FAQ

Your tutor is your main academic adviser in the concentration. In addition, all students are welcome to meet with the Director of Studies, Associate Directors of Studies, and the Assistant Directors of Studies at any time.

Browse the History & Literature faculty profiles, which includes tutors' fields, research interests, publications, and contact information.

History & Literature concentrators discuss course selections with their academic advisers during registration period who will sign their cart on my.harvard.

Each semester or year, you will be assigned an adviser who is the leader of your tutorial. They will meet with you about course registration and other questions you might have through the year. The Associate Directors of Studies also serve as concentration advisers, who serve as a point of contact throughout your time in the concentration and are always happy to talk about your interests and trajectory through the program. They are also available year round if you would like to speak about summer research.

Yes! Every year a few History & Literature concentrators change fields. Contact one of the Assistant Directors of Studies to discuss your planned change.

Subfields are not necessary! If you have thematic or geographic interests outside your field of study, you may propose a subfield of 2-3 courses that can replace some of your field requirements (most commonly electives).

Because they provide methodological training, any HL10, HL90, and HL93 counts for concentration credit, even if it does not appear on the Courses That Count for your field. We recommend taking enough courses within your field so that you are well prepared for the Senior Oral Exam. Other courses outside Hist & Lit can potentially count via petition or subfield proposal.

Some courses are added late to the catalog or may not have had a syllabus posted when the Courses That Count list was assembled. If there is a course that you believe fits the requirement for your Field of Study, you can reach out to the Assistant Directors of Studies. They may recommend you submit a petition.

The Assistant Directors of Studies would be happy to help! Prior to registration, the Assistant Directors of Studies review the transcripts of rising juniors and seniors, and will let you know about your remaining requirements. They can also check to make sure that the Advising Report is working properly if you have questions.

History & Literature's language requirement (which is distinct from the College's foreign language requirement) asks students to work towards reading proficiency in another language. This requirement can be fulfilled in a number of ways, including literature courses in which the readings are done in the target language, tutorial-based language classes, or the completion of a language citation.  For further information about how to complete this requirement, you can consult the Language Requirement page or get in touch with the Associate Directors of Studies.

You cannot count Expos for concentration credit in History & Literature, but you may be able to count your first-year seminar. To do so, you must petition it and submit the syllabus. Because first-year seminars are graded SAT or UNSAT, it will not factor in your concentration grade point average.

Yes. There is no limit to the number of courses that can count for both Gen Ed and concentration requirements.

For a Harvard Summer School course, you probably can, but you will need to petition it; speak to one of the Assistant Directors of Studies about the probability. If you are interested in studying abroad, you should first investigate possible programs at the Office of International Education, then meet with our Assistant Directors to discuss your course selection.

No. All courses that are listed for your field on the list of Courses that Count will be marked as concentration courses on your transcript and will be used in the calculation of your concentration grade point average.

With the permission of the Director of Studies, and staff permitting, HL91: Individual Reading and Research courses on selected topics in History & Literature can be arranged. These courses must be taken for a letter grade.

History & Literature tutors are eager to hear your feedback about tutorials, and they are open to your suggestions for changes and improvements. In addition, feel free to contact the Director of Studies regarding any questions or concerns.

Yes, while it will depend upon the concentration, this is frequently possible. Discuss your next steps with the Director of Studies.

Many Hist & Lit students choose to do Joint or Double concentrations with a wide range of other concentrations. Because of the flexible nature of Hist & Lit's requirements, it's a great choice for a Joint with a related concentration in the arts and humanities, or a Double if you choose to pursue another concentration in the sciences or social sciences. A concentration adviser can help you strategize your course selection whether you are a First-Year student considering Hist & Lit or thinking about declaring one before your Junior year.

Many students pursue Joint Concentrations with different departments! History & Literature must be the primary concentration in any joint plan of study, except when the student plans to pursue a creative senior project in a concentration like AFVS, TDM, or English. In that case, the department providing artistic training may be the primary concentration. Students interested in a joint concentration should discuss their plans with the Director of Studies.

History & Literature expects students to write a Senior Thesis for concentration honors, so it makes sense to choose us as the designated Honors concentration. However, if you are choosing to pursue honors in another concentration, be in touch with one of the Directors of Studies to discuss your options.

Yes. For Joint concentrations, there is no limit on the number of courses that you can count for both concentrations. For Double concentrations, you may double count two courses. In the case of a Secondary, you may double count one course.

In order to be eligible for concentration honors, students are expected to write a thesis. However, in the case of students who either elect to not write the thesis or do not submit by the deadline, the Committee on Degrees will recommend that the student graduate with a non-honors degree in History & Literature. The student must still complete the course requirements for the degree. To receive credit for HL99: Senior Tutorial, students not completing a thesis must first secure the permission of the Director of Studies to withdraw from candidacy for honors. If you choose not to write the thesis heading into your senior year, during or after the first semester of your senior year, or do not finish the thesis during the second semester, there are multiple ways to fulfill the requirements for graduation. Talk to the Director or Associate Directors if you have questions.

While History & Literature students are encouraged to think creatively as they research and write their senior theses, genres conventionally grouped under the rubric of “creative” writing—novels, plays, poetry—do not meet the requirements for the senior thesis. The senior thesis in History & Literature is usually a researched critical essay that demonstrates an argument through analysis of relevant primary and secondary sources, but joint concentrators may pursue a creative senior project if they receive artistic training in the other field of study. Students interested in a joint concentration should discuss their plans with the Directors of Studies.

Depending on the subject you choose, your thesis may be primarily a work of historical research or primarily a work of literary or cultural criticism. However, all History & Literature theses should draw in some way on the interdisciplinary training students have received in tutorials. The more historical theses should always be attentive to the textuality (e.g., representational and rhetorical strategies, structure, genre, language, etc.) of historical documents, and the more literary theses should be attentive to the historical contexts and agency of cultural texts.

You do not need to find an adviser in History & Literature! At the beginning of the year, a member of the Tutorial Board will be assigned to work with you. In some cases, students may choose to ask a faculty member from another department to co-advise, but you will still have weekly meetings with your tutor. You may also request a specific adviser; while we try to honor requests, this is not always possible, but you can feel confident that you will receive the excellent advising and support that History & Literature takes pride in providing.

Honors eligibility is based on a combination of concentration GPA, Senior Thesis readings, and a final oral exam. These components are not averaged. To be eligible for Honors, a student must have a concentration GPA of 3.0. To be eligible for Highest Honors, a student must have a concentration GPA of 3.850 or above. Students receive thesis readings which factor into a recommendation of two Honors possibilities; the oral exam will confirm one of the two.

Courses that count for concentration credit in History & Literature are generally letter-graded, except for the Senior Tutorial. Another exception to this rule is that by petition a student may count a relevant Freshman Seminar for concentration credit. Courses taken at other universities or abroad on non-Harvard programs may count for concentration credit but are not included in the student’s GPA. Harvard Summer School courses, on campus or abroad, also may count for concentration credit; these grades will be included in the student’s grade point average. All other courses that count for concentration credit are automatically included in determining the concentration grade point average, even if the student has taken more than the minimum number required. A concentration GPA of 3.0 or above is required to be a candidate for honors in the concentration.

Final term course grades are not available in time to be included in Honors calculations by the History & Literature concentration. The College, however, will include these grades in calculating your College Honors.