20 English Language and Writing Skills
Academic Integrity
Ulrike Kestler (Kwantlen Polytechnic University)
2020
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
An interactive approach to conveying the values of academic integrity, clarifying the meaning of plagiarism, and introducing the basics of citations, quoting and paraphrasing.
Formats: Online, PDF, EPUB, and more
Suggested for: ENGL 145
Academic Writing Basics
Megan Robertson (Kwantlen Polytechnic University)
2019
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
Designed specifically for Kwantlen Polytechnic University students, this Pressbook offers interactive activities and strategies for developing academic writing skills. Learners have the opportunity to review key parts of the writing process from interpreting their assignment instructions, organizing their ideas, drafting their writing, and revising their work.
Formats: Online, PDF, EPUB, and more
Suggested for: ENGL 145
Bad Ideas About Writing
Cheryl E. Ball and Drew M. Loewe (West Virginia University)
2017
Licence: CC BY
This collection aims to identify bad ideas about writing and suggest better ones.
Formats: PDF
Suggested for: ENGL 155
Brehe’s Grammar Anatomy
Steven Brehe (University of North Georgia)
2018
Licence: CC BY-SA
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
Suggested for: ENGL 140
Building Blocks of Academic Writing
Carellin Brooks (University of British Columbia)
2020
Licence: CC BY-NC
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: Online, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Suggested for: ENGL 145
Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research
Cheryl Lowry (Ohio State University)
2018
Licence: CC BY
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
Suggested for: ENGL 177
College ESL Writers: Applied Grammar and Composing Strategies for Success
Barbara Hall and Elizabeth Wallace (Georgia State University)
2018
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
This book is designed as a comprehensive grammar and writing text for high intermediate and advanced level non-native speakers of English.
Formats: PDF, Word
Suggested for: ENGL 140
The Commons: Tools for Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric
Jill M Parrot, Dominic J Ashby, and Jonathon Collin (Eastern Kentucky University Libraries)
2022
Licence: CC BY-NC
An Open Textbook for English 101: Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric at Eastern Kentucky University
Formats: PDF
Contribute a Verse: An Introduction to First Year Composition
Tanya Bennett (University of North Georgia)
2015
Licence: CC BY-SA
This text combines a composition rhetoric manual with grammar and documentation instruction and resources, components that can be flexibly arranged to fit instructors’ classroom plans. 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.
Formats: PDF
Suggested for: ENGL 255
Conventions 101: A Functional Approach to Teaching (and Assessing!) Grammar and Punctuation
Chauna Ramsey (Columbia Gorge Community College)
2016
Licence: CC BY-NC
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: Online, EPUB, PDF, and MOBI
Suggested for: ENGL 140
Effective Professional Communication: A Rhetorical Approach
Rebekah Bennetch, Corey Owen, and Zachary Keesey (University of Saskatchewan)
2021
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
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: Online, EPUB, PDF, and more
Suggested for: ENGL 189
EmpoWord: A Student-Centered Anthology & Handbook for College Writers
Shane Abrams (Portland State University)
2018
Licence: CC BY-NC
This is a reader and rhetoric that champions the possibilities of student writing. The textbook uses actual student writing to exemplify effective writing strategies, celebrating dedicated college writing students to encourage and instruct their successors: the students in your class.
Formats: Online, PDF
Suggested for: ENGL 177
English 101 E-Text Writing for the Rhetorical Situation
Emily Wicker Ligon
Licence: CC BY
This e-text focuses on writing for the rhetorical situation. The e-text will not give you a formula for writing, but it will teach you tools that you can use in your writing. These tools will help you decipher the rhetorical situation and how to address it accordingly.
Formats: Word
Suggested for: ENGL 155
English Composition: Connect, Collaborate, Communicate
Ann Inoshita, Karyl Garland, Kate Sims, Jeanne K. Tsutsui Keuma, and Tasha Williams (University of Hawaii Manoa)
2019
Licence: CC BY
This textbook has been designed for students to learn the foundational concepts for a first-year composition course.
Formats: Online, PDF, Ebook
Suggested for: ENGL 255
Entering the Conversation: A College Composition Compilation
Naomi Salmon (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Licence: CC BY
A collection of readings that emerged out of partnerships between OER enthusiasts, composition instructors at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and contributors who shared ideas and resources on a Twitter thread about open composition.
Formats: Online
Suggested for: ENGL 255
Grammar Essentials
Excelsior Online Writing Lab (OWL) (LibreTexts)
2020
Licence: CC BY
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
Suggested for: ENGL 140
A Guide to Rhetoric, Genre, and Success in First-Year Writing
Melanie Gagich & Emilie Zickel
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
This book combines the Introduction to Writing in College by Melanie Gagich and ENG 102: Reading, Writing and Research by Emilie Zickel. This book also contains complete and remixed chapters from other authors, links to several essays from the open source textbook series Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, and several links to articles from the open source website Writing Commons. Additionally, parts of this book also come out of a remixed version of Robin Jeffrey’s, About Writing, which have been rearranged, amended, edited, and enhanced with digital reading experience by including videos and visual reading features.
Formats: Online, PDF, EPUB, and more
Suggested for: ENGL 145
A Guide to Technical Communications: Strategies & Applications
Lynn Hall and Leah Wahlin (Ohio State University)
2016
Licence: CC BY-NC
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: Online, EPUB, PDF, and MOBI
Suggested for: ENGL 189
Howdy or Hello?: Technical and Business Communications
Technical writing courses introduce you to some of the most important aspects of writing in the worlds of science, technology, and business—in other words, the kind of writing that scientists, nurses, doctors, computer specialists, government officials, engineers, and other professionals do as a part of their regular work. The skills learned in technical writing courses can be useful in other fields as well, including education and social sciences.
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
Formats:
Suggested for: ENGL 189
How Arguments Work – A Guide to Writing and Analyzing Texts in College
Anna Mills (Academic Senate of the California Community Colleges OER Initiative)
2021
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
This book 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, PDF
Suggested for: ENGL 177
Informed Arguments: A Guide to Writing and Research
Terri Pantuso, Sarah LeMire, and Kathy Anders (Texas A&M University)
2022
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
This book is appropriate for a first-year composition course focusing on academic writing, reading, researching, and speaking. Major concepts in argument theory are covered.
Formats: Online, PDF, Ebook
Suggested for: ENGL 177
Mindful Technical Writing: An Introduction to the Fundamentals
Dawn Atkinson and Stacey Corbitt (Montana Technological University)
2021
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
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
Suggested for: ENGL 189
Open Technical Writing – An Open-Access Text for Instruction in Technical and Professional Writing
Adam Rex Pope (University of Arkansas Fayetteville)
2020
Licence: CC BY-SA
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: Online and PDF
Suggested for: ENGL 189
Reading Rhetorical Theory
Atilla Hallsby
2022
Licence: CC BY-NC
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.
Formats: Online, PDF, eBook
Reading and Writing Successfully in College: A Guide for Students
Patricia Lynne (Framingham State University)
2023
Licence: CC BY-SA
Formats: Online, PDF, eBook
Suggested for: ENGL 255
The Simple Math of Writing Well: Writing for the 21st Century
Jennie A. Harrop (George Fox University)
2018
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
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: Online and PDF
Suggested for: ENGL 145
Successful College Composition, 3rd ed.
Georgia State University
2016
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
This textbook and accompanying instructor manual provides an overview of writing skills for an introductory writing course. A modularized version is available for D2L.
Formats: PDF, Word
Suggested for: ENGL 255
Supporting English Language Learners in First-Year College Composition
Breana Bayraktar, Elaine George, and Nataliya Schetchikova
2023
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
This textbook and accompanying instructor manual provides an overview of writing skills for an introductory writing course. A modularized version is available for D2L.
Formats: Online, PDF, eBook
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
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: Online, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Suggested for: ENGL 189
Technical and Report Writing
Amber Kinonen (Bay College)
2017
Licence: CC BY
This textbook provides an introduction to technical and report writing for first-year students. It also covers ethical and legal obligations, social and collaborative communication, types of technical documents, and research.
Formats: Google Docs
Suggested for: ENGL 189
Technical Communication
Chelsea Milbourne, Anne Regan, Morgan Livingston, and Sadie Johann (California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo)
2020
Licence: CC BY
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: Online and PDF
Suggested for: ENGL 189
Technical Writing
Annemarie Hamlin and Chris Rubio (Central Oregon Community College) (OpenOregon)
2016
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
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: Online, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Suggested for: ENGL 189
Technical Writing Essentials
Suzan Last (University of Victoria)
Last updated: 2021
Licence: CC BY
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.
Formats: Online, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Suggested for: ENGL 189
Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers
Michael A. Caulfield (Washington State University Vancouver)
2021
Licence: CC BY
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: Online
Suggested for: ENGL 145
Why Write? A Guide for Students in Canada
Edited by Sara Humphreys and Erin Kelly (University of Victoria)
2020
Licence: CC BY
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: Online, EPUB, PDF, and MOBI
Suggested for: ENGL 145
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
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: Online, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Suggested for: ENGL 177
Write Here, Right Now: An Interactive Introduction to Academic Writing and Research
Aaron Tucker and Paul Chafe (Toronto Metropolitan University)
2018
Licence: CC BY
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: Online, EPUB, and PDF
Suggested for: ENGL 177
Writing Guide with Handbook
Michelle Bachelor Robinson (Spelman College) and Maria Jerskey (City University of New York) (OpenStax)
2021
Licence: CC BY
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: ENGL 255
Writing In College: From Competence to Excellence – Open Textbook Library (umn.edu)
Amy Guptill (SUNY Brockport)
2016
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
Writing in College is designed for students who have largely mastered high-school level conventions of formal academic writing and are now moving beyond the five-paragraph essay to more advanced engagement with text. It is well suited to composition courses or first-year seminars and valuable as a supplemental or recommended text in other writing-intensive classes. It provides a friendly, down-to-earth introduction to professors’ goals and expectations, demystifying the norms of the academy and how they shape college writing assignments. Each of the nine chapters can be read separately, and each includes suggested exercises to bring the main messages to life.
Formats: Online, PDF, Ebook
Suggested for: ENGL 177
Writing and Literature: Composition as Inquiry, Learning, Thinking, and Communication
Tanya Long Bennett (University of North Georgia)
2018
Licence: CC BY-SA
This textbook teaches the various writing styles appropriate for analyzing, addressing, and critiquing various genres. The text and its pairing of helpful visual aids throughout emphasizes the importance of critical reading and analysis in producing a successful composition.
Formats: PDF, Word
Suggested for: ENGL 155
Writing for Success – 1st Canadian H5P Edition
Tara Horkoff (Justice Institute of British Columbia)
2022
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
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
Suggested for: ENGL 145
Writing Unleashed: Content and Structure
This book is designed for use as a textbook in first-year college composition programs.
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
Formats: