Digital library
Textbooks, references and open learning resources.
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Interpersonal Communication: A Mindful Approach to Relationships
Jason Wrench; Narissra Punyanunt-Carter; Katherine Thweatt · Milne Open Textbooks · 2025
Interpersonal Communication: A Mindful Approach to Relationships helps readers examine their own one-on-one communicative interactions using a mindfulness lens. The writing team of Jason S. Wrench, Narissra M. Punyanunt-Carter, and Katherine Thweatt incorporates the latest communication theory and research to help students navigate everyday interpersonal interactions. The 14 chapters in this book cover topics typically taught in an undergraduate interpersonal communication course: family interactions, interpersonal dynamics, language, listening, nonverbal communication, and romantic relationships, as well as exploring emerging areas such as self-compassion, body positivity, friendships, and “the dark side”. The writing takes on a purposefully informal tone to engage readers. Each chapter is broken into different sections that have unique instructional outcomes, key takeaways, and exercises, and concludes with real-world case studies and sample quiz questions. Also included is an extensive glossary with over 350 definitions.
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Oral/Interpersonal Communication
Darrel Farmer; Bridget Bell · WisTech Open · 2025
Oral/Interpersonal Communication provides a comprehensive overview of foundational and advanced communication concepts, emphasizing practical skills for individual and group interactions. This textbook explores the communication process, including verbal and nonverbal strategies, the role of culture, and techniques for effective listening. It also covers essential topics such as public speaking, interpersonal relationships, teamwork, and conflict resolution. With a focus on real-world applications, the book delves into communication theories, ethics, and the impact of communication on relationships, organizational settings, and personal identity. Designed to prepare students for professional, social, and civic contexts, this resource encourages reflection and skill-building to foster meaningful and effective communication in diverse situations.
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Communication in Practice
Jeremy Rose · University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing · 2025
This approachable and conversational textbook is intended for undergraduate communication courses. Dr. Jeremy Rose draws from an accomplished lecturing career to explore the fundamentals of communication with media examples and real world scenarios.
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Introduction to Communication and Media Studies
J.J. Sylvia IV · ROTEL · 2024
Introduction to Communication and Media Studies is an in-depth exploration of how communication shapes our world. This book traces the historical evolution of media, from the early days of the printing press to today’s digital age, examining key developments such as the telegraph, radio, television, and the internet. It also covers critical theories that explain media’s impact on society, including the effects of advertising, the role of public relations, and the emergence of social media as a powerful force in modern communication. Chapters on media literacy, critical thinking, and rhetorical analysis help students develop critical skills for understanding and analyzing media messages.
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Effective Professional Communication: A Rhetorical Approach
Rebekah Bennetch; Corey Owen; Zachary Keesey · University of Saskatchewan · 2021
Welcome to Effective Professional Communication, your text book for the RCM 200 course at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. As you already know, this course focuses on communicating in professional environments. Even if you haven’t held a job before, you know–at least on a basic level–that how you communicate changes depending on the context of your situation; specifically, you talk differently when you speak to customers/clients versus your co-workers versus your supervisors. 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.
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Small Group Communication: Forming & Sustaining Teams
Jasmine Linabary; Moon Castro · Jasmine R. Linabary · 2021
Small Group Communication: Forming & Sustaining Teams is an interdisciplinary textbook focused on communication in groups and teams. This textbook aims to provide students with theories, concepts, and skills they can put into practice to form and sustain successful groups across a variety of contexts.
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Communication, Affect, & Learning in the Classroom
Jason Wrench; Virginia Richmond; Joan Gorham · Jason S. Wrench · 2020
Communication, Affect, & Learning in the Classroom was original published by Virginia Richmond and Joan Gorham in 1992 and then updated a decade later by Virginia Richmond, Jason S. Wrench, and Joan Gorham in 2001. As we enter into the revision of the 3rd edition of the text, the basic content has not been drastically altered over the years. However, the research in Instructional Communication has clearly become more prominent and stronger. Probably the single most important development in the past two decades was the publication of the Handbook of Instructional Communication: Rhetorical and Relational Perspectives edited by Mottet et al. (2006). The purpose of the handbook was to synthesize the first three decades of research in instructional communication into a single volume that could help both researchers and instructors understand the value of communication in the instructional process.
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Communication in the Real World - An Introduction to Communication Studies
University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing · 2016
Communication in the Real World: An Introduction to Communication Studies overviews the time-tested conceptual foundations of the field, while incorporating the latest research and cutting-edge applications of these basics. Each chapter will include timely, concrete, and real-life examples of communication concepts in action. A key feature of this book is the integration of content regarding diversity and organizational communication in each chapter through examples and/or discrete sub-sections. Discussions of diversity are not relegated to feature boxes. Also integrated into the content are examples that are inclusive in terms of race, gender, sexuality, ability, age, marital status, religion, and other diverse identity characteristics.
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Tutorials of Visual Graphic Communication Programs for Interior Design, Volume 2
Yongyeon Cho · Iowa State University · 2022
This book is for advanced-level architecture and interior design students who have in-depth knowledge and skills with computer-aided visualization software. The author developed a total of twenty-two chapters to teach practical graphic presentation techniques for architectural presentations. Readers will learn these techniques by following step-by-step tutorials. This book includes multiple exercises for the reader's practice. After completing the tutorials, readers will be able to apply these techniques to their design projects.
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Communication Across Cultures
Heejin Chang; Scott Windeatt; Esther Stockwell · University of Southern Queensland · 2024
These resources will prepare culturally and linguistically diverse students for academic study in situations involving intercultural communication.
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Interpersonal Communication: Context and Connection
Hilary Altman; Kristine Clancy; Elizabeth Coleman; Liz Encarnacion · Academic Senate for California Community Colleges · 2023
Interpersonal Communication: Context and Connection provides an engaging overview of interpersonal communication grounded in theory, research, and practical application, with an eye to the lived experience of college students. The first three chapters provide the foundation of interpersonal communication with an examination of the theoretical and conceptual background of communication, self, and perception. The next section of the book examines unique features of messaging, with an exploration of listening, verbal, and nonverbal communication. Chapters 7, 8, and 9 explore dynamic factors that shape interpersonal relationships, including emotions, climate, and conflict. The final chapters of the book delve into communication in context through building and maintaining relationships, the dark side of communication, and workplace relationships.
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Introduction to Communication Systems: An Interactive Approach Using the Wolfram Language
Victor Frost · University of Kansas Libraries · 2021
This ebook provides a unique pedagogical approach to teaching the fundamentals of communication systems using interactive graphics and in-line questions. The material opens with describing the transformation of bits into digital baseband waveforms. Double-sideband suppressed carrier modulation and quadrature modulation then provide the foundation for the discussions of Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK), Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK), M-ary Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (M-QAM), M-ary Phase Shift Keying (MPSK), and the basic theory of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). Traditional analog modulation systems are also described. Systems trade-offs, including link budgets, are emphasized. Interactive graphics allow the students to engage with and visualize communication systems concepts. Interactivity and in-line review questions enables students to rapidly examine system tradeoffs and design alternatives. The topics covered build upon each other culminating with an introduction to the implementation of OFDM transmitters and receivers, the ubiquitous technology used in WiFi, 4G and 5G communication systems.
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Communication Concepts
Erin Hawley · Deakin University · 2024
Communication challenges abound in the 21st century. Communicators everywhere are struggling to connect with diverse, distracted audiences, in both urgent and everyday contexts. In other words, communication has never been more vital, but it’s becoming harder and harder to be heard. In this book, we make sense of communication. From multiple perspectives, we unpack the practices, politics, pleasures, and problems that are activated when meaning is shared across real and virtual spaces. This book will help you use the thinking tools of communication theory to understand why communication matters and how it impacts (and is impacted by) our rapidly changing world.
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Communication and Teamwork Skills to Support Neurodiversity
Teagan Menhenett; Nick Milne; Siva Krishnan · Deakin University · 2025
A significant challenge for neurodivergent students is the transition to studying in a new environment. This book focuses on assisting students with this transition by guiding them through different learning activities and information to support the team-based learning they will engage in during their degree. The resources in this book are designed to be accessible for all students and staff, with the aim of developing an understanding of disability and neurodiversity, teamwork and communication skills and the ability to work collaboratively with peers to achieve common goals. The resources shared here can be utilised within individual units to support student skill development in inclusivity, engagement with others and the capacity to contribute towards highly functional teams.
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A Different Road To College: A Guide For Transitioning Non-Traditional Students
Alise Lamoreaux · Open Oregon Educational Resources · 2016
A Different Road To College: A Guide For Transitioning Non-Traditional Students is designed to introduce students to the contextual issues of college. Non-traditional students have an ever-growing presence on college campuses, especially community colleges. This open educational resource is designed to engage students in seeing themselves as college students and understanding the complexity of what that means to their lives. Non-traditional students face critical issues surrounding participation and success in college. These critical issues include, but are not limited to, the following Strategies for managing competing needs on their time Difficulty navigating institutional environments Understanding the culture of college Transitional services not in place to the same degree as for “traditional” students Knowledgeable support systems Personal barriers Unpredictable influences on their schedules Work first, study second priorities Paying for college Underprepared foundation skills (Reading, Writing, Math, Computer Literacy, Human Relations, Oral Communication).Most textbooks available on the topic of college transition/success today focus on the traditional 18-year old student and the needs of someone living away from home for the first time.The goal of the book is to help students understand how to select the right college for them and then become acquainted with the inner workings and language of college. The book is designed to be a practical guide for first-generation college students as they navigate potentially unfamiliar topics such as understanding the costs of college beyond tuition, navigating college websites, and defining critical language needed to understand communication regarding the context and culture of the college.
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Open Professional and Technical Editing with Handbook
Tiffani Tijerina; Mara Crumby; Amber Anderson; Abigail Steele · University of Arkansas · 2026
Open Professional and Technical Editing is a collaboratively-authored and edited open textbook with both named and anonymous undergraduate and graduate-level student contributors from Dr. Tiffani Tijerina’s Advanced Editing and Editing for Usage and Style classes at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
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Converged Storytelling for Modern Audiences
Willie Tubbs · University of West Florida Pressbooks · 2026
Equal parts how-to guide and exploration of the mass media industry, this book examines all aspects of harnessing the immense power of modern storytelling tools to ethically serve an audience and society while earning a living along the way.
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Surviving Research Publication: A Guide for New Scholars
Lily Compton; Megan O'Donnell; Kristin Terrill · Iowa State University Digital Press · 2026
This handbook provides the hidden information needed to successfully navigate your first research publications. From the basics of a literature review, through ethics and the use of technology, this book is an essential guide for graduate students and early career researchers. Topics covered include: literature reviews, citations, literature searches, scholarly publishing, research impact measures, research ethics, copyright, authorship, plagiarism, document formatting, and digital accessibility.
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Media and Power
Bettina Fabos; Christopher Martin; Catherine Palczewski · Rod Library · 2026
This handbook guides students through concepts, content, and exercises that help them develop media literacy by understanding media and power. The authors want students to not only gain the ability to critically analyze the languages and discourses – textual, visual, audio, and code – that people use to create and interpret media content, but also to understand the overarching context: media possess immense power in contemporary societies around the world.
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Beyond the Podium: AI, Speech, and Civic Voice
Tiffany Petricini; Sherry Rice · Pennsylvania State University · 2026
This book begins not only with public speaking as a skill, but with communication as a human practice. From interpersonal conversations to civic speeches, from face-to-face dialogue to AI-mediated interaction, our ability to communicate with care and clarity has never been more important or more complex.