interpreting literature. May focus on one or multiple genres. Includes attention to writing skills.

ENGL 113W-3 Literature and Performance - W and B-Hum - effective September 2016

  • Introduces students to plays and performance works created and adapted for the stage, and/or the performative dimensions of other literary forms. May be organized historically, generically or thematically. The course may also explore the links between literary and performance theory. Includes attention to writing skills. Students with credit for ENGL 103W may not take this course for further credit.

ENGL 114W-3 Language and Purpose - W and B-Hum - effective September 2016

  • Introduces students to the relationships between writing and purpose, between the features of texts and their meaning and effects. May focus on one or more literary or non-literary genres, including (but not limited to) essays, oratory, autobiography, poetry, and journalism. Includes attention to writing skills. Students with credit for ENGL 104W may not take this course for further credit.

ENGL 115W-3 Literature and Culture - W and B-Hum - effective September 2016

  • An introduction to the study of literature within the wider cultural field, with a focus on contemporary issues across genres and media. Students with credit for ENGL 105W may not take this course for further credit.

ENSC 100W-3 Engineering Technology and Society - W and B-Sci or B-Hum - B-Hum option effective September 2010

  • This course is designed to provide an introduction to the practice of engineering, surveying its history and its current state. The social and political aspects of engineering decisions will be illustrated by a number of case studies. Corequisite: ENSC 101W-1 Writing Process, Persuasion and Presentations.

HIST 102W-3 Canada Since Confederation - W and B-Hum

  • Canadian social, political, and economic history from 1867, examining aboriginal/settler relations, immigration, regionalism, foreign policy, economic development, culture, and political movements.

HIST/IS 209W-3 Latin America: the National Period - W and B-Hum/Soc - W and B-Soc effective January 2015

  • A survey of Latin American history from Independence (1808-24) to the present: post-Independence political collapse and reconsolidation; Latin America in the world trade system and the changing conditions of economic dependency; nationalist reform (Mexico) and socialist revolution (Cuba), liberalism, populism, and the rise of modernizing military. Treatment by topics and broad historical period rather than country by country. Students who have taken IS 209W cannot take HIST 209W for further credit and vice-versa.

HIST 214W Quebec, Society, Culture and Politics (3) - W and B-Hum

  • Covers Quebec history from the French regime to the recent past, focusing on the evolution of cultural identity, on the nationalist movement, and on the long-standing tension between tradition and modernity. Students who have taken HIST 214W or HIST 328 may not take this course for further credit.

HUM 101W-3 Introduction to the Humanities - W and B-Hum

  • An exploration of some of the most important ideas and creations that individual minds have conceived from antiquity to our own day, in order to question and understand human society, past and present. The humanities is comprised of those academic disciplines concerned with the study of the human condition (i.e. with what it means to be human).

HUM 102W-3 Classical Mythology - W and B-Hum

  • An introduction to the central myths of the Greeks and Romans. The course investigates the nature, function, and meaning of myths in the classical world and their considerable influence on western civilization.

HUM 302W-4 The Golden Age of Greece: an Integrated Society - W and B-Hum

  • The study, through an examination of art, architecture and writings, of Athenian society in the 5th century BC, a period unique in the record of human achievement during which virtually all the major humanistic fields were either initiated or received significant new impetus. Prerequisite: 45 units.

HUM 312W-4 Renaissance Studies - W and B-Hum - B effective January 2015

  • A detailed interdisciplinary analysis of a selected topic, issue, or personality from the Italian and/or Northern Renaissance. Students with credit for HUM 312 may not take this course for further credit. Prerequisite: 45 units.

HUM 321W-4 The Humanities and Critical Thinking - W and B-Hum - W effective January 2012

  • A study of the counter-traditions within western civilization. Compares and contrasts diverse traditions within western culture that critique its central value systems. It will focus on the attempts of great artists and thinkers to break with tradition, and the subsequent creation of new ideas and forms of experience and expression. Prerequisite: 45 units.

IAT 206W-3 Media Across Cultures - W and B-Hum - W effective January 2012

  • Introduces a discursive framework for media, design and cultural interfaces enabling students to interpret, negotiate, and engage with new media with an awareness of the significance of cultural and contextual difference. Assessment is based on written and project work. Prerequisite: completion of 18 units.

INDG 110W International Indigenous Lifewriting - W and B-Hum - W effective January 2017; B effective May 2017

  • Exploration of Indigenous forms of research and inquiry (ie. genealogies, oral story-telling, autobiographies). Examine and explore life stories of Indigenous authors from around the world.

INDG 201W Canadian Aboriginal Peoples' Perspectives on History - W and B-Hum - B effective January 2008; W effective September 2015

  • An examination of fact and ideology in history and historic events involving contact between Aboriginal and European peoples. The course will also address questions of research methodologies in studying Aboriginal/European relations, such as the evaluation of oral history and written ethnohistoric sources. An additional focus will be on gender as it influences perspectives.

MATH 160W - Mathematics in Action (3) – W, Q and B-Sci

  • Students take an active role in modeling mathematics of change through a guided, investigative, discovery-based approach of learning that mimics past and present research methods in mathematics. The course is divided into several modules, each of which centers around a major application in mathematics using calculus such as logistic growth (e.g. spread of diseases), optimization (e.g. cost effective oil pipe line routes), approximation (e.g. security system design), area calculation (e.g. tile design) and volume calculation (e.g. optimal ice cream cone) as well as a function review module and calculus history module. The history module allows students to gain a broad understanding of the developments of calculus and how this branch of mathematics helped to shape other branches of mathematics as well as the sciences. The instructional approach emphasizes conceptual understanding over rote drill and students write, present, and defend their mathematical discoveries. Prerequisite: Pre-Calculus 12 or Foundations of Mathematics 12 (or equivalent) with a grade of at least B, or MATH 100 with a grade of at least C- and SFU FAN credit.

MATH 178W - Fractals and Chaos (3) – W, Q and B-Sci

  • Introduction to fractal geometry and chaos theory, with a survey of applications of these topics in modern mathematics and in other areas outside of mathematics including music, art, computer graphics, finance, and the sciences. Designed to be accessible to students with only high school mathematics. Prerequisite: Pre-Calculus 12 or Foundations of Mathematics 12 (or equivalent) with a grade of at least B, or MATH 100 with a grade of at least C-.

PHIL 100W-3 Knowledge and Reality - W and B-Hum

  • An introduction to some of the central problems of philosophy. Topics to be discussed include the different theories of reality; the nature and sources of knowledge, truth, evidence, and reason; the justification of belief and knowledge about the universe. These topics and problems will be considered as they arise in the context of issues such as: relativism versus absolutism; the existence of God; personal identity; the nature of the mind and its relation to the body; free will and determinism; the possibility of moral knowledge.

PHIL 120W-3 Moral and Legal Problems - W and B-Hum

  • A critical examination of a range of questions and problems we confront as moral agents, such as: the nature and scope of our moral responsibilities, the source of our moral and civil rights, and the role of moral emotions, like resentment, love and forgiveness.

POL 101W-3 Introduction to Politics and Government - W and B-Soc

  • A comprehensive introduction to the study of politics and government for both political science majors and students specializing in other disciplines. The course will explore the major concepts, methods, approaches and issues in political science, as well as the primary components of government structure and the political process.

PSYC 109W-3 Brain, Mind and Society - W and B-Sci

  • Introduces the student to issues in Psychology by surveying the research on brain and behaviour and the implications of this work for individuals and society. Beginning with neurons, this course explores the transition to human experience.

SA 200W - Power, Conflict and Change in Canadian Society (SA) (4) – W and B-Soc

  • Examines Canadian society from the perspective of the social sciences. Students apply sociological and anthropological concepts to analyze issues in modern societies, focusing on Canada as a case. Topics include class structure, the nature of Canada's population, regional variation, gender relations, multiculturalism, and colonialism. Students with credit for SA 100W are not eligible to take this course for further credit

SA 302W-4 Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism - W and B-Soc

  • An introduction to the political economy and culture of capitalism in relation to global problems. Case studies may focus on issues of population, famine, disease, poverty, environmental destruction, social inequality, and nation-state violence. Resistance, rebellion and social movements in response to these problems also will be addressed. Highly Recommended: SA 101 or SA 150.

WL 101W-3 Writing About Literature - W and B-Hum - effective January 2011

  • Examines international migrancy, cultural identities, or cross-cultural influence in world literatures, while introducing the fundamentals of literary analysis and expository writing.

WL 102W-3 Literature Across Cultures - W and B-Hum - W effective May 2015

  • Introduction to the study of literary texts from diverse linguistic and cultural origins. May examine the literature of cross-cultural interaction, or compare texts through thematic topics.

WL 103W-3 Early World Literature - W and B-Hum - W effective January 2011

  • Surveys pre-modern texts of world literature.

WL 104W-3 Modern World Literature - W and B-Hum - W effective January 2011

  • Surveys poetry and prose from the 17th century to the present, with a focus on the literary exploration of issues of humanity.

WL 105W-3 World Literature Lab - W and B-Hum - W effective September 2016; B effective September 2017

  • Incorporates academic and creative writing assignments through hands-on exploration of language, literacy, and literature across cultures. Includes translation exercises and writing workshops. Additional language fluency highly recommended but not required.

WL 305W-3 Sages and Poets - W and B-Hum - W effective January 2011; B effective September 2014

  • Showcases the insights, visions, and struggles of sages and poets across the ages in world literature. Focuses on how these figures push the limits of language, embark on mystical quests, explore ideas of faith, or create supernatural worlds. Prerequisite: 45 units.