The following resources are available to help assist students with their communications goals.

A writing consultant is available to the HKS community to offer a variety of services from assisting students with policy memos, case analyses and other class assignments to helping seasoned writers polish drafts for publication. For more details or to make an appointment, see the Details & Appointments section.

A collection of writing, public speaking and digital communications resources curated from HKS communications program faculty, HKS workshop presenters, universities, and communications practitioners can be found below.

Writing Consultants (current and former HKS faculty)

During the academic year, writing consultants will offer a variety of services to the HKS community.  

These free private one-on-one sessions led by current and former HKS faculty 
can help you with:

  • Assignments such as policy memos, case analyses, and op-eds
  • Self-editing for clarity, concision, and style
  • Presenting your ideas effectively to different audiences
  • Improve style, structure, and argumentation
  • Improve use of data and grammar

Regarding appointments, keep in mind:

  • Writing consultants are not a copy editors or proofreaders. 
  • Consultants are not ESL Instructors. They can help international students with English grammar on a limited basis. 
  • Students must send material to be reviewed to Consultants at least 48 hours ahead of an appointment. Please include assignment or prompt when available.
  • Last minute cancelations: If you need to cancel your appointment, please take your name off the schedule ASAP.
  • Sign-up for WAITING LIST (found on Google Sheet tab of schedule) if you want to be notified of last minute cancelations. When possible, include the end date by which you need to have the meeting.
  • No Shows: If a student misses 2 appointments and signs up for a 3rd, they will not be given priority.
  • Drafts should be between 2-5 pages in length.  Longer projects will require multiple meetings.

For appointments, sign-up on Google doc.

Writing Consultants:

Jerry Lanson, former HKS Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy
(Fall and Spring)
Online only

Jerry Lanson is a former HKS Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy where he taught "Feature Writing for Politics and Policy." Jerry was an associate professor of journalism at Emerson College and was a former acting and deputy city editor a the San Jose Mercury News.

Jerry will be available Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Schedule an appointment with Jerry Lanson here. 
He can also be reached at jerrylanson@gmail.com, or by calling 781-799-7465. 

Austin Bogues , HKS Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy
(Fall)

Austin Bogues is a politics editor at USA TODAY where he helps lead breaking news coverage of the 2024 campaign. Previously, he has served as commentary editor at the paper and has worked at local newspapers including the Asbury Park Press on the Jersey Shore, and the Daily Press Media Group in Hampton Roads, Va.  He was a 2020-21 fellow with the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. He is a 2008 graduate of Hampton University, in Hampton, Va., where he majored in Broadcast Journalism. In 2023, he graduated from the Harvard Divinity School with a Master of Religion and Public Life, where he concentrated on religious understandings of societal and political polarization.

James Geary , HKS Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy
(Spring)

James Geary is an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. He has also taught at Bennington College, Harvard Extension School, and Tufts University and has been an Ida Beam Visiting Professor at the University of Iowa. He is the former deputy curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, where he edited Nieman Reports. Before joining the Nieman Foundation, he worked as a journalist in Europe for more than 20 years, including a decade with Time, where he was editor of the European edition of the magazine. Geary is the author of Wit's End: What Wit Is, How It Works, and Why We Need It,  I Is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How It Shapes the Way We See the World, Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists, the New York Times bestseller The World in a Phrase: A Brief History of the Aphorism, and The Body Electric: An Anatomy of The New Bionic Senses. He has performed, given talks and conducted writing workshops at, among other venues, TED, Live from the New York Public Library, the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, the Sun Valley Writer’s Conference, the Edinburgh Book Festival, the Hay-on-Wye Festival, the Genoa Science Festival, the Chautauqua Institution and the Seoul Digital Forum.  

Schedule an online or in-person appointment with James Geary here.

 

Public Speaking Consultant


A public speaking consultant is available to the HKS community to offer individual support and assistance for upcoming presentations and speeches. 

Jill Slye (founder & principal of A Sounding Board, and an instructor in many Harvard Communities), is available to meet with HKS students.  Meetings (online and in-person) are designed to be a safe space for students to practice, learn new techniques, and hone their public speaking skills.

For appointments, sign-up on Google doc.
 

Writing Resources

HKS Policycast with Lauren Brodsky and Todd Rogers


 

  • Video - How to Write an Op-ed| Jeff Seglin

Harvard Kennedy School has published very clear guidelines regarding the need to cite words and ideas you have borrowed from other sources.  Please review the HKS Academic Code for information regarding citations.

The Harvard Kennedy School Library's Citation Style Guide & Tools links to resources including the American Psychological Association (APA) format, and information for citing web resources.

Public Speaking Resources

 

 

 

Digital Communications & Social Media Resources

ESL Resources

The Communications Program is not designed to replace English as a Second Language (ESL) courses, but if in-depth assistance is desired, there are a few services available locally:

These websites also contain useful ESL resources: