After you register for your first course at Harvard Extension School (HES), you will have access to a number of academic support programs and services to help you along your education journey:
The Writing Center
The Writing Center offers one-on-one tutorials to registered HES students working on writing assignments related to their HES coursework.
You don’t need to have a complete draft of your paper to use the Writing Center. They can help you at any stage of the writing process. Writing Center tutors offer guidance on developing arguments, organizing essays, and writing clearly. Their goal is to help students develop their writing skills and gain confidence as writers.
What To Expect at a Writing Center Appointment
To make the most productive use of the Writing Center, you should book appointments at the point in your writing process when you are ready to actively engage in a conversation with a tutor about your ideas. Tutors do not edit or proofread your writing, and they will not tell you how to revise your paper. Instead, they will help you meet your own writing goals.
Writing Center conferences should not be a substitute for your own writing process, and we expect that you will use what you learn at the Writing Center to become a stronger reader and editor of your own writing.
Tutors offer help with the following aspects of the writing process:
- Understanding the expectations of your assignment
- Argument, structure, and clarity of your draft
- Identify recurring problems with grammar and syntax
- General help with the process of drafting and revising
- How to approach the research paper
All of the work that you submit for courses at HES must be your own work. Tutors will offer feedback and help you think about how to revise your work, but they will not do the writing for you. The goal is to help you become a better writer and editor of your own work.
Take-Home Exams. If you are working on a take-home examination, you need to email The Writing Center written permission from your instructor indicating that you are allowed to work with a writing tutor. You can ask the instructor to email you directly, and you can forward this email to the center.
You do not need permission to work with the center on regular course assignments.
Scheduling Appointments
The Writing Center offers online Zoom appointments. You can only schedule appointments when HES fall, January, and spring classes are officially in session.
Registered HES students can book up to 12 appointments during the semester. You can see three weeks of the schedule at a time, and new appointments are posted on Fridays at 9 a.m. Eastern Time.
If you do not see an appointment that works for your schedule, you can add yourself to the standby list by following the instructions in the “help” section.
If you need to cancel your appointment, please do so in advance and through the online scheduler so that another student can use the appointment.
Online Scheduler: To schedule a time, visit the Writing Center online scheduler. You can both book and cancel appointments at this site.
Contact the Writing Center
If you have questions about the Writing Center, please send an email to DCEWriting@gmail.com. Someone will respond as soon as possible. Email is the best way to reach The Writing Center.
If you wish to cancel your appointment, you can do so through the online scheduler.
Online Writing Resources and Citing Sources
General Writing Advice
The Harvard College Writing Program also provides a number of writing resources. Sources include the HarvardWrites site, which features Harvard faculty talking about academic writing; handouts on various aspects of the essay writing process (developing a thesis, tips on grammar, conclusions); and discipline-specific writing guides.
The Harvard Extension School Career and Academic Resource Center offers webinars on a variety of academic topics including writing. You can view their past series of videos about aspects of the writing process. You can also find out about upcoming webinars.
English Language Advice
The Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) offers many useful English language resources.
Using and Citing Sources
Harvard Guide to Using Sources.
The Harvard Library supports the following citation tools:
- EndNote. This highly customizable research management software helps you save and organize your references for citation and bibliographies.
- Perma.cc. Need to cite a website? Use this citation tool to prevent link rot and content drift by capturing and saving websites.
- Zotero. An easy-to-use citation tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research.
The Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) is a comprehensive source of information about the research and writing process.
Also see the academic integrity policies and using sources effectively and responsibly.
The Math Question Center
As you navigate through your math courses here at HES, remember that the best way to learn math is to do math. It is important that you put forth your best effort to complete course assignments on your own, but we understand that there may be times when you need extra support. The Math Question Center (MQC) is a resource for you.
If you find yourself wrestling with a math problem to reach new levels of understanding, that is a great sign of growth. However, if you are feeling frustrated and confused, do not hesitate to reach out to the MQC tutors for help. Asking for assistance is a sign of strength, not weakness.
The MQC supports Harvard Extension students with:
- Mathematics up through Calculus.
- Introductory and Intermediate Statistics.
- Review of basic math concepts needed for success in introductory courses in other fields of study, including economics, chemistry, and physics.
Access to the Math Question Center
The MQC is an online resource. Tutoring sessions are held via Zoom. Connect through the MQC’s Canvas website for information about drop-in hours, and to schedule one-on-one appointments with the center’s dedicated tutors.
Contact the Math Question Center
If you have any questions or comments about the center, email Carolyn Gardner-Thomas, director of the Math for Teaching Graduate Program at the Harvard Extension School.
Tutoring
Writing and math tutors are available for local and distance students through the Writing and Math Question Centers (listed above). For other subjects and for a fee, you can contact Harvard Student Agencies.
We also recommend contacting your teaching fellow or instructor and consider forming a study group.
Degree Candidate and Premedical Program Coaching and Tutoring Resources
The Academic Resource Center (ARC) at Harvard University provides subject-matter tutoring and individual academic coaching, via both Zoom and in-person appointments, to a limited number of degree candidates and Premedical Program participants on a referral basis. Talk to your academic advisor.
Coaching: You can explore potential difficulties and blocks to your learning with an academic coach. This can be particularly helpful if you have trouble with executive function and self-regulation skills, including focus and concentration, time management, or perfectionism.
Tutoring: You can be matched with a Harvard College student to support your basic economics, foreign language, math, and science learning. The maximum tutoring hours per week are four hours.
For more information, please review the ARC Information and Referral Form.
Online Study Skills Tools
You can access the Career and Academic Resource Center site to take:
- Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) to obtain an assessment of your current study skills and habits.
- Becoming a Strategic Learner, a longer set of modules that teach you proven study skills techniques that can help ensure strong academic performance.
Both tools have been created after extensive research, development, and testing.
Refresh Your Writing Skills
Has it been a few years since you were in a classroom?
In this webinar recording from CARC, the director of the Harvard College Writing Center will give you essential tips that you can apply to your writing to make it concise and more effective.
In this brief video, a Preceptor in Expository Writing talks about best practices around sentence structure. These tips can help you focus your writing and prepare you for many different types of writing assignments.
