Course Materials/Syllabi
It is helpful to have a complete course syllabus posted to the course website and available before the first meeting of a class so that students can make efficient use of the shopping period with minimal disruption to classes. To provide online access to your syllabus, call the Faculty and Staff Support Line at (617-496-2727) and specify that you are interested in instructional support. To control the escalating cost of reproducing coursepacks and sourcebooks, instructors are encouraged to determine whether the course readings they assign are available electronically from the Harvard libraries, and if they are, to link to them from course websites. For information on how to include links from your syllabus/course web page directly to readings available in electronic format, contact your department’s Library Liaison or refer to Linking to Harvard Library E-Resources on the HCL website. The Resources for Instructors page ( contains additional useful information for instructors.
The syllabus should include contact information and office hours for teaching staff, a reading list, dates of hour/midterm exams, due dates for papers or other assignments, plans and expectations for Reading Period, course policy with respect to late work and makeup hour exams, and the basis on which the course grade will be awarded. It should also include a clear statement about plagiarism and collaboration. (See Papers and Other Written Assignments.) (In selecting the dates for hour exams and the midterm examination, as well as for papers and other assignments, instructors should consult the information on religious holidays at www.interfaithcalendar.org.) Instructors noting the possible dates of the course’s final examination on the syllabus should also note on the syllabus that these dates are tentative until the final examination schedule is set later in the term. In courses designed for undergraduates it is very desirable for students to receive an evaluation on at least one course assignment before the seventh Monday of the term, the last day on which undergraduates may withdraw from a course. Any limitations on the credit earned by passing the course—e.g., a full year course may not be divisible at midyear for half course credit—should be made clear as part of the presentation of the course.
No substantial changes in the work load or calendar of a course should be made after the Study Card Day each term.
