About Reflections

Room 4E.15 (fourth floor, at the end of the E-wing)

Reflections is a Special Area of Study dedicated to interdisciplinary explorations of seminal works in literature, philosophy, social sciences, and the arts. We offer challenging courses in seminar-style settings where students can earn English, Humanities, French, Social Science disciplines, and complementary course credits. Since its establishment in 1970, Reflections has strived to form a community of motivated people to learn about Great Works from the Ancient World until today. All our seminars take place in 4E.15, a comfortable room filled with couches, big windows, and student art, where you can also spend time in between classes.

Reflections seminars are designed as paired-courses in a seminar that integrates two credits you earn during the semester. Paired courses allow you to examine the same topic from multiple perspectives. You might, for example, take a course on Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, which examines the book from both a Humanities and an English point of view. Alternatively, you may enroll in a Reflections seminar on classic cinema, which analyzes the same films as examples of scriptwriting for a French credit and studies their philosophical underpinnings for a Humanities class. You might also choose to take a History seminar, which studies Crime and Society from both European and First Nations traditions.

Students in any program may register for one or more Reflections seminars. Students typically take one or two of our seminars per semester (therefore earning up to four credits per semester). Enrolling in a Reflections seminar is on a semester-by-semester basis, and you are always free to choose whether or not you would like to take another one.

Reflections emphasizes close reading of challenging texts, extensive class discussion, and many written projects, which often include options for online and creative work. All our seminars take place in 4E.15, where students can also spend time in between classes discussing course material and building our intellectual community. Our graduates come back from university to report that they feel well-prepared because they learned in Reflections how to read difficult material, how to be critical, how to speak in class, and how to write effective essays.

If you have any questions, please contact Reflections Administrative Assistant, Gabrielle Bernardin, at gbernardin@dawsoncollege.qc.ca.