Reading and Research Courses

Students who have successfully completed prior work in a particular area may wish to continue to study independently in that area under the supervision of an HDS faculty member. Course credit may be earned in such situations by registering for a Reading and Research course. Reading and Research courses may be taken only under the supervision of and with prior consent of member of the Faculty of Divinity within their specific area of study. Reading and Research courses cannot be supervised by visiting professors or lecturers or by non-HDS faculty. Reading and Research courses may be taken for a letter grade or on a SAT/UNSAT basis. Ordinarily, Reading and Research courses may not be elected until after a student’s first semester is completed.

Enrolling in Reading and Research Courses

During the enrollment period, students should discuss completing Reading and Research with a potential faculty supervisor. Once the supervisor has agreed to supervise the work, students should:

1. Enroll in the placeholder course HDS 9998 in my.Harvard.
2. Submit the HDS Reading and Research Proposal Form in my.Harvard, available under the documents tab. The form allows students to describe their work and also indicate whether it will be applied to degree requirements (i.e. Area of Focus, HTP, etc.). The form is automatically routed to the selected supervisor, and then to the HDS Registrar's Office.

If both steps above are completed before the add/drop deadline, the HDS Registrar's Office will process the enrollment. HDS 9998 will be replaced with HDS 3999. The student's transcript will indicate the title of the Reading and Research project.