Many programs have a number of elective credits that you can use to fulfil the requirements of a minor or an option.
You can also consider enrolling in an interdisciplinary course to expand your knowledge beyond your own area of study and connect with students outside of your program.
As you're exploring options, minors and interdisciplinary courses, make sure you also confirm your requirements and seek academic advice.
A minor is a secondary area of concentration requiring at least 3.0 credits or equivalent in a subject different from your honours program(s). Many programs can be taken as minors, and we also offer a wide range of interdisciplinary minors. It's up to you to ensure that you meet all the requirements of the minor.
Note: Some minors are only available at specific campuses. Not all minors can be added to every program.
An option is an enhanced minor that you can incorporate into your degree program. Options range from six to 10 courses and can be added to many of our programs.
Note: Some options are only available at specific campuses. Not all options can be added to every program.
Interdisciplinary courses engage with issues, problems or knowledge that can't be addressed within a single disciplinary context. These courses consider how different disciplinary backgrounds approach issues and looks to engage in developing solutions that respond holistically.
By enrolling in an interdisciplinary course, you can expand your knowledge beyond your own area of study to address issues that you are interested in. The interdisciplinary environment allows you to connect with students outside of your program, and develop deeper skills around team work, critical thinking and problem solving.
First-year seminars provide an intensive and collaborative, small-group learning experience in which students develop core academic skills in research, critical thinking, writing and communication. Topics or themes vary among seminars and instructors, but all seminars promote the acquisition of skills necessary for academic work in the humanities and social sciences. Available only to first-year students in the Faculty of Arts.
0.5 Credit
Prerequisite: Registration status year one.
This course aims to support incoming first-year Arts students in establishing the necessary skills and strategies to navigate the transition from the high-school learning environment. Given the differences in things like workload, level of independence, and skills required for success, the move from high school to university is always a challenge. For some, this challenge may be even greater due to the amount of remote learning done during the pandemic. Increased awareness of the differences between the two learning environments, greater clarity about university expectations, as well as a preliminary effort to build the necessary skills, will lay important groundwork for student success in first year, as well as build a foundation for success in future years.
0.5 Credit
Prerequisite: Registration status year one and above registered in a Faculty of Arts program.
This course is designed to help students develop foundational descriptive and evaluative writing skills including summarizing, paraphrasing, and developing arguments. Students will develop a knowledge of different strategies for writing clearly, concisely and with correct grammar.
0.5 Credit
Prerequisite: Registration status year one and above registered in a Faculty of Arts program.
This course is designed on the idea that one of the most important skills for you to master as a university student is reading. Reading takes on a central role in your approach to learning, and requires an active level of engagement with texts, which will ensure comprehension, and guide your approach to reading. By the end of this course, you will have an increased ability to critically engage with any text and relate information that you read to other readings, ideas, and themes presented in your other courses. This will also ensure that you will become a more critical thinker who engages with course content and subsequently becomes a better writer, since reading is the foundation for both skills. AF224, therefore, has reading, critical thinking and writing as its core subjects – but we will also engage in refreshing other skills to help you to become a competent and confident university student.
0.5 Credit
Prerequisite: Reserved for students in the Strategies for Academic Success (SAS) program.
A Laurier faculty-led international travel course. Classes are small (about 20 students). Course locations and descriptions, along with learning objectives and outcomes, will be announced in the fall term.
1.0 Credit
Typically offered spring term.
This course is designed to increase awareness of the professional decision-making process, explore career choices, and expand understanding of the relationship between arts education and the world of work. Emphasis will be placed on engaging in self-assessment related to career and professional development and providing tools to help students become fully prepared for the school-to-work transition. Students will be encouraged to develop the skills, knowledge, and confidence to conduct a job search in the short term and create a longer-term career development plan. Together, students will identify their distinctive values, skills, strengths, and goals, recognize the value of an arts degree, and discover many of the opportunities available in their career options.
0.5 Credit
Prerequisite: Registration status year three or four and above registered in a Faculty of Arts program.
This course will train senior students in essential skills related to the teaching of writing. The instructor will teach students how to teach writing to their peers. Students will develop skills relating to writing knowledge, teaching writing, teaching and facilitation skills, and lesson planning for tutorials. Following this course, students will have the opportunity to apply for a paid IA position utilizing their newly established skills.
0.5 Credit
Prerequisite: Registration status year three or four and above registered in a Faculty of Arts program.
Computational Thinking Across Disciplines is an introduction to computational thinking as a way of thinking across a variety of disciplines. The course is designed to develop and enhance problem-solving skills and computer coding abilities at a variety of levels, while addressing issues that are directly of interest to the learner and individual areas of study. The course is a combination of online learning modules and face to face lab experiences.
0.5 Credit
Prerequisites: At least 5.0 credits at the 100 level.
This course explores how reflective learning methods can drive meaningful learning from experience. Students will learn tools to critically reflect on their co-curricular leadership, service, volunteer, and/or work experiences and achievements through the lens of the Laurier competency framework. Through application of these tools, students will become more self-aware and begin to articulate future-ready competencies and skills, which lay a solid foundation for successful transition into the workplace. Course delivery is a combination of online modules and in-class experiences.
0.5 Credit
The Canadian Criminal Code requires additional factors to be considered when sentencing Indigenous offenders. This online course takes a comprehensive look at Gladue Principles of justice from a historical, contemporary, practical and critical lens. Examples of how the Canadian Criminal Code Gladue Section 718.2(e) has opened up space for engagement with and integration of Indigenous legal orders and modes of achieving justice will be included, as well as exploration of arguments in support of broad structural change.
The credit course is designed as a comprehensive as well as a critical look at Gladue for students whose anticipated career paths may bring them into contact with a Gladue court or the need for information or context pertaining to an Indigenous person’s background and life circumstances. Initial exploration of this topic was based on feedback received from attorneys, court workers and a judge who encouraged the development of new educational supports designed to increase development of knowledge and understanding in a complex and often-misunderstood area of the criminal code.
This is a 1.0 credit course (comparable to six-credit-weighting at some institutions) offered over one term.
If you are unclear on this course-weight or how it will fit with your schedule, consult with Academic Advising for advice.
Laurier students may register for this course through LORIS. Non-Laurier students may register for this course using a Letter of Permission.
Students who complete the credit course with a 70% or higher are granted the Gladue Principles Certificate (non-credit) from the Centre for Public Safety and Well-Being in addition to receiving the credit on their transcript. Eligible students will receive their certificate by email after the completion of the course.
The following six-week (0.25 credit) courses are developed jointly between Laurier and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), designed to introduce key global challenges to lawfulness as designated by the UNODC.
These courses can be applied to the Global Crime and Justice Certificate offered by the Centre for Public Safety and Well-Being.
A hands-on seminar that integrates across the different disciplines involved in international policy. Guest speakers and case simulations will bring real-world policy issues to the classroom. An active, collaborative and problem-based approach will prepare students for further study and employment in the field.
0.5 Credit
Co-requisites: Registration status: Year 3 or Year 4 and completion of EC120; EC140; GS101 or HR163; PO245 or HR223/DMJN223; and PO231 or PO232 or HR328, or permission of the School of International Policy and Governance.
This course will introduce students to mental health literacy and its goals of recognizing, managing, and strengthening mental health, and ending stigma. Focusing on the emerging adult population, this course considers the cognitive and socio-behavioural skills and capacities that contribute to mental health within the broader spectra of health in our changing world. Students will consider mental health literacy at the individual level as well as at the community level. This course is not intended to be a substitute for counselling, and it does not qualify students to act as mental health professionals upon completion
0.5 credit (Exclusions: HS302)
The course provides an interdisciplinary introduction to the topic of sustainability and is designed to be accessible and career relevant for students from all faculties. The focus is on understanding the challenges of sustainability with respect to different spheres (e.g., ecological, economic, socio-cultural) and at different scales from personal to global. Guest lecturers will explore sustainability from a variety of perspectives and students will develop their own plans of action to address concrete sustainability issues.
0.5 Credit
Introduction to core concepts, theories and competencies that serve as underpinnings for effective community engagement and service. Topics include ethical conduct, academic integrity, community service learning, civic engagement, career skills and professionalism. This is a practical course that provides a foundation for undertaking further experiential education opportunities. (Virtual Asynchronous only)
0.5 Credit
The Interdisciplinary Course Committee determines the theme of this course, consisting of lectures and seminars.
0.5 Credit
Prerequisites: Year 3 or Year 4 student with a minimum GPA of 9.00. Submission of an application to the IC committee required.
An Interdisciplinary course focused on Positive Education which seeks to embed the principles and practices of strength-based methods/methodology and promote flourishing learning environments for students and educators. In this course, learners will explore individual and collective strengths to optimize institutional culture and maximize teaching and learning potential. (Virtual Asynchronous only)
0.5 Credit
Prerequisites: Registration status: Senior Student
This course invites students to engage in guided critical reflection of selected co-curricular experiences and achievements (e.g. leadership, service, volunteer, work experiences), or other experiential learning opportunities that take place outside of the university classroom. Students will identify personally relevant experiences, and using the lens of the Laurier competency framework, will articulate the competencies and transferrable skills derived from critical reflection on learning experiences. Course delivery is a combination of online learning modules and in-class learning experiences.
0.5 Credit
Prerequisites: UU299
This course consists of two intensive, weekend seminars, combined with individual (or group) projects supervised by a member of the UU400 committee. The course is open to students in most disciplines, for example sociology, anthropology, languages and literatures, history. Submission of an application to the committee required.
0.5 Credit
Prerequisites: Year 4 student with a minimum GPA of 9.00.
This two-semester course is an independent thesis under the direct supervision of a faculty member. Students work with their supervisor to select a topic, design the project, receive research ethics board permission as appropriate, and collect and analyze data. The research project culminates in an oral presentation and a formal report.
1.0 Credit
Prerequisites: Registration status: Year 4 student with a minimum GPA of 9.00 in any Honours major in a FHSS department or program or who is completing a FHSS minor or option in conjunction with a FHSS major. Permission needed from a FHSS full-time faculty member who agrees to supervise your thesis. Completion of PS295 and PS296, or OL/CC/HS 233, or equivalent 200-level or higher research methods/statistics course as appropriate to the disciplinary focus of their thesis project. Prior completion of, or concurrent registration in, more advanced methods and/or statistics courses may prove useful to the student depending on the thesis project.
Exclusions: CC420; HS401; PS499; Thesis courses offered through other Laurier departments and programs.
