A syllabus is a curated sequence of Quarex books that forms a structured argument about how to understand a field. The order matters. Each course builds on the previous one. A syllabus is not a collection — it is a curriculum.
In the Knowable Online University, a syllabus sits within a larger organizational hierarchy. It connects the university structure to the Quarex knowledge engine:
A School defines a domain (e.g., School of Public Studies). A Program defines a discipline within that school (e.g., Women's Studies). A Syllabus is the specific curriculum — the ordered list of courses a learner follows. Each Course corresponds to one Quarex book.
The Women's Studies syllabus is the first curriculum published through the School of Public Studies. It contains 15 courses (each a Quarex book), with a total of 215 chapters. The sequence starts with foundational concepts and progresses through history, law, health, media, work, and global rights.
The order is deliberate. The syllabus opens with "What is Feminism?" because you need a definition before you can study history. It moves to centuries of struggle, then into American politics grounded by two biographies — Eleanor Roosevelt and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Intersectionality arrives at course 6, reframing everything that came before. Workplace, science, family, violence, and health follow as concrete domains. The curriculum closes with media representation and global rights — pulling the lens outward to the widest view.
This isn't a random reading list. It's a structured argument about how to understand women's studies. A different curator might sequence the courses differently — and that different sequence would constitute a different argument.
Here is the complete zoom path from university to individual question, using a real example from the Women's Studies syllabus:
Seven levels of zoom. From the broadest institutional frame to a single question. At no point do you lose orientation. You always know where you are.
Quarex libraries organize books by type and subject. You browse them like a library — by shelf, by tag, by topic. There is no implied order. You pick what interests you.
A syllabus takes books from across the Quarex system and arranges them in a specific order for a specific purpose. The same book can appear in multiple syllabi. Sojourner Truth is a biography in the Knowledge Libraries, but it's also Course 13 in the Women's Studies syllabus. Context changes meaning.
The next syllabus in development is Black Studies: 18 courses tracing African civilizations through slavery, reconstruction, civil rights, and the contemporary era. Additional syllabi are planned as the university grows.