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English Open Textbooks

 
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  • Accessibility Basics: Writing for Accessibility in Online Learning Environments by Erin Bahl, Stephen Bartlett, Mary Margaret Cornwell, Laura W. Howard, and Jason Rodenbeck

    Accessibility Basics: Writing for Accessibility in Online Learning Environments

    Erin Bahl, Stephen Bartlett, Mary Margaret Cornwell, Laura W. Howard, and Jason Rodenbeck

    The accessibility of materials used in e-learning environments has been a subject of growing concern over the past decade, especially with the significant turn to online education during the COVID-19 pandemic. This resource is designed to guide those new to the topic of accessibility and accessible design. While the various topics contained within are searchable on the web, this text strives to pull together disparate design resources for ensuring accessibility of content intended for electronic dissemination. In short, this is a basic “How-To” guide for making your media and documents accessible in e-learning environments and across the larger world wide web.

  • An Introduction to African and Afro-Diasporic Peoples and Influences in British Literature and Culture before the Industrial Revolution by Jonathan Elmore and Jenni Halpin

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

    Jonathan Elmore and Jenni Halpin

    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.

  • A Survey of American Literature in a Thematic Trinity by Erin Sledd, Lesley Gabel, and Tyler Tait

    A Survey of American Literature in a Thematic Trinity

    Erin Sledd, Lesley Gabel, and Tyler Tait

    A Survey of American Literature in a Thematic Trinity takes an asynchronous approach to canonical and non-canonical American texts. Three major overarching themes are discussed in the introduction: E Pluribus Unum (From many, one); Terror and Transcendence; and Back to the Future: Competing Visions of the End. The material is further divided into thematic subcategories.

    This Pressbooks-based open textbook was created under an Affordable Materials Grant.

  • Becoming America: An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution by Wendy Kurant

    Becoming America: An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution

    Wendy Kurant

    The University of North Georgia Press and Affordable Learning Georgia bring you Becoming America: An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution. 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

    This textbook is an open Educational Resource. It can be reused, remixed, and reedited freely without seeking permission.

    About the editor:

    Wendy Kurant, Ph.D., teaches Early American Literature, American Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, and Southern Literature at the University of North Georgia (UNG). Her research interests center on new Historicism and depictions of the South and the Civil War in Literature. She has taught at UNG since 2005.

  • Brehe's Grammar Anatomy by Steven Brehe

    Brehe's Grammar Anatomy

    Steven Brehe

    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. Whether for academic or personal use, Brehe’s Grammar Anatomy is the perfect addition to any resource library.

    Features:

    • Practice exercises at the end of each chapter, with answers in the back of the book, to help students test and correct their comprehension
    • Full glossary and index with cross-references
    • Easy-to-read language supports readers at every learning stage

  • British Literature II: Romantic Era to the Twentieth Century and Beyond by Bonnie J. Robinson

    British Literature II: Romantic Era to the Twentieth Century and Beyond

    Bonnie J. Robinson

    The University of North Georgia Press and Affordable Learning Georgia bring you British Literature II: Romantic Era to the Twentieth Century and Beyond.

    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.

    Features:

    • Contextualizing introductions to the Romantic era; the Victorian era; and the Twentieth Century and beyond
    • Over 90 historical images
    • In-depth biographies of each author
    • Instructional Design features, including Reading and Review Questions

    This textbook is an Open Educational Resource. It can be reused, remixed, and reedited freely without seeking permission.

    Accessible files with optical character recognition (OCR) and auto-tagging provided by the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation.

  • British Literature I: Middle Ages to the Eighteenth Century and Neoclassicism by Bonnie J. Robinson and Laura Getty

    British Literature I: Middle Ages to the Eighteenth Century and Neoclassicism

    Bonnie J. Robinson and Laura Getty

    The University of North Georgia Press and Affordable Learning Georgia bring you British Literature I: From the Middle Ages to Neoclassicism and the Eighteenth Century. 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.

    Features:

    • Original introductions to The Middle Ages; The Sixteenth Century: The Tudor Age; The Seventeenth Century: The Age of Revolution; and Neoclassicism and the Eighteenth Century
    • Over 100 historical images
    • Instructional Design, including Reading and Review Questions and Key Terms
    • Forthcoming ancillary with open-enabled pedagogy, allowing readers to contribute to the project

    This textbook is an Open Access Resource. It can be reused, remixed, and reedited freely without seeking permission.

    Accessible files with optical character recognition (OCR) and auto-tagging provided by the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation.

  • College ESL Writers: Applied Grammar and Composing Strategies for Success by Barbara Hall and Elizabeth Wallace

    College ESL Writers: Applied Grammar and Composing Strategies for Success

    Barbara Hall and Elizabeth Wallace

    Authors' Description:

    College ESL Writers: Applied Grammar and Composing Strategies for Success is designed as a comprehensive grammar and writing etext for high intermediate and advanced level non-native speakers of English. We open the text with a discussion on the sentence and then break it down into its elemental components, before reconstructing them into effective sentences with paragraphs and larger academic assignments. Following that, we provide instruction in paragraph and essay writing with several opportunities to both review the fundamentals as well as to demonstrate mastery and move on to more challenging assignments.

    We have structured the etext into three basic parts. Part I, Composing Strategies and Techniques, includes a sequenced discussion from composing effective sentences through paragraph and essay writing. This includes the prewriting and planning stages of writing as well as the revising and editing stage in the first five chapters. Part II, Language Use, Grammar, and Mechanics, is meant to be used as a grammar and mechanics handbook as well as the practice and review of idiomatic wording. Part III, All About Writing: Samples, Topics, and Rubrics, has chapters with additional writing topics for practice, sample student papers, and rubrics for evaluating writing.

    This open textbook was created through a Round Six ALG Textbook Transformation Grant.

    Accessible files with optical character recognition (OCR) and auto-tagging provided by the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation.

  • Compact Anthology of World Literature by Laura Getty and Kyounghye Kwon

    Compact Anthology of World Literature

    Laura Getty and Kyounghye Kwon

    Revision Two: 10/12/2016

    Editors' Description:

    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.

    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.

    A word to the instructor: The texts have been chosen with the idea that they can be compared and contrasted, using common themes. Rather than numerous (and therefore often random) choices of texts from various periods, these selected works are meant to make both teaching and learning easier. While cultural expectations are not universal, many of the themes found in these works are.

  • Compact Anthology of World Literature II: Volumes 4, 5, and 6 by Anita Turlington, Matthew Horton, Karen Dodson, Laura Getty, Kyounghye Kwon, and Laura Ng

    Compact Anthology of World Literature II: Volumes 4, 5, and 6

    Anita Turlington, Matthew Horton, Karen Dodson, Laura Getty, Kyounghye Kwon, and Laura Ng

    6/3/2022: The UNG Press and the editors of this anthology are looking into issues with links in Volumes 5 and 6. In the interim, Affordable Learning Georgia is providing a revision of this anthology with links to Open Library copies of materials, if possible and the WorldCat entry for each.

    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.

    • To access the ePub text on a laptop, desktop, or tablet, you will need to download a program through which you can read the text. We recommend Readium, an application available through Google.
    • If you plan to read the text on an Android device, you will need to download an application called Lithium from the App Store.
    • On an iPhone, the text will open in iBooks.
    • Affordable Learning Georgia has also converted the .epub files to PDF. Because .epub does not easily convert to other formats, the left margin of the .pdf is very narrow. ALG recommends using the .epub version.

    Although the text is designed to look like an actual book, the Table of Contents is composed of hyperlinks that will take you to each introductory section and then to each text. The three parts of the text are organized into the following units:

    Part 4—The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

    Unit I: The Age of Reason

    Unit II: The Near East and Asia

    Part 5—The Long Nineteenth Century

    Unit I Romanticism

    Unit II Realism

    Part 6—The Twentieth Century and Contemporary Literature

    Unit I Modernism

    Unit II Postcolonial Literature

    Unit III Contemporary Literature

    Texts from a variety of genres and cultures are included in each unit. Additionally, each selection or collection includes a brief introduction about the author and text(s), and each includes 3 – 5 discussion questions. Texts in the public domain--those published or translated before 1923--are replicated here. Texts published or translated after 1923 are not yet available in the public domain. In those cases, we have provided a link to a stable site that includes the text. Thus, in Part 6, most of the texts are accessible in the form of links to outside sites. In every case, we have attempted to connect to the most stable links available.

    The following texts have been prepared with the assistance of the University of North Georgia Press in its role as Affordable Learning Georgia's Partner Press.

    Affordable Learning Georgia partners with the University of North Georgia Press to assist grantees with copyright clearance, peer review, production and design, and other tasks required to produce quality Open Educational Resources (OER). The University Press is a peer-reviewed, academic press. Its mission is to produce scholarly work that contributes to the fields of innovative teaching, textbooks, and Open Educational Resources. Affordable Learning Georgia Textbook Transformation Grant funds may be used for services provided by the Press.

    To determine how the University Press can assist ALG grantees or anyone interested in developing OER with ALG, the University Press will provide advance free consultations. Please contact the Press at 706-864-1556 or ungpress@ung.edu.

    “Textbook Transformation Grants” from Affordable Learning Georgia

  • Connections: Composition I (Clayton State University) by Jennifer Parrott, Matthew Sansbury, Mary Lamb, Sipai Klein, Margaret Fletcher, and Jim Rickerson

    Connections: Composition I (Clayton State University)

    Jennifer Parrott, Matthew Sansbury, Mary Lamb, Sipai Klein, Margaret Fletcher, and Jim Rickerson

    This open textbook for Composition I courses was developed under a Round 19 Transformation Grant. The text focuses on connected writing, addressing topics including writing processes, academic honesty, rhetorical reading responses, and personal essays.

  • Contribute a Verse: An Introduction to First-Year Composition (all rights reserved) by Tanya Long Bennett, Donna Gessell, and Diana Edelman-Young

    Contribute a Verse: An Introduction to First-Year Composition (all rights reserved)

    Tanya Long Bennett, Donna Gessell, and Diana Edelman-Young

    This textbook is not an open textbook. Affordable Learning Georgia has a special agreement with the University of North Georgia Press to make this text free to download for a limited time. Remixes and mass redistribution are not allowed in this agreement.

    Author's Description:

    In response to the Affordable Learning Georgia initiative, Dr. Tanya Bennett and ten colleagues from the University of North Georgia have written Contribute a Verse: A Guide to First Year Composition. This peer reviewed textbook, published by the University of North Georgia Press, combines a composition rhetoric manual with grammar and documentation instruction and resources, components that can be flexibly arranged to fit instructors’ classroom plans.

    It includes a standard rhetoric instruction, information and practice for Standard English Grammar, and guidelines for the four most common documentation styles. Its reader compiles essays compiled for English 1101, focused for thematic discussion and selected for use in rhetorical analysis. The textbook also includes a glossary of pertinent terms and ancillary instructor resources.

    Its contents include Reading Critically/Engaging the Material; Rhetorical Situations; Effective Argument; Introductions and Conclusions; Logic of Assertion, Evidence, and Interpretation; Documentation; Visual Rhetoric; Multi-Modality; Inter-disciplinary Writing; and Grammar.

    Accessible files with optical character recognition (OCR) and auto-tagging provided by the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation.

  • English Composition I and II by Melissa Ianetta, Andy Frazee, Suchismita Dutta, Marlee Givens, and Liz Holdsworth

    English Composition I and II

    Melissa Ianetta, Andy Frazee, Suchismita Dutta, Marlee Givens, and Liz Holdsworth

    This open educational resource for ENGL 1101 and 1102 was developed under an ALG Round 22 grant. The WOVENText OER emphasizes rhetoric, process, and multimodality (written, oral, visual, electronic, and nonverbal communication) in composition.

  • English Composition Open Textbook by Rebecca Flynn, Tamara Powell, Jeanne Law, Rebecca Cooper, Tom Lilly, Mark Partridge, and Jessica Estep

    English Composition Open Textbook

    Rebecca Flynn, Tamara Powell, Jeanne Law, Rebecca Cooper, Tom Lilly, Mark Partridge, and Jessica Estep

    This open textbook for Composition was created under an Affordable Materials Grant. Assignment prompts and lesson plans are included for topics related Literacy Narrative writing, Rhetorical Analysis, and Arguing a Position.

  • Great Works of African American Literature by Margaret Cox and Patricia West

    Great Works of African American Literature

    Margaret Cox and Patricia West

    This open textbook for African American Literature was developed as a result of a Round 19 Transformation Grant.

  • Language Connections with the Past: A History of the English Language by David Johnson

    Language Connections with the Past: A History of the English Language

    David Johnson

    Language Connections with the Past: A History of the English Language is a textbook covering the major events and time periods in the history of the English language. The text begins with a general overview of linguistic concepts and terminology. Then the text traces the history of the English language from its Indo-European roots to the Early Modern English Period. The text also includes samples of literature from the different periods. Eight video lectures accompany the textbook. Many of the lectures are read by voice actors in various English dialects to engage students and to illustrate features of various English dialects.

  • Open Anthology of Early World Literature in English Translation by Susan Hrach and Japheth Koech

    Open Anthology of Early World Literature in English Translation

    Susan Hrach and Japheth Koech

    Authors' Description:

    A collection of free and open primary texts in digital formats for the study of early world literature in English translation. Multiple English translations are provided for comparison and study, as well as open secondary and supplemental resources.

    Accessible files with optical character recognition (OCR) and auto-tagging provided by the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation.

  • Successful College Composition (3rd Edition) by Rebecca Weaver, Lynne Bost, Michelle Kassorla, Karen McKinney-Holley, Kathryn Crowther, Lauren Curtright, Nancy Gilbert, Barbara Hall, Tracienne Ravita, and Kirk Swenson

    Successful College Composition (3rd Edition)

    Rebecca Weaver, Lynne Bost, Michelle Kassorla, Karen McKinney-Holley, Kathryn Crowther, Lauren Curtright, Nancy Gilbert, Barbara Hall, Tracienne Ravita, and Kirk Swenson

    NOTE: The web-hosted Third Edition is currently down at Georgia State University. We have removed this as the primary link until GSU can repair the issue.

    Authors' Description:

    Third Edition (2019):

    We made two significant changes to the textbook: we reformatted it from a PDF to modules within our Learning Management System (iCollege) and as an open-web-based book. The modularized version is downloadable and exportable and will live on the ALG and GSU websites. The web-based book will be ready by August 2019 and will also live on the ALG and GSU websites.

    The other significant change we made was to write an instruction manual that provides guidance to who we see as the primary audience for the manual: new composition instructors. In our department, these are newly-hired part-time instructors or full-time teachers returning to teaching composition or who have never taught it before. When we surveyed the faculty about what they wanted from an instruction manual, we got a number of requests for sample papers, but ended up going in the reverse direction for two reasons: first: the department leadership is moving to create an online resource library into which we hope many faculty will put their assignment sheets, exercises, scaffolding, and sequencing.

    Second Edition:

    This text is a transformation of Writing for Success, a text adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

    Kathryn Crowther, Lauren Curtright, Nancy Gilbert, Barbara Hall, Tracienne Ravita, and Kirk Swenson adapted this text under a grant from Affordable Learning Georgia to Georgia Perimeter College (GPC, now part of Georgia State University) in 2015. Section 1.3 was authored by Rebecca Weaver. This text is a revision of a prior adaptation of Writing for Success led by Rosemary Cox in GPC’s Department of English, titled Successful College Writing for GPC Students (2014, 2015).

    Writing for Success, as revised by GPC, is not provided here, but it is considered a first edition of the adapted text.

    Accessible files with optical character recognition (OCR) and auto-tagging provided by the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation.

  • The Gordon State College Writing Handbook by Wesley Venus and Mark King

    The Gordon State College Writing Handbook

    Wesley Venus and Mark King

    Authors' Description:

    Members of the Gordon faculty have collaborated on the authorship of this guide, and it is targeted directly at Gordon students to help them with their writing across the GSC curriculum. This guide provides at least three distinct advantages over other guides: it is specifically targeted to Gordon State students, it covers writing across the whole curriculum, not just English; and it is free.

    Many approaches to crafting this guide were entertained, but the authors decided that what students really want from a composition guide are practical examples of writing that they might actually encounter in their classroom experiences at Gordon. Many guides try to do this, but this guide uses real Gordon professors and real Gordon class assignments as a starting point. This results in what we feel is a substantial improvement over other available writing guides.

    Accessible files with optical character recognition (OCR) and auto-tagging provided by the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation.

  • The Roadrunner's Guide to English (2nd Edition) by Jenny Crisp, Lydia Postell, and Melissa Whitesell

    The Roadrunner's Guide to English (2nd Edition)

    Jenny Crisp, Lydia Postell, and Melissa Whitesell

    Summer 2019 Revision Notes: Due to a project delay, the EPUB and MOBI versions included here are considered Additional Files and currently draft versions of the second edition. More work will be done on these throughout Fall 2019.

    Authors' Description:

    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.

    Welcome, students, and remember: a skill is not a magical ability. By that, we mean it can be learned; you don't have to be born "good at" reading or writing. Like any other skill, reading and writing abilities improve through learning the step-by-step process to doing both, and through practice. We hope this book will help you develop your own skills.

  • World Literature I Ancillary Materials by Christina Heckman, Jeff Mastromonico, Lynsey Steinberg, and Melissa Johnson

    World Literature I Ancillary Materials

    Christina Heckman, Jeff Mastromonico, Lynsey Steinberg, and Melissa Johnson

    This set of ancillary materials for World Literature was created under an Affordable Materials Grant. This project, World Lit Live, provides an ancillary resource to the Compact Anthology of World Literature Parts 1, 2, and 3, edited by Laura Getty and Kyoungkye Kwon.

    World Lit Live provides a digital, interactive, and immersive experience that engages students and deepens their learning through the use of 3D technology, virtual reality, gaming, and assessment of reading comprehension and cultural competence.

  • World Literature I: Beginnings to 1650 by Laura Getty, Kyounghye Kwon, Rhonda Kelley, and Douglass Thomson

    World Literature I: Beginnings to 1650

    Laura Getty, Kyounghye Kwon, Rhonda Kelley, and Douglass Thomson

    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.

    World Literature I and the Compact Anthology of World Literature are similar in format and both intended for World Literature I courses, but these two texts are developed around different curricula.

    Accessible files with optical character recognition (OCR) and auto-tagging provided by the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation.

  • World Literature Open Textbook by Tamara Powell, Ruth McIntyre, Melanie Sumner, Stephen Bartlett, and Allison Davis

    World Literature Open Textbook

    Tamara Powell, Ruth McIntyre, Melanie Sumner, Stephen Bartlett, and Allison Davis

    This open textbook for World Literature was created under an Affordable Materials Grant. It has 15 modules and is designed as a semester-long (16 week) online course with links to readings, lecture videos, text-based lectures, and engaging activities.

  • Writing and Literature: Composition as Inquiry, Learning, Thinking, and Communication by Tanya Long Bennett

    Writing and Literature: Composition as Inquiry, Learning, Thinking, and Communication

    Tanya Long Bennett

    Authors' Description:

    "In the age of Buzzfeeds, hashtags, and Tweets, students are increasingly favoring conversational writing and regarding academic writing as less pertinent in their personal lives, education, and future careers. Writing and Literature: Composition as Inquiry, Learning, Thinking and Communication connects students with works and exercises and promotes student learning that is kairotic and constructive. Dr. Tanya Long Bennett, professor of English at the University of North Georgia, poses questions that encourage active rather than passive learning.

    Furthering ideas presented in Contribute a Verse: A Guide to First-Year Composition as a complimentary companion, 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. Writing and Literature is a refreshing textbook that links learning, literature, and life."

    Topics include:

    • Reading Like a Professional
    • Forming Perspectives
    • Arguments
    • Poetry
    • Fiction
    • Drama
    • Creative Nonfiction
    • Literary Analysis
    • Research Papers

    Accessible files with optical character recognition (OCR) and auto-tagging provided by the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation.

  • Writing the Nation: A Concise Introduction to American Literature 1865 to Present by Amy Berke, Robert Bleil, Jordan Cofer, and Doug Davis

    Writing the Nation: A Concise Introduction to American Literature 1865 to Present

    Amy Berke, Robert Bleil, Jordan Cofer, and Doug Davis

    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.

    Accessible files with optical character recognition (OCR) and auto-tagging provided by the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation.

 
 
 

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