Coding of Courses
Courses that contribute to the fulfillment of general education requirements may have one or more of the following codes associated with them:
| Code | Description | Type of Requirement |
| ALP | Arts, Literatures, and Performance | Areas of Knowledge |
| CCI | Cross-Cultural Inquiry | Modes of Inquiry |
| CZ | Civilizations | Areas of Knowledge |
| EI | Ethical Inquiry | Modes of Inquiry |
| FL | Foreign Languages | Modes of Inquiry |
| M | Mathematics | Areas of Knowledge (Pre-May 2004 requirement) |
| NS | Natural Sciences | Areas of Knowledge |
| QID | Quantitative, Inductive, and Deductive Reasoning | Modes of Inquiry (Pre-May 2004 requirement) |
| QS | Quantitative Studies | Areas of Knowledge |
| R | Research | Modes of Inquiry |
| SS | Social Sciences | Areas of Knowledge |
| STS | Science, Technology, and Society | Modes of Inquiry |
| W | Writing | Modes of Inquiry |
How courses come to have the codes they have
Courses in Trinity College are assigned curricular codes through a process that begins at the department or program level with a proposal that a course bear certain codes. The proposal, depending upon the department or program, may originate with the individual instructor, with the director of undergraduate studies, or may emerge through a consultative process involving both. The department then submits the proposed codes for consideration by the Arts and Sciences Committee on Courses, which must approve codes.
Courses in Trinity College may have at most two Areas of Knowledge and no more than three Modes of Inquiry codes. Because of these limits, coding involves decisions as to which of the various codes best reflect the course content at the time the set of codes is approved. If the content (or the instructor) of a course later changes, such that the set of codes that the course bears no longer accurately reflects the course content, the codes may be changed. This can happen, however, only following reconsideration by the Courses Committee. The following policies govern the coding of courses:
- Course code requests by departments must be made before the beginning of the semester in which the course is offered.
- Code changes cannot be made on an ad hoc basis while a course is in progress.
- Changes, once approved, may not be applied retroactively to a course.
In short: The codes students are entitled to have applied toward their general education requirements are those codes in place at the time the student took the course.
How to find the curriculum codes for a given course
There are several ways to find curriculum codes:
- Log in to ACES Web, go to your bookbag, click on a course selection, and move your cursor over the "info" icon (a pop-up window will display the codes).
- Search for a course using the ACES Schedule Search page, click the desired course, and move your cursor over the "info" icon. You can also search for courses by curriculum code.
- Go to registrar.duke.edu, click on "Schedule of Courses," click on the semester of the course you are looking up, find the course, and move your cursor over the "info" icon.