54 English Literature and Writing
Anthologies
88 Open Essays edited by Sarah Wangler & Tina Ulrich (CC BY-SA).
These essays were collected from online magazines that offer their articles under Creative Commons licenses. A few are from individual authors who generously agreed to give their work an open license in order to share it for this collection.
My Slipper Floated Away: New American Memoirs edited by Justine Hope Blau (CC BY-NC-ND).
An anthology of fresh, compelling essays written by students at Lehman College in the Bronx. The writers are immigrants or the children of immigrants and/or POC.
Collections
Digitized Shakespeare by the University of Edinburgh (CC BY).
A library’s rich holdings of early English drama include the majority of editions of William Shakespeare published before 1660
Eighteenth Century Collections Online by various (CC0).
A collection of over 25,000 XML/SGML encoded electronic text editions of early print books produced by The Text Creation Partnership. They transcribe and mark up the text from the millions of page images in ProQuest’s Early English Books Online, Gale Cengage’s Eighteenth Century Collections Online, and Readex’s Evans Early American Imprints.
Making Nineteenth-Century Literary Environments by Dr. Margaret Linley (CC BY-NC-ND).
A collection of student papers from the Simon Fraser University course English 435: Topics in the Literature of the Long Nineteenth Century. All papers have been peer reviewed by the students, received instructor feedback, and revised for publication.
Project Gutenberg by various (Public domain).
A collection of public domain literature available in multiple formats.
Thomas Raddall’s Short Stories by Thomas Raddall (CC BY-NC-SA).
This digital edition contains five short stories by Thomas Raddall from unpublished and undated typescripts held in the Dalhousie University Archives.
The Victorian Web by various (various CC licences).
A collection of primary and secondary materials (books, articles, images) in British Victorian economics, literature, philosophy, political and social history, science, technology, and visual arts. Although the site concentrates on Great Britain in the age of Victoria (1837–1901), it includes much material before and after those years, particularly in sculpture and architecture, and the site also has a good deal of comparative material.
Monographs
Mind, Body, Motion, Matter: Eighteenth-Century British and French Literary Perspectives ed. by Mary Helen McMurren and Alison Conway (CC BY).
Mind, Body, Motion, Matter investigates the relationship between the eighteenth century’s two predominant approaches to the natural world — mechanistic materialism and vitalism — in the works of leading British and French writers such as Daniel Defoe, William Hogarth, Laurence Sterne, the third Earl of Shaftesbury and Denis Diderot.
Writing Boxes: The Reading/Writing Connection in Libraries by Lisa Von Drasek (CC BY-NC).
A guidebook and source of programming inspiration for all librarians working with early to young adult readers. Librarians will find thematic, easy to implement, hour-long writing workshops that require only paper, markers, and excited young writers.
Supplementary Materials
APA Style Citation Tutorial, 7th edition by Sarah Adams and Debbie Feisst (CC BY-NC-SA).
This tutorial covers why it is important to use citations, elements of common source types, and how to create reference and in-text citations based on the 7th edition APA guidelines. This tutorial can also be used a reference resource.
Beowulf by All: Community Translation and Workbook by Jean Abbott (CC BY-NC-ND).
This is a community translation of the earliest English epic poem. Beowulf tells the story of a mythical hero in northern Europe in, perhaps, the sixth century. Alongside his story, multiple other shorter narratives are told and many other voices are heard, making it a rich and varied account of the poet’s views of heroism, conflict, loyalty, and the human condition. The poem is widely taught in schools and universities, and has been adapted, modernized, and translated dozens of times, but this is the first large-scale polyvocal translation. Readers will encounter the voices of over two hundred individuals, woven together into a reading experience that is at once productively dissonant, yet strangely coherent in its extreme variation.
Moon of the Crusted Snow: Reading Guide by Anna Rodrigues and Kaitlyn Watson (CC BY-NC-SA).
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice is a fictional novel that looks at how an Anishinaabe First Nation, in northern Ontario, deals with an unknown event that leaves the community isolated, without power or phone service, and limited food sources as winter sets in. This guide, developed collaboratively with the author, discusses themes and connections, quotes, resources, discussion questions, activities, and additional readings.
WISC-Online Literature Learning Objects by various (CC BY-NC).
A collection of learning objects on various topics in literature comprehension.
Textbooks
Academic Integrity by Ulrike Kestler (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.
Academic Writing Basics by Megan Robertson (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.
Becoming America: An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution by Wendy Kurant (CC BY-SA).
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.
Brehe’s Grammar Anatomy by Steven Brehe (CC BY-SA).
This book provides an in-depth look at beginner grammar terms and concepts, providing clear examples with limited technical jargon. It includes practices exercises, a full glossary and index, and easy-to-read language.
British Literature: Middle Ages to the Eighteenth Century and Neoclassicsm ed. by B. J. Robinson and Laura Getty (CC BY-SA).
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.
British Literature II: Romantic Era to the Twentieth Century and Beyond edited by B. J. Robinson (CC BY-SA).
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.
Compact Anthology of World Literature edited by Laura Getty (CC BY-SA).
The emphasis in this anthology is on non-Western and European works, with only the British authors who were the most influential to European and non-Western authors (such as Shakespeare, whose works have influenced authors around the world to the present day).
Compact Anthology of World Literature II by Anita Turlington, Matthew Horton, Karen Dodson, Laura Getty, Kyounghye Kwon, and Laura Ng (CC BY-SA).
This book is a continuation of Compact Anthology of World Literature. This literature anthology contains three sections: the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which includes information on the Age of Reason and the Near East and Asia; the long nineteenth century, which covers romanticism and realism; and the twentieth century and contemporary literature, which talks about modernism and postcolonial literature. Instructor resources are available for this book by request to the publisher.
Consequential Contexts by Johanna L. Phelps (CC BY-NC).
Principles for Effective Community Engagement in Technical and Professional Writing.
Contribute a Verse: An Introduction to First Year Composition edited by Tanya Long Bennett (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.
Elements of Creative Writing by University of Northern Iowa (CC BY-NC).
This textbook introduces new writers to some basic elements of the craft of creative writing. We’ve selected nearly all of our readings and examples from writing that has appeared in our pages over the years. Because we had a hand in publishing these pieces originally, our perspective as editors permeates this book. As such, we hope that even seasoned writers might gain insight into the aesthetics of our magazine as we analyze and discuss some reasons we think this work is so remarkable—and therefore teachable.
EmpoWord: A Student-Centered Anthology & Handbook for College Writers by Shane Abrams (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.
English 101 E-Text Writing for the Rhetorical Situation [Word] by Emily Wicker Wigon (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.
English Composition 1 by Herschel Shepard (CC BY).
Students learn the writing process and prewriting, grammar for parts of speech, punctuation and sentences, preparing to write, the first draft, revising, editing, and proofreading, narrative, comparison/contrast, and argumentative modes, and reading and research.
English Composition 2 by Julie Groesch (CC BY).
Students build on what they learned in Comp I and practice critical reading, deepen knowledge about and how to use academic research, develop understanding of argument and other modes of persuasion, and practice revising and editing.
English Literature II by Whitney Nelson (CC BY).
English Literature: Victorians and Moderns provides annotated teaching editions of many of the most frequently-taught classics of Victorian and Modern poetry, fiction and drama, it also provides a series of guided research casebooks which make available numerous published essays from open access books and journals, as well as several reprinted critical essays from established learned journals such as English Studies in Canada and the Aldous Huxley Annual with the permission of the authors and editors. Designed to supplement the annotated complete texts of three famous short novels: Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, each casebook offers cross-disciplinary guided research topics, including History, Economics, Anthropology, Political Science, Biology, and Psychology. Selections have also been included to encourage topical, thematic, and generic cross-referencing. Students will also be exposed to a wide-range of approaches, including new-critical, psychoanalytic, historical, and feminist.
Entering the Conversation: A College Composition Compilation by Naomi Salmon (Editor) (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.
Fronts of Modernity: The 20th-Century Collections at the University of Victoria Libraries [PDF] edited by J. Matthew Hucula (CC BY-NC-ND).
This book outlines 20th-century collections held at the University of Victoria. For more information, read the book review.
A Guide to Rhetoric, Genre, and Success in First-Year Writing by Melanie Gagich & Emilie Zickel (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.
Informed Arguments: A Guide to Writing and Research edited by Terri Pantuso, Sarah LeMire, Kathy Anders (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.
Kids Read the Best Stuff by Sybil Priebe (CC BY-NC-SA).
This textbook from North Dakota State College covers the study of children’s literature.
Novels for the End of a World by Nathan Richardson (CC-BY-NC-ND).
This textbook is an introduction to the twenty-first century novel as written and published across the Spanish-speaking world. It becomes at once an overview of major trends in narrative across the Spanish-speaking world and a trip through the rich, wide variety of local life. Arising out of this literary adventure is one thread common to all: that beyond the end is a barely distinguishable glimmer of light, a sign of new ways for a new world.
Open Anthology of Earlier American Literature edited by Timothy Robbins (CC BY).
This textbook takes a distinctly socio-historical approach to introducing Early American literature. The anthology will allow students to engage with literature in exciting and dynamic ways.
Open Technical Writing: An Open-Access Text for Instruction in Technical and Professional Writing by Adam Rex Pope (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 and Report Writing by Amber Kinonen (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.
Technical Writing @SLCC by Department of English, Linguistics, and Writing Studies at SLCC (CC BY-NC).
This textbook is for use in the English 2100 Technical Writing courses at Salt Lake Community College. It contains reading materials that the Technical Writing Committee of the English department have deemed important for students of ENGL 2100 to learn.
Technical Writing Essentials by Suzan Last (CC-BY).
This open textbook is designed to introduce readers to the basics of technical communication: audience and task analysis in workplace contexts, clear and concise communications style, effective document design, teamwork and collaboration, and fundamental research skills.
Verb Tenses for English for Academic Purposes by Sari Martin, Virginia McHardy (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
This book covers Verb Tense lessons for Georgian College’s English for Academic Purposes program. The book reuses some activities from Effective English for Teachers, but has been created with it’s own structure and unique content. Reused activities and source materials are marked throughout the book.
The Woman in White: Grangerized Edition by Wilkie Collins; The 19th-Century Open Pedagogy Project; and Naomi Salmon(CC BY).
This text is the beta version of a participatory critical edition of Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White. By “beta version,” we mean “text in progress.” During 2019, we’ll be composing and publishing additional supplemental content to accompany the novel.
World Literature I: Beginnings to 1650 ed. by Laura Getty, Kyounghye Kwon, Rhonda Kelley, Douglas Thomson (CC BY-SA).
A three-part textbook taking a comparative approach to world literature from the beginning.
A Writer’s Guide to Mindful Reading by Ellen C. Carillo (CC BY-NC-ND).
This book develops and enacts the mindful reading pedagogy described in Ellen C. Carillo’s scholarly monograph Securing a Place for Reading in Composition: The Importance of Teaching for Transfer (Utah State UP). Offering a comprehensive approach to literacy instruction by focusing on reading and writing, A Writer’s Guide to Mindful Reading supports students as they become more reflective, deliberate, and mindful readers and writers by working within a metacognitive framework.
Writing Guide with Handbook Senior Contributing Authors: Michelle Bachelor Robinson, Spelman College; Maria Jerskey; featuring Toby Fulwiler(CC BY).
This resource from Open Stax 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 and Literature: Composition as Inquiry, Learning, Thinking, and Communication by Tanya Long Bennett (CC BY-SA).
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 the Nation: Concise Introduction to American Literature 1865 to Present ed. by Amy Berke, Robert R. Bleil, Jordan Cofer, Doug Davis. (CC BY-SA).
An anthology of American literature since 1865.
Tools
Open Modernisms Anthology Builder by Stephen Ross and Matt Huculak (CC BY).
An online platform that allows instructors to build custom anthologies of out-of-copyright primary materials for the period 1850–1950.
Videos
Videos on Composition by Lance Eaton (CC BY).
Writability Podcast by various (CC BY-NC).
An openly licensed series of conversations with our faculty and staff: podcast episode topics range from tips for successful online students to the 5-paragraph essay to remote Library services. Most episodes are English and/or writing-focused but include a lot of cross-discipline conversations as well. The podcast with transcripts is housed in a library-hosted LibGuide; they’re also accessible from the Internet Archive and podcast apps.
Websites
The Nature of Writing by Conrad van Dyck (CC BY-NC-ND).
The Nature of Writing provides instructional videos, prose explanations, exercises, and sample assignments on topics like parts of speech, sentence structure, punctuation, mechanics, essay writing, citation, and more.
Roughwriter’s Guide: A Handbook for Writing Well by Dr. Karen Palmer and Dr. Sandi Van Lieu (CC BY-NC-SA).
This guide provides students with help navigating academic writing, including all aspects of the writing process, MLA and APA formatting, and grammatical and mechanical issues.
Media Attributions
- BC Map by Adamwashere (CC BY-NC-SA).
- Canada Map Icon by Icons8 (CC BY-ND).