Free Courses

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PredictionX: Lost Without Longitude

Explore the history of navigation, from stars to satellites.

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Nonprofit Financial Stewardship Webinar: Introduction to Accounting and Financial Statements

The Introduction to Nonprofit Accounting and Financial Statements webinars provide a great opportunity to learn the basic principles of nonprofit accounting.

CS50x

CS50: Introduction to Computer Science

An introduction to the intellectual enterprises of computer science and the art of programming.

Constellations

PredictionX: Omens, Oracles & Prophecies

An overview of divination systems, ranging from ancient Chinese bone burning to modern astrology.

CS50AI

CS50's Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python

Learn to use machine learning in Python in this introductory course on artificial intelligence.

Harvard Kennedy School

Systematic Approaches to Policy Design

This free online course from Harvard Kennedy School introduces approaches to analytical decision-making for policy design.

Arthur Brooks Speaking

New Ideas for Nonprofit Leaders Webinar

Professor Arthur Brooks discusses cutting-edge concepts that tie tactics of the most effective nonprofit leaders back to the basics of human connection in this free webinar.

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4P Model for Strategic Leadership Podcasts

A Free Podcast Series

Harvard Kennedy School

The Science of Corresponding with Busy People Webinar

This free webinar from HKS professor Todd Rogers is his take on the five principles for effective communication and how to implement them in your writing.

CS50S

CS50's Introduction to Programming with Scratch

A gentle introduction to programming that prepares you for subsequent courses in coding.

Digital Interaction

Global News & Technology Leadership in Challenging Times

Join HKS Shorenstein Center Director and former TIME Editor in Chief Nancy Gibbs and colleagues for a panel discussion on the challenges facing global news-industry leaders.

HKS Executive Education

Our Information Emergency: Navigating the Media Environment in 2021

Led by Nancy Gibbs, this video explores the underlying forces that are shaping today’s media environment.

CS50W

CS50's Web Programming with Python and JavaScript

This course picks up where CS50 leaves off, diving more deeply into the design and implementation of web apps with Python, JavaScript, and SQL using frameworks like Django, React, and Bootstrap.

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Big Data Solutions for Social and Economic Disparities

Join Harvard University Professor Raj Chetty in this online course to understand how big data can be used to measure mobility and solve social problems.

38 free Harvard courses you can take online right now

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  • Founded by Harvard and MIT , edX has thousands of free online classes and paid certificate programs.
  • Harvard University offers over 145 free online courses through the online learning platform.
  • Below, you can find 38 of the most interesting ones, from computer science to public speaking .

Insider Today

Whether you want to learn in-demand career skills from one of the best schools in the world, or just want to know what sitting in a Harvard class is like, the good news is: you can do it completely for free.

Founded by Harvard and MIT, edX  is a popular online learning platform and nonprofit working to democratize learning . Obstacles like steep tuition and location are no longer barriers when classes are available online for free or at affordable prices. 

The platform's 2,500+ online courses are free to audit, and many of the courses are sourced from the world's top universities,  including MIT , Princeton , Yale , Columbia , Stanford , the University of Michigan , NYU , and more. Of all the courses on edX, about 145 are from Harvard , spanning subjects from computer science  to public speaking .

You can audit these classes for free or opt to pay $50-$200 for features like graded homework and certificates of completion that you can add to your resume or LinkedIn profile. 

The 38 best free online Harvard courses:

Descriptions provided by edX.

Data Science: R Basics

harvard creative writing course free

Enroll for free

Build a foundation in R and learn how to wrangle, analyze, and visualize data.

Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasive Writing and Public Speaking

harvard creative writing course free

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

You can read a review of the course here.

CS50's Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python

harvard creative writing course free

Learn to use machine learning in Python in this introductory course on artificial intelligence.

You can read more about Harvard's online computer sciences courses here.

The Architectural Imagination

harvard creative writing course free

Learn fundamental principles of architecture — as an academic subject or a professional career — by studying some of history's most important buildings.

Fundamentals of Neuroscience, Part 1: The Electrical Properties of the Neuron

harvard creative writing course free

Learn how electricity makes the neurons in your brain tick.

harvard creative writing course free

This introduction to moral and political philosophy is one of the most popular courses taught at Harvard College.

Statistics and R

harvard creative writing course free

An introduction to basic statistical concepts and R programming skills necessary for analyzing data in the life sciences.

Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles

harvard creative writing course free

Mobilize people to tackle tough problems and build the capacity to thrive through the dangers of change.

Child Protection: Children's Rights in Theory and Practice

harvard creative writing course free

Learn how to protect children from violence, exploitation, and neglect through law, policy, and practice in a human rights framework.

Using Python for Research

harvard creative writing course free

Take your introductory knowledge of Python programming to the next level and learn how to use Python 3 for your research.

Leaders of Learning

harvard creative writing course free

Explore and understand your own theories of learning and leadership. Gain the tools to imagine and build the future of learning.

Technology Entrepreneurship: Lab to Market

harvard creative writing course free

Explore how entrepreneurs build successful businesses by moving technology from lab to market.

The Health Effects of Climate Change

harvard creative writing course free

Learn how global warming impacts human health, and the ways we can diminish those impacts.

Introduction to Family Engagement in Education

harvard creative writing course free

Learn about successful collaborations between families and educators and why they lead to improved outcomes for students and schools.

CS50's Understanding Technology

harvard creative writing course free

This is CS50's introduction to technology for students who don't (yet) consider themselves proficient in using computers or understanding computer science. You can read more about Harvard's online computer sciences courses here.

Pyramids of Giza: Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology

harvard creative writing course free

Explore the archaeology, history, art, and hieroglyphs surrounding the famous Egyptian Pyramids at Giza. Learn about Old Kingdom pharaohs and elites, tombs, temples, the Sphinx, and how new technology is unlocking their secrets.

Introduction to Probability

harvard creative writing course free

Learn probability, an essential language and set of tools for understanding data, randomness, and uncertainty.

Humanitarian Response to Conflict and Disaster

harvard creative writing course free

Learn the principles guiding humanitarian response to modern emergencies, and the challenges faced in the field today.

Masterpieces of World Literature

harvard creative writing course free

Embark on a global journey to explore the past, present, and future of World Literature.

Religion, Conflict and Peace

harvard creative writing course free

Explore the diverse and complex roles that religions play in both promoting and mitigating violence.

Data Science: Inference and Modeling

harvard creative writing course free

Learn inference and modeling, two of the most widely used statistical tools in data analysis.

Lessons from Ebola: Preventing the Next Pandemic

harvard creative writing course free

Understanding the context for the Ebola outbreak: What went right, what went wrong, and how we can all do better.

Prescription Drug Regulation, Cost, and Access: Current Controversies in Context

harvard creative writing course free

Understand how the FDA regulates pharmaceuticals and explore debates on prescription drug costs, marketing, and testing.

CitiesX: The Past, Present, and Future of Urban Life

harvard creative writing course free

Explore what makes cities energizing, amazing, challenging, and perhaps humanity's greatest invention.

Backyard Meteorology: The Science of Weather

harvard creative writing course free

Learn to forecast the weather just by looking out your window.

Fat Chance: Probability from the Ground Up

harvard creative writing course free

Increase your quantitative reasoning skills through a deeper understanding of probability and statistics.

The Path to Happiness: What Chinese Philosophy Teaches us about the Good Life

harvard creative writing course free

Why should we care about Confucius? Explore ancient Chinese philosophy, ethics, and political theory to challenge your assumptions of what it means to be happy, live a meaningful life, and change the world.

Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science

harvard creative writing course free

Top chefs and Harvard researchers explore how traditional and modernist cooking techniques can illuminate basic principles in chemistry, physics, and engineering. Learn about elasticity, viscosity, mayonnaise, baking, and more.

Food Fermentation: The Science of Cooking with Microbes

harvard creative writing course free

In "Food Fermentation: The Science of Cooking with Microbes," explore the roles that microbes play in the production, preservation, and enhancement of diverse foods in a variety of culinary traditions, and learn about the history of food fermentations.

Improving Your Business Through a Culture of Health

harvard creative writing course free

Learn how a Culture of Health can transform your business to improve the well-being of your employees and company, while increasing revenue.

The Opioid Crisis in America

harvard creative writing course free

Learn about the opioid epidemic in the United States, including information about treatment and recovery from opioid addiction.

Women Making History: Ten Objects, Many Stories

harvard creative writing course free

Learn how American women created, confronted, and embraced change in the 20th century while exploring 10 objects from Radcliffe's Schlesinger Library.

American Government: Constitutional Foundations

harvard creative writing course free

Learn how early American politics informed the US Constitution and why its promise of liberty and equality has yet to be fully realized.

MalariaX: Defeating Malaria from the Genes to the Globe

harvard creative writing course free

How can we eradicate malaria? Explore cutting-edge science and technology, and examine policies needed, to control and eliminate malaria.

US Political Institutions: Congress, Presidency, Courts, and Bureaucracy

harvard creative writing course free

Examine the inner workings of the three branches of the US Federal Government.

Citizen Politics in America: Public Opinion, Elections, Interest Groups, and the Media

harvard creative writing course free

Learn about the forces in American politics that seek to influence the electorate and shift the political landscape.

Remote Work Revolution for Everyone

harvard creative writing course free

"In Remote Work Revolution for Everyone," you will learn to excel in the virtual-work landscape. You will learn how to build trust, increase productivity, use digital tools intelligently, and remain fully aligned with your remote team.

Practical Improvement Science in Health Care: A Roadmap for Getting Results

harvard creative writing course free

Learn the skills and tools of improvement science to make positive changes in health, healthcare, and your daily life.

harvard creative writing course free

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Since 1872, the Harvard College Writing Program has been teaching the fundamentals of academic writing to first-year students.

In addition to administering Expos courses, the Program supports undergraduate writing and instruction throughout the College.

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Students interested in learning more about Expos courses are encouraged to browse through the course offerings on our website. 

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Refresh Your Writing Skills

Harvard extension ready: a free online prep tool.

If it’s been a while since you were in the classroom, our Harvard Extension Ready tool can help you prepare.

In this free, online resource, you’ll have the opportunity to:

  • Refresh your writing skills

It’s free, self-guided, and self-paced.

So, are you ready to set yourself up for success? Sign up today!

There are Two Options to Enroll

  • Enroll using your Harvard Key.
  • If you are new to Harvard Extension School,  create a Canvas account and get started .

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Topics covered.

Harvard Extension Ready includes several modules:

  • Summary and Argument
  • Back to the Basics—A Grammar Refresher
  • Expressing Yourself Clearly

How It Works

All lessons are optional. If a module isn’t relevant to your goals, skip to the one that is. Want to retake a quiz to see if you can beat your score? We like that attitude. Go for it!

The modules feature a combination of:

  • Text-based instruction
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  • Interactive quizzes

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This resource is designed to help you refresh your knowledge in writing. We hope it prepares you for placement tests and future assignments. Ideally, it’ll remind you just how much you already know.

The assignments and quizzes can help you assess any areas of weakness that you may need to review in more depth. You may retake the quizzes as many times as you like to master the material.

Your scores in these lessons do not influence enrollment or admissions to courses and programs at Harvard Extension School.  

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Course Information

The english department uses this general system of numbering for our courses:.

100–109 and 200-209 Old English 110–119 and 210-219 Middle English 120–129 and 220-229 Renaissance 130–139 and 230-239 17th-c 140–149 and 240-249 18th-c 150–159 and 250-259 Romanticism and 19th-c British 160–169 and 260-269 20th-c and 21st-c 170–179 and 270-279 American 180–189 and 280-289 Modernism, thematic courses mainly modern 190–199 and 290-299 Criticism, Theory

English Concentration Foundational Courses, Class of ’23 & Beyond

Common courses, english 10: literature today.

Literature Today focuses on works written since 2000—since most of you were born. It explores how writers from around the world speak to and from their personal and cultural situations, addressing current problems of economic inequality, social displacement, technological change, and divisive politics. We will encounter a range of genres, media, and histories to study contemporary literature as a living, evolving system. The course uniquely blends literary study and creative writing—students will analyze literature and make literature. The conviction that these practices are complementary will inform our approach to the readings and course assignments. 

English 20: Literary Forms

This foundational course for English concentrators examines literary form and genre. We will see kinds of literature as they have changed over time, along with the shapes and forms that writers create, critics describe, and readers learn to recognize. The body of the course looks to the great literary types, or modes, such as epic, tragedy, and lyric, as well as to the workings of literary style in moments of historical change, producing the transformation, recycling, and sometimes mockery of past forms. While each version of English 20 includes a different array of genres and texts from multiple periods, those texts will always include five major works from across literary history: Beowulf (epic), King Lear (tragedy), Persuasion (comic novel), The Souls of Black Folk (essays; expository prose), and Elizabeth Bishop’s poems (lyric). The course integrates creative writing with critical attention: assignments will take creative as well as expository and analytical forms.

English 97: Literary Methods

This course looks at the many questions that arise when we make literature an object of study. What do we do when we read a literary text? Why does it matter who wrote it, with what technology, and within what legal constraints? How does approaching a text with particular assumptions alter its meanings? The course introduces students to broad theoretical questions (e.g. what is an author? what is a text? what are literary canons? how do we compare interpretations?) and critical approaches (e.g. formalist, historicist, feminist, postcolonial, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, etc.). The course empowers students to think about the concept of literature, and about what’s at stake in studying it. The course also introduces students to fundamentals of literary research with both primary and secondary materials in the Harvard Libraries. 

English 98r: Junior Tutorial

The Junior Tutorial is a unique experience within the English Department and provides an opportunity to pursue focused, but flexible, study in a topic of shared interest to tutees and tutors. Encouraging in-depth exploration of topics not normally covered in the English curriculum, the Junior Tutorial also enables students to consolidate and refine critical skills gained in Common courses while at the same time exploring possible thesis topics. Rising juniors have the opportunity to identify a thematic, historical, or chronological literary subject they might like to study in their Junior Tutorial. The tutorial is required of all honors concentrators.

Guided Electives

Pre – 1700:.

The dynamic periods of English literature known as Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern, when English became a literary language, emerging from multiple ethnic and linguistic communities.

These courses cover the long transition spanning the Enlightenment, Romanticism, and Victorian eras from a feudal and political world of inherited privilege and absolute power to one of increasing democracy, often coupled with imperialism and suppression of indigenous peoples.

Twentieth century writers from Modernism to Postmodernism and Postcolonialism saw the advent of suffragism, black civil rights, total war, the atom bomb, and life-altering technologies from the airplane to the Internet.

Senior Thesis or Project

English 99r: senior tutorial.

The Senior Tutorial is the Senior Thesis, which may take the form of an investigation of a critical topic or a creative writing project. 

Open Electives

Undergraduate seminars: english 90.

90-level seminars are introductions to the specialized study of literature and are restricted to undergraduates. Enrollment is limited to 15, but any English concentrator may be admitted with permission from the course head. All honors concentrators are required to take at least one 90-level seminar within the department. While some preference is given to English concentrators, no seats are guaranteed, so we encourage you to begin seminars before senior year.

English 91r: Supervised Reading and Research

The Supervising Reading and Research tutorial is a type of student-driven independent study offering individual instruction in subjects of special interest that cannot be studied in regular courses. English 91r is supervised by a member of the English Department faculty.  It is a graded course and may not be taken more than twice, and only once for concentration credit. Students must submit a proposal and get approval from the faculty member with whom they wish to work.

100-level Lectures

100-level lectures are open enrollment, have a weekly section or discussion session, and are open to undergraduates and graduates.

English Concentration Foundational Courses, Class of ’21 & ‘22

Common ground courses and shakespeare.

The English concentration encourages students to develop their own interests while searching out unfamiliar and challenging areas of study. Besides introducing students to some of the greatest works of literature in English, the Common Ground courses and Shakespeare requirement should be seen as invitations to further exploration in the areas and approaches around which they move.

Every concentrator takes three Common Ground courses, each of which investigates important works of English literature from its own perspective, and a course in Shakespeare, the key figure of the English literary canon. Arrivals introduces students to the first thousand years of the English literary tradition, up to 1700: this is a course in literary history. Poets teaches the methods required to read and interpret a variety of kinds of poetry: this is a course in literary form. Migrations follows the spread of English literature to the Americas and beyond from 1700 to the present: this is a course in literary topography and geography.

Each syllabus is individually designed by the professor teaching it, which means that no two Common Ground courses are exactly alike. For most courses, enrollment is limited to ensure that students gain the benefit of close contact with the professor. Preference is given to English concentrators. Enrollments are determined after the first class meeting, so if you are interested in any of the Common Ground courses, please attend the first day of class.

The Common Ground and Shakespeare courses do not pretend to offer a complete map of the field of English studies. They do, however, create a basic template on which students can extend their own maps, while promoting the attentive reading and sharpened writing in literary analysis required by the program.

English 40-49: Literary Arrivals, 700-1700

These courses introduce the literature of medieval and early modern Britain, from the earliest written English poems, such as Beowulf, to the masterpieces of the seventeenth century, such as Paradise Lost. Students learn to read this literature both formally and culturally, in relation to the charged and constantly changing social, political, religious, and linguistic landscape of premodern Britain. Arrivals attends to the early history of literary forms, to the developing idea of a vernacular literary canon, and to the category of the literary itself.

English 50-59: Poets

These courses develop close reading, explication, and the interpretation of poems; consideration of voice, speaker, mood, and tone; and familiarity with lyric, dramatic, meditative, and narrative poetic forms. Students develop a vocabulary to talk about poems, poetic structure, and elements of prosody. Attention is paid to thematic and formal elements as they work together, to tradition and innovation in verse forms, and to the relationships among poems across time. These courses examine poets in more than one period or style.

English 60-69: Literary Migrations: America in Transnational Context

These courses attend to the spread, and the transformation, of literature in English as it became established in North America and other English-speaking sites around the globe. All Migrations courses include American literature from more than one century, and all include, without being restricted to, the literature of the United States, read within a variety of possible transnational contexts. Within these parameters, courses vary widely. Central works of the American literary canon will be studied alongside other literatures or in relation to specific themes.

Shakespeare

The study of Shakespeare has always been central to English departments. If the study of literature concerns its history, its array of forms, its creation of a canon, its methods of analysis, and its dispersal to the ends of the earth, Shakespeare looms large in all of these areas: indeed some of our analytical methods have come into being precisely for the sake of understanding what he did. Shakespeare courses strive to put Shakespeare in the literary-historical, theatrical, and critical contexts in which the shape of his genius can be most clearly felt.

Diversity in Literature

Courses meeting this requirement attend to the creative achievements associated with alternative traditions, counter-publics, and archives of dissent. Students will encounter diverse perspectives and aesthetic traditions without which it is difficult fully to understand long-canonized literatures. Topics include, but are not limited to: (1) the historical construction of markers of difference, such as race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality—and their intersections, including intersections with dialect; and (2) the imaginative and formal innovations produced by disenfranchised groups. (Required for the Class of 2020 and beyond; these fall courses and spring courses will fulfill this distribution requirement.)

90-level seminars are introductions to the specialized study of literature and are restricted to undergraduates. Enrollment is limited to 15, but any English concentrator may be admitted with permission from the course head. All honors concentrators are required to take at least one 90-level seminar within the department. While some preference is given to English concentrators, no seats are guaranteed, so we encourage you to begin seeking enrollment into seminars before senior year.

Undergraduate Tutorials

The Junior Tutorial is a unique experience within the English Department and provides an opportunity to pursue focused, but flexible, study in a topic of shared interest to tutees and tutors. Encouraging in-depth exploration of topics not normally covered in the English curriculum, the Junior Tutorial also enables students to consolidate and refine critical skills gained in Common Ground courses while at the same time exploring possible thesis topics. Rising juniors have the opportunity to identify a thematic, historical, or chronological literary subject they might like to study in their Junior Tutorial. The tutorial is required of all honors concentrators.

The Senior Tutorial is the Senior Thesis, which may take the form of an investigation of a critical topic or a creative writing project.

Graduate Program Courses

Graduate seminars: english 200.

These seminars are primarily for graduate students. Interested undergraduates should consult the course head for more information.

Graduate Directed Study: English 300  

  • English 301-310 (“Doctoral Conferences”): Course numbers for graduate colloquia  
  • English 397 (“Directed Study”): Filler course numbers for G1s and G2s who wish to take fewer than four courses in a given term, or G3s who are studying for their Fields Exams  
  • English 398 (“Direction of Doctoral Dissertations”): Filler course numbers for G3+s who have passed their Fields Exams  
  • English 399 (“Reading and Research”): Not a substitute for time; an Independent Study which must be approved by the DGS

For more details about 300-levels and filling out your study card as a graduate student, please review the Graduate Study Card Tips document.

Courses Taught Outside the Department

Cross-listed courses.

Sometimes English Department faculty teach courses outside of the English Department. Most of these courses may be counted for English concentration credit. Students seeking concentration credit should check with the Undergraduate Program staff before registering.

General Education

English Department faculty often teach General Education courses in the Aesthetic and Interpretive Understanding, Culture and Belief, and United States in the World categories. These offerings by English faculty count toward concentration and secondary field credit.

Freshman Seminars

Freshman Seminars taught by English Department faculty count toward concentration elective credit and secondary field seminar or elective credit.

Past Course Catalogs

The courses of instruction from previous academic years can be found on the Registrar's Office website.

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  • Summer Term 2023

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Free online English Literature / Creative Writing courses

Creative writing and critical reading

Creative writing and critical reading

This free course, Creative writing and critical reading, explores the importance of reading as part of a creative writer’s development at the postgraduate level. You will gain inspiration and ideas from examining other writers’ methods, as well as enhancing your critical reading skills. Examples will cover the genres of fiction, creative ...

Free course

Level: 3 Advanced

Writing what you know

Writing what you know

Do you want to improve your descriptive writing? This free course, Writing what you know, will help you to develop your perception of the world about you and enable you to see the familiar things in everyday life in a new light. You will also learn how authors use their own personal histories to form the basis of their work.

Level: 1 Introductory

Start writing fiction

Start writing fiction

Have you always wanted to write, but never quite had the courage to start? This free course, Start writing fiction, will give you an insight into how authors create their characters and settings. You will also be able to look at the different genres for fiction.

Exploring books for children: words and pictures

Exploring books for children: words and pictures

Many people have fond memories of the stories they encountered in childhood, perhaps especially of those wonderful picture books and illustrated tales which fired our young imaginations and transported us to magical worlds. To an adult’s eye, some picture books may seem remarkably simple, even oversimplified. However, in this free course, ...

Level: 2 Intermediate

Reading Shakespeare's As You Like It

Reading Shakespeare's As You Like It

Do you enjoy watching Shakespeare's plays and like the idea of finding out more about them? This free course, Reading Shakespeare's As You Like It, will guide you through some of the most important speeches and scenes from one of Shakespeare's best-loved comedies.

Icarus: entering the world of myth

Icarus: entering the world of myth

This free course, Icarus: entering the world of myth, will introduce you to one of the best-known myths from classical antiquity and its various re-tellings in later periods. You will begin by examining how the Icarus story connects with a number of other ancient myths, such as that of Theseus and the Minotaur. You will then be guided through an...

Sam Selvon, The Lonely Londoners

Sam Selvon, The Lonely Londoners

This free course concentrates on Sam Selvon's twentieth-century novel, The Lonely Londoners. It considers the depiction of migration in the text as well as Selvon's treatment of memory as a vital part of the migrant's experience.

Introducing Virgil’s Aeneid

Introducing Virgil’s Aeneid

This free course offers an introduction to the Aeneid. Virgil’s Latin epic, written in the 1st century BCE, tells the story of the Trojan hero Aeneas and his journey to Italy, where he would become the ancestor of the Romans. Here, you will focus on the characterisation of this legendary hero, and learn why he was so important to the Romans of ...

Exploring Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd

Exploring Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd

This free course, Exploring Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd, is designed to tell you something about Hardy's background, and to introduce you to the pleasures of reading a nineteenth-century novel. Why do we believe in fictional characters and care about what happens to them? You will discover some of the techniques that Hardy ...

John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi

John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi

This free course, John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, concentrates on Acts 1 and 2 of John Webster's Renaissance tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi. It focuses on the representation of marriage for love and the social conflicts to which it gives rise. The course is designed to hone your skills of textual analysis.

Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus

Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus

What does Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus tell us about the author and the time at which the play was written? This free course, Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, will help you to discover the intricacies of the play and recognise how a knowledge of the historical and political background of the time can lead to a very different ...

Approaching poetry

Approaching poetry

Do you want to get more out of your reading of poetry? This free course, Approaching poetry, is designed to develop the analytical skills you need for a more in-depth study of literary texts. You will learn about rhythm, alliteration, rhyme, poetic inversion, voice and line lengths and endings. You will examine poems that do not rhyme and learn ...

Approaching prose fiction

Approaching prose fiction

Do you want to get more out of your reading? This free course, Approaching prose fiction, is designed to develop the analytical skills you need for a more in-depth study of literary texts. You will learn about narrative events and perspectives, the setting of novels, types of characterisation and genre.

Approaching plays

Approaching plays

Do you want to get more out of drama? This free course, Approaching plays, is designed to develop the analytical skills you need for a more in-depth study of literary plays. You will learn about dialogue, stage directions, blank verse, dramatic structure and conventions and aspects of performance.

Approaching literature: reading Great Expectations

Approaching literature: reading Great Expectations

This free course, Approaching literature: reading Great Expectations, considers some of the different ways of reading Great Expectations, based on the type of genre the book belongs to. This is one of the most familiar and fundamental ways of approaching literary texts. The novel broadens the scope of study of a realist novel, in both literary ...

The poetry of Sorley MacLean

The poetry of Sorley MacLean

Sorley MacLean (1911-1996) is regarded as one of the greatest Scottish poets of the twentieth century. This free course, The poetry of Sorley MacLean, will introduce you to his poetry and give you an insight into the cultural, historical and political contexts that inform his work. MacLean wrote in Gaelic and the importance of the language to ...

Exploring Virginia Woolf’s Between the Acts

Exploring Virginia Woolf’s Between the Acts

This free course introduces Virginia Woolf’s last novel, Between the Acts (1941), with the aim of understanding how she writes about time, memory, and ideas about identity. It also considers why Woolf’s fiction is often considered difficult. Selected extracts from her essays on writing help to clarify some of these perceived difficulties, ...

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  1. Writing Courses

    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. Free *. Available now. Browse the latest Writing courses from Harvard University.

  2. Creative Writing

    The vital presence of creative writing in the English Department is reflected by our many distinguished authors who teach our workshops. We offer courses each term in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, screenwriting, playwriting, and television writing. Our workshops are small, usually no more than twelve students, and offer writers an opportunity to focus intensively on one genre.

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    CS50's Web Programming with Python and JavaScript. This course picks up where CS50 leaves off, diving more deeply into the design and implementation of web apps with Python, JavaScript, and SQL using frameworks like Django, React, and Bootstrap. Free *. 12 weeks long. Available now.

  4. 38 free Harvard courses you can take online right now

    38 free Harvard courses you can take online right now. Written by Mara Leighton. Updated. Aug 10, 2022, 12:11 PM PDT. You can find over 145 free Harvard courses online using edX, from history and ...

  5. Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasive Writing and Public Speaking

    Through this analysis, you will learn how speakers and writers persuade an audience to adopt their point of view. Built around Harvard Professor James Engell's on-campus course, "Elements of Rhetoric," this course will help you analyze and apply rhetorical structure and style, appreciate the relevance of persuasive communication in your ...

  6. 11 free online writing courses

    2. Creative writing: The craft of plot (Wesleyan University) This short course can be completed in one day and is one of five modules in Wesleyan University's Creative Writing offerings. In this ...

  7. Harvard University

    Harvard University is devoted to excellence in teaching, learning, and research, and to developing leaders in many disciplines who make a difference globally. Harvard faculty are engaged with teaching and research to push the boundaries of human knowledge. The University has twelve degree-granting Schools in addition to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

  8. Creative Writing Workshops

    Additionally, please submit 3-5 pages of journalism or narrative nonfiction or, if you have not yet written much nonfiction, an equal number of pages of narrative fiction. English CAKV. Fiction Workshop: Writing from the First-Person Point of View. Instructor: Andrew Krivak. Tuesday, 9:00-11:45 1m | Location: TBD.

  9. Harvard College Writing Program

    Since 1872, the Harvard College Writing Program has been teaching the fundamentals of academic writing to first-year students. In addition to administering Expos courses, the Program supports undergraduate writing and instruction throughout the College. ... Expos 45 is a new course open to incoming first-year students. Learn more. Expos Courses.

  10. Refresh Your Writing Skills

    This resource is designed to help you refresh your knowledge in writing. We hope it prepares you for placement tests and future assignments. Ideally, it'll remind you just how much you already know. The assignments and quizzes can help you assess any areas of weakness that you may need to review in more depth. You may retake the quizzes as ...

  11. Course Information

    The English Department uses this general system of numbering for our courses: 100-109 and 200-209 Old English. 110-119 and 210-219 Middle English. 120-129 and 220-229 Renaissance. 130-139 and 230-239 17th-c. 140-149 and 240-249 18th-c. 150-159 and 250-259 Romanticism and 19th-c British. 160-169 and 260-269 20th-c and 21st-c.

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    The Non-Sexy Business of Writing Nonfiction walks you through the good, the bad, and the ugly of writing, publishing, and marketing nonfiction books. In this 10-day course, you'll get an email each day walking you through some critical aspect of writing and publishing nonfiction, covering topics like:

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    The best free online courses from Harvard University. ... 40 of the best Harvard University courses you can take online for free. ... The Art of Persuasive Writing and Public Speaking.

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    This free course, Creative writing and critical reading, explores the importance of reading as part of a creative writer's development at the postgraduate level. You will gain inspiration and ideas from examining other writers' methods, as well as enhancing your critical reading skills. Examples will cover the genres of fiction, creative ...

  15. Best Creative Writing Courses Online with Certificates [2024]

    In summary, here are 10 of our most popular creative writing courses. Creative Writing: Wesleyan University. Write Your First Novel: Michigan State University. Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop: California Institute of the Arts. Introduction to Psychology: Yale University.

  16. Harvard Online

    Learners who have enrolled in at least one qualifying Harvard Online program hosted on the HBS Online platform are eligible to receive a 30% discount on this course, regardless of completion or certificate status in the first purchased program. Past-Participant Discounts are automatically applied to the Program Fee upon time of payment.