The Harvard Kennedy School’s Joan Shorenstein Center has recently launched its newly-redesigned Journalist’s Resource, where journalists, students and instructors can find research studies on current events, syllabi and course materials for journalism lessons, and references for journalism basics. All content is free.

On the instructor’s guide, professors can find full, semester-long syllabi, which emphasize knowledge-based journalism, as well as case studies and adaptable teaching assignments. Furthermore, all of the Journalist’s Resource’s policy studies come with teaching notes, which provide suggestions for instructors on how the studies can be used in the classroom. The site also discusses journalistic problems, and suggests examples that instructors might use to help students avoid those pitfalls.

Students and journalists will be able to take advantage of the Journalist’s Resource’s policy studies, which cover diverse topics in the fields of environment, economics, society and government. These studies can be a potential source of background or contextual information for an in-depth article.

Additionally, the Journalist’s resource offers reference information, which answers basic journalistic reporting, writing, style and foundational questions. Everything from the difference between APA and Chicago Styles to a refresher on writing leads can be found on this page.

Harvard University received a $200,000 grant from Knight Foundation in 2005, part of which helped to fund the Journalist’s Resource. The Journalist’s Resource is a part of the Knight-Carnegie Initiative, which recently gained additional funding to expand the program to all journalism and mass communications programs in the United States. The Knight-Carnegie Initiative aims to maximize the potential of journalism education.