In this guide
Distinguish a missing reading or assignment from a registration question, then gather the right evidence for help.
Name the task before choosing the system
“I cannot find my course” can describe several different problems. You might be looking for an assigned reading, trying to submit an essay, checking which section you registered for, or confirming a final academic record. Write the intended outcome in one sentence first. The system that presents course materials should not be treated as proof of every enrollment or record question.
Boston College’s Center for Teaching Excellence publishes official Canvas access instructions, including the BC Agora Portal route and the bc.edu/lms address. Student Services separately identifies EagleApps as the undergraduate registration system. Start from these university pages rather than a search advertisement or a familiar-looking login page. Campus Taskbook does not provide login fields or access student courses.
Check visibility without jumping to conclusions
For a course-material task, confirm that you are looking at the correct term and section. BC’s Canvas guidance explains that a course absent from the Dashboard may appear under All Courses. A dashboard is a convenient view, not a complete diagnosis. Read the current official instructions before assuming that a missing tile means the course has disappeared.
The university’s course-publication guidance also says students cannot access an unpublished course. That is one possible explanation, not a finding about your account. If your course remains unavailable, ask the instructor whether the site is intended to be open. If the concern is your official registration, check it through the university’s registration resources instead of inferring status from Canvas visibility.
Read the assignment as a complete instruction
Once you can access the course, follow the instructor’s stated organization. Before beginning an assignment, capture its purpose, deliverable, due time, accepted format, submission method, and evaluation criteria. Look for relevant announcements or updated instructions. If two places disagree, note both and ask which controls. Do not resolve an important conflict by choosing whichever date is later.
For a submission, prepare early enough to check that the file opens and contains the intended version. Give it a clear name, then verify the displayed submission result using the course’s actual interface. Keep whatever confirmation the system provides. A file sitting on your computer, an upload in progress, and a recorded submission are three different states.
Hypothetical example: the reading is missing
Imagine that a syllabus assigns a reading for Thursday, but its link returns an error. First confirm the course and week, then note the reading’s title and the link location. Check whether an announcement supplies a replacement. If the problem persists, send the instructor the title, exact error, and time of the attempt, without including a password or authentication code.
A useful message asks a bounded question: is there an alternate course-approved way to obtain this reading before class? It does not claim that the whole platform is down. This scenario is hypothetical. The same discipline helps with assignments: distinguish an inaccessible instruction from a failed file upload and from an uncertainty about what the instructor expects.
Route the remaining question accurately
Use course staff for questions about content, publication intent, requirements, and conflicting instructions. For a technical problem, describe the device, browser, exact action, and error through BC’s official help pathways. For a registration question, use Student Services resources. Screenshots can help, but remove unrelated names, grades, messages, or other private information before sharing them outside the appropriate university channel.
The linked sources establish official access, publication behavior, and the separate registration pathway. The troubleshooting order here is independent editorial advice. It cannot establish that an assignment was accepted, predict synchronization timing, change enrollment, or interpret a final academic record. When a deadline is close, contact the responsible course staff promptly and preserve a concise record of the issue.
Read next: Build a registration plan from different kinds of evidence, or When a university message pressures you to act.