Ancillary resources

WISC-Online Literature Learning Objects (CC BY-NC)

A collection of learning objects on various topics in literature comprehension.

Collections

Digitized Shakespear (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 (CC 0)

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 (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 (Public domiain)

A collection of public domain literature available in multiple formats.

Thomas Raddall’s Short Stories (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This digital edition contains five short stories by Thomas Raddall from unpublished and undated typescripts held in the Dalhousie University Archives.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 (Licences vary)

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 (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 (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.

Textbooks

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

Contribute a Verse: An Introduction to First Year Composition (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.

Developmental English (CC BY)

Students learn proficiency in the reading and writing connection, the writing process, writing effective paragraphs, prewriting strategies, organizing and outlining, parts of speech, sentence skills, basic research skills, creating a draft, revision strategies, proofreading and editing strategies.

English 101 E-Text Writing for the Rhetorical Situation [Word] (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 (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 (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.

Entering the Conversation: A College Composition Compilation (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] (CC BY-NC-ND)

This book outlines 20th-century collections held at the University of Victoria. For more information, read the book review.

Open Anthology of Earlier American Literature (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.

Technical and Report Writing (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.

World Literature I: Beginnings to 1650 (CC BY-SA)

A three-part textbook taking a comparative approach to world literature from the beginning.

Writing and Literature: Composition as Inquiry, Learning, Thinking, and Communication (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 (CC BY-SA)

An anthology of American literature since 1865.

Tools

Open Modernisms Anthology Builder (CC BY)

An online platform that allows instructors to build custom anthologies of out-of-copyright primary materials for the period 1850–1950.

Websites

The Nature of Writing (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.