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How can I find a Harvard thesis or dissertation?

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Start with HOLLIS (HarvardKey login required for some full text, including theses & dissertations)

Those presented for graduate degrees
Bowdoin prize essays
Undergraduate honors theses

How do you know if it's available online?

“View Online” button links out to full text.
If there's no "View Online" button, the work probably has not been digitized.

What Harvard theses and dissertations can you expect to find online in full text? How do you get to them?

Follow the links in HOLLIS.
Not a Harvard affiliate? log in through the library of your academic institution OR
you can usually purchase directly from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Express.
undergraduates are not required to submit theses or prizewinning papers to DASH
Harvard Extension School ALM theses 2012-2016 were not entered into DASH.
Under certain circumstances dissertations may be embargoed by the author; DASH may be the only place this information is given.

If the work hasn't been digitized:

You can order PDFs or photocopies of most Harvard theses and dissertations (unless they're available through the Proquest database linked above) from 1873 through November 2011 (and ALM theses to 2016)

See our Reproduction Requests page to register
When you submit the online order form, Imaging Services staff will reply with cost and delivery information.
Questions about the online ordering process or pricing? Contact Imaging Services staff directly for additional information at 617/495-3995 or [email protected] (M-F, 9-5 Eastern)

For Extension School ALM theses check out our Library Guide for Harvard Extension School theses page

Want to view a dissertation or thesis at the library? Check with the archival collection location listed in HOLLIS.

Wondering what dissertations and theses have been submitted in the recent past? Use DASH .

For more on undergraduate theses and dissertations, see our " How can I locate a Harvard undergraduate thesis?" FAQ.

Looking for non-Harvard theses & dissertations? See our "How can I find theses and dissertations?" FAQ.

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Dissertations

Most Harvard PhD dissertations from 2012 forward are available online in DASH , Harvard’s central open-access repository and are linked below. Many older dissertations can be found on ProQuest Dissertation and Theses Search which many university libraries subscribe to.

Dissertation

Requirements, deadlines, and other information on preparing and submitting a dissertation.

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PhD candidates must successfully complete and submit a dissertation to qualify for degree conferral. It is perhaps the most important and far-reaching undertaking in the entire doctoral program, having an impact that extends well beyond graduate studies.

Requirements and Deadlines

Each graduate program maintains specific requirements for the content and evaluation of the dissertation. Be sure to review your program’s departmental requirements prior to beginning the process. You should also review Harvard Griffin GSAS’s dissertation policies for important information about formatting, submission, and publishing and distribution options, including embargoes.

Degrees are awarded in November, March, and May. Dissertation submission deadlines are noted in the Degree Calendar section of Policies .

Help with the Dissertation

Library research .

It’s never too early to start planning for your dissertation. The Harvard Library can help! The Library maintains a guide for graduate students engaged in scholarly writing titled the Writing Oasis . They also offer access to Overleaf , which is an online LaTeX and Rich Text collaborative writing and publishing tool that makes the process of academic writing, editing, and publishing quicker and easier. Overleaf has a section on Writing Your Dissertation that you may find useful.

Writing

Students can find support with planning and preparing to write the dissertation from their academic advisors and programs. The Fellowships & Writing Center also offers workshops on various aspects of dissertation writing, holds brainstorming office hours during which students may discuss their dissertations, and provides written feedback on dissertation chapters.

Dissertation Completion Fellowships

Harvard Griffin GSAS provides a dissertation completion fellowship (DCF) for one academic year to eligible PhD students in the humanities and social sciences who anticipate completing their dissertations within the year. Find out more in Policies .

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The Thesis Process

The thesis is an opportunity to work independently on a research project of your own design and contribute to the scholarly literature in your field. You emerge from the thesis process with a solid understanding of how original research is executed and how to best communicate research results. Many students have gone on to publish their research in academic or professional journals.

To ensure affordability, the per-credit tuition rate for the 8-credit thesis is the same as our regular course tuition. There are no additional fees (regular per-credit graduate tuition x 8 credits).

Below are the steps that you need to follow to fulfill the thesis requirement. Please know that through each step, you will receive guidance and mentorship.

1. Determine Your Thesis Topic and Tentative Question

When you have completed between 24 and 32 credits, you work with your assigned research advisor to narrow down your academic interests to a relevant and manageable thesis topic. Log in to MyDCE , then ALB/ALM Community to schedule an appointment with your assigned research advisor via the Degree Candidate Portal.

Thesis Topic Selection

We’ve put together this guide to help frame your thinking about thesis topic selection.

Every effort is made to support your research interests that are grounded in your ALM course work, but faculty guidance is not available for all possible projects. Therefore, revision or a change of thesis topic may be necessary.

The point about topic selection is particularly pertinent to scientific research that is dependent upon laboratory space, project funding, and access to private databases. It is also critical for our candidates in ALM, liberal arts fields (English, government, history, international relations, psychology, etc.) who are required to have Harvard faculty direct their thesis projects. Review Harvard’s course catalog online ( my.harvard.edu ) to be sure that there are faculty teaching courses related to your thesis topic. If not, you’ll need to choose an alternative topic.
Your topic choice must be a new area of research for you. Thesis work represents thoughtful engagement in new academic scholarship. You cannot re-purpose prior research. If you want to draw or expand upon your own previous scholarship for a small portion of your thesis, you need to obtain the explicit permission of your research advisor and cite the work in both the proposal and thesis. Violations of this policy will be referred to the Administrative Board.

2. Prepare Prework for the Crafting the Thesis Proposal (CTP) Course or Tutorial

The next step in the process is to prepare and submit Prework in order to gain registration approval for the Crafting the Thesis Proposal (CTP) tutorial or course. The Prework process ensures that you have done enough prior reading and thinking about your thesis topic to benefit from the CTP.

The CTP provides an essential onramp to the thesis, mapping critical issues of research design, such as scope, relevance to the field, prior scholarly debate, methodology, and perhaps, metrics for evaluating impact as well as bench-marking. The CTP identifies and works through potential hurdles to successful thesis completion, allowing the thesis project to get off to a good start.

In addition to preparing, submitting, and having your Prework approved, to be eligible for the CTP, you need to be in good standing, have completed a minimum of 32 degree-applicable credits, including the statistics/research methods requirement (if pertinent to your field). You also need to have completed Engaging in Scholarly Conversation (if pertinent to your field). If you were admitted after 9/1/2023 Engaging in Scholarly Conversation (A and B) is required, if admitted before 9/1/2023 this series is encouraged.

Advising Note for Biology, Biotechnology, and Bioengineering and Nanotechnology Candidates : Thesis projects in these fields are designed to support ongoing scientific research happening in Harvard University, other academic institutions, or life science industry labs and usually these are done under the direction of a principal investigator (PI). Hence, you need to have a thesis director approved by your research advisor prior to submitting CTP prework. Your CTP prework is then framed by the lab’s research. Schedule an appointment with your research advisor a few months in advance of the CTP prework deadlines in order to discuss potential research projects and thesis director assignment.

CTP Prework is sent to our central email box: [email protected] between the following firm deadlines:

April 1 and June 1 for fall CTP
September 1 and November 1 for spring CTP.
August 1 and October 1 for the three-week January session (ALM sustainability candidates only)
International students who need a student visa to attend Harvard Summer School should submit their prework on January 1, so they can register for the CTP on March 1 and submit timely I-20 paperwork. See international students guidelines for more information.

Your research advisor will provide feedback on your prework submission to gain CTP registration approval. If your prework is not approved after 3 submissions, your research advisor cannot approve your CTP registration. If not approved, you’ll need to take additional time for further revisions, and submit new prework during the next CTP prework submission time period for the following term (if your five-year degree completion deadline allows).

3. Register and Successfully Complete the Crafting the Thesis Proposal Tutorial or Course

Once CTP prework is approved, you register for the Crafting the Thesis Proposal (CTP) course or tutorial as you would any other course. The goal of the CTP is to produce a complete, well-written draft of a proposal containing all of the sections required by your research advisor. Creating an academically strong thesis proposal sets the foundation for a high-quality thesis and helps garner the attention of a well-respected thesis director. The proposal is normally between 15 to 25 pages in length.

The CTP tutorial is not a course in the traditional sense. You work independently on your proposal with your research advisor by submitting multiple proposal drafts and scheduling individual appointments. You need to make self-directed progress on the proposal without special prompting from the research advisor. You receive a final grade of SAT or UNSAT (failing grade).

The CTP for sustainability is a three-week course in the traditional sense and you receive a letter grade, and it must be B- or higher to receive degree credit for the course.

You are expected to incorporate all of your research advisor’s feedback and be fully committed to producing an academically strong proposal leading to a thesis worthy of a Harvard degree. If you are unable to take advice from your research advisor, follow directions, or produce an acceptable proposal, you will not pass the CTP.

Successful CTP completion also includes a check on the proper use of sources according to our academic integrity guidelines. Violations of our academic integrity policy will be referred to the Administrative Board.

Maximum of two attempts . If you don’t pass that CTP, you’ll have — if your five-year, degree-completion date allows — just one more attempt to complete the CTP before being required to withdraw from the program. If you fail the CTP just once and have no more time to complete the degree, your candidacy will automatically expire. Please note that a WD grade counts as an attempt.

If by not passing the CTP you fall into poor academic standing, you will need to take additional degree-applicable courses to return to good standing before enrolling in the CTP for your second and final time, only if your five-year, degree-completion date allows. If you have no more time on your five-year clock, you will be required to withdraw.

Human Subjects

If your thesis, regardless of field, will involve the use of human subjects (e.g., interviews, surveys, observations), you will need to have your research vetted by the Committee on the Use of Human Subjects (CUHS) of Harvard University. Please review the IRB LIFECYCLE GUIDE located on the CUHS website. Your research advisor will help you prepare a draft copy of the project protocol form that you will need to send to CUHS. The vetting process needs to be started during the CTP tutorial, before a thesis director has been assigned.

4. Thesis Director Assignment and Thesis Registration

We expect you to be registered in thesis soon after CTP completion or within 3 months — no later. You cannot delay. It is critical that once a research project has been approved through the CTP process, the project must commence in a timely fashion to ensure the academic integrity of the thesis process.

Once you (1) successfully complete the CTP and (2) have your proposal officially approved by your research advisor (RA), you move to the thesis director assignment phase. Successful completion of the CTP is not the same as having an officially approved proposal. These are two distinct steps.

If you are a life science student (e.g., biology), your thesis director was identified prior to the CTP, and now you need the thesis director to approve the proposal.

The research advisor places you with a thesis director. Do not approach faculty to ask about directing your thesis. You may suggest names of any potential thesis directors to your research advisor, who will contact them, if they are eligible/available to direct your thesis, after you have an approved thesis proposal.

When a thesis director has been identified or the thesis proposal has been fully vetted by the preassigned life science thesis director, you will receive a letter of authorization from the Assistant Dean of Academic Programs officially approving your thesis work and providing you with instructions on how to register for the eight-credit Master’s Thesis. The letter will also have a tentative graduation date as well as four mandatory thesis submission dates (see Thesis Timetable below).

Continuous Registration Tip: If you want to maintain continued registration from CTP to thesis, you should meet with your RA prior to prework to settle on a workable topic, submit well-documented prework, work diligently throughout the CTP to produce a high-quality proposal that is ready to be matched with a thesis director as soon as the CTP is complete.

Good academic standing. You must be good academic standing to register for the thesis. If not, you’ll need to complete additional courses to bring your GPA up to the 3.0 minimum prior to registration.

Thesis Timetable

The thesis is a 9 to 12 month project that begins after the Crafting the Thesis Proposal (CTP); when your research advisor has approved your proposal and identified a Thesis Director.

The date for the appointment of your Thesis Director determines the graduation cycle that will be automatically assigned to you:

Once registered in the thesis, we will do a 3-month check-in with you and your thesis director to ensure progress is being made. If your thesis director reports little to no progress, the Dean of Academic Programs reserves the right to issue a thesis not complete (TNC) grade (see Thesis Grading below).

As you can see above, you do not submit your thesis all at once at the end, but in four phases: (1) complete draft to TA, (2) final draft to RA for format review and academic integrity check, (3) format approved draft submitted to TA for grading, and (4) upload your 100% complete graded thesis to ETDs.

Due dates for all phases for your assigned graduation cycle cannot be missed. You must submit materials by the date indicated by 5 PM EST (even if the date falls on a weekend). If you are late, you will not be able to graduate during your assigned cycle.

If you need additional time to complete your thesis after the date it is due to the Thesis Director (phase 1), you need to formally request an extension (which needs to be approved by your Director) by emailing that petition to: [email protected] . The maximum allotted time to write your thesis, including any granted extensions of time is 12 months.

Timing Tip: If you want to graduate in May, you should complete the CTP in the fall term two years prior or, if a sustainability student, in the January session one year prior. For example, to graduate in May 2025:

Complete the CTP in fall 2023 (or in January 2024, if a sustainability student)
Be assigned a thesis director (TD) in March/April 2024
Begin the 9-12 month thesis project with TD
Submit a complete draft of your thesis to your TD by February 1, 2025
Follow through with all other submission deadlines (April 1, April 15 and May 1 — see table above)
Graduate in May 2025

5. Conduct Thesis Research

When registered in the thesis, you work diligently and independently, following the advice of your thesis director, in a consistent, regular manner equivalent to full-time academic work to complete the research by your required timeline.

You are required to produce at least 50 pages of text (not including front matter and appendices). Chapter topics (e.g., introduction, background, methods, findings, conclusion) vary by field.

6. Format Review — Required of all Harvard Graduate Students and Part of Your Graduation Requirements

All ALM thesis projects must written in Microsoft Word and follow a specific Harvard University format. A properly formatted thesis is an explicit degree requirement; you cannot graduate without it.

Your research advisor will complete the format review prior to submitting your thesis to your director for final grading according to the Thesis Timetable (see above).

You must use our Microsoft Word ALM Thesis Template or Microsoft ALM Thesis Template Creative Writing (just for creative writing degree candidates). It has all the mandatory thesis formatting built in. Besides saving you a considerable amount of time as you write your thesis, the preprogrammed form ensures that your submitted thesis meets the mandatory style guidelines for margins, font, title page, table of contents, and chapter headings. If you use the template, format review should go smoothly, if not, a delayed graduation is highly likely.

Format review also includes a check on the proper use of sources according to our academic integrity guidelines. Violations of our academic integrity policy will be referred directly to the Administrative Board.

7. Mandatory Thesis Archiving — Required of all Harvard Graduate Students and Part of Your Graduation Requirements

Once your thesis is finalized, meaning that the required grade has been earned and all edits have been completed, you must upload your thesis to Harvard University’s electronic thesis and dissertation submission system (ETDs). Uploading your thesis ETDs is an explicit degree requirement; you cannot graduate without completing this step.

The thesis project will be sent to several downstream systems:

Your work will be preserved using Harvard’s digital repository DASH (Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard).
Metadata about your work will be sent to HOLLIS (the Harvard Library catalog).
Your work will be preserved in Harvard Library’s DRS2 (digital preservation repository).

By submitting work through ETDs @ Harvard you will be signing the Harvard Author Agreement. This license does not constrain your rights to publish your work subsequently. You retain all intellectual property rights.

For more information on Harvard’s open access initiatives, we recommend you view the Director of the Office of Scholarly Communication (OSC), Peter Suber’s brief introduction .

Thesis Grading

You need to earn a grade of B- or higher in the thesis. All standard course letter grades are available to your thesis director. If you fail to complete substantial work on the thesis, you will earn a grade of TNC (thesis not complete). If you have already earned two withdrawal grades, the TNC grade will count as a zero in your cumulative GPA.

If you earn a grade below B-, you will need to petition the Administrative Board for permission to attempt the thesis for a second and final time. The petition process is only available if you are in good academic standing and your five-year, degree-completion deadline allows for more time. Your candidacy will automatically expire if you do not successfully complete the thesis by your required deadline.

If approved for a second attempt, you may be required to develop a new proposal on a different topic by re-enrolling in the CTP and being assigned a different thesis director. Tuition for the second attempt is calculated at the current year’s rate.

If by not passing the thesis you fall into poor academic standing, you’ll need to take additional degree-applicable courses to return to good standing before re-engaging with the thesis process for the second and final time. This is only an option if your five-year, degree-completion deadline allows for more time.

The Board only reviews cases in which extenuating circumstances prevented the successful completion of the thesis.

Harvard Division of Continuing Education

The Division of Continuing Education (DCE) at Harvard University is dedicated to bringing rigorous academics and innovative teaching capabilities to those seeking to improve their lives through education. We make Harvard education accessible to lifelong learners from high school to retirement.

Doctoral Thesis Guidelines

Introduction

Preparing to Submit the Thesis

Application for the Degree Oral Final Examination – Signature Page

Online Submission of the Thesis

ETDs @ ProQuest ORCID Harvard Author Agreement Redaction Embargoes Surveys

Distribution of the Thesis

Open Access After Submission Bound Thesis Fee Additional Bound Copies

Understanding Your Copyright and Fair Use Copyright Registration Acknowledging the Work of Others Use of Copyrighted Material Steps for Using Published and To-Be Published Work

Formatting Guidelines

Text Margins Pagination Title Title Page Abstract Body of Thesis Figures and Tables Footnotes Bibliography Supplemental Material

Citation & Style Guides

Thesis Submission Checklist

INTRODUCTION All DrPH degree candidates at the Harvard Chan School are required to successfully complete and submit a thesis to qualify for degree conferral. This website provides information on the requirements for how to format your thesis, how to submit your thesis, and how your thesis will be distributed. Please follow the submission and formatting guidelines provided here. Back to top

PREPARING TO SUBMIT THE THESIS The electronic submission of your thesis and the original Signature Page are due on the dates specified on the Harvard Chan School’s Academic Calendar Summary for each degree awarding period (November, March, and May). These items must be submitted using the ETDs @ ProQuest tool in order for the degree to be voted. No exceptions will be made to this rule. Back to top

Application for the Degree There are three degree granting periods: November, March, and May. To apply for graduation, students must complete the Application for Degree on the my.Harvard portal by the deadline posted on the Harvard Chan School’s Academic Calendar .

Deadline extensions are not possible. Students who miss the deadline must apply for the subsequent degree conferral date (November, March, or May). The student is responsible for meeting submission deadlines. Back to top

Oral Final Examination — Signature Page All Doctoral Committee members are required to sign the Signature Page at the time of the Doctoral Final Oral Examination indicating their final approval of the thesis.

A scanned copy of the Signature Page should appear before the title page of the PDF online submission of the thesis; no page number should be assigned to the Signature Page. The title on the Signature Page must read exactly as it does on the title page of the thesis. The Signature Page will be included in all copies of the thesis.

Click here for instructions on how to merge the Signature Page into the thesis PDF.

The Signature Page for DrPH students must be formatted as follows:

This Doctoral Thesis, [ Title of Doctoral Project ], presented by [ Student’s Name ], and Submitted to the Faculty of The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Public Health , has been read and approved by:

______________________________________ (typed name below line – signature above)

________________________________________ (typed name below the line – signature above)

Date : [ Doctoral Project Official Approval Date (month day, year) ]

ONLINE SUBMISSION OF THE THESIS

ETDs @ ProQuest All DrPH candidates are required to submit a digital copy of the thesis to the Registrar’s Office as a PDF file via ETDs @ ProQuest by the deadline established for each degree conferral date. Theses must be submitted in their final format, as described in the section Formatting Guidelines . Students must check their formatting carefully before submitting. Formatting errors will prevent the students’ theses from being accepted and approved.

The online-submission tool can be found at: http://www.etdadmin.com/hsph.harvard

A how-to video for submitting a thesis via ETDs is available on the Countway Library website .

ORCID ETDs @ ProQuest supports ORCIDs. ORCIDs are persistent digital identifiers that link you to your professional activity. You may register for an ORCID either before or during submission if you do not yet have one. To do so, you may go here .

The Harvard Library ORCID page provides information about the value of having an ORCID iD and how Harvard plans to use ORCID data. Additionally, please visit the Harvard ORCID Connect site to connect your existing ORCID iD to Harvard University.

Harvard Author Agreement When submitting work through ETDs @ ProQuest, you will be consenting to the Harvard Author Agreement , which grants the University a non-exclusive license to preserve, reproduce, and display the work. This license, which is the same the Harvard Chan School faculty use under the School’s Open Access Policy, does not constrain your rights to publish your work subsequently. Back to top

Redaction Very few theses require redaction, which is the process of obscuring or removing sensitive information for distribution. ETDs @ ProQuest does support redacted versioning for these very rare cases where there is sensitive or potentially harmful material in the thesis (e.g., commercially sensitive information, sensitive personal data, risk of harmful retribution, etc.).

If your work is one such rare instance, then you may select the “I think I need to submit a redacted version of my thesis” on the file upload screen. You will then be prompted to contact the Office for Scholarly Communication, which will help you with your request. Back to top

Embargoes To forestall any potential challenges that a student may face in the publication process (e.g., if the candidate has a publication pending with a publisher or has previously published some of the content in the thesis and there is a publisher’s embargo that must be honored), the Harvard Chan School has instituted a default one-year embargo for submissions through ETDs @ ProQuest. The embargo starts on the date of the thesis submission deadline. With an embargo, the full text of the thesis will be unavailable for view or download for a limited period of time. The citation and abstract for the work, however, will be publicly available.

If a student would like to make her/his work available immediately by opting out of the embargo process, she/he may do so by selecting the No Embargo option during the submission process.

If, due to extenuating circumstances, a student is required to embargo part or all of their work beyond one year, she/he must request an extension during the submission process. An extension can be requested for up to two years. This request is subject to the approval of the student’s department chair(s) and the University Librarian.

Any embargo applied to the DASH version of the thesis will be applied to the Countway Library and Harvard Chan School department versions of the work.

Students do not need to take any action to remove an embargo. The embargo will automatically be lifted in DASH at the end of the selected and approved period. If a student would like to change the duration of his/her embargo request, then please contact the Registrar’s Office at [email protected] or 617-432-1032. Back to top

Surveys The School of Public Health is asked to participate in the Survey of Earned Doctorates. This is an annual census of research doctorate recipients in the United States. Data collected from these surveys are used to make federal policy decisions regarding graduate education.

Students are required to complete the Survey of Earned Doctorates upon submission of their thesis. A Certificate of Completion will be sent to you, as well as to the Registrar’s Office.

Please click here to complete your survey.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE THESIS

Open Access For information on open access, we recommend the Office of Scholarly Communication’s (OSC) Director Peter Suber’s brief introduction . He has also written about providing open access to theses . The OSC has produced several videos of Harvard faculty and students discussing open access. Two may be of particular interest: the first features Professors Gary King and Stuart Shieber , and the second features a recent Harvard graduate, Ben Finio . Back to top

After Submission Once you have applied for your degree and submitted your thesis online, it is checked for compliance by the Registrar’s Office and, if accepted, is piped to the following downstream systems:

DASH : Your work will be sent to DASH (Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard), Harvard’s open access repository. Search engines index DASH, which means your work will be more discoverable and more frequently cited. You will be making DASH access decisions for your work at the point of submission. This will be the access copy of the thesis.
HOLLIS : The metadata about your work will be sent to HOLLIS . This will make your work discoverable through the Harvard Library catalog.
DRS2 : Your work will be stored in Harvard Library’s digital preservation repository, DRS2 . This will be the preservation copy of the thesis.

By default, theses will be made available through DASH one year after students submit their theses via ETDs @ Harvard for degree completion (see Embargoes ). DASH is operated by Harvard Library’s Office for Scholarly Communication and is the University’s central service for openly distributing Harvard’s scholarly output.

Note that any embargo applied to the DASH version of the thesis will be applied to the Countway Library and department versions of the work. Back to top

Bound Thesis Fee Currently we are not receiving bound thesis copies. Doctoral students will not be charged bound thesis fees. Back to top

Additional Bound Copies Students may secure extra copies of their work for their own purposes. These additional copies may be purchased through Acme Bookbinding . or through ETDs @ ProQuest . Back to top

Understanding Your Copyright and Fair Use The Office for Scholarly Communication has created copyright-related resources for your reference.

The first addresses your copyrights and identifies some considerations when publishing (see “ Planning to publish? ”). It is important that you envision any future use you may like to make of your work. Any publishing contract you sign can affect your potential future uses, such as use in teaching, posting your work online on either a personal or departmental website, or any potential future publication. Before you sign a publication agreement, you can negotiate with a publisher to secure licensing terms that best suit your needs. It is important that you read any contract you sign and keep a copy for your own records.

The second resource discusses fair use (see “ Fair use ”), what it is, the laws that have determined its shape over time, and tips for ensuring that use of third-party material (including quotes, images, music, film, etc.) in your thesis is fair. Back to top

Copyright Registration Your work is copyrighted as soon as it is fixed in a tangible form. You are not required to register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office to enjoy protection of your work. However, if you choose to do so, you may register your work with the Copyright Office online . Back to top

Acknowledging the Work of Others Students are responsible for acknowledging any facts, ideas, or materials of others used in their own work. Students should refer to the statement on Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism in the Harvard Chan School’s Student Handbook . Back to top

Use of Copyrighted Material A thesis is a scholarly work, and as such use of third party material is often essential. Fair use applies to the reproduction of any third party material, including your own previously published work, that you may use in your thesis.

If you have questions about copyright and fair use, please contact the Office for Scholarly Communication . Back to top

Steps for Using Published and To-Be Published Work When submitting an article for publication that you intend to use in your thesis, you should secure permission to do so (along with permission to reuse your own work as you would like) from your publisher in your publishing agreement. If the default contract does not let you retain these rights already, then you should use an author addendum to secure these rights (see “ Planning to publish? ”).

You may use your own previously published material as part of your thesis with the permission of the publisher. Again, refer to your publication agreement for details. If your contract does not specify these rights, then contact the publisher to negotiate this use. Back to top

FORMATTING GUIDELINES The following are instructions on how to format your thesis. If, after reading the instructions here, you have additional questions about the requirements, please contact the Registrar’s Office at (617) 432-1032; [email protected]. Back to top

Text All text should be double-spaced on one side of the page with footnotes single-spaced. The font size should be at least 10 point, but no larger than 12 point. The font and font size should be consistent throughout. All text should be black. Back to top | Back to Formatting Guidelines

Margins The margins of the thesis must be 1 inch on all sides. Back to top | Back to Formatting Guidelines

Pagination Students’ theses must follow the pagination guidelines as illustrated below. It is customary not to have a page number on the page containing a chapter/paper heading. Drawings, charts, graphs, and photographs should be referred to as figures and should be numbered consecutively within the text of the thesis with Arabic numerals. Each figure should carry a suitable caption; e.g., Fig. 42. Arrangement of Experimental Equipment. Check pagination carefully and account for all pages.

All page numbers should be consecutive and centered at either the bottom or top of the page.  Back to top | Back to Formatting Guidelines

Title The title of the thesis should be brief and should indicate the general subject treated. Nine words are usually sufficient to describe the investigation. Students are strongly encouraged to embed keywords into their title, so that the title will be retrievable on computerized listings. Back to top | Back to Formatting Guidelines

Title Page The title page must contain the following information, well-spaced and centered on the page:

For DrPH Students:

TITLE OF DOCTORAL THESIS

STUDENT’S NAME

A Doctoral Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of

The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Doctor of Public Health

Harvard University

Boston, Massachusetts.

Date (the month in which degree will be awarded, year of graduation (e.g., May 2021)

Abstract The abstract should not exceed 350 words. It should immediately follow the Title Page, and should state the problem, describe the methods and procedures used, and give the main results or conclusions of the research. The abstract should be double-spaced. The author’s name and the title of the thesis, as well as the name of the thesis advisor, should be included on the abstract page. The author’s name should be right justified, the title of the thesis centered, and “Thesis Advisor: Dr. ____________” should be left-justified at the top of the abstract page.

Thesis Advisor: Dr. [Advisor’s name] [Author’s name]

[Title of thesis]

The text of the abstract, not to exceed 350 words, should be double-spaced. The first line of each paragraph is indented. Full justification of the text is not recommended.

Students will also be required to submit a text version of the abstract via the online-submission tool. Back to top | Back to Formatting Guidelines

Body of Thesis The thesis should consist of manuscripts suitable for publication in a scientific medium appropriate to the candidate’s field and/or approved reprints of the published work(s) (see Steps for Using Published and To-Be Published Work and Use of Copyrighted Material ).

Technical appendices should be added where necessary to demonstrate full development of the thesis material. Papers published under joint authorship are acceptable provided the candidate has contributed a major part to the investigation. The degree candidate is expected to be senior author on at least one of the papers. In the case of manuscripts published under joint authorship, the co-authors or the advisor may be consulted by the readers or the CAD to clarify the nature and extent of the candidate’s contribution. In addition to evaluating the quality and significance of the work, those responsible for accepting the thesis [the Department(s) and Doctoral Project Committee] may determine whether the format is suitable for publication in a scientific medium appropriate to the degree candidate’s field(s). Back to top | Back to Formatting Guidelines

Figures and Tables Figures and tables must be placed as close as possible to their first mention in the text. They may be placed on a page with no text above or below, or they may be placed directly in the text. If a figure or table is alone on a page with no narrative, it should be centered within the margins of the page.

Figures and tables referred to in the text may not be placed at the end of the chapter or at the end of the thesis. Figure and table numbering must be either continuous throughout the thesis or by paper (e.g., 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2). For example, there cannot be two figures designated in a thesis as “Figure 5.”

Headings of tables should be placed at the top of the table. While there are no specific rules for the format of table headings and figure captions, a consistent format must be used throughout the thesis. (See Citation and Style Guides )

Captions of figures should be placed at the bottom of the figure. If the figure takes up the entire page, the figure caption should be placed alone on the preceding page and centered vertically and horizontally within the margins. Each page receives a separate page number. When a figure or table title is on a preceding page, the second and subsequent pages of the figure or table should say, for example, “Figure 5 (Continued).” In such an instance, the list of figures or tables will list the page number containing the title. The word “Figure” should be written in full (not abbreviated), and the “F” should be capitalized (e.g., Figure 5). In instances where the caption continues on a second page, the “(Continued)” notation should appear on the second and any subsequent page. The figure/table and the caption are viewed as one entity and the numbering should show correlation between all pages. Each page must include a header.

Horizontal figures and tables must be positioned correctly and bound at the top, so that the top of the figure or table will be at the left margin (leave a 1 inch margin on the long edge of the paper above the top of the table).

Figure and table headings/captions are placed with the same orientation as the figure or table when on the same page. When on a separate page, headings/captions are always placed in vertical orientation, regardless of the orientation of the figure or table. Page numbers are always placed as if the figure were vertical on the page.

Figures created with software are acceptable if the figures are clear and legible. Legends and titles created by the same process as the figures will be accepted if they too are clear, legible, and run at least 10 or 12 characters per inch. Otherwise, legends and captions should be printed with the same font used in the text. Back to top | Back to Formatting Guidelines

Footnotes Footnotes are reserved for substantive additions to the text and should be indicated by an asterisk in the text. Extensive use of footnotes is not encouraged. The footnote should be placed at the bottom of the page. A horizontal line of at least two inches should be typed above the first footnote on any page. Footnotes should be placed so that at least one inch is left at the bottom of the page. Use single-spacing within footnotes. Back to top | Back to Formatting Guidelines

Bibliography To document the sources of information, a bibliography must be included at the end of the papers or thesis. References may be numbered or listed alphabetically. If references in the bibliography are numbered, then corresponding in-text references should be indicated by listing the number in parentheses after the name of the author.

Bibliographic Example:

23. Gibbs, C.S.: Filterable virus carriers. J. Bact., 23, 1932, 113.

In-Text Example:

“. . . as Gibbs (23) has stated.”

The initial number should be omitted if references are listed alphabetically.

Within any bibliographic section there should be consistency and adherence to an acceptable journal style for a bibliography. Each reference in the bibliography must contain the name of the author, title of the paper, name of publication, volume, date, and first page.

More than one publication by the same author in the same year should be indicated both in the bibliography and in the text by the use of underlined letters, etc., after the date of publication. The standard system of abbreviation used by the Quarterly Cumulative Index should be followed for the abbreviations of journal titles.

If students’ individual papers have different bibliographic styles, then it is not necessary to change the bibliographic style of one to match the other. Consistency within each bibliographic section is the most important element. Back to top | Back to Formatting Guidelines

Supplemental Material Supplemental figures and tables must be placed at the end of each chapter/paper in an appendix. If additional digital information (including text, audio, video, image, or datasets) will accompany the main body of the thesis, then it should be uploaded as supplemental material via the ETDs @ Harvard online submission tool. Back to top | Back to Formatting Guidelines

CITATION & STYLE GUIDES

The Chicago Manual of Style. 16th ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Crews, Kenneth D. Copyright Law and the Doctoral Dissertation. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest, 2000.
Day, Robert A. and Barbara Gastel. How to Write & Publish a Scientific Paper. 6th ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006.
MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Modern Language Association of America, 2008. Strunk, William. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. New York, NY: Penguin Press, 2005.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 6th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2010.
Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Chicago
Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing. 7th ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2007.

THESIS SUBMISSION CHECKLIST ☐ Is the Signature Page unnumbered and positioned as the first page of the PDF file? ☐ Is there a blank page after the Signature Page? ☐ Does the body of the thesis begin with Page 1? ☐ Is the pagination continuous? Are all pages included? ☐ Is every page of the thesis correctly numbered? ☐ Is the placement of page numbers centered throughout the manuscript? ☐ Is the Title Page formatted correctly? ☐ Is the author’s name, in full, on the Title Page of the thesis and the abstract? ☐ Does the author’s name read the same on both and does it match the Signature Page? ☐ Is the abstract included after the Title Page? ☐ Does the abstract include the title of the thesis, the author’s name, and the thesis advisor(s)’ name? ☐ Is the title on the abstract the same as that on the title page? ☐ Are the margins 1” on all sides? ☐ Is the font size 10-12 point? ☐ Are all charts, graphs, and other illustrative materials perfectly legible? ☐ Do lengthy figures and tables include the “(Continued)” notation? ☐ Has all formatting been checked? ☐ Is the Survey of Earned Doctorates completed? ☐ Has the Survey of Earned Doctorates’ confirmation email or certificate been uploaded to ETDs @ Harvard?

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HLS Dissertations, Theses, and JD Papers

S.j.d. dissertations, ll.m. papers, ll.m. theses, j.d. papers, submitting your paper to an online collection, other sources for student papers beyond harvard, getting help, introduction.

This is a guide to finding Harvard Law School (“HLS”) student-authored works held by the Library and in online collections. This guide covers HLS S.J.D Dissertations, LL.M. papers, J.D. third-year papers, seminar papers, and prize papers.

There have been changes in the HLS degree requirements for written work. The library’s collection practices and catalog descriptions for these works has varied. Please note that there are gaps in the library’s collection and for J.D. papers, few of these works are being collected any longer.

If we have an S.J.D. dissertation or LL.M. thesis, we have two copies. One is kept in the general collection and one in the Red Set, an archival collection of works authored by HLS affiliates. If we have a J.D. paper, we have only one copy, kept in the Red Set. Red Set copies are last resort copies available only by advance appointment in Historical and Special Collections .

Some papers have not been processed by library staff. If HOLLIS indicates a paper is “ordered-received” please use this form to have library processing completed.

The HLS Doctor of Juridical Science (“S.J.D.”) program began in 1910. The library collection of these works is not comprehensive. Exceptions are usually due to scholars’ requests to withhold Library deposit.

HLS S.J.D. Dissertations in HOLLIS To refine these search results by topic or faculty advisor, or limit by date, click Add a New Line.
Hein’s Legal Theses and Dissertations Microfiche Mic K556.H45x Drawers 947-949 This microfiche set includes legal theses and dissertations from HLS and other premier law schools. It currently includes about 300 HLS dissertations and theses.
Hein's Legal Theses and Dissertations Contents List This content list is in order by school only, not by date, subject or author. It references microfiche numbers within the set housed in the Microforms room on the entry level of the library, drawers 947-949. The fiche are a different color for each institution.
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses @ Harvard University (Harvard login) Copy this search syntax: dg(S.J.D.) You will find about 130 SJD Dissertations dated from 1972 to 2004. They are not available in full text.
DASH Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard Sponsored by Harvard University’s Office for Scholarly Communication, DASH is an open repository for research papers by members of the Harvard community. There are currently about 600 HLS student papers included. Unfortunately it is not possible to search by type of paper or degree awarded.

The Master of Laws (“LL.M.”) degree has been awarded since 1923. Originally, the degree required completion of a major research paper, akin to a thesis. Since 1993, most students have the option of writing the LL.M. "short paper." This is a 25-page (or longer) paper advised by a faculty supervisor or completed in conjunction with a seminar. Fewer LL.M. candidates continue to write the more extensive "long-paper." LL.M. candidates holding J.D.s from the U.S. must write the long paper.

HLS Written Work Requirements for LL.M. Degree The current explanation of the LL.M. written work requirement for the master of laws.

The library generally holds HLS LL.M. long papers and short papers. In recent years, we require author release in order to do so. In HOLLIS, no distinction is made between types of written work created in satisfaction of the LL.M. degree; all are described as LL.M. thesis. Though we describe them as thesis, the law school refers to them solely as papers or in earlier years, essays. HOLLIS records indicate the number of pages, so at the record level, it is possible to distinguish long papers.

HLS LL.M. Papers in HOLLIS To refine these search results by topic, faculty advisor, seminar or date, click Add a New Line.

HLS LL.M. Papers are sometimes available in DASH and Hein's Legal Dissertations and Theses. See descriptions above .

The HLS J.D. written work requirement has changed over time. The degree formerly required a substantial research paper comparable in scope to a law review article written under faculty supervision, the "third year paper." Since 2008, J.D. students have the option of using two shorter works instead.

Of all those written, the library holds relatively few third-year papers. They were not actively collected but accepted by submission from faculty advisors who deemed a paper worthy of institutional retention. The papers are described in HOLLIS as third year papers, seminar papers, and student papers. Sometimes this distinction was valid, but not always. The faculty deposit tradition more or less ended in 2006, though the possibility of deposit still exists.

J.D. Written Work Requirement
Faculty Deposit of Student Papers with the Library

HLS Third Year Papers in HOLLIS

To refine these search results by topic, faculty advisor, seminar or date, click Add a New Line.

HLS Student Papers Some third-year papers and LL.M. papers were described in HOLLIS simply as student papers. To refine these search results, click "Add a New Line" and add topic, faculty advisor, or course title.
HLS Seminar Papers Note that these include legal research pathfinders produced for the Advanced Legal Research course when taught by Virginia Wise.

Prize Papers

HLS has many endowed prizes for student papers and essays. There are currently 16 different writing prizes. See this complete descriptive list with links to lists of winners from 2009 to present. Note that there is not always a winner each year for each award. Prize winners are announced each year in the commencement pamphlet.

The Library has not specifically collected prize papers over the years but has added copies when possible. The HOLLIS record for the paper will usually indicate its status as a prize paper. The most recent prize paper was added to the collection in 2006.

Addison Brown Prize Animal Law & Policy Program Writing Prize Victor Brudney Prize Davis Polk Legal Profession Paper Prize Roger Fisher and Frank E.A. Sander Prize Yong K. Kim ’95 Memorial Prize Islamic Legal Studies Program Prize on Islamic Law Laylin Prize LGBTQ Writing Prize Mancini Prize Irving Oberman Memorial Awards John M. Olin Prize in Law and Economics Project on the Foundations of Private Law Prize Sidney I. Roberts Prize Fund Klemens von Klemperer Prize Stephen L. Werner Prize

Harvard Law School Prize Essays (1850-1868) A historical collection of handwritten prize essays covering the range of topics covered at that time. See this finding aid for a collection description.

The following information about online repositories is not a recommendation or endorsement to participate.

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses HLS is not an institutional participant to this collection. If you are interested in submitting your work, refer to these instructions and note that there is a fee required, which varies depending on the format of submission.
EBSCO Open Dissertations Relatively new, this is an open repository of metadata for dissertations. It is an outgrowth of the index American Doctoral Dissertations. The aim is to cover 1933 to present and, for modern works, to link to full text available in institutional repositories. Harvard is not one of the institutional participants.
DASH Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard

Sponsored by Harvard University’s Office for Scholarly Communication, this is an open repository for research papers by members of the Harvard community. See more information about the project.

Some HLS students have submitted their degree paper to DASH. If you would like to submit your paper, you may use this authorization form or contact June Casey , Librarian for Open Access Initiatives and Scholarly Communication at Harvard Law School.

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (Harvard Login) Covers dissertations and masters' theses from North American graduate schools and many worldwide. Provides full text for many since the 1990s and has descriptive data for older works.
NDLTD Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations Union Catalog Worldwide in scope, NDLTD contains millions of records of electronic theses and dissertations from the early 1900s to the present.
Law Commons of the Digital Commons Network The Law Commons has dissertations and theses, as well as many other types of scholarly research such as book chapters and conference proceedings. They aim to collect free, full-text scholarly work from hundreds of academic institutions worldwide.
EBSCO Open Dissertations Doctoral dissertations from many institutions. Free, open repository.
Dissertations from Center for Research Libraries Dissertations found in this resource are available to the Harvard University Community through Interlibrary Loan.
British Library EThOS Dissertation source from the British Library listing doctoral theses awarded in the UK. Some available for immediate download and some others may be requested for scanning.
BASE from Bielefeld University Library Index of the open repositoris of most academic institutions. Includes many types of documents including doctoral and masters theses.

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Last Updated: Sep 12, 2023 10:46 AM
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Think of yourself as a member of a jury, listening to a lawyer who is presenting an opening argument. You'll want to know very soon whether the lawyer believes the accused to be guilty or not guilty, and how the lawyer plans to convince you. Readers of academic essays are like jury members: before they have read too far, they want to know what the essay argues as well as how the writer plans to make the argument. After reading your thesis statement, the reader should think, "This essay is going to try to convince me of something. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm interested to see how I might be."

An effective thesis cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." A thesis is not a topic; nor is it a fact; nor is it an opinion. "Reasons for the fall of communism" is a topic. "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" is a fact known by educated people. "The fall of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe" is an opinion. (Superlatives like "the best" almost always lead to trouble. It's impossible to weigh every "thing" that ever happened in Europe. And what about the fall of Hitler? Couldn't that be "the best thing"?)

A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should "telegraph" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is going where in your essay.

Steps in Constructing a Thesis

First, analyze your primary sources. Look for tension, interest, ambiguity, controversy, and/or complication. Does the author contradict himself or herself? Is a point made and later reversed? What are the deeper implications of the author's argument? Figuring out the why to one or more of these questions, or to related questions, will put you on the path to developing a working thesis. (Without the why, you probably have only come up with an observation—that there are, for instance, many different metaphors in such-and-such a poem—which is not a thesis.)

Once you have a working thesis, write it down. There is nothing as frustrating as hitting on a great idea for a thesis, then forgetting it when you lose concentration. And by writing down your thesis you will be forced to think of it clearly, logically, and concisely. You probably will not be able to write out a final-draft version of your thesis the first time you try, but you'll get yourself on the right track by writing down what you have.

Keep your thesis prominent in your introduction. A good, standard place for your thesis statement is at the end of an introductory paragraph, especially in shorter (5-15 page) essays. Readers are used to finding theses there, so they automatically pay more attention when they read the last sentence of your introduction. Although this is not required in all academic essays, it is a good rule of thumb.

Anticipate the counterarguments. Once you have a working thesis, you should think about what might be said against it. This will help you to refine your thesis, and it will also make you think of the arguments that you'll need to refute later on in your essay. (Every argument has a counterargument. If yours doesn't, then it's not an argument—it may be a fact, or an opinion, but it is not an argument.)

This statement is on its way to being a thesis. However, it is too easy to imagine possible counterarguments. For example, a political observer might believe that Dukakis lost because he suffered from a "soft-on-crime" image. If you complicate your thesis by anticipating the counterargument, you'll strengthen your argument, as shown in the sentence below.

Some Caveats and Some Examples

A thesis is never a question. Readers of academic essays expect to have questions discussed, explored, or even answered. A question ("Why did communism collapse in Eastern Europe?") is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the water.

A thesis is never a list. "For political, economic, social and cultural reasons, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" does a good job of "telegraphing" the reader what to expect in the essay—a section about political reasons, a section about economic reasons, a section about social reasons, and a section about cultural reasons. However, political, economic, social and cultural reasons are pretty much the only possible reasons why communism could collapse. This sentence lacks tension and doesn't advance an argument. Everyone knows that politics, economics, and culture are important.

A thesis should never be vague, combative or confrontational. An ineffective thesis would be, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because communism is evil." This is hard to argue (evil from whose perspective? what does evil mean?) and it is likely to mark you as moralistic and judgmental rather than rational and thorough. It also may spark a defensive reaction from readers sympathetic to communism. If readers strongly disagree with you right off the bat, they may stop reading.

An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim. "While cultural forces contributed to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the disintegration of economies played the key role in driving its decline" is an effective thesis sentence that "telegraphs," so that the reader expects the essay to have a section about cultural forces and another about the disintegration of economies. This thesis makes a definite, arguable claim: that the disintegration of economies played a more important role than cultural forces in defeating communism in Eastern Europe. The reader would react to this statement by thinking, "Perhaps what the author says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to read further to see how the author argues this claim."

A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible. Avoid overused, general terms and abstractions. For example, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because of the ruling elite's inability to address the economic concerns of the people" is more powerful than "Communism collapsed due to societal discontent."

Honors & Theses

The Honors Thesis: An opportunity to do innovative and in-depth research.

An honors thesis gives students the opportunity to conduct in-depth research into the areas of government that inspire them the most. Although, it’s not a requirement in the Department of Government, the honors thesis is both an academic challenge and a crowning achievement at Harvard. The faculty strongly encourages students to write an honors thesis and makes itself available as a resource to those students who do. Students work closely with the thesis advisor of their choice throughout the writing process. Approximately 30% of Government concentrators each year choose to write a thesis.

Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Government

You undoubtedly have many questions about what writing a thesis entails. We have answers for you. Please read  A Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Government , which you can download as a PDF below. If you still have questions or concerns after you have read through this document, we encourage you to reach out to the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Nara Dillon ( [email protected] ), the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Gabriel Katsh ( [email protected] ), or the Undergraduate Program Manager, Karen Kaletka ( [email protected] ). 

Shaping the Future of Online Learning

Published may 22, 2024.

If you’ve been enrolled in any educational course or postsecondary educational program since 2020, chances are you’ve witnessed the rise in online learning firsthand .

The COVID-19 global pandemic shuttered storefronts, theaters, and classrooms alike, causing major disruptions in how goods and services were delivered. As consumers adopted Instacart for their grocery needs and streamed new blockbuster movies from the comfort of their living rooms, students needed an innovative way to bring their classes home. A year into the pandemic over 60% of all undergraduate students were enrolled in at least one online course , with 28% exclusively enrolled in online courses, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

There are other reasons for the widespread adoption, including accessibility. Rural and international students who may be far removed from traditional educational institutions can now attend Harvard classes anywhere there’s an internet connection. Or, consider working adults seeking to progress or switch careers. Life doesn’t stop for a class, and attending one in-person can be prohibitive. While still challenging, logging into a virtual classroom is far more manageable. Online education is for everyone.

Technological and pedagogical developments have helped online learning progress beyond the days of discussion boards and essay uploads. Now, students can enjoy a multimedia educational experience that is rooted in the latest research, all while participating in the community of their “virtual campus”.

If you’re one of the millions of learners who have experienced online education, you might be interested to learn where it’s going next. At Harvard Online, the question, “what is the future of online learning?” guides an ongoing conversation that drives us everyday.

In this blog, we sat down with Catherine Breen , Managing Director of Harvard Online. With more than two decades of senior executive leadership at Harvard University and oversight of Harvard Online, Breen has an invaluable perspective on the future of online learning, and the exciting role Harvard Online is playing in bringing the future into the present.

Photo of Catherine Breen in a meeting at a conference table.

Catherine Breen, Managing Director of Harvard Online, in a team meeting.

Harvard Online (HO): How has the online learning landscape evolved in recent years?

Catherine Breen (CB): At the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown, there was a massive escalation in demand for online learning. Demand began to recede slowly as the months wore on and by late 2022, it started to level out. But we observed two big changes: Internally, the demand for Harvard Online content was still almost three times higher than pre-pandemic. Externally, in reaction to the demand surge, there was significant and rapid growth of new online course offerings and companies that purveyed varying types of digital products.

HO: What is shaping the future of online learning today?

CB: Because of the rapid and massive shift to online that occurred around the globe in the spring of 2020, the landscape changed permanently. There are many things shaping the future but here are just a few that I can see from my perspective:

Increased adoption of online learning across all ages and levels of education: Everyone expanded their online course catalogs; new companies and offerings sprung up everywhere.
Greater tech investment across organizations and industries: Organizations are investing more time, money, and effort into technology infrastructure, tools, and platforms to support online learning and participants in these courses.
New pedagogical methods to bridge the gap between traditional and novel learning methods: Instructors have adapted their teaching methods for online, hybrid, and blended environments.
Enhanced accessibility to quality education and learning experiences: Efforts have been made to improve access for students of all types, abilities, geographies, and backgrounds so that everyone can participate effectively.

HO: What are the remaining challenges that online learning faces?

CB: While these changes have improved the online learning experience, challenges remain, including addressing the digital divide, maximizing student engagement, and refining the quality of online courses.

The pandemic accelerated the adoption of online learning and its impact will likely continue to shape higher education for many years to come.

HO: How does online learning contribute to Harvard's mission of promoting accessibility and inclusion in education, especially for learners who may not have traditional access to higher education?

CB: Online learning levels the playing field for learners in many ways.

Most students think that a Harvard-quality education is out of reach, for a variety of reasons. With online courses, however, learners from around the country and the world can take courses with Harvard instructors at their own pace at a more affordable price point.

Our online courses also typically incorporate a range of multimedia elements, allowing students with different learning styles to flourish. We also ensure that our online learning experiences are accessible to all learners, including those with disabilities. This commitment to inclusivity aligns with the broader goals of promoting equitable access to education.

Lastly, our online courses often include discussion forums and virtual communities where learners can connect and collaborate. This allows for interactions among students from diverse backgrounds and experiences, fostering a sense of belonging and inclusion.

It’s clear that online learning has a lot to offer everyone, and it’s only getting better. In our next blog in this series, we’ll hear more from Cathy on how institutions can implement online learning modalities effectively.

If you missed the first blog in this series detailing the future of online learning, you can check out the first blog here . To learn more about Harvard Online, explore our fully online course catalog here .

Harvard Online in Your Workplace: Elevate Your Team's Professional Development

At Harvard Online we understand the value of an educated and skilled workforce.

A Decade of Innovation: Online Learning at Harvard

We are always asking, “What does the future look like for teaching and learning?”

How RFK Kennedy Jr. turned from tragedy and tumult to environmentalism before becoming the face of vaccine skepticism

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s early life was overshadowed by the murder of his father.
He later struggled with a drug addiction.
After his most humiliating moment, Kennedy reinvented himself as an environmentalist.

Robert F. Kennedy's children have spent a lifetime trying to add their marks to their slain father's legacy. They made history in public service, followed his footsteps into Congress, and contributed to an Academy Award-nominated documentary. Like their relatives born into the generation after Camelot, some struggled to shake the tinge of tragedy and scandal that continues to hang around the famous family.

Robert F. Kennedy's namesake has seen all elements of this journey.

The first Kennedy to run for the presidency in decades, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is doing so without the family's well-documented loyalty. Instead, some of his siblings have begged him to drop out. For years, they have worried, in increasingly public ways, that he's eroding the foundation of why the nation reveres them so much in the first place.

The son of the expected next Kennedy president.

Born into privilege in 1954, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was raised between Massachusetts and suburban Virginia estates. He took an early interest in the outdoors, an affinity aided by the menagerie of animals kept at Hickory Hill, the family's McLean, Virginia mansion. He was the third of the 11 eventual children born to RFK and Ethel Kennedy.

He was asleep in his dorm at Georgetown Preparatory School on June 5, 1968, when a priest awoke him. He wasn't told what was happening, only that a ride would soon take him back to Hickory Hill. At the family home, he was told his dad had been shot the night before. He, Kathleen, and Joseph P. II flew out on Vice President Hubert Humphery's plane in a rush to be by their father's side.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was later a pallbearer at his father's funeral, joined by Astronaut John Glenn and former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara.

The 14-year-old never returned to Georgetown Prep , which now counts two Supreme Court justices and multiple lawmakers among its influential alumni. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. bounced between three private schools before graduating from high school.

At Millbrook School in New York, he briefly kept a lion cub gifted to him by former "Tonight Show" host Jack Paar. Kennedy was forced to find a new home for the animal, aptly named Mtoto Mbaya, "Boy Boy" in Swahili, after a string of incidents, including when it bit the backside of the school's zoo keeper, according to "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream," an unauthorized 2015 biography. It wasn't the animal that got him kicked out.

Kennedy had begun to use drugs and not just marijuana, according to the 2015 book. Officials became increasingly concerned that they would be held responsible if another Kennedy died on their watch. Years later, Kennedy would tell Oprah that the source of his drug problems didn't truly matter. He viewed his problems more as being a product of the 1960s. Whatever the reason, his drug use would lead to repeated brushes with the law.

Kennedy graduates from Harvard, but drug use continues to hang over him.

After graduating from high school, Kennedy attended Harvard, the alma mater of his father, uncle, and grandfather. Like JFK, RFK Jr. would see his senior thesis turned into a book. Unfortunately for him, reviewers reacted harshly to the tome about federal judge Frank M. Johnson Jr., whose rulings played a major role in the Civil Rights movement.

Kennedy found a new advocacy after his lowest moment.

Kennedy's lowest moment led to his greatest reinvention. As part of his community service, he worked for the Natural Resources Defense Council and was later connected with the Hudson River Fishermen's Association. Robert Boyle, founder of the New York environmental group, began to mentor Kennedy. The organization already had notched major legal victories, but Kennedy's star power would help take it to new heights.

He was so committed to his new career that in 1994, he married Mary Richardson, a longtime friend of his sister Kerry Kennedy, aboard a ship on the Hudson River.

But his relationship with Boyle did not last. His mentor later recalled that he was less than thrilled about the celebrities Kennedy soon brought onto the organization's board. He also chafed at his former protegé's other actions, particularly Kennedy's decision to hire a scientist named William Wegner. Kennedy defended hiring Wegner, who had served time in federal prison, saying that giving him a second chance was the right thing to do. Boyle was incensed given that Wegener was sentenced over his connections to a bird smuggling ring . Boyle and seven other officials later resigned from Riverkeeper's board in protest.

"I think he's a despicable person," Boyle told Kennedy's unauthorized biographer in 2014. Boyle's children recently told The Washington Post that his father later couldn't even bear looking at the Hudson as it was too much of a reminder of Kennedy's betrayal.

As for Kennedy, his environmental advocacy became the foundation of his fame. In 1999, Time Magazine named Kennedy one of its "Heroes for the Planet" as part of a series of reports on leading environmentalists.

While gaining fame, Kennedy began to notice problems with his voice. He recently told The Los Angeles Times that he was 42 when he first noticed the problem. Kennedy was later diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia , a rare neurological condition that affects muscles in one's voice box.

In 2010, Kennedy filed for divorce from Richardson, the mother of four of his six children. Two years later, she died by suicide at the couple's former Bedford estate.

After years of environmentalism, Kennedy became the face of anti-vaccine advocacy.

After decades of environmental advocacy, Kennedy prepared to make his most controversial turn. In his retelling, mothers began to approach him at events to question whether vaccines had affected their children.

In 2005, Kennedy wrote a piece for Salon and Rolling Stone that is now regarded as establishing him as a major player in spreading vaccine skepticism . Despite his claims of a major conspiracy over a mercury-based preservative that had already been "removed from all childhood vaccines except for some variations of the flu vaccine in 2001," according to STAT. Within days, Salon, which published the piece online, issued five corrections. In 2011, the site decided to retract the article entirely.

In 2014, Kennedy married the actress Cheryl Hines, best known for her co-starring role in the Larry David-led "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

One year later, Kennedy joined the World Health Defense Fund. He continued to be involved with Riverkeeper, but his anti-vaccine advocacy overwhelmed his public persona.

Kennedy's name fueled his rise in the movement, which drew on the credibility of his environmentalism and his famous family. In turn, the now-presidential hopeful began to cobble together what the Associated Press would later deem "an anti-vaccine juggernaut" that he deployed when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived.

Watch: Here's what descendants of 5 former presidents say about the role age plays in politics

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Day to remember

Choose bravely, Ressa tells Harvard grads

‘Be that voice for compassion, learning, understanding, and unity’

Shruthi Kumar, Robert Clinton, and Blake Alexander Lopez.

Photos by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer; Dylan Goodman; and Niles Singer/Harvard Staff Photographer

Bridging social distance, embracing uncertainty, fighting for equity

Harvard Staff Writer

Student Commencement speeches to tap into themes faced by Class of 2024

Part of the commencement 2024 series.

A collection of stories covering Harvard University’s 373rd Commencement.

Three graduating students selected in a University-wide competition will deliver speeches Thursday at Tercentenary Theatre as part of the one of the oldest traditions of Commencement.

The student orators are Blake Alexander Lopez, a senior from the College who will deliver the Latin Salutatory; Shruthi Kumar, also a College senior, who will deliver the Senior English Address; and Robert Clinton, J.D. ’24, a Harvard Law School graduate who will deliver the Graduate English Address.

Blake Alexander Lopez in front of Widener Library.

Overcoming those 6 feet of separation

Blake Alexander Lopez Undergraduate Latin

When Lopez arrived on campus in the fall of 2020, six months into the COVID pandemic, first-year students could live in dorms, but they had to attend classes online and keep social distance as part of public health guidelines to slow the spread of the virus.

A joint classical languages and literature and linguistics concentrator with a secondary field in medieval studies, Lopez will address “that sort of nearer distance that we found ourselves within” in the Latin oration he will deliver during the Morning Exercises of Commencement.

“Being a student on campus in the fall of 2020 felt like we were in the proximity of all these things we had so long dreamed about, and yet there was an inherent separation between us,” said Lopez, a Kirkland House resident. “We were physically rather close, living in rooms next to each other and seeing each other on our computer screens because we had to stay socially distant.”

But as the pandemic eased its grip, members of the Class of 2024 returned to normal life and built closer relationships with one another. Celebrating graduation in person and together is a reason to celebrate, said Lopez.

“What I would like the audience to take away from my speech is that whatever difficulties were posed to us, we were able to meet them, adapt and exhibit a resilience that allowed us to thrive,” said Lopez. “There is so much our class has to be proud of, in view of what we faced. It is because what we faced, we faced together.”

Lopez, who fell in love with Latin in high school, said the language will serve him well to talk about both separation and closeness. Latin is considered a dead language because there are no native speakers. During his speech, subtitles will appear on screens in the Yard, and an English translation will be included in the program flyer.

“There’s a layer of separation between the reader of the speech’s English translation and myself delivering it in Latin,” said Lopez, who grew up in Chicago. “But being able to communicate my ideas and the feelings behind them across the linguistic boundary is reflective in a lot of ways of the fact that in spite of the barriers separating the Class of 2024 when we first arrived on campus, we were able to traverse that distance.”

At Harvard, Lopez strengthened his love of Latin and the classics. His senior thesis focused in part on ancient graffiti inscriptions found in Pompeii, which include jokes, riddles, literary quotations, and the customary “I was here.” The subject fascinates him because it provides a glimpse into the intimate relationship between Latin and the way common people made use of it.

After graduation, Lopez will pursue a master’s degree in classics at Oxford University. For now, he cherishes the fact that he was able to realize the dream he started nurturing when he was applying to Harvard.

“The fact that hundreds of years going on, we still do a Latin oration at Commencement really captivated me,” said Lopez. “I would sort of daydream about it. I’d like to go back to 17-year-old me and tell him, ‘Hey, we did it.’ Or as they’d say in Latin, ‘Vicimus.’ ”

The power of not knowing

Shruthi Kumar Undergraduate English

Kumar’s speech explores a subject she knows all too well.

Coming to Harvard as a pre-med student, Kumar took a history of science class on health disparities in the U.S., and she had a change of heart.

By embracing uncertainty, she found her passion for public health. “I didn’t know something like history of science existed,” said Kumar, a joint history of science and economics concentrator with a secondary in human evolutionary biology. “But I fell in love with that class, and I realized that history of science was what I really wanted to study to find ways to address the world’s biggest health problems.”

A Mather House resident, Kumar is glad she took risks during her time at Harvard and challenged societal and parental expectations when she switched pre-med studies for classes on health inequities and public health issues. In hindsight, Kumar said her decision made sense. After all, she had been interested in public health since high school, when she was involved in a mental health education program for youth.

In College, Kumar started a campaign to ensure that all Harvard bathrooms supply free menstrual products. Thanks to her advocacy, 817 bathrooms across the University are fully stocked with free tampons and sanitary pads on a regular basis.

Navigating the uncertainty of choosing a new career concentration could be nerve-racking, but Kumar found strength when she decided to follow her inner voice. “You’re supposed to make money, you’re supposed to have a family, you’re supposed to do this, that, or the other,” she said. “But at the end of the day, I think we owe it to ourselves to listen to that voice inside that tells us, ‘Oh, this is what I’m passionate about.’”

Kumar is confident her message will resonate with the Class of 2024, which started their first year amid the uncertainty of the pandemic. “There is a lot you don’t know in your first year, and on top of that, there was COVID,” said Kumar, who grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. “Our class had to grapple with not knowing what was going to happen in the next few years of our College experience. … We have gone through College with this chaos, and we have developed a strength to deal with uncertainty, and that’s what makes us powerful.”

The power of not knowing can be revelatory, said Kumar. After graduation, she will work on public health entrepreneurship and after that, she plans to attend law school or pursue a Ph.D.

“We are all people walking through the world, not really knowing what’s going to happen,” Kumar said. “But the power of not knowing is about how you can turn that space of fear and anxiety into something that is empowering, uplifting, and exciting. It’s a conscious shift that you must make pretty much all the time every day.”

‘Working hard’ vs. ‘doing good’

Robert Clinton Graduate English

Growing up in Richmond, California, in an African American middle-class family, Clinton felt the call to public service early on. He is not sure where it came from, but he believes that both being the child of civil servants and being Black in the U.S. may have contributed to his commitment to the common good.

In his Commencement speech, Clinton will urge students to use their privilege and power to better the lives of fellow citizens and create a more equitable society. Privilege comes with social responsibility, he said.

“Some people who graduate from Harvard are going to be presidents or senators, but most people are going to be managers, professors, and even if they are not at the very top, they will still have a lot of power,” said Clinton. “We will be people with good jobs because we went to Harvard. And that means that we must be on the lookout for opportunities to help people.”

Harvard graduates should put their education to good use, said Clinton, who found inspiration in the work of actor and activist Harry Belafonte, who used his fame to support the Civil Rights struggle. Clinton was also stirred by the words of a Law School professor who exhorted students to find something bigger than themselves and be part of it.

“There’s a difference between working hard and doing good,”he said. “People here know how to work really hard, but working hard doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re making the world better or doing your part.”

Before coming to the Law School, Clinton worked for the city of San Francisco in the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs. But he began thinking seriously about the law when he became involved with efforts to remove a citizenship question from the 2020 U.S. Census questionnaire. A coalition of immigrant groups challenged former President Donald Trump’s administration before the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the petitioners.

“I got to see how lawyers can use the law to help people and to hold people accountable,” Clinton said. “It was really inspiring.”

After graduation, Clinton will clerk for Judge Dale Ho of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. By coincidence, Ho was the lawyer representing the immigrant groups that challenged Trump’s plan to include the citizenship question on the 2020 Census. Clinton is elated over that twist of fate.

“It was the first legal case that I followed from beginning to end,” said Clinton. “I read the briefs even though I didn’t know what they meant, I listened to the oral argument, and I was shocked when against all the odds, they won the case.

“And it just so happens that Judge Ho is going to be my first boss after law school. I joked with him in the interview that he was one of the reasons why I went to Law School. It feels like a wonderful full-circle moment.”

Also in this series:

One journey behind them, grads pause to reflect before starting the next

Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist puts values first in Commencement address focused on threats to democracy

Burns and others deliver call to action – and empathy – at Class Day ceremonies

Honorary degree recipients in a formal photo.

Six receive honorary degrees

Harvard recognizes educator, conductor, theoretical physicist, advocate for elderly, writer, and Nobel laureate

In 2014, a new bell was installed in the Memorial Church.

A joyful noise

Ringing of bells marks 373rd Commencement

The ROTC Commissioning Ceremony at Sanders Theatre.

Ready to serve

New officers ‘join a long crimson line that goes back to the very founding of this country.’

Harvard School banners above a Commencement crowd.

Harvard awards 9,262 degrees

Totals reflect the 2023-24 academic year

President Emerita Drew Faust (center) acknowledges the audience after receiving a standing ovation for her oration.

Time to stand up, defend American higher education, Faust says

President emerita invokes spirit of Emerson, pushes back against recent criticisms

Maria Ressa will speak her troubled mind

‘Democracy dies quickly,’ warns Nobel laureate ahead of Commencement, where she hopes to find students committed to protecting it

‘Seek inspiration in one another’

Garber praises graduates’ resilience, urges them to maintain and cherish lasting bonds

‘I haven’t really had a proper weekend in a long time’

Longtime supporter of grads Kathy Hanley caps 13-year quest with a Commencement of her own

They include Madison Pankey (all ’24, from left), Fez S. Zafar, Chibuikem C. “Chuby” Uche, Jeremy Ornstein, Saylor Willauer, and Shruthi Kumar model their prom attire.

Party like it’s 2020

Class of ’24 gets a do-over on high school prom that pandemic took away

Share this article

Five alumni elected to the Board of Overseers

Six others join Alumni Association board

Everything counts!

New study finds step-count and time are equally valid in reducing health risks

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Harvard: how to cite an online thesis [Update 2023]
Harvard University Thesis Template
harvard university thesis pdf
Guide to do proper harvard referencing in assignment and dissertation
Harvard University Thesis Template
😀 Harvard format. How to Write an Essay or Research Paper in Harvard

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Harvard University Theses, Dissertations, and Prize Papers
The Harvard University Archives' collection of theses, dissertations, and prize papers document the wide range of academic research undertaken by Harvard students over the course of the University's history.. Beyond their value as pieces of original research, these collections document the history of American higher education, chronicling both the growth of Harvard as a major research ...
Computer Science Library Research Guide
How to search for Harvard dissertations. DASH, Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard, is the university's central, open-access repository for the scholarly output of faculty and the broader research community at Harvard.Most Ph.D. dissertations submitted from March 2012 forward are available online in DASH.; Check HOLLIS, the Library Catalog, and refine your results by using the Advanced ...
How can I find a Harvard thesis or dissertation?
Contact Imaging Services staff directly for additional information at 617/495-3995 or [email protected] (M-F, 9-5 Eastern) For Extension School ALM theses check out our Library Guide for Harvard Extension School theses page. Want to view a dissertation or thesis at the library? Check with the archival collection location listed in HOLLIS.
Find Dissertations and Theses
To find Harvard affiliate dissertations: DASH - Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard - DASH is the university's central, open access repository for the scholarly output of faculty and the broader research community at Harvard.Most PhD dissertations submitted from March 2012 forward are available online in DASH.; HOLLIS Library Catalog - you can refine your results by using the Advanced ...
Online Senior Thesis
This page is for Undergraduate Senior Theses. For Ph.D. Theses, see here.. So that Math Department senior theses can more easily benefit other undergraduate, we would like to exhibit more senior theses online (while all theses are available through Harvard University Archives, it would be more convenient to have them online).It is absolutely voluntary, but if you decide to give us your ...
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Electronic Theses & Dissertations. Harvard Medical School & Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health students can now use ProQuest ETD to make their electronic theses and dissertations accessible to the research community: Submitted works will join almost 5 million others freely available through ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
Dissertations & Theses
Harvard dissertations and theses. As above, most of these from 1997 are available via ProQuest. Havard dissertations and theses since 2012 are also available in our online repository, DASH, and in HOLLIS. If a dissertation from 2012 forward is not available in full text, the author has placed an embargo on it (up to 5 years) and the library won ...
Browsing HBS Theses and Dissertations by Keyword
Now showing items 1-20 of 129. Keyword. Academic-Industry Collaborations [1] Accounting [4] Arbitrage [1] Asset-Based Lending [1] Audit [1] banking strategy [1] Bayesian Statistics [1]
Online Dissertations
The Index to Theses describes theses accepted for higher degrees by universities in Great Britain and Ireland and the Council for National Academic Awards from 1716 to date. From 1716 through 1985, the database provides citations only. For the period 1970-1985, abstracts are to some extent searchable. Abstracts are available online from 1986 on.
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global
Most post-1990 titles are available in full text. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global indexes dissertations and masters' theses from most North American graduate schools as well as some European universities. It provides full text for most indexed dissertations from 1990 to present. Search Dissertations & Theses.
Theses and Dissertations
A thesis is a long-term, large project that involves both research and writing; it is easy to lose focus, motivation, and momentum. Here are suggestions for achieving the result you want in the time you have. Timelines. The dissertation is probably the largest project you have undertaken, and a lot of the work is self-directed.
Special Collections: Theses at the Frances Loeb Library
GSD theses from Fall 2020 onwards can be accessed and downloaded primarily in DASH, unless the author has requested an embargo on her thesis.They can also be accessed in HOLLIS and ProQuest.. GSD theses submitted between Fall 2012 and Fall 2020 can be accessed and downloaded in HOLLIS by members of the Harvard community (with Harvard ID and key access), or from computers within our library for ...
Harvard Mathematics Department Harvard Department of Mathematics PhD
Dissertations. Most Harvard PhD dissertations from 2012 forward are available online in DASH, Harvard's central open-access repository and are linked below. Many older dissertations can be found on ProQuest Dissertation and Theses Search which many university libraries subscribe to.
DASH Home
A central, open-access repository of research by members of the Harvard community. DASH enlarges the audience and impact of your work. Authors who deposit in DASH have access to on-demand metrics and receive monthly reports about their readership. Deposited works receive persistent URLs, are comprehensively indexed by search engines, including ...
Dissertation
The Harvard Library can help! The Library maintains a guide for graduate students engaged in scholarly writing titled the Writing Oasis . They also offer access to Overleaf , which is an online LaTeX and Rich Text collaborative writing and publishing tool that makes the process of academic writing, editing, and publishing quicker and easier.
Thesis
Thesis. Your thesis is the central claim in your essay—your main insight or idea about your source or topic. Your thesis should appear early in an academic essay, followed by a logically constructed argument that supports this central claim. A strong thesis is arguable, which means a thoughtful reader could disagree with it and therefore ...
The Thesis Process
Review Harvard's course catalog online (my.harvard.edu) to be sure that there are faculty teaching courses related to your thesis topic. If not, you'll need to choose an alternative topic. Your topic choice must be a new area of research for you. Thesis work represents thoughtful engagement in new academic scholarship.
Doctoral Thesis Guidelines
The Signature Page for DrPH students must be formatted as follows: This Doctoral Thesis, [ Title of Doctoral Project ], presented by [ Student's Name ], and Submitted to the Faculty of The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Public.
HLS Dissertations, Theses, and JD Papers
This guide covers HLS S.J.D Dissertations, LL.M. papers, J.D. third-year papers, seminar papers, and prize papers. There have been changes in the HLS degree requirements for written work. The library's collection practices and catalog descriptions for these works has varied. Please note that there are gaps in the library's collection and ...
Open access to electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs)
Citation. Peter Suber, Open access to electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs), SPARC Open Access Newsletter, July 2, 2006.
Developing A Thesis
A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should "telegraph" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is going where in your essay. Steps in Constructing a Thesis. First, analyze your primary sources. Look for tension, interest, ambiguity, controversy, and/or complication.
Harvard Mathematics Department : Senior Thesis and PhD Thesis
For PhD Thesis, see here.This page is about Senior thesis. In order that senior thesis produced by Harvard math students are easier for other undergrads to benefit from, we would like to exhibit more senior theses online (while all theses are available through Harvard university archives, it would be more convenient to have them online).It is absolutely voluntary, but if you decide to give us ...
Honors & Theses
An honors thesis gives students the opportunity to conduct in-depth research into the areas of government that inspire them the most. Although, it's not a requirement in the Department of Government, the honors thesis is both an academic challenge and a crowning achievement at Harvard. The faculty strongly encourages students to write an ...
PDF A Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Social Studies
Theses should include a cover sheet (see sample in Appendix Four) and a table of contents before the Introduction and body chapters. Any appendices and a full refer-ences section should be clearly marked following the Conclusion. The final page of the thesis should list the word count (as in: Word Count: 26,578).
Shaping the Future of Online Learning
Catherine Breen, Managing Director of Harvard Online, in a team meeting. Harvard Online (HO): How has the online learning landscape evolved in recent years? Catherine Breen (CB): At the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown, there was a massive escalation in demand for online learning.Demand began to recede slowly as the months wore on and by late 2022, it started to level out.
How RFK Jr. Spent His Early Life
After graduating from high school, Kennedy attended Harvard, the alma mater of his father, uncle, and grandfather. Like JFK, RFK Jr. would see his senior thesis turned into a book. Unfortunately ...
Student Commencement speakers offer glimpse of speeches
A collection of stories covering Harvard University's 373rd Commencement. Three graduating students selected in a University-wide competition will deliver speeches Thursday at Tercentenary Theatre as part of the one of the oldest traditions of Commencement. The student orators are Blake Alexander Lopez, a senior from the College who will ...