harvard summer school creative writing

Creative Writing and Literature

Students enrolled in the Master of Liberal Arts program in Creative Writing & Literature will develop skills in creative writing and literary analysis through literature courses and writing workshops in fiction, screenwriting, poetry, and nonfiction. Through online group courses and one-on-one tutorials, as well as a week on campus, students hone their craft and find their voice.

Harvard Extension Courses

Return to Department List

Department - CREA

Crea e-22 section 1 (26257).

Spring 2023

Introduction to Creative Nonfiction

Margaret Deli PhD, Preceptor in Expository Writing, Harvard University

This is a workshop-based course for students interested in creative nonfiction: reading it, discussing it, and writing it for yourself (perhaps for the first time). Drawing on a wide variety of forms and voices, we close read for craft by analyzing the internal mechanics of style. The focus of these discussions is exemplary work by authors like Zadie Smith, Chang-Rae Lee, Susan Orlean, and James Baldwin. These conversations are the jumping off point for students' own writing: by the end of term, students produce two different essays to be workshopped by their peers.

CREA E-24 Section 1 (24510)

Story Development

Shelley Evans MFA, Screenwriter

This workshop introduces the unique challenges of longform storytelling, and helps writers develop strategies for approaching long projects, either screenplays or novels. Many writers are drawn to the page by character or language or theme, but story is the scaffold on which movies and novels depend. Over the course of the semester, we learn to work creatively with the tasks of story building. We begin with ideas where and how do we find them? What kinds of ideas can carry a story? How can you turn a wobbly idea into one that works? We then consider character who does the story belong to? How do their desires, problems, and drives give the story its essential energy? Then we turn to story development and structure, the primary work of the course: how do you keep an idea alive for two-hundred pages, or two hours? What elements help a story build energy and momentum, and deliver us to a satisfying close? We explore these essential story energies using writing exercises, examples from film and literature, and the shared experience of working writers.

CREA E-25 Section 2 (16665)

Introduction to Fiction Writing

Randy S. Rosenthal MTS, Editor

A workshop for writers with little or no experience in writing fiction. The class focuses on the elements of fiction: dialogue, voice, image, character, point of view, and structure. Students are asked to read and discuss fiction by major writers, to critique each other's work, and to write and revise at least one short story. Requirements also include several short writing exercises.

CREA E-25 Section 1 (16814)

William J. Holinger MA, Director, Secondary School Program, Harvard Summer School

CREA E-30a Section 1 (16374)

Beginning Poetry: Listening to Lines

David Barber MFA, Poetry Editor, The Atlantic

This intensive workshop offers students the opportunity to develop their aptitude and affinity for the practice of poetry. Students follow a structured sequence of writing assignments, readings, and exercises aimed at cultivating a sound working knowledge of the fundamental principles of prosody and the evolving possibilities of poetic form. There is a special emphasis on listening to lines and saying poems aloud, in concert with an eclectic assortment of audio archives. Another principal focus is the verse line through time, as we turn for instruction and inspiration to what the critic Paul Fussell calls the "historical dimension" of poetic meter and poetic form. The collective goal of the course is to create the conditions for reading and writing poems with a stronger sense of technical know-how and expressive conviction as well as a renewed appreciation for why poetry matters.

CREA E-45 Section 1 (13975)

Beginning Screenwriting

Susan Steinberg PhD, Filmmaker, Writer

This is an intensive course that provides members with a command of basic screenwriting elements and creative methods. The course goal is to promote each member's originality, voice, knowledge, and screenwriting technical skills, and to give scripts a written script structure and an act one of which they feel proud and can use to advance their work. Students are welcome to write an entire script, should they wish to and some have. During the semester, students produce a completed feature film or television treatment and the film first act in script format, as well as the film logline or pitch. Those who wish to use the course to write an entire screenplay or to rewrite a screenplay may pursue these goals, but must notify the instructor to arrange a writing schedule. Students need not enter with a script concept. Ideas are developed in class. Each person is encouraged to develop a creative approach and method appropriate to their working style. Alternative narrative styles and methods are presented in class.

CREA E-90 Section 2 (26063)

Fundamentals of Fiction

Tracy L. Strauss MFA, Preceptor in Expository Writing, Harvard University

This intensive, immersive course is designed for graduate-credit students with strong writing skills and an interest in becoming fiction writers but little formal experience, students who would like to develop a solid foundation in story and scene structure before embarking on an advanced fiction writing course. The first part of the course focuses on a close analysis of plot and structure in several short stories and novels. Students then apply these techniques and methods to generate and shape their own ideas, build a solid narrative foundation, and use scene structure to craft a dramatic story. Using Janet Burroway's Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft, students explore and learn the fundamentals of character, dialogue, showing versus telling, and point of view. By the end of the course, students complete a short story or the first chapter of a novel (about 15 to 20 pages of fiction), which is workshopped in class.

CREA E-90 Section 1 (26368)

Christopher S. Mooney MA, Author

CREA E-90 Section 1 (16784)

Crea e-91 section 1 (16697).

Fundamentals of Dramatic Writing

This course is designed for students with strong writing skills who have an interest in writing plays and/or screenplays, but little formal experience. The course introduces basic principles of dramatic writing and provides a foundation for advanced playwrighting and screenwriting courses. Using both plays and screenplays as study texts, we elucidate the elements of dramatic writing and consider how those elements work differently in different mediums. Plays and screenplays are similar but not the same both genres create narrative using character and dialogue, but plays lean more heavily on the inner life and voice of characters, while screenplays unfold in the external world, building stories with images and action. Weekly exercises guide students through the process of developing different kinds of scripts assessing potential story ideas, doing pre-draft character and backstory exploration, finding structure, and writing scenes. By the end of the semester, students have completed a short outline and the first twenty pages of a play or screenplay, which are workshopped in class. Prerequisites: This course is intended for students with strong writing skills, not beginning writers.

CREA E-100r Section 1 (24317)

Advanced Fiction: Writing the Short Story

Shay Youngblood MFA, Commissioner, Japan-US Friendship Commission, United States State Department

This is an intensive workshop in the craft of writing short fiction for students who have read widely among past and contemporary masters of short fiction and who are accomplished in the elements of prose composition (mechanics, syntax, and structure). Students are expected to produce two new short stories (10 to 20 pages each) and to revise them during the term. Prerequisites: A beginning or intermediate fiction writing course or permission of the instructor. Students should bring a 10-page sample of their work to the first class.

CREA E-100r Section 1 (16881)

Elizabeth Ames MFA, Writer

This course is for writers who love to read short stories and wish to make their own short stories come alive on the page. Students should arrive with a commitment to and curiosity about the short story form; we build on that foundation through close reading and in-depth discussion of exceptional published short stories. To better understand and employ key craft elements, students complete in-class writing exercises, reflect and present on both their own short stories and published work, and offer clear-eyed critiques of their peers' works-in-progress. Much of our time is spent in workshop. Students carefully read and thoughtfully respond to one another's short stories and we work together to determine how best to filter and synthesize the feedback offered in a workshop setting. The skills honed via peer critique are crucial in editing one's own work and students showcase their growth through the revision of one of two stories they write this semester. Prerequisites: A beginning or intermediate fiction writing course or permission of the instructor. Students should bring a 10-page sample of their work to the first class.

CREA E-100r Section 2 (26530)

Thomas Wisniewski PhD, Lecturer on Comparative Literature, Harvard University

CREA E-101r Section 1 (16305)

Writing a Nonfiction Book

Christina Thompson PhD, Editor, Harvard Review, Harvard College Library

This is a course for people who are embarked on a book-length work of nonfiction: biographers, memoirists, historians, journalists, science writers, and others who are writing for a non-specialist audience. Students should have a clearly formulated book idea or, ideally, be already working on a project. In the course we talk about voice, structure, audience, and how to pitch projects to agents and publishers. We also read samples from a wide variety of nonfiction books. Prerequisites: At least one creative writing class; preferably beginning or advanced narrative (or creative) nonfiction.

CREA E-101r Section 2 (16883)

Deirdre Alanna Mask JD, Writer

CREA E-101r Section 1 (25084)

Christina Thompson PhD, Editor, Harvard Review, Harvard College Library - Elizabeth Greenspan PhD, Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania

CREA E-105r Section 1 (16475)

Advanced Fiction: Writing the Novel

Elisabeth Sharp McKetta PhD, Writer

This is an advanced fiction-writing course. Class meetings run mainly as workshops: students respond to one another's novel excerpts. We also discuss process, as well as elements of fiction that relate to the novel. Students are expected to produce two new chapters (10 to 20 pages each) and to revise them during the term. Prerequisites: Students should have successfully completed other fiction-writing courses and begun writing a novel when the semester begins.

CREA E-105r Section 2 (16882)

Crea e-105r section 1 (26259), crea e-105r section 2 (26407), crea e-105r section 3 (26529), crea e-110r section 1 (26361).

Advanced Poetry Writing: The Art of the Line

Good poets pay attention to the words in a poem. Great poets attend to the sounds. How do you suggest anger in a line? How do you create levity, melancholy, suspense just by working with vowels, consonants, and meter? In this poetry writing workshop, we survey an array of poetic forms, from the ancient hemstitch of Beowulf to the recent sonnet cycles of John Murillo. We study the line: the meter, the caesura, the break. And with these tools, students explore new possibilities in their own writing. Prerequisites: A beginning poetry course or permission of the instructor.

CREA E-114 Section 1 (16783)

Advanced Fiction: Writing Suspense Fiction

Learn how techniques used in suspense fiction structure, pace, tension, and plot can be applied to your own writing. In addition to studying the bestselling works of both commercial and literary writers of suspense, students complete weekly writing assignments and participate in writing workshops. Writing samples will also be read and critiqued by a literary agent. Prerequisites: An introductory and/or intermediate fiction course or permission of the instructor. Students should bring to class either a work in progress or an idea for a novel or short story.

CREA E-114 Section 1 (26367)

Crea e-118r section 1 (16366).

Advanced Creative Nonfiction

Kurt Pitzer MFA, Author

This workshop is for students who want to stretch their abilities as writers. The goal of the course is to produce publishable short memoirs, essays, profiles, literary nonfiction, or any of the other subgenres often called creative nonfiction. We develop pitches for editors; gather material through interviews, research, and observation; and then organize and rewrite our pieces until readers won't put them down. Although we deal strictly in facts, we use literary devices such as scene, plot, character, and voice. We draw inspiration from masters of the craft such as Susan Orlean, Zadie Smith, David Foster Wallace, Virginia Woolf, and Ryszard Kapuscinski. Prerequisites: A beginning writing course or permission of the instructor.

CREA E-118r Section 1 (26118)

Brian Pietras PhD, Preceptor in Expository Writing, Harvard University

This workshop is intended for serious writers of creative nonfiction who want to produce publishable work. In the first half of the course, we study work by major authors in this capacious genre, including Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Joan Didion, Audre Lorde, and Jo Ann Beard. In the second half, we use what we have learned about scene, plot, character, and voice to produce new work. Students may write short memoirs, personal or lyric essays, profiles, literary nonfiction, and more. Toward the end of the course, we focus on strategies for getting published, including how to identify likely publication venues and how to effectively pitch editors. Prerequisites: A beginning writing course or permission of the instructor.

CREA E-118r Section 2 (26417)

Ian Shank MFA, Preceptor in Expository Writing, Harvard University

This is an intensive workshop in the craft of writing literary essays for students who have read widely among past and contemporary masters of the form and who are accomplished in the elements of prose composition (mechanics, syntax, and structure). Students are expected to produce two new essays (10 to 15 pages each) and to revise them during the term.

CREA E-120r Section 1 (16668)

Advanced Screenwriting

Wayne Wilson MFA, Screenwriter

In this advanced screenwriting workshop, students watch films and discuss the work of workshop members. During the course, each student presents two 20- to 30-page acts from his or her screenplay for class discussion. The final project is a revision of one of these two workshop submissions. Prerequisites: CREA E-45 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor. Students should e-mail a sample of their own writing (ten pages or fewer) to Mr. Wilson before the first class.

CREA E-121 Section 1 (15776)

Advanced Fiction: Writing the Middle Grade and Young Adult Novel

Mary Sullivan Walsh BA, Author and Freelance Editor

This is an intensive workshop for writers interested in developing a middle grade or young adult novel. During each class meeting, we workshop chapters of students' novels-in-progress, focusing on elements of craft (character, point of view, dialogue, and plot). In addition, by reading and analyzing sections of work by such exemplary novelists as Angie Thomas, Lois Lowry, and Kwame Alexander, students learn to read like writers and to develop their own voices. Students are expected to have completed approximately 40 pages and a working synopsis of their novel by the end of the course. Prerequisites: A ten-page writing sample to be submitted to [email protected] before classes begin.

CREA E-121 Section 1 (25946)

Crea e-122 section 1 (25809).

Advanced Fiction: Writing Fairy Tales

Katie Beth Kohn MA, Doctoral Candidate, Visual and Environment Studies, Harvard University

Fairy tales have inspired authors for centuries and we are still very much under their spell. In the first part of this course, we study fairy tales both classic and contemporary, including works by Helen Oyeyemi, Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, and Kelly Link. In the second part, students workshop their own original prose fiction fairy tale, which may be a piece of short-form fiction or an excerpt from a longer work in progress. Throughout, we explore how fairy tales have encouraged authors to develop their own style and voice even as they seem to speak in a language all their own. Prerequisites: A beginning creative writing course or permission of the instructor.

CREA E-125r Section 1 (26260)

Advanced Playwriting

Bryan Delaney MA, Playwright and Screenwriter

This course is intended for students who have some experience with playwriting or dramatic writing in general so that they can refine the skills they have already acquired and take them to the next level. Topics covered include techniques for approaching the first draft, in-depth characterization, dramatic structure, conflict, shaping the action, language and dialogue (including subtext, rhythm, imagery, and exposition), how to analyze students' own work as playwrights, dealing with feedback, the drafting process, techniques for rewriting, collaboration (with directors and actors) and the business of the art working with theaters, agents, literary managers, and dramaturges. The focus of the course is more on what might be called the classical principles of dramatic writing rather than the more avant-garde approaches to the art. Prerequisites: Ideally, students come to the first class with an idea for a one-act play to write throughout the course, although this is not mandatory, as the first class explores techniques for generating ideas.

CREA E-126 Section 1 (16669)

Advanced Fiction: Writing Horror

How do authors achieve the spine-tingling, bone-chilling, nightmare-inducing effects of great horror fiction? In addition to studying works of classic and contemporary horror, students in this course complete two works of short fiction before workshopping and presenting a final work. Throughout, we consider the diversity of the genre, from the gothic romanticism of Bram Stoker and Nathaniel Hawthorne to the paranoiac parables of Shirley Jackson and Ira Levin as well as the blockbuster works of Stephen King. We also pay considerable attention to emerging voices in the genre, studying selected works from Tananarive Due, Paul Tremblay, Carmen Maria Machado, Otessa Moshfegh, Emily Carroll, and Iain Reed. For final works, students are invited to workshop standalone works of short form fiction or selections from larger projects (novels, anthologies, scripts) provided these works are developed and drafted during the course. Prerequisites: A beginning-level creative writing course or permission of the instructor.

CREA E-128 Section 1 (26042)

Advanced Memoir: Mythic Structures

Both myth and memoir share a structure: somebody goes into the woods and comes out wiser about the ways of the world, emerging with an elixir (real or symbolic) to bring healing and hope. In sharing a memoir with readers, we share our lessons, the morals of our stories, the keys to our versions of happily ever after. Yet memoir writers often get stuck choosing which stories (from all of the stories we have lived) to include. In this course, we study myths and fairy tales, and write memoirs. We read short memoirs by writers who use these imaginary stories as a framework to examine their own lives, including Linda Grey Sexton, Sabrina Mark, Alexander Chee, and Michael Mejia. Students borrow structure from the great pool of myth and fairy tale lore and then fill in their stories with the particulars of their human-sized lives. Using mythic structure to help shape ordinary life events helps writers to combine universal themes with their own true voice a way to write our lives and make it matter. Students must craft new material for this course or develop new material for an existing project, such as a chapter in a longer memoir. Prerequisites: A beginning-level creative writing course or permission of the instructor.

CREA E-143 Section 1 (26475)

Advanced Fiction: Writing the Murder Mystery Novel

David Freed ALM, Novelist and Journalist

Murder mysteries have become the most popular realm of commercial fiction, with an insatiable demand for new titles each year among the millions of the genre's loyal devotees. This course guides students in conceiving their own murder mystery, from plot outline to the execution of a commercially viable first chapter. Prerequisites: At least one advanced writing course, or by prior permission from the instructor.

CREA E-148 Section 1 (16891)

Advanced Fiction: Writing Flash Fiction

How can you tell a story in a single paragraph? In a page? In three? This advanced writing course explores one of the hottest forms of fiction published today: flash fiction. Students read widely and experiment freely with the form, which offers a range of possibilities both in style and in length. In weekly writing workshops, students receive regular feedback on their work-in-progress and significantly revise 20-25 pages of prose with the aim of publication. As students draft their work, we study and dissect models of masterful very short fiction by writers both classic and contemporary, including Colette, Guy de Maupassant, Franz Kafka, Jorge Luis Borges, Clarice Lispector, Ernest Hemingway, Yasunari Kawabata, Dorothy Parker, Jamaica Kincaid, Lydia Davis, Charles Baxter, Anne Carson, Keith Taylor, Joyce Carol Oates, and Amy Hempel. We discuss these texts with the eye of a writer attentive to elements of craft, including dramatic structure, tone, point of view, suspense, prose style, rhythm, characterization, and plot. Working in this genre pushes students to write with economy and to polish their sentences as they aspire towards the hallmarks of excellent prose fiction: precision and economy, clarity and urgency. The course concludes with a conversation about how to break into publishing by working in a form that offers many opportunities for literary contests, awards, and first publications.

CREA E-153 Section 1 (26362)

Advanced Nonfiction: Writing Biography

Maggie Doherty PhD, Biographer and Critic

The biography is one of the most popular and enduring genres of nonfiction writing. This course teaches students the skills needed to bring people to life through biographical writing. Students read excerpts from different types of biography scholarly, popular, and experimental as well as read about the process of writing biography. Students practice interviewing, learn about accessing archival resources, and work on aspects of prose and style that bring characters to life. Students work to complete one chapter of a biography in progress. By the end of the course, students have the skills to enhance all their nonfiction writing projects, making them more marketable to editors and agents and more engaging to readers. Prerequisites: A beginning writing course or permission of the instructor.

CREA E-156 Section 2 (25774)

The Art of the Pitch

Catherine Eaton BA, MFA, Director and Writer

You have an idea or you have created a brilliant piece of work: a novel, a screenplay, a concept for a TV series, maybe even a scripted nonfiction podcast. Now what? How do you convince others to jump on board to buy or create or collaborate or publish or produce your story? How do you move it out of your desk drawer or hard drive or imagination and into the world? In this course, we break down the making of a pitch into its core elements generating the idea, developing the story, and stress-testing the material as we practice strategies for producing pitch materials and for pitching your project, in the room, to a live audience. Students write and revise two treatments: one for a work they have created and one for an idea they have yet to develop. Students build one look book and one pitch deck and do three live pitches. Students develop an insider's perspective on industry practices and etiquette, essential knowledge for anyone interested in the business of creation. Prerequisites: An advanced creative writing course or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

CREA E-156 Section 1 (25949)

January 2023

CREA E-597 Section 1 (16821)

Precapstone: Building the World of the Book: Fiction

Leah De Forest MFA, Writer

In this course, students engage in a series of structured creative writing exercises that make it possible for them to delve deeply into their characters what they look like, what they want and need, and how they interact with the world in which they live as they structure the imaginative world of their fiction. Students draft the first chapter of their capstone novel or the first story in their capstone collection (15-20 pages). Students also write a plan for their projects (5-10 pages) in which they create a roadmap of their book, bringing the plot and key characters into focus and defining the audience for their stories. Prerequisites: Registration is limited to officially admitted candidates in Master of Liberal Arts, creative writing and literature, who are in their penultimate semester. Prospective candidates and students with pending admission applications are not eligible. Candidates must be in good academic standing and in the process of successfully completing all degree requirements except the capstone, CREA E-599, which they must enroll in the upcoming spring term as their final course with the same instructor. Candidates are allowed to complete the summer residency after the capstone. Candidates who do not meet these degree requirements are dropped from the course.

CREA E-597 Section 2 (16656)

Precapstone: Building the World of the Book: Fiction or Nonfiction

In this course, students engage in a series of structured writing exercises that make it possible for them to delve deeply into their characters what they look like, what they want and need, and how they interact with the world in which they live as they structure the world of their fiction or nonfiction. Students draft the first chapter of their capstone novel, memoir, or nonfiction book, or the first story or essay in their capstone collection (15-20 pages). Students also write a plan for their projects (5-10 pages) in which they create a roadmap of their book, bringing the narrative arc and key characters into focus and defining the audience for their work. Prerequisites: Registration is limited to officially admitted candidates in Master of Liberal Arts, creative writing and literature, who are in their penultimate semester. Prospective candidates and students with pending admission applications are not eligible. Candidates must be in good academic standing and in the process of successfully completing all degree requirements except the capstone, CREA E-599, which they must enroll in the upcoming spring term as their final course with the same instructor. Candidates are allowed to complete the summer residency after the capstone. Candidates who do not meet these degree requirements are dropped from the course.

CREA E-599 Section 1 (26418)

Capstone: Developing the Manuscript: Fiction

This course is meant to follow CREA E-597, in which students built the imaginative world of their books and produced the first story or chapter of them. In this workshop, students write two additional chapters or stories, or approximately 30 pages of new work. The capstone project in total should be about 50-60 pages the equivalent of a thesis. Students submit the entire manuscript the plan and the three chapters developed during both the precapstone and capstone courses at the end of the second semester, but instructors read and comment on only the two new chapters. Prerequisites: Registration is limited to officially admitted candidates in the Master of Liberal Arts, creative writing and literature. Candidates must be in good academic standing, with only the capstone and the on-campus summer residency left to complete (no other course registration is allowed simultaneously with the capstone), and have successfully completed the precapstone course, CREA E-597, with the same instructor in the previous fall term. Candidates are allowed to complete the summer residency after the capstone. Candidates who do not meet these requirements are dropped from the course.

CREA E-599 Section 2 (26250)

Capstone: Developing the Manuscript: Fiction or Nonfiction

This course is meant to follow CREA E-597, in which students built the imaginative world of their books and produced the first story, essay, or chapter of them. In this workshop, students write two additional chapters, stories, or essays, or approximately 30 pages of new work. The capstone project in total should be about 50-60 pages the equivalent of a thesis. Students submit the entire manuscript the plan and the three chapters, stories, or essays developed during both the precapstone and capstone courses at the end of the second semester, but instructors read and comment on only the two new chapters. Prerequisites: Registration is limited to officially admitted candidates in the Master of Liberal Arts, creative writing and literature. Candidates must be in good academic standing, with only the capstone and the on-campus summer residency left to complete (no other course registration is allowed simultaneously with the capstone), and have successfully completed the precapstone course, CREA E-597, with the same instructor in the previous fall term. Candidates are allowed to complete the summer residency after the capstone. Candidates who do not meet these requirements are dropped from the course.

Important Addresses

Harvard College

University Hall Cambridge, MA 02138

Harvard College Admissions Office and Griffin Financial Aid Office

86 Brattle Street Cambridge, MA 02138

Social Links

If you are located in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway (the “European Economic Area”), please click here for additional information about ways that certain Harvard University Schools, Centers, units and controlled entities, including this one, may collect, use, and share information about you.

• Application Tips
• Navigating Campus
• Preparing for College
• How to Complete the FAFSA
• What to Expect After You Apply
• View All Guides
• Parents & Families
• School Counselors
• Información en Español
• Undergraduate Viewbook
• View All Resources

Search and Useful Links

Search the site, search suggestions, alert: independence day office closure.

The Admissions & Financial Aid Office will be closed on Thursday, July 4 and Friday, July 5 for the Independence Day holiday. We will reopen with normal business hours on Monday, July 8.

Last Updated: July 03, 5:00pm

Open Alert: Independence Day Office Closure

Creative writing courses at harvard.

Growing up, I wanted nothing more than to be a writer. 

The plan was to publish a book by age fourteen and be a New York Times bestselling author by age eighteen. I’m twenty-one now, with admittedly no books published, but I still love writing just as much as I did back then.

However, coming to Harvard, writing was a passion I kept tucked away from my college experience. I was nervous about sharing my writing with the sea of incredibly talented peers I found myself in. I felt the ever-present imposter syndrome of my creative skills and vowed that for the time being, I would keep my plethora of Word Document pages hidden away in a nondescript folder on my desktop. 

Last summer, following the end of my sophomore year, I realized that I had to start critically thinking about thesising. As a joint concentrator in English and Theater, Dance, & Media, a thesis would be required to graduate with honors. As I was sifting through various ideas and themes I would be interested in spending my senior year diving headfirst into, I kept returning to the idea of writing a play. No matter how many ideas for a critical thesis, I couldn't shake the excitement at the prospect of completing a creative thesis instead. 

There was only one problem. 

In order to be eligible for a creative writing thesis in my departments, I had to have taken at least one creative writing workshop. This would mean actively, and repeatedly, putting my work out there to my fellow classmates  and receiving feedback on the work I did. I was terrified, but I knew what I had to do to write the thesis I wanted. 

So, before the start of junior fall, I suppressed my inhibitions and applied for the introductory playwriting course. It was a small, seminar-style course with less than a dozen students and our professor. We had a large span of class years, Harvard affiliations, interests, goals, and writing backgrounds. Though I was entering the class as someone wanting to pursue writing in future projects, several people in the class were taking it as a fun elective to flex their creative muscles. Through a series of imaginative writing prompts, generative exercises, and longer form projects, our semester culminated in a finished one act play with a plot entirely of our own choosing.

The playwriting workshop is easily one of my favorite classes I’ve ever taken at Harvard. Having a creative outlet in one of my classes felt fulfilling, and each assignment was something I looked forward to rather than dreading. Furthermore, because of the intimacy of the workshop setting, I learned so much about and from my fellow writers in the class. Everyone was supportive, and it was inspiring to watch everyone grow over the course of the semester. Looking at my writing from the beginning of the course to the end, I can see a noticeable difference in my style, craft, and approach to writing. 

My workshop experience was so rewarding, in fact, that I decided to take the advanced playwriting course in the spring with the same professor! At the end of the semester, a new short play that I wrote in the class premiered virtually at the Harvard Playwright’s Festival, which was a highlight of my junior year. I recruited many of my peers to read my work in the festival and bring it to life. Having so many friends so willing to give up their time and creativity to perform my work was so fulfilling, and the feedback I received from the audience afterwards encouraged me to continue working on the play and refining it. 

After these experiences, I feel more than ready to begin work on my playwriting thesis in the semesters to come, and I am confident that I will have a series of creative works I can be proud of once I graduate.  

• Student Activities
• Student Life

Madi Class of '22 Alumni

Hi y’all! My name is Madi, and I’m a senior in Winthrop House studying English; Theater, Dance, & Media; and Folklore & Mythology.

Student Voices

My unusual path to neuroscience, and research.

Raymond Class of '25

How I Organized a Hackathon at Harvard

Kathleen Class of '24

Dear homesick international student at Harvard College

David Class of '25

• Utility Menu

• Summer Term 2023

Open Electives

Engl s-207. the culture of capitalism.

Instructor: Martin Puchner Day & Time: Tuesdays & Thursdays 12:00–1:30pm (EDT) Summer 7-week session | CRN 33124

The course asks how literature, theater, and film have captured the spirit of capitalism—fueling its fantasies, contemplating its effects, and chronicling its crises. More than just an economic system, capitalism created new habits of life and mind; it also created new values, forged and distilled by new forms of art. Core readings by Franklin, O'Neill, Rand, Miller, and Mamet, films by Chaplin and Lang, and background readings by Smith, Marx, Taylor, Weber, and Schumpeter.

This course meets via  web conference . Students may attend at the scheduled meeting time or watch recorded sessions on demand. The  recorded sessions  are typically available within a few hours of the end of class and no later than the following business day. Harvard College students: This course is eligible for degree credit, but see  important policy information . Please note: In addition to the scheduled class time, this course has required recorded lectures and activities that students complete on demand. Please see course syllabus for details. The overall amount of time students spend on this course is equivalent to other 4-credit courses.

ENGL S-257. Superheroes and Power

Instructor: Stephanie Burt Day & Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:00–3:00pm Summer 7-week session | CRN 35152

What makes superheroes popular? How can they help us think about power, belonging, queerness, race, citizenship, art, or disability? In this course we explore those questions in Marvel and DC favorites (especially the X-Men) as well as in older literature, independent comics, novels, and readings from several critical disciplines.

All students are required to attend and participate during the regularly scheduled class time, either by being present in the classroom or via  web conference . Harvard College students: This course is eligible for degree credit, but see  important policy information . This course counts for the Aesthetics and Culture  Gen Ed  requirement and is equivalent to Gen Ed 1165. It does not count for the College's divisional distribution requirement.

Guided Electives 1700-1900

Engl s-140. the rise of the novel.

Instructor: Leo Damrosch, Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature, Emeritus Day & Time: Mondays & Wednesdays, 8:30–11:30am  Summer 7-week session | CRN 35352 Open Enrollment

Literary narrative goes back to ancient times, but the novel, as the term is used today, did not appear until the seventeenth century, and only in the eighteenth century did it establish itself as the dominant literary form of our culture. This course explores the eighteenth-century novels long considered the best and most important, both for their achievement in developing the possibilities of narrative, and for their ability to give pleasure to readers. To bring out the particular qualities of each work, scenes from modern film adaptations are shown whenever available. Issues to be considered include genre (What was new about novels? Is the novel a genre?); features of omniscient, first-person, and epistolary narration; representation of character and subjective experience; the social function of fiction; the attractions of plot; the paradoxes of realism; moral didacticism and its subversion; and differences between British and French fiction. Novels include  The Princesse de Clèves, Robinson Crusoe, Clarissa, Tom Jones, Les Liaisons Dangereuses , and  Pride and Prejudice . Due to the condensed summer schedule, the longer works are read in abridged form.

This course meets via  live web conference . Students must attend and participate at the scheduled meeting time. Harvard College students: This course is eligible for degree credit, but see  important policy information .

All summer courses are administered by the Harvard Summer School through the Harvard Division of Continuing Education. For any questions about registration, please contact their office directly. If you wish to count Summer School courses for concentration credit, be sure that the course is eligible for Harvard College academic credit.

• Fall Term 2024
• Spring Term 2025
• Fall Term 2023
• Spring Term 2024

Writing Courses

• Social Sciences

Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasive Writing and Public Speaking

Gain critical communication skills in writing and public speaking with this introduction to American political rhetoric.

Join our list to learn more

Visit the tutor blog for writing advice from our staff

Hero Pagination

Attention seniors.

It's time for the 3-Minute Thesis Competition! Tell us about your research...and you could win $1000. 

Strategies for Essay Writing Handouts

Each handout focuses on a different aspect of the writing process.

We're hiring!

Current undergraduates are eligible to apply to work as peer tutors at the Writing Center.  

Schedule an Appointment

English grammar and language tutor, drop-in hours, harvard guide to using sources, departmental writing fellows, writing advice: the harvard writing tutor blog.

Students are welcome to book appointments at any stage of the writing process.

Undergraduates at Harvard College can visit the Writing Center for help with any writing assignment, fellowship application, or graduate school admissions essay.

Writing Resources

Guides for writing essays and papers

Meet the Staff

Writing Center staff listing

Contact / Employment

Reach out to us with questions and inquire about employment opportunities

Celebrating 150 years of Harvard Summer School. Learn about our history.

12 Strategies to Writing the Perfect College Essay

College admission committees sift through thousands of college essays each year. Here’s how to make yours stand out.

Pamela Reynolds

When it comes to deciding who they will admit into their programs, colleges consider many criteria, including high school grades, extracurricular activities, and ACT and SAT scores. But in recent years, more colleges are no longer considering test scores.

Instead, many (including Harvard through 2026) are opting for “test-blind” admission policies that give more weight to other elements in a college application. This policy change is seen as fairer to students who don’t have the means or access to testing, or who suffer from test anxiety.

So, what does this mean for you?

Simply that your college essay, traditionally a requirement of any college application, is more important than ever.

A college essay is your unique opportunity to introduce yourself to admissions committees who must comb through thousands of applications each year. It is your chance to stand out as someone worthy of a seat in that classroom.

A well-written and thoughtful essay—reflecting who you are and what you believe—can go a long way to separating your application from the slew of forgettable ones that admissions officers read. Indeed, officers may rely on them even more now that many colleges are not considering test scores.

Below we’ll discuss a few strategies you can use to help your essay stand out from the pack. We’ll touch on how to start your essay, what you should write for your college essay, and elements that make for a great college essay.

Be Authentic

More than any other consideration, you should choose a topic or point of view that is consistent with who you truly are.

Readers can sense when writers are inauthentic.

Inauthenticity could mean the use of overly flowery language that no one would ever use in conversation, or it could mean choosing an inconsequential topic that reveals very little about who you are.

Use your own voice, sense of humor, and a natural way of speaking.

Whatever subject you choose, make sure it’s something that’s genuinely important to you and not a subject you’ve chosen just to impress. You can write about a specific experience, hobby, or personality quirk that illustrates your strengths, but also feel free to write about your weaknesses.

Honesty about traits, situations, or a childhood background that you are working to improve may resonate with the reader more strongly than a glib victory speech.

Grab the Reader From the Start

You’ll be competing with so many other applicants for an admission officer’s attention.

Therefore, start your essay with an opening sentence or paragraph that immediately seizes the imagination. This might be a bold statement, a thoughtful quote, a question you pose, or a descriptive scene.

Starting your essay in a powerful way with a clear thesis statement can often help you along in the writing process. If your task is to tell a good story, a bold beginning can be a natural prelude to getting there, serving as a roadmap, engaging the reader from the start, and presenting the purpose of your writing.

Focus on Deeper Themes

Some essay writers think they will impress committees by loading an essay with facts, figures, and descriptions of activities, like wins in sports or descriptions of volunteer work. But that’s not the point.

College admissions officers are interested in learning more about who you are as a person and what makes you tick.

They want to know what has brought you to this stage in life. They want to read about realizations you may have come to through adversity as well as your successes, not just about how many games you won while on the soccer team or how many people you served at a soup kitchen.

Let the reader know how winning the soccer game helped you develop as a person, friend, family member, or leader. Make a connection with your soup kitchen volunteerism and how it may have inspired your educational journey and future aspirations. What did you discover about yourself?

Show Don’t Tell

As you expand on whatever theme you’ve decided to explore in your essay, remember to show, don’t tell.

The most engaging writing “shows” by setting scenes and providing anecdotes, rather than just providing a list of accomplishments and activities.

Reciting a list of activities is also boring. An admissions officer will want to know about the arc of your emotional journey too.

Try Doing Something Different

If you want your essay to stand out, think about approaching your subject from an entirely new perspective. While many students might choose to write about their wins, for instance, what if you wrote an essay about what you learned from all your losses?

If you are an especially talented writer, you might play with the element of surprise by crafting an essay that leaves the response to a question to the very last sentence.

You may want to stay away from well-worn themes entirely, like a sports-related obstacle or success, volunteer stories, immigration stories, moving, a summary of personal achievements or overcoming obstacles.

However, such themes are popular for a reason. They represent the totality of most people’s lives coming out of high school. Therefore, it may be less important to stay away from these topics than to take a fresh approach.

Explore Harvard Summer School’s College Programs for High School Students

Write With the Reader in Mind

Writing for the reader means building a clear and logical argument in which one thought flows naturally from another.

Use transitions between paragraphs.

Think about any information you may have left out that the reader may need to know. Are there ideas you have included that do not help illustrate your theme?

Be sure you can answer questions such as: Does what you have written make sense? Is the essay organized? Does the opening grab the reader? Is there a strong ending? Have you given enough background information? Is it wordy?

Write Several Drafts

Set your essay aside for a few days and come back to it after you’ve had some time to forget what you’ve written. Often, you’ll discover you have a whole new perspective that enhances your ability to make revisions.

Start writing months before your essay is due to give yourself enough time to write multiple drafts. A good time to start could be as early as the summer before your senior year when homework and extracurricular activities take up less time.

Read It Aloud

Writer’s tip : Reading your essay aloud can instantly uncover passages that sound clumsy, long-winded, or false.

Don’t Repeat

If you’ve mentioned an activity, story, or anecdote in some other part of your application, don’t repeat it again in your essay.

Your essay should tell college admissions officers something new. Whatever you write in your essay should be in philosophical alignment with the rest of your application.

Also, be sure you’ve answered whatever question or prompt may have been posed to you at the outset.

Ask Others to Read Your Essay

Be sure the people you ask to read your essay represent different demographic groups—a teacher, a parent, even a younger sister or brother.

Ask each reader what they took from the essay and listen closely to what they have to say. If anyone expresses confusion, revise until the confusion is cleared up.

Pay Attention to Form

Although there are often no strict word limits for college essays, most essays are shorter rather than longer. Common App, which students can use to submit to multiple colleges, suggests that essays stay at about 650 words.

“While we won’t as a rule stop reading after 650 words, we cannot promise that an overly wordy essay will hold our attention for as long as you’d hoped it would,” the Common App website states.

In reviewing other technical aspects of your essay, be sure that the font is readable, that the margins are properly spaced, that any dialogue is set off properly, and that there is enough spacing at the top. Your essay should look clean and inviting to readers.

End Your Essay With a “Kicker”

In journalism, a kicker is the last punchy line, paragraph, or section that brings everything together.

It provides a lasting impression that leaves the reader satisfied and impressed by the points you have artfully woven throughout your piece.

So, here’s our kicker: Be concise and coherent, engage in honest self-reflection, and include vivid details and anecdotes that deftly illustrate your point.

While writing a fantastic essay may not guarantee you get selected, it can tip the balance in your favor if admissions officers are considering a candidate with a similar GPA and background.

Write, revise, revise again, and good luck!

Experience life on a college campus. Spend your summer at Harvard.

Explore Harvard Summer School’s College Programs for High School Students.

About the Author

Pamela Reynolds is a Boston-area feature writer and editor whose work appears in numerous publications. She is the author of “Revamp: A Memoir of Travel and Obsessive Renovation.”

How Involved Should Parents and Guardians Be in High School Student College Applications and Admissions?

There are several ways parents can lend support to their children during the college application process. Here's how to get the ball rolling.

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.

• Bahasa Indonesia
• Eastern Europe
• Moscow Oblast

Elektrostal

Elektrostal Localisation : Country Russia , Oblast Moscow Oblast . Available Information : Geographical coordinates , Population, Area, Altitude, Weather and Hotel . Nearby cities and villages : Noginsk , Pavlovsky Posad and Staraya Kupavna .

Information

Find all the information of Elektrostal or click on the section of your choice in the left menu.

• Update data

Elektrostal Demography

Information on the people and the population of Elektrostal.

Elektrostal Geography

Geographic Information regarding City of Elektrostal .

Elektrostal Distance

Distance (in kilometers) between Elektrostal and the biggest cities of Russia.

Elektrostal Map

Locate simply the city of Elektrostal through the card, map and satellite image of the city.

Elektrostal Nearby cities and villages

Elektrostal Weather

Weather forecast for the next coming days and current time of Elektrostal.

Elektrostal Sunrise and sunset

Find below the times of sunrise and sunset calculated 7 days to Elektrostal.

Elektrostal Hotel

Our team has selected for you a list of hotel in Elektrostal classified by value for money. Book your hotel room at the best price.

Elektrostal Nearby

Below is a list of activities and point of interest in Elektrostal and its surroundings.

Elektrostal Page

• Information /Russian-Federation--Moscow-Oblast--Elektrostal#info
• Demography /Russian-Federation--Moscow-Oblast--Elektrostal#demo
• Geography /Russian-Federation--Moscow-Oblast--Elektrostal#geo
• Distance /Russian-Federation--Moscow-Oblast--Elektrostal#dist1
• Map /Russian-Federation--Moscow-Oblast--Elektrostal#map
• Nearby cities and villages /Russian-Federation--Moscow-Oblast--Elektrostal#dist2
• Weather /Russian-Federation--Moscow-Oblast--Elektrostal#weather
• Sunrise and sunset /Russian-Federation--Moscow-Oblast--Elektrostal#sun
• Hotel /Russian-Federation--Moscow-Oblast--Elektrostal#hotel
• Nearby /Russian-Federation--Moscow-Oblast--Elektrostal#around
• Page /Russian-Federation--Moscow-Oblast--Elektrostal#page
• Terms of Use
• Copyright © 2024 DB-City - All rights reserved
• Change Ad Consent Do not sell my data