Critical Thinking: Primary Concepts “This short, free, Creative Commons–licensed text” is by James DiGiovanna of John Jay College. It is “useful for a brief (maybe 3 week?) critical thinking section in any intro philosophy or composition course.”
Academic and Critical Reading and Thinking
Open Textbooks
About Writing: A Guide This reference by Robin Jeffrey “condenses and covers everything a beginning writing student needs to successfully compose college-level work, including the basics of composition, grammar, and research.”
Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research “Choosing & Using Sources presents a process for academic research and writing, from formulating your research question to selecting good information and using it effectively in your research assignments. Additional chapters cover understanding types of sources, searching for information, and avoiding plagiarism. Each chapter includes self-quizzes and activities to reinforce core concepts and help you apply them.”
A Concise Introduction to Logic “A Concise Introduction to Logic is an introduction to formal logic suitable for undergraduates taking a general education course in logic or critical thinking, and is accessible and useful to any interested in gaining a basic understanding of logic.”
Critical Thinking in Academic Research “Critical Thinking in Academic Research will introduce students to the techniques and principles of critical thinking. […] In order for students to develop their own arguments, they need to find supporting evidence. This text provides guidance on developing research questions and finding resources to answer the questions.”
Critical Thinking: Primary Concepts “This short, free, Creative Commons–licensed text” by James DiGiovanna of John Jay College is “useful for a brief (maybe 3 week?) critical thinking section in any intro philosophy or composition course.”
Fundamental Methods of Logic Book “Fundamental Methods of Logic is suitable for a one-semester introduction to logic/critical reasoning course.”
Logical Reasoning By Bradley H. Dowden from California State University Sacramento’s philosophy department, this open textbook on logical reasoning includes exercises at the end of each chapter and a glossary.
The Process of Research Writing This open book by Steven Krause, Eastern Michigan University, focuses on academic work as a process in which critical thinking, research, and writing are intertwined.
Rhetoric & Composition This open textbook from Bay College is designed for an introductory English course.
Writing for Digital Media “True digital literacy,” argues the author in the introduction to this open textbook, “is about meaningful and thoughtful engagement that has a positive impact on you as well as the communities of which you are a part.” With sections on critical literacy and rhetorical literacy, the book begins with theoretical considerations of digital literacy and writing for digital media, and then in a section on functional literacy it concludes with a more practical treatment of “the nuts and bolts of digital writing, providing guidelines, best practices, and design strategies for a variety of genres.”
A Writer’s Guide to Mindful Reading “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.” This guide by Ellen C. Carillo, University of Connecticut, is based on her scholarly work in this area.
Writing in College: From Competence to Excellence “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 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.”
Writing for Success – 1st Canadian H5P Edition “Writing for Success is a text that provides instruction in steps, builds writing, reading, and critical thinking, and combines comprehensive grammar review with an introduction to paragraph writing and composition.” This edition includes interactive H5P activities; an earlier edition is available without the activities.
Additional OER
ART of Reading This module on critical reading includes materials and checklists focused on processes helpful before, during, and after reading.
Arika Okrent on YouTube Linguist Arika Okrent collaborated with illustrator Sean O’Neill to make these short videos for Mental Floss about the irregularities of the English language, the history of words like OK and dude, and other engaging topics.
English as a Second Language (ESL)
Open Textbooks
In the Community: An Intermediate Integrated Skills Textbook This English language textbook is designed to help ELL students develop communication skills in their communities and other places of social interaction, with a focus on listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
PDX Journeys: Studying and Living in the US, Low-Intermediate Novel and Textbook for University ESL Students “Each unit begins with a chapter of fiction about a teacher and students in one ESL class. Reading comprehension and reading skills exercises follow. Prefix and suffix vocabulary-focus exercises are included. Academic Word List vocabulary exercises help students build a strong foundation in both receptive and productive knowledge.”
ESL Blues This collection of ESL grammar and reading materials includes animated grammar tutorials, grammar troubleshooting, and readings with vocabulary quizzes as well as graded activities for pre-intermediate, intermediate, and high intermediate ESL learners. Note the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
ESL Flow As described by Merlot, this site is a “searchable source of thematically-based ESL lessons in grammar, speaking, vocabulary, pronunciation, and reading.”
The Purdue OWL Select “English as a Second Language” in the left vertical menu to find zero-cost resources for both students and instructors of ESL.
Linguistics
Essentials of Linguistics, 2nd edition Designed for students in an introductory course, this text includes “dynamic video lectures about the core areas of theoretical linguistics (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics).” The primary audience is Canadian learners, but the text is suitable for students elsewhere.
Languages and Worldview “This text explores linguistic relativity, lexical differences among languages and intercultural communication, including high and low contexts.”
The Linguistics of Texting This assignment is “designed as an introduction to language and new media, connecting principles of computer-mediated communication to formal linguistic concepts.”
