Digital library
Textbooks, references and open learning resources.
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Reading and Writing Successfully in College
Patricia Lynne · Framingham State University
This textbook provides students with guidelines for understanding writing tasks as intellectual work using Bloom’s Taxonomy and for treating the writing process as a set of variable activities that move along a trajectory from idea or assignment to a finished product. The book also includes chapters on strengthening reading strategies and on finding, evaluating, and using sources effectively.
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Grammar Essentials
Excelsior Online Writing Lab · LibreTexts
The Grammar Essentials area of the Excelsior OWL will provide you with a thorough overview of punctuation, grammar and usage, and some of the most common errors students in the United States struggle with. And, by using a little humor, we hope that this introduction into grammar and punctuation (using zombies, memes, and funny stories) will be a little less painful than when you were in junior high and had to do things like memorize prepositions or diagram sentences.
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The Roadrunner’s Guide to English
Jenny Crisp · Dalton University
This online book is designed to help students learn the skills they will need to do well in college-level classes. Some courses will focus on writing, some on reading, and some on a combination of the two; this book is designed to work with all of those classes.
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Thematic Reading Anthology
Lumen Learning · Lumen Learning
This anthology is a curated collection of openly licensed primary texts, organized thematically, designed to be used as a reader in English composition courses. Includes personal essays, literature, video and audio files, Web writings, and long-form journalism, along with customizable assignments and instructor resources. This anthology was initially curated using materials from a variety of open sources.
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Basic Reading and Writing (Lumen)
Lumen Learning · Lumen Learning
Basic Reading and Writing builds a solid foundation around core aspects of the writing process: critical reading; methodical writing; research and documentation; practical grammar and punctuation. An optional module introduces core principles for college success that help students understand and develop good habits to improve their performance in this and other college courses.
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The Tongue and Quill
US Air Force · LibreTexts
Military members and civilian employees of the Department of the Air Force must communicate clearly and effectively to carry out our missions. Although we live in an era of rapid personal and mass communication that was barely imagined just a few years ago, our Air Force still requires face-to-face briefings, background papers, and staff packages to keep the mission moving forward. This handbook provides the information to ensure clear communications-written or spoken.
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Critical Thinking
Andrew Gurevich · Mt Hood Community College
Using a combination of the newest findings in hemispheric science, neuropsychology, and brain development, along with the long-established rhetorical algorithms for analyzing the structure of arguments, this course explores the boundaries of critical and creative thinking in pursuit of developing a clearer and more robust model for the construction and deconstruction of various forms of argument.
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Online Technical Writing
David McMurrey · Austin Community College
The Online Technical Writing textbook offers a comprehensive guide to the essential skills and practices in technical writing. It covers various types of documents, including business correspondence, reports, proposals, user guides, and technical manuals, along with their design and formatting principles.
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The Process of Research Writing
Steven D. Krause · Eastern Michigan University
This research writing textbook suitable for teachers and students in research oriented composition and rhetoric classes. A lot of times, instructors and students tend to separate “thinking,” “researching,” and “writing” into different categories that aren't necessarily very well connected. First you think, then you research, and then you write. The reality is though that the possibilities and process of research writing are more complicated and much richer than that.
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Open Technical Writing An Open-Access Text for Instruction in Technical and Professional Writing
Adam Rex Pope · University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
This book presents technical writing as an approach to researching and carrying out writing that centers on technical subject matter. 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.
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Prometheus Bound and the Seven Against Thebes
Aeschylus · LibreTexts
In the following pages will be found a translation of two of the Aeschylus greatest compositions, viz., the "Prometheus Chained" and the "Seven Against Thebes." The first of these dramas has been designated "The sublimest poem and simplest tragedy of antiquity," and the second, while probably an earlier work and containing much that is undramatic, presents such a splendid spectacle of true Grecian chivalry that it has been regarded as the equal of anything which the author ever attempted.
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Write or Left
Sybil Priebe · North Dakota State College of Science
In this book, we'll go over some of the general principles of writing practices as well as advice and tips on how to write creatively, but mainly, you’ll be introduced to as many genres and categories as possible. We won’t get bogged down in doing the writing process “perfectly” or creating “perfect literature.” The goal is to learn about as many genres as possible, practice writing in those genres, and get feedback.
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Methods of Discovery - Online Writing Guide
Pavel Zemliansky · Oslo Metropolitan University
Methods of Discovery by Pavel Zemliansky is an online writing guide that presents research writing as a rhetorical process. It teaches research across multiple genres, covers both scholarly and non-academic sources, includes multimedia and online resources, offers flexible activities for different courses and audiences.
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Grammar Essentials
Excelsior Online Writing Lab · Excelsior College
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.
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The Word on College Reading and Writing
Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear · Clackamas Community & Portland State University
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.
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The Simple Math of Writing Well - Writing for the 21st Century
Jennie A. Harrop · George Fox University
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.
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The Anti-Textbook of Writing
Sybil Priebe · North Dakota State College of Science
Since writing is subjective, the rules aren’t always black and white. What can we do, if writing is subjective and doesn’t have PERFECT rules then? We just practice the genres we know. We give it our best shot. We just practice.
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Technical and Report Writing
Amber Kinonen, Joseph Mold, Edie Erickson, Shawn Curtin · Bay College Library
Technical writing is an audience-centered means of communication that provides a reader with clear and easy access to information. The technical writer and reader have a vis-à-vis relationship. The writer recognizes, respects, and addresses the importance of time in effective and efficient communication by providing documents written in specific formats, using unambiguous language to send clearly accessible information.
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About Writing - A Guide
Robing Jeffrey · Klamath Community College
This writer’s reference condenses and covers everything a beginning writing student needs to successfully compose college-level work, including the basics of composition, grammar, and research. It is broken down into easy-to-tackle sections, while not overloading students with more information than they need. Great for any beginning writing students or as reference for advanced students!
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Oregon Writes Open Writing Text
Jenn Kepka · Linn-Benton Community College
This textbook guides students through rhetorical and assignment analysis, the writing process, researching, citing, rhetorical modes, and critical reading. Guided by Oregon's statewide college writing outcomes, this book collects previously published articles, essays, and chapters.