7 English
English (ENG) – Literature and Composition
American Literature I: An Anthology of Texts From Early America Through the Civil War∗
Edited by Jenifer Kurtz (Virginia Western Community College)
2020
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
This book offers an anthology of texts that includes letters, journals, poetry, newspaper articles, pamphlets, sermons, narratives, and short fiction written in and about America beginning with collected oral stories from Native American tribes and ending with the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Many major and minor authors are included, providing a sampling of the different styles, topics, cultures, and concerns present during the formation and development of America through the mid-nineteenth century.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, PDF, and MOBI
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 2108 Introduction to American Literature
Artistic Responses to the Zong Massacre (1781)∗
Magalí Armillas-Tiseyra (PennState-University Park) and Robin Mary Bower (Penn State Beaver)
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Suitable for introductory or humanities survey courses, this module offers teaching resources for a unit on the 1781 Zong massacre. It focuses on artistic responses to the massacre and on how the massacre is a representative event of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The module includes artworks and texts that could be used in the classroom, discussion questions and activities, and a culminating writing prompt. This module invites students to reflect on the gaps in the colonial archive and to think about the role of art and literature in shaping understandings of historical events. It also provides students with an opportunity to recognize how the dehumanizing logic of slavery shaped modernity and how black artists challenge its legacy through their work.
Formats: Word files downloadable as a .zip file (after completing the “Course Download Questionnaire”)
Suggested for:
ENG 2117 Multicultural Literatures
ENG 3107 Literature and Visual Culture: Theories and Approaches
ENG 3108 Transatlantic Literature 1700-1900
Becoming America: An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution
Wendy Kurant (University of North Georgia)
2018
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Featuring sixty-nine authors and full texts of their works, the selections in this open anthology represent the diverse voices in early American literature. This completely-open anthology will connect students to the conversation of literature that is embedded in American history and has helped shaped its culture. Features: Contextualizing introductions from Pre- and Early Colonial Literature to Early American Romanticism; Over 70 historical images; In-depth biographies of each author; Instructional Design, including Reading and Review Questions
Format: PDF
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 2108 Introduction to American Literature
Beyond Argument: Essaying as a Practice of (Ex)Change
Sarah Allen (University of Northern Colorado)
Last updated: May 2020
Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Note: assigning sections is permitted, but adaptations are not allowed without permission)
Beyond Argument offers an in-depth examination of how current ways of thinking about the writer-page relation in personal essays can be reconceived according to practices in the care of the self — an ethic by which writers such as Seneca, Montaigne, and Nietzsche lived. This approach promises to reinvigorate the form and address many of the concerns expressed by essay scholars and writers regarding the lack of rigorous exploration we see in our students’ personal essays — and sometimes, even, in our own. In pursuing this approach, Sarah Allen presents a version of subjectivity that enables productive debate in the essay, among essays, and beyond.
Formats: Online and PDF
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 2305 Introduction to Writing Creative Non-fiction
British Literature I: From the Middle Ages to Neoclassicism and the Eighteenth Century∗
Edited by Bonnie J. Robinson and Laura J. Getty (University of North Georgia)
2018
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Featuring over 50 authors and full texts of their works, this anthology follows the shift of monarchic to parliamentarian rule in Britain, and the heroic epic to the more egalitarian novel as genre.
Formats: PDF and Word
Includes: Reading and review questions
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 2105 Introduction to British Literature Before 1700
ENG 3324 Medieval Literature I
ENG 3339 Sixteenth-Century Literature
ENG 3341 Eighteenth-Century Literature
British Literature II: Romantic Era to the Twentieth Century and Beyond∗
Edited by B.J. Robinson (University of North Georgia)
2018
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Featuring 37 authors and full texts of their works, the selections in this open anthology represent the literature developed within and developing through their respective eras. This completely-open anthology will connect students to the conversation of literature that has captivated readers in the past and still holds us now.
Formats: PDF and Word
Includes: In-depth biographies of each author, reading and review questions
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 2106 Introduction to British Literature After 1700
ENG 3318 Romantic Literature
Compact Anthology of World Literature Parts 1, 2, and 3∗
Edited by Laura Getty and Kyounghye Kwon (University of North Georgia)
2016
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
A world literature class may be the first place that some students have encountered European works, let alone non-Western texts. The emphasis in this anthology, therefore, is on non-Western and European works, with only the British authors who were the most influential to European and non-Western authors (such as Shakespeare, whose works have influenced authors around the world to the present day). In a world literature class, there is no way that a student can be equally familiar with all of the societies, contexts, time periods, cultures, religions, and languages that they will encounter; even though the works presented here are translated, students will face issues such as unfamiliar names and parts of the story (such as puns) that may not translate well or at all. Since these stories are rooted in their cultures and time periods, it is necessary to know the basic context of each work to understand the expectations of the original audience.
The introductions in this anthology are meant to be just that: a basic overview of what students need to know before they begin reading, with topics that students can research further. An open access literature textbook cannot be a history book at the same time, but history is the great companion of literature: The more history students know, the easier it is for them to interpret literature.
These works can help students understand the present, as well. In an electronic age, with this text available to anyone with computer access around the world, it has never been more necessary to recognize and understand differences among nationalities and cultures. The literature in this anthology is foundational, in the sense that these works influenced the authors who followed them.
Format: PDF
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 1124 Engaging with Literature
ENG 2112 Classical Backgrounds of English Literature
Compact Anthology of World Literature II Parts 4, 5, and 6∗
Edited by Anita Turlington, Mathew Horton, Karen Dodson, Laura Getty, Kyounghye Kwon, and Laura Ng (University of North Georgia)
2018
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Texts from a variety of genres and cultures are included in each unit: Age of Reason, Near East and Asia, Romanticism, Realism, Modernism, Postcolonial Literature, and Contemporary Literature.
Formats: PDF and EPUB
Includes: Introduction about authors and texts, discussion questions, and stable links to texts
Suggested for:
ENG 1124 Engaging with Literature
ENG 3340 Seventeenth-Century Literature [Part 4]
ENG 3341 Eighteenth-Century Literature [Part 4]
ENG 3356 18th-Century and Romantic Fiction [Part 5]
ENG 3364 Victorian Fiction [Part 4]
ENG 3376 Contemporary Novel [Part 6]
ENG 3378 American Fiction 1900 to the Present [Part 6]
Composition and Literature: A Handbook and Anthology∗ 
James Sexton (Simon Fraser University) and Derek Soles (Alexander College)
2019
Licence: CC BY 4.0
This book is divided into two parts. Part I is a Composition Handbook designed to teach students the components of the writing process and the conventions of various forms of school and college writing assignments. Part II is an Anthology of Literature designed to help students read actively, analyze, understand, enjoy, and appreciate stories, poems, and plays by a diverse and inclusive group of exceptional writers.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Includes: Exercises, examples, study questions, writing assignments, activities, glossaries, and case books
Reviews: BCcampus
Suggested for:
ENG 1120 Selected Topics in Literature and Composition
ENG 1124 Engaging with Literature
Discussion Guide for A Mind Spread Out on the Ground∗
Eduardo Azmitia Pardo, Bettina Boyle, Trudi Diening, David Geary, Mary Giovannetti, Abigail Kinch, Barry Magrill, and Jules Smith (Capilano University)
2020
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
This discussion guide was created to accompany the book A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott (2019). Alicia Elliott, a Tuscarora writer from Six Nations of the Grand River, offers compelling narratives that prompt the reader to ponder, examine, discuss, and address the many challenges facing Indigenous peoples today. The book was a selection of the Centre for Teaching Excellence Spring book club in 2020. The faculty members of the book club offer this resource to encourage you to create opportunities in your courses for important conversations around the many themes that this book presents.
Book description: A bold and profound meditation on trauma, legacy, oppression and racism in North America from award-winning Haudenosaunee writer Alicia Elliott. In an urgent and visceral work that asks essential questions about the treatment of Native people in North America while drawing on intimate details of her own life and experience with intergenerational trauma, Alicia Elliott offers indispensable insight into the ongoing legacy of colonialism. She engages with such wide-ranging topics as race, parenthood, love, mental illness, poverty, sexual assault, gentrification, writing and representation, and in the process makes connections both large and small between the past and present, the personal and political—from overcoming a years-long battle with head lice to the way Native writers are treated within the Canadian literary industry; her unplanned teenage pregnancy to the history of dark matter and how it relates to racism in the court system; her childhood diet of Kraft Dinner to how systemic oppression is directly linked to health problems in Native communities. With deep consideration and searing prose, Elliott provides a candid look at our past, an illuminating portrait of our present and a powerful tool for a better future. (Description from Penguin Random House Canada)
Format: Pressbooks webbook
Suggested for:
ENG 3381 Indigenous Literatures
English Literature: Victorians and Moderns∗
James Sexton (Camosun College)
2014
Licence: CC BY 4.0
English Literature: Victorians and Moderns is an anthology with a difference. In addition to providing annotated teaching editions of many of the most frequently-taught classics of Victorian and Modern poetry, fiction, and drama, it also provides a series of guided research casebooks which make available numerous published essays from open access books and journals, as well as several reprinted critical essays from established learned journals such as English Studies in Canada and the Aldous Huxley Annual with the permission of the authors and editors. Designed to supplement the annotated complete texts of three famous short novels: Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, each casebook offers cross-disciplinary guided research topics, which will encourage majors in fields other than English to undertake topics in diverse areas, including History, Economics, Anthropology, Political Science, Biology, and Psychology. Selections have also been included to encourage topical, thematic, and generic cross-referencing. Students will also be exposed to a wide range of approaches, including new-critical, psychoanalytic, historical, and feminist.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Includes: Each selection is accompanied by a variety of study questions and stable internet links to enriching dramatic adaptations, as well as broadcast discussions of selected works and authors. Some of the units afford students the opportunity to explore archival documents and to use them in their own research. Finally, the open text contains 3 practical appendices: a glossary of literary terms, detailed instruction in writing about literature; and thorough guidance in documenting the research paper in accordance with current MLA guidelines.
Reviews: BCcampus – eCampusOntario Open Library
Suggested for:
ENG 1124 Engaging with Literature
Introduction to Poetry∗
Edited by Jacqueline Weal (Langara College)
2019
Licence: CC BY 4.0
This book is designed for a first college course in poetry. Assuming no prior knowledge of poetry, it guides the student through the most essential aspects of poetics, the tricky question of interpretation, and the importance of form. It also outlines, in several chapters, the ways that poetry has evolved over time. An adaptation of Introduction to Poetry: A Complete Online Course by Alan Lindsay and Candace Bergstrom (2019).
Format: Pressbooks webbook
Suggested for:
ENG 2304 Introduction to Writing Poetry
ENG 3111 Poetics
Literary Form and Analysis: Instructional Materials for English 300∗
Josh Epstein (Portland State University)
2020
Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0
This OER packet comprises instructional materials used for ENG 300: Literary Forms and Analysis, a “gateway” course for the English major and minor at Portland State University. It includes handouts, exercises, and a sample syllabus for this course, emphasizing skills of “close reading” and formal analysis, as well as the scholarly study of genre (poetry, fiction, drama, and film). The syllabus and handouts offered in this packet represent only one of many possible approaches to ENG 300. These open access, freely available resources that can be readily adjusted to suit different pedagogical methods. They can also be usefully complemented with additional information about academic writing, argumentation, and the writing process. The materials here can be combined with any selection of literary texts.
Formats: PDF and Word
Suggested for:
ENG 1120 Selected Topics in Literature and Composition
ENG 1124 Engaging with Literature
Literature, the Humanities, and Humanity∗
Theodore L. Steinberg (SUNY Fredonia)
2013
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Literature, the Humanities, and Humanity attempts to make the study of literature more than simply another school subject that students have to take. At a time when all subjects seem to be valued only for their testability, this book tries to show the value of reading and studying literature, even earlier literature. It shows students, some of whom will themselves become teachers, that literature actually has something to say to them. Furthermore, it shows that literature is meant to be enjoyed, that, as the Roman poet Horace (and his Renaissance disciple Sir Philip Sidney) said, the functions of literature are to teach and to delight. The book will also be useful to teachers who want to convey their passion for literature to their students. After an introductory chapter that offers advice on how to read (and teach) literature, the book consists of a series of chapters that examine individual literary works ranging from The Iliad to Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. These chapters can not substitute for reading the actual works. Rather they are intended to help students read those works. They are attempts to demystify the act of reading and to show that these works, whether they are nearly three thousand or less than two hundred years old, still have important things to say to contemporary readers.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, PDF, EPUB, and Word
Reviews: eCampusOntario Open Library – Open Textbook Library – BCcampus
Suggested for:
ENG 1124 Engaging with Literature
Moon of the Crusted Snow: Reading Guide∗
Anna Rodrigues and Kaitlyn Watson (Ontario Tech University)
2021
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
The Open Education Lab at Ontario Tech University released a reading guide resource for the novel Moon of the Crusted Snow, written by Anishinaabe author, Waubgeshig Rice. The resource was developed in consultation with the book’s author and would be useful for educators in secondary and post-secondary school settings, as well as book clubs and adult literacy programs.
Novel description: With winter looming, a small northern Anishinaabe community goes dark. Cut off, people become passive and confused. Panic builds as the food supply dwindles. While the band council and a pocket of community members struggle to maintain order, an unexpected visitor arrives, escaping the crumbling society to the south. Soon after, others follow. The community leadership loses its grip on power as the visitors manipulate the tired and hungry to take control of the reserve. Tensions rise and, as the months pass, so does the death toll due to sickness and despair. Frustrated by the building chaos, a group of young friends and their families turn to the land and Anishinaabe tradition in hopes of helping their community thrive again. Guided through the chaos by an unlikely leader named Evan Whitesky, they endeavor to restore order while grappling with a grave decision. Blending action and allegory, Moon of the Crusted Snow upends our expectations. Out of catastrophe comes resilience. And as one society collapses, another is reborn. (Description from ECW Press)
Format: Pressbooks webbook
Suggested for
ENG 3381 Indigenous Literatures
Naming the Unnameable: An Approach to Poetry for New Generations
Michelle Bonczek Evory (Kalamazoo Community College)
2018
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Informed by a writing philosophy that values both spontaneity and discipline, Michelle Bonczek Evory’s Naming the Unnameable: An Approach to Poetry for New Generations offers practical advice and strategies for developing a writing process that is centered on play and supported by an understanding of America’s rich literary traditions. With consideration to the psychology of invention, Bonczek Evory provides students with exercises aimed to make writing in its early stages a form of play that gives way to more enriching insights through revision, embracing the writing of poetry as both a love of language and a tool that enables us to explore ourselves and better understand the world.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, PDF, and EPUB
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 2304 Introduction to Writing Poetry
ENG 3164 Advanced Workshop in Poetry
Open Anthology of American Literature∗
Edited by Farrah Cato (University of Central Florida)
2021
Licence: CC BY 4.0
This anthology is divided into five major sections, starting with the Colonial period and ending with the publication of Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl on the eve of the Civil War. Each section includes an overview and framework for approaching the readings, as well as overarching questions to help students think about the connections between the texts. There is also a brief introduction to each of the authors featured in these sections, followed by discussion questions based on the texts. The textual introductions do not include a great deal of biographical material; instead, I have used them to provide a frame (typically connected to the larger section introduction) that I hope will help students to navigate from. The discussion questions could also easily be used as open-ended exam questions or as essay prompts. Some of the discussion questions are also invitations for students to make intertextual connections, or to consider how the literary landscape changes from its “beginnings” to the Civil War.
Format: Pressbooks webbook
Suggested for:
ENG 2108 Introduction to American Literature
Open Anthology of Earlier American Literature
Edited by Timothy Robbins (Graceland University)
2020
Licence: CC BY 4.0
This textbook takes a distinctly socio-historical approach to introduce Early American literature. The anthology will allow students to engage with literature in exciting and dynamic ways. The Open Anthology of Earlier American Literature was initially created by Robin deRosa at Plymouth State University. Working with students, they collected public domain texts, edited them as necessary and created introductions for each to form the beginnings of a new, definitive anthology of Early American Literature.
Format: Pressbooks webbook
Suggested for:
ENG 2108 Introduction to American Literature
Perspectives of Uncertainty: Short Stories from the 1800s and 1900s∗
Edited by Angela O’Sullivan (Justice Institute of British Columbia)
Licence: CC BY 4.0
Collection of short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, Franz Kafka, and others.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook and PDF
Suggested for:
ENG 2303 Introduction to Writing Prose Fiction
ENG 3372 Modern Short Story
Prose Fiction: An Introduction to the Semiotics of Narrative
Ignasi Ribó (School of Liberal Arts at Mae Fah Luang University, Thailand)
2020
Licence: CC BY 4.0
This concise and highly accessible textbook outlines the principles and techniques of storytelling. It is intended as a high-school and college-level introduction to the central concepts of narrative theory – concepts that will aid students in developing their competence not only in analysing and interpreting short stories and novels, but also in writing them.
This textbook prioritises clarity over intricacy of theory, equipping its readers with the necessary tools to embark on further study of literature, literary theory and creative writing. Building on a ‘semiotic model of narrative,’ it is structured around the key elements of narratological theory, with chapters on plot, setting, characterisation, and narration, as well as on language and theme – elements which are underrepresented in existing textbooks on narrative theory. The chapter on language constitutes essential reading for those students unfamiliar with rhetoric, while the chapter on theme draws together significant perspectives from contemporary critical theory (including feminism and postcolonialism).
Formats: Online and PDF
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 2303 Introduction to Writing Prose Fiction
Shakespeare and Canada: Remembrance of Ourselves∗
Edited by Irena R. Makaryk and Kathryn Prince (University of Ottawa)
2017
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Shakespeare and Canada is the result of a collective desire to explore the role that Shakespeare has played in Canada over the past two hundred years, but also to comprehend the way our country’s culture has influenced our interpretation of his literary career and heritage. What function does Shakespeare serve in Canada today? How has he been reconfigured in different ways for particular Canadian contexts? The authors of this book attempt to answer these questions while imagining what the future might hold for William Shakespeare in Canada. Covering the Stratford Festival, the cult CBC television program Slings and Arrows, major Canadian critics such as Northrop Frye and Marshall McLuhan, the influential acting teacher Neil Freiman, the rise of Québécois and First Nation approaches to Shakespeare, and Shakespeare’s place in secondary schools today, this collection reflects the diversity and energy of Shakespeare’s afterlife in Canada. Collectively, the authors suggest that Shakespeare continues to offer Canadians “remembrance of ourselves.” This is a refreshingly original and impressive contribution to Shakespeare studies—a considerable achievement in any work on the history of one of the central figures in the western literary canon. (Description from UOPress)
Format: PDF
Suggested for:
ENG 4133 Shakespeare: Special Topic
ENG 4142 Shakespeare: Seminar
Teaching Autoethnography: Personal Writing in the Classroom
Melissa Tombro (The Fashion Institute of Technology)
2016
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Teaching Autoethnography: Personal Writing in the Classroom is dedicated to the practice of immersive ethnographic and autoethnographic writing that encourages authors to participate in the communities about which they write. This book draws not only on critical qualitative inquiry methods such as interview and observation, but also on theories and sensibilities from creative writing and performance studies, which encourage self-reflection and narrative composition. Concepts from qualitative inquiry studies, which examine everyday life, are combined with approaches to the creation of character and scene to help writers develop engaging narratives that examine chosen subcultures and the author’s position in relation to her research subjects. The book brings together a brief history of first-person qualitative research and writing from the past forty years, examining the evolution of nonfiction and qualitative approaches in relation to the personal essay. A selection of recent student writing in the genre as well as reflective student essays on the experience of conducting research in the classroom is presented in the context of exercises for coursework and beyond. Also explored in detail are guidelines for interviewing and identifying subjects and techniques for creating informed sketches and images that engage the reader. This book provides approaches anyone can use to explore their communities and write about them first-hand. The methods presented can be used for a single assignment in a larger course or to guide an entire semester through many levels and varieties of informed personal writing.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, PDF, and EPUB
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 2305 Introduction to Writing Creative Non-fiction
World Literature I: Beginnings to 1650∗
Edited by Laura Getty, Kyounghye Kwon, Rhonda Kelley, and Douglas Thomson (University of North Georgia)
2015
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Since the dawn of language, humankind has exchanged stories, either through storytellers around a hearth or through scribes tirelessly copying various texts. This literature allows modern audience a window through which we can peer into the distant past. It provides vital clues for the interpretation of history, language, and culture. It is through literature that one may compare and gain a greater understanding of other civilizations.
This anthology comprises three comprehensive collections that provide samples of literature from around the world and across the ages, ranging from some of oldest tales that have survived into modernity to works from the 1650s. These texts provide an opportunity for readers to engage in extensive analysis of the works themselves and the societies that influenced and were influenced by them.
This peer-reviewed World Literature I anthology includes introductory text and images before each series of readings. Sections of the text are divided by time period in three parts: the Ancient World, Middle Ages, and Renaissance, and then divided into chapters by location.
Format: PDF
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 2112 Classical Backgrounds of English Literature
Writing and Literature: Composition as Inquiry, Learning, Thinking, and Communication∗
Tanya Long Bennet (University of North Georgia)
2017
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Writing and Literature builds a new conversation covering various genres of literature and writing. Students learn the various writing styles appropriate for analyzing, addressing, and critiquing these genres including poetry, novels, dramas, and research writing. The text and its pairing of helpful visual aids throughout emphasizes the importance of critical reading and analysis in producing a successful composition. Designed for a first-year English composition class, this book is filled with short stories and plays, and discussion of literary devices to introduce composition in the context of literary studies.
Formats: PDF and Word
Includes: Glossary and suggested resources for instructors
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 1120 Selected Topics in Literature and Composition
Writing the Nation: A Concise Introduction to American Literature 1865 to Present
Amy Berke (Middle Georgia State University), Robert Bleil (College of Coastal Georgia), and Jordan Cofer (Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College)
2015
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Writing the Nation: A Concise Guide to American Literature 1865 to Present is a text that surveys key literary movements and the American authors associated with the movement. Topics include late romanticism, realism, naturalism, modernism, and modern literature.
Format: PDF
Includes: Learning outcomes, reading and review questions, key terms, and glossary
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 2108 Introduction to American Literature
English (ENG) – Writing
Steven Brehe (University of North Georgia)
2018
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Brehe’s Grammar Anatomy makes grammar accessible to general and specialist readers alike. This book provides an in-depth look at beginner grammar terms and concepts, providing clear examples with limited technical jargon.
Format: PDF
Includes: Practice exercises at the end of each chapter and glossary
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 1320 English Grammar for Professional Writers and Editors
Building Blocks of Academic Writing∗
Carellin Brooks (University of British Columbia)
2020
Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0
Building Blocks of Academic Writing covers typical writing situations for developing academic writers, from prewriting and research through expressing themselves online. Developmental work in different types of paragraphs—descriptive, narrative, expository, persuasive—allows students to build capacity for longer essays. Each chapter includes review questions with a Canadian focus that instructors can assign to help students practice the skills developed in the text.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Suggested for:
ENG 1100 Workshop in Essay Writing
ENG 1120 Selected Topics in Literature and Composition
ENG 1131 Effective Business English
Business Communication for Success∗
University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing
2015
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Business Communication for Success (BCS) provides a comprehensive, integrated approach to the study and application of written and oral business communication to serve both student and professor.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Includes: Learning objectives, introductory exercises, key takeaways, in-chapter assignments, and post-chapter assessments
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 1131 Effective Business English
Business Writing Style Guide∗
John Morris and Julie Zwart (Oregon State University)
2020
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
The goals of this book are to help students: apply basic concepts for effective and concise business writing; compile a well-written report acceptable within a business context; follow a writing process designed for business students; demonstrate critical thinking, reasoning, and persuasion; communicate in writing using a business model; apply resources for improving business writing skills.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, PDF, and MOBI
Includes: Exercises and examples
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 1131 Effective Business English
Communication for Business Professionals – Canadian Edition
eCampusOntario, David Simon (Lambton College), Michelle Grimes (Conestoga College), and Shauna Roch (Fanshawe College)
2018
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
This book provides a comprehensive, integrated approach to the study and application of written and oral business communication to serve both student and professor. The text includes a number of features such as learning objectives, exercises, real world examples, key terms, and post-chapter assessments. This text is adapted from Business Communication for Success. This 2018 adaptation has significantly reduced the size and scope of the original publication and added Canadian examples. This open textbook is designed in 12 chapters featuring a spectrum of current and relevant Canadian business communication topics.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, MOBI, and PDF
Suggested for:
ENG 1131 Effective Business English
Conventions 101: A Functional Approach to Teaching (and Assessing!) Grammar and Punctuation∗
Chauna Ramsey (Columbia Gorge Community College)
2016
Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0
This is a collection of cumulative units of study for conventional errors common in student writing. It zeroes in problems typically seen in writing of all types, from the eternal “there/they’re/their” struggle to correct colon use. Units are organized from most simple to most challenging.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, PDF, and MOBI
Includes: Examples and worksheets
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 1320 English Grammar for Professional Writers and Editors [as supplementary resource]
Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research∗
Cheryl Lowry (Ohio State University)
2018
Licence: CC BY 4.0
This textbook provides a process for academic research and writing, from formulating a research question to selecting good information and using it effectively in research assignments.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, PDF, EPUB, and MOBI
Includes: Videos, self-quizzes, and activities
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 1100 Workshop in Essay Writing
Effective Professional Communication: A Rhetorical Approach∗
Rebekah Bennetch, Corey Owen, and Zachary Keesey (University of Saskatchewan)
2021
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Our goal in this text is to break down the communication process in professional environments so you can maximize your chance to get hired and retain your job once you graduate from university. We will do this by looking at communication through political, rhetorical, ethical, and interpersonal lenses and applying this knowledge to your future career.
This text has seven main sections: 1) Introduction to Communication, 2) Rhetorical Theory, 3) Technical Writing Essentials, 4) Technical Correspondence, 5) Applying for a Job, 6) Writing a Report, and 7) Public Speaking.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, PDF, and more
Suggested for:
Courses in the Professional Writing Minor
Garbage in, garbage out! Getting better translations by writing translation friendly texts
Lynne Bowker (University of Ottawa)
2024
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Garbage in, garbage out! explains how the quality of the texts you write affects the quality of the translations of those texts, especially when the translations come from tools like Google Translate. Learn how to write in a translation friendly way to ensure that readers can get the most out of your texts, no matter which language they speak.
Format: Pressbooks webbook
Includes: H5P activities
Suggested for:
ENG 2370 Writing for Digital Media I: Fundamentals of Digital Literacy
ENG 3170 Writing for Digital Media II
ENG 3171 Communication in the Information Age
ENG 3182 Policy Writing and Writing for Government
Grammar Essentials∗
Excelsior Online Writing Lab (OWL) (LibreTexts)
Last updated: November 2020
Licence: CC BY 4.0
Being correct goes beyond the basic grammar that language needs in order to function. Being correct means knowing the rules that a given culture has established to judge the language of individuals. Think about it: many years ago, ain’t was not considered incorrect. How might you react to someone using that word today? We speak of this as usage. There are far more usage rules than grammar rules, and they are far more difficult to master. Many of them you just have to learn; and, after you learn them, you have to use them over and over and over in order to incorporate them into your language.
Formats: Online and PDF
Includes: Examples
Suggested for:
ENG 1320 English Grammar for Professional Writers and Editors [as supplementary resource]
A Guide to Technical Communications: Strategies & Applications∗
Lynn Hall and Leah Wahlin (Ohio State University)
2016
Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0
An open textbook focused on developing both technical and professional communication skills and designed for Engineering Technical Communications courses at The Ohio State University.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, PDF, and MOBI
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 1112 Technical Report Writing [sections on job search communications as a supplementary resource]
How Arguments Work – A Guide to Writing and Analyzing Texts in College
Anna Mills (College City of San Francisco)
2023
Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0
How Arguments Work takes students through the techniques they will need to respond to readings and make sophisticated arguments in any college class. This is a practical guide to argumentation with strategies and templates for the kinds of assignments students will commonly encounter. It covers rhetorical concepts in everyday language and explores how arguments can build trust and move readers.
Formats: Online and PDF
Includes: supplemental materials
Suggested for:
ENG 1100 Workshop in Essay Writing
Mindful Technical Writing: An Introduction to the Fundamentals
Dawn Atkinson and Stacey Corbitt (Montana Technological University)
2021
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
An open textbook designed for use in co-requisite course pairings of developmental writing and introductory technical writing, or indeed in other lower-division college writing courses that focus on building study skills alongside effective workplace and academic writing skills. It offers a no-cost alternative to commercial products, combining practical guidance with interactive exercises and thoughtfully designed writing opportunities.
This book’s modular design and ample coverage of topics and genres mean that it can be used flexibly over semester-long or stretch courses, allowing instructors and students to select the chapters that are most relevant for their needs. By blending new material with reviews of key topics, such as academic integrity, the chapters provide fresh perspectives on matters vital to the development of strong writing skills.
Format: PDF
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 1100 Workshop in Essay Writing [especially Unit IX: Producing Academic Writing]
ENG 1112 Technical Report Writing
ENG 2380 Introduction to Technical Writing
Open Technical Communication
Tiffani Tijerina, Tamara Powell, Jonathan Arnett, Monique Logan, and Cassandra Race (Kennesaw State University)
2022
Licence: CC BY 4.0
Open TC is a freely accessible online textbook for technical communication, technical writing, workplace writing, and other related courses.
Formats: online (Manifold), Word, and PDF
Includes: examples, case studies
Suggested for:
ENG 1112 Technical Report Writing
Open Technical Writing – An Open-Access Text for Instruction in Technical and Professional Writing∗
Adam Rex Pope (University of Arkansas Fayetteville)
Last updated: April 2020
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
This book presents technical writing as an approach to researching and carrying out writing that centers on technical subject matter. Each and every chapter is devoted to helping students understand that good technical writing is situationally aware and context-driven. Technical writing doesn’t work off knowing the one true right way of doing things—there is no magic report template out there that will always work. Instead, the focus is on offering students a series of approaches they can use to map out their situations and do research accordingly.
Formats: Website and PDF
Includes: Section break questions
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 2380 Introduction to Technical Writing
Technical and Professional Writing Genres: A Study in Theory and Practice∗
Michael Beilfuss, Staci Bettes, and Katrina Peterson (Oklahoma State University)
2020
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
This modern, open-source guide to technical and professional writing explores workplace composition through theoretical and practical applications. Discussions of multiple writing genres will assist you in understanding how to apply for jobs, how to compose clear and precise business communications once the job has been acquired, and how to create documents — such as proposals and reports — that will be instrumental in helping to advance your career.
Formats: Pressbook webbook, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Suggested for:
ENG 1112 Technical Report Writing
ENG 2380 Introduction to Technical Writing
Technical Communication∗
Chelsea Milbourne, Anne Regan, Morgan Livingston, and Sadie Johann (California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo)
Last updated: March 2020
Licence: CC BY 4.0
This text explores the principles of technical communication. In addition to producing clear and easy-to-read documents, students will also examine the rhetorical dimensions of writing for technical environments. The class begins by analyzing the argumentative and stylistic conventions that govern technical communication. Through this critical analysis, students determine which conventions constitute the field’s “best practices” and will learn to incorporate these within their own compositions.
Formats: Website and PDF
Suggested for:
ENG 1112 Technical Report Writing [sections 1, 3 and 5]
Technical Writing∗
Annemarie Hamlin and Chris Rubio (Central Oregon Community College) (OpenOregon)
2016
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
This open textbook offers students of technical writing an introduction to the processes and products involved in professional, workplace, and technical writing. The text is broken up into sections reflecting key components of researching, developing, and producing a technical report. Readers will also learn about other professional communication, designing documents, and creating and integrating graphics. Written especially for an academic setting, this book provides readers with guidance on information literacy and documenting sources.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 1112 Technical Report Writing
Technical Writing Essentials∗
Suzan Last (University of Victoria)
Last updated: 2021; 2022 (H5P Edition)
Licence: CC BY 4.0
This open textbook is designed to introduce readers to the basics of professional communications in technical fields: audience and task analysis in workplace contexts, clear and concise communications style, effective document design, teamwork and collaboration, and fundamental research skills. The more recent H5P Edition includes over 40 interactive activities.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Includes: Learning objectives and exercises
Reviews: BCcampus
Suggested for:
ENG 1112 Technical Report Writing
The Simple Math of Writing Well: Writing for the 21st Century∗
Jennie A. Harrop (George Fox University)
2018
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Writing guides abound, but The Simple Math of Writing Well is one of a kind. Readers will find its practical approach affirming, encouraging, and informative, and its focus on the basics of linguistic structure releases 21st-century writers to embrace the variety of mediums that define our internet-connected world. As Harrop reminds us in the opening chapters of her book, we write more today than ever before in history: texts, emails, letters, blogs, reports, social media posts, proposals, etc. The Simple Math of Writing Well is the first guide that directly addresses the importance of writing well in the Google age.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook and PDF
Includes: Exercises
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 1100 Workshop in Essay Writing [as reference text]
Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers∗
Michael A. Caulfield (Washington State University Vancouver)
2017, updated 2021
Licence: CC BY 4.0
This is an unabashedly practical guide for the student fact-checker. It supplements generic information literacy with the specific web-based techniques that can get you closer to the truth on the web more quickly.
This guide will show you how to use date filters to find the source of viral content, how to assess the reputation of a scientific journal in less than five seconds, and how to see if a tweet is really from the famous person you think it is or from an impostor. It’ll show you how to find pages that have been deleted, figure out who paid for the website you’re looking at, and whether the weather portrayed in that viral video actual matches the weather in that location on that day. It’ll show you how to check a Wikipedia page for recent vandalism and how to search the text of almost any printed book to verify a quote. It’ll teach you to parse URLs and scan search result blurbs so that you are more likely to get to the right result on the first click. And it’ll show you how to avoid baking confirmation bias into your search terms.
Format: Pressbooks webbook
Suggested for:
ENG 1100 Workshop in Essay Writing
ENG 1120 Selected Topics in Literature and Composition
ENG 2370 Writing for Digital Media I: Fundamentals of Digital Literacy
Why Write? A Guide for Students in Canada
Edited by Sara Humphreys and Erin Kelly (University of Victoria)
2020
Licence: CC BY 4.0
Why Write? is the result of collaborative work from members of the Academic and Technical Writing Program, the Centre for Academic Communication, the Libraries at University of Victoria. The goal for the textbook is to provide a thoroughly Canadian resource for Academic Writing at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The approach we take in this interactive resource is that academic writing is fundamental to understanding how language operates as a means to understand ourselves, our worlds and each other. Academic writing is the conduit through which we solve problems, test ideas, and make change.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, PDF, and MOBI
Suggested for:
ENG 1100 Workshop in Essay Writing
ENG 1120 Selected Topics in Literature and Composition
The Word on College Reading and Writing∗
Monique Babin, Carol Burnell (Clackamas Community College), Susan Pesznecker (Clackamas Community College), Nicole Rosevear (Clackamas Community College), and Jaime Wood (Portland State University) (Open Oregon)
2017
Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0
Written by five college reading and writing instructors, this interactive, multimedia text draws from decades of experience teaching students who are entering the college reading and writing environment for the very first time. It includes examples, exercises, and definitions for just about every reading- and writing-related topic students will encounter in their college courses. Note: U.S.-centric and would require adaptation.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Includes: Check Your Understanding activities, glossary, and list of other OER on reading and writing
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 1100 Workshop in Essay Writing
Write Here, Right Now: An Interactive Introduction to Academic Writing and Research∗
Aaron Tucker and Paul Chafe (Toronto Metropolitan University)
2018
Licence: CC BY 4.0
This open-access textbook was developed as a first-year university and college student writing textbook that is intended to facilitate the flipped/blended classroom.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, and PDF
Includes: Learning outcomes, videos, and activities
Reviews: Open Textbook Library
Suggested for:
ENG 1100 Workshop in Essay Writing
Writing for Success – 1st Canadian H5P Edition∗
Tara Horkoff (Justice Institute of British Columbia)
Last updated: January 2022
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
The textbook provides instruction in steps, builds writing, reading, and critical thinking, and combines a comprehensive grammar review with an introduction to paragraph writing and composition. Canadian adaptation of English Composition I: Rhetorical Methods-Based.
Formats: Pressbooks webbook, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Includes: Learning objectives, discussion questions, key takeaways, and self-practice exercises
Reviews (previous edition without H5P): eCampusOntario Open Library
Suggested for:
ENG 1100 Workshop in Essay Writing
Writing Guide with Handbook∗
Michelle Bachelor Robinson (Spelman College) and Maria Jerskey (City University of New York) (OpenStax)
2021
Licence: CC BY 4.0
Writing Guide with Handbook aligns to the goals, topics, and objectives of many first-year writing and composition courses. It is organized according to relevant genres, and focuses on the writing process, effective writing practices or strategies—including graphic organizers, writing frames, and word banks to support visual learning—and conventions of usage and style. The text includes an editing and documentation handbook, which provides information on grammar and mechanics, common usage errors, and citation styles. Writing Guide with Handbook breaks down barriers in the field of composition by offering an inviting and inclusive approach to students of all intersectional identities. To meet this goal, the text creates a reciprocal relationship between everyday rhetoric and the evolving world of academia. Writing Guide with Handbook builds on students’ life experiences and their participation in rhetorical communities within the familiar contexts of personal interaction and social media. The text seeks to extend these existing skills by showing students how to construct a variety of compelling compositions in a variety of formats, situations, and contexts.
Formats: Online and PDF
Suggested for:
ENG 1120 Selected Topics in Literature and Composition
