Literature, Rhetoric, and Poetry Textbooks

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Who Teaches Writing

Contributors: Branson, Brooks, Cadman, Cephus, Childers, Devore, Sicari, Hogg, and Horton

Publisher: Oklahoma State University

License: CC BY

Who Teaches Writing is an open teaching and learning resource being used in English Composition classes at Oklahoma State University. It was authored by contributors from Oklahoma State University and also includes invited chapters from faculty and staff at institutions both inside and outside of Oklahoma. Contributors include faculty from various departments, contingent faculty and staff, and graduate instructors. One purpose of the resource is to provide short, relatively jargon-free chapters geared toward undergraduate students taking First-Year Composition. Support for this project was provided in part by OpenOKState and Oklahoma State University Libraries.

(2 reviews)

A Dam Good Argument - 1st Edition

Contributors: Delf, Drummond, and Kelly

Publisher: Oregon State University

License: CC BY

Arguments are all around us. Everywhere we look, someone is trying to get our attention, change our minds, or sell us something. Learning about how persuasion works will make you a more thoughtful and skeptical consumer of all that content, so that you can come to your own conclusions and recognize the underlying assumptions that inform those attempts to persuade you. This book is about analyzing others' arguments and crafting your own. The rhetorical choices that you make as a writer–from evidence to structure to tone–impact how your audience will receive your ideas. Using those tools effectively will help your voice be heard.

(2 reviews)

Intersections of Open Educational Resources and Information Literacy

Contributors: Cullen and Dill

Publisher: Association of College and Research Libraries

License: CC BY-NC-SA

"The present volume is timely not only because it models creative and effective strategies to advance both open education and information literacy, but especially because it poses critical questions and urges practitioners to go well beyond questions of access to and the use of information. It demands reflection on what is being accessed (and what is not), who is gaining access (and who is not), who is providing access (and who is not), and what the goal is of this access (and what lies beyond access)."—from the Foreword by Rajiv S. Jhangiani Information literacy skills are key when finding, using, adapting, and producing open educational resources (OER). Educators who wish to include OER for their students need to be able to find these resources and use them according to their permissions. When open pedagogical methods are employed, students need to be able to use information literacy skills as they compile, reuse, and create open resources. Intersections of Open Educational Resources and Information Literacy captures current open education and information literacy theory and practice and provides inspiration for the future. Chapters include practical applications, theoretical musings, literature reviews, and case studies and discuss social justice issues, collaboration, open pedagogy, training, and advocacy. The book is divided into six parts:

(3 reviews)

American Literatures Prior to 1865

Contributor: Peterson

Publisher: University of Missouri - St. Louis

License: CC BY-SA

This work was created as part of the University Libraries’ Open Educational Resources Initiative at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

(1 review)

Compact Anthology of World Literature II

Contributors: Turlington, Horton, and Getty

Publisher: University System of Georgia

License: CC BY-SA

The Compact Anthology of World Literature, Parts 4, 5, and 6 is designed as an e-book to be accessible on a variety of devices: smart phone, tablet, e-reader, laptop, or desktop computer. Students have reported ease of accessibility and readability on all these devices.

(4 reviews)

Para vivir con salud

Contributors: McKnight and Kuhnheim

Publisher: Kathryn Joy McKnight and Jill Kuhnheim

License: CC BY-NC

We are asking anyone who adopts this webbook or uses portions of it in their teaching to please let us know at this link (click here).

(2 reviews)

Reading Rhetorical Theory

Contributor: Hallsby

Publisher: University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing

License: CC BY-NC

This is a textbook that was originally designed for a 3000-level large lecture course on “Rhetorical Theory” at the University of Minnesota, Twin-Cities. An interdisciplinary tradition, rhetorical theory describes how speech, representation, and power are managed by techniques and technologies of communication. The plan of this book moves from rhetoric as an art of speech to rhetoric as a technology of power. The early chapters provide definitions and context for rhetoric as speech, middle chapters (e.g., on signs, symbols, visual images, argumentation, and narrative) describe rhetoric as representation, and the concluding chapters (e.g., on settler colonialism, secrecy, and digital rhetoric) elaborate on rhetoric as a technology of power. Of course, there is considerable overlap across these areas: the chapter on “rhetoric and ideology” sets the stage for later understandings of rhetoric as power; the chapter on “the rhetorical situation” hearkens back to the introductory understanding of rhetoric as speech. The book includes (audio and/or video) recordings with each chapter, as well as guidelines for proposed written assignments. Students using this resource should gain a thorough understanding of what rhetoric is, how it was practiced historically and today, and the ways that rhetoric wields an invisible influence over contemporary public and political life. Additionally, this book is designed for use across a variety of modalities, including in-person, online (synchronous/asynchronous), and hybridized formats. Additional resources (PowerPoint slides, quiz/exam questions) are also available to confirmed instructors upon request.

(1 review)

Reading the Bible as Literature: A Journey

Contributor: Ondich

Publisher: Minnesota State Colleges and Universities

License: CC BY-NC-SA

The Bible is one of the most published books in human history. It is also one of the most misquoted, misunderstood and misused books in human history. This happens because people are not always aware that the Bible is not a book, it is a collection of diverse writings. The Bible might even be called an anthology, and it will include everything from poetry to genealogy, pithy sayings to architectural mandates, mythology to letters. Knowing what one is reading helps one understand the ideas in the writings. We read letters in the context of who wrote them and who received them. We read sermons understanding the speaker's perspective may differ from the listener's perspective. So this text is an attempt to give historic, literary, geographical and cultural context to a complex and often poorly understood set of materials. This is very much an ebook, and needs to be used in that format. Pdfs and other printed versions will lose a great deal of the content.

(1 review)

Intermediate College Writing: Building and Practicing Mindful Writing Skills

Contributors: Atkinson and Corbitt

Publisher: Montana Technological Unviersity

License: CC BY-NC-SA

Welcome to Intermediate College Writing: Building and Practicing Mindful Writing Skills, an open textbook designed for use in university‐level courses that focus on cultivating study skills alongside effective academic and workplace writing skills. It offers a no‐cost alternative to commercial products, combining practical guidance with interactive exercises and thoughtfully designed writing opportunities.

(1 review)

Read more about An Introduction to African and Afro-Diasporic Peoples and Influences in British Literature and Culture before the Industrial Revolution

An Introduction to African and Afro-Diasporic Peoples and Influences in British Literature and Culture before the Industrial Revolution

Contributors: Elmore and Halpin

Publisher: University System of Georgia

License: CC BY-NC-SA

Funded by the University System of Georgia’s “Affordable Learning Georgia” initiative, An Introduction to African and Afro-Diasporic Peoples and Influences in British Literature and Culture before the Industrial Revolution corrects, expands, and celebrates the presence of the African Diaspora in the study of British Literature, undoing some of the anti-Black history of British studies.

(1 review)