Open Source Literature: Reference Works

As the inequitable impacts of climate change become more evident and destructive, it is essential for climate and environmental justice, as well as methods of civic engagement, to be taught at a high-level to college-level students. This book provides real examples of how professors at the University of Washington integrated these critical issues into their teachings, both in targeted lessons and as throughlines across an entire course. These samples of how environmental and climate justice have been successfully integrated into higher-level education can serve as both a record of the UW's progress towards centering JEDI at the heart of all students, and as a model for future instructors to use as they work to incorporate more aspects of justice and engagement into their own material.

Social Problems: Continuity and Change is a realistic but motivating look at the many issues that are facing our society today. As this book’s subtitle, Continuity and Change, implies, social problems are persistent, but they have also improved in the past and can be improved in the present and future, provided that our nation has the wisdom and will to address them. For questions about this textbook please contact textbookuse@umn.edu

Shared Voices is a student-centered cultural anthropology mini textbook built with an equity lens. This text aims to be accessible, interesting, accurate, and centered on marginalized voices. This text is a starting point for any introductory anthropology course recognizing that cultural change is constant and the familiar is cousin to the weird and unusual.

This book is designed to provide a deep understanding of the biological and biomedical aspects of human reproduction, covering a both basic reproductive biology and clinical applications.

The list includes 42 affiliated resources.

This book guides readers through important aspects of Global Value Chain and explains logistics cycle in detail, as well as other relevant and recent concepts to enhance readers' knowledge about International Business, International Trade, Logistics and Supply Chain Management and Global Value Chain.

Human Resources Management (HRM) takes a strategic approach to recruit/hire, train, and retain the right people, for the right job, at the right time. This text covers the foundational knowledge and skills required for HRM in a Canadian business context. The text includes engaging critical thinking and reflective activities for students, as well as, videos to enhance learning.

This OER is an introduction to logistics with a focus on moving and storing products in supply chains. This resource includes interactive components, activities, and links to external resources that will inspire learners to deepen their understanding of logistics in supply chains.

This book guides students through the important aspects of procurement. Readers will learn what procurement is, the different strategies involved in procurement, how to find and select suppliers, how to manage suppliers, how to evaluate whether to outsource, how to manage subcontractors, how to evaluate and manage global suppliers and how to be an ethical procurement professional.

Book Description: Children, Families, Schools, and Communities is an introductory text in the field of Child and Family Studies. It provides a lens for understanding the evolving definition of “family”. It promotes strategies for culturally sustaining and deeply collaborative relationships. Children, Families, Schools, and Communities is an adapted OER text from Rebecca Laff’s and Wendy Ruiz’s "Child, Family, and Community".

The text opens as a PDF.

Opens as a PDF

Opens as a PDF

We hope our open educational resource will help you to explore and understand developmental disability from a different lens.

Introduction to Earth Science is a 530+ page open textbook designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to Earth Science that can be freely accessed online, read offline, printed, or purchased as a print-on-demand book. It is intended for a typical 1000-level university introductory course in the Geosciences, although its contents could be applied to many other related courses

America has evolved into an ownership society. Home-buying decisions, resource allocation, debt exposure, and financial planning for the future are now left to individuals, many of whom may lack the financial understanding to evaluate and make sound decisions. Economics, with its insistence on quantifying ideas and putting specific quantitative values on all manner of phenomena, can help sort through the questions. Economics for Life: Real-World Financial Literacy is designed to help soon-to-be college graduates start their "real lives" with a better understanding of how to analyze the financial decisions that they will soon have to make. Written in an easy-to-read, conversational style, this textbook will help students learn how to make decisions on saving and investing for retirement, buying a car, buying a home, as well as how to safely navigate the use of debit and credit cards.

An Open Educational Resource

This book introduces topics about identity, dress, and the body. Through the content, readers explore how individuals and communities use dress as a way to communicate (i.e. “negotiate” in fashion studies) their various identities. There is heightened attention to social justice, power, privilege, and oppression. That is, the content focuses on the experiences of historically marginalized communities and the ways they navigate dress and dressing their bodies in different contexts. In the first part of the book, readers are introduced to concepts and theories related to fashion, clothing, dress, and/or accessories. In the second part, readers examine the role that fashion, clothing, dress, and/or accessories play in identity development for individuals in marginalized communities in the United States.

The American LGBTQ Rights Movement: An Introduction is a peer-reviewed chronological survey of the LGBTQ fight for equal rights from the turn of the 20th century to the early 21st century. Illustrated with historical photographs, the book beautifully reveals the heroic people and key events that shaped the American LGBTQ rights movement. The book includes personal narratives to capture the lived experience from each era, as well as details of essential organizations, texts, and court cases that defined LGBTQ activism and advocacy.

This compilation gathers OER sources on body weight, nutrition, and movement, and it also problematizes the cultural meaning of these readings. Roughly, this anthology is divided into two parts--informational and theoretical--in depicting how medical research and journalism influence and are influenced by social stereotypes, constructed ideas about bodies, food, and individual choices within social systems.

This textbook is intended as an introduction to core concepts and topics in international relations. This book contains eighteen chapters organized into two parts. Part one on “the basics” covers international relations theories and institutions, while part two on “global issues” takes up topics such as global development, human rights, terrorism, and environmental challenges. Note that this text does not appear to be peer-reviewed. Excerpt of review by Dr. Josh Franco, Political Science, Cuyamaca College: The coherent organization and structure of the textbook will help instructors facilitate the learning of the topic, as well as student’s learning about international relations.

This 13-chapter textbook covers the following: System History: The Rise of the Modern World System; Images and Theories of World Politics; Foreign Policy Decision Making; Non-State Actors- IGOs, NGOs, MNCs; The World Economy; The Global North and South; Globalization; War and International Security; Military Power; Realists Paths to Peace – Alliances, Dominance and Treaties; Idealist Paths to Peace: International Law; and Human Rights, Population, and Environment. Chapters are organized into sections and the final section includes a list of questions. Note that it is unclear whether this is a peer-reviewed textbook.

A Two-Part Introduction to the Psychology of Human Sexuality

Book Description: An open textbook for undergraduate Criminal Procedure courses that are typically required of criminal justice majors. The book uses U.S. Supreme Court opinions to illuminate the definition of rights concerning search and seizure, right to counsel, and other aspects of the criminal justice process. This resource seeks to make undergraduates familiar with judicial reasoning as well as the definitions of rights relevant to individuals who are drawn into contact with criminal justice officials.

Algebra and Trigonometry 2e provides a comprehensive exploration of mathematical principles and meets scope and sequence requirements for a typical introductory algebra and trigonometry course. The modular approach and the richness of content ensure that the book addresses the needs of a variety of courses. Algebra and Trigonometry 2e offers a wealth of examples with detailed, conceptual explanations, building a strong foundation in the material before asking students to apply what they’ve learned.

College Algebra 2e provides a comprehensive exploration of algebraic principles and meets scope and sequence requirements for a typical introductory algebra course. The modular approach and richness of content ensure that the book addresses the needs of a variety of courses. College Algebra 2e offers a wealth of examples with detailed, conceptual explanations, building a strong foundation in the material before asking students to apply what they’ve learned.

Contemporary Mathematics is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements for a liberal arts mathematics course. This resource provides stand-alone sections with a focus on showing relevance in the features as well as the examples, exercises, and exposition. Contemporary Mathematics integrates technology applications, projects, and highlights a diverse group of contributors to mathematics, statistics, and related fields.

Contemporary Mathematics is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements for a liberal arts mathematics course. This resource provides stand-alone sections with a focus on showing relevance in the features as well as the examples, exercises, and exposition. Contemporary Mathematics integrates technology applications, projects, and highlights a diverse group of contributors to mathematics, statistics, and related fields.

Differential Calculus: From Practice to Theory covers all of the topics in a typical first course in differential calculus. Initially it focuses on using calculus as a problem solving tool (in conjunction with analytic geometry and trigonometry) by exploiting an informal understanding of differentials (infinitesimals). As much as possible large, interesting, and important historical problems (the motion of falling bodies and trajectories, the shape of hanging chains, the Witch of Agnesi) are used to develop key ideas. Only after skill with the computational tools of calculus has been developed is the question of rigor seriously broached. At that point, the foundational ideas (limits, continuity) are developed to replace infinitesimals, first intuitively then rigorously. This approach is more historically accurate than the usual development of calculus and, more importantly, it is pedagogically sound. The text also incorporates curated activities from the TRansforming Instruction in Undergraduate Mathematics Instruction via Primary Historical Sources (TRIUMPHS) project to provide students with ample opportunities to develop relevant competencies.

Geometry with an Introduction to Cosmic Topology offers an introduction to non-Euclidean geometry through the lens of questions that have ignited the imagination of stargazers since antiquity. What is the shape of the universe? Does the universe have an edge? Is it infinitely big?

This text is intended for undergraduate mathematics and physics majors who have completed a multivariable calculus course and are ready for a course that practices the habits of thought needed in advanced courses of the undergraduate mathematics curriculum. The text is also particularly suited to independent study, with essays and other discussions complementing the mathematical content in several sections.

Introductory Statistics follows scope and sequence requirements of a one-semester introduction to statistics course and is geared toward students majoring in fields other than math or engineering. The text assumes some knowledge of intermediate algebra and focuses on statistics application over theory. Introductory Statistics includes innovative practical applications that make the text relevant and accessible, as well as collaborative exercises, technology integration problems, and statistics labs.

Multiple texts

Book Description: Introduction to Neuroscience is designed for undergraduate students enrolled in introductory neuroscience courses. Specifically, this text targets students enrolled in Introduction to Neuroscience 1 and Introduction to Neuroscience 2 at Michigan State University and contains topics covered in those courses.

The Open RN™ project is funded by a $2.5 million dollar grant from the Department of Education to create five OER Nursing Textbooks with 25 associated Virtual Reality scenarios.

Book Description: Biological psychology is the study of the biological bases of behavior and mental processes. It explores how biological factors like genes, hormones, neurotransmitters, and brain structures influence psychological components like thoughts, emotions, memories, and actions. This free and open textbook provides a wide ranging and up-to-date introduction to the main topics and methods of biological psychology.

Understanding human relations is a valuable skill for anyone entering into the job market. The aim of this textbook is to aid readers in understanding their own behaviors and the behaviors of others with the intent of engaging in positive interactions in personal and professional spaces.

This Open Educational Resource is a collection of texts and materials that team together students’ familiarity with sports and critical inquiry skills. The Politics of Sports has the potential to capture the interest of college students in order to excite them to begin a research journey with a sense of authority and investment in a topic that is at once familiar and complex enough to yield a wide range of inquiry.

World History, Volume 2: from 1400 is designed to meet the scope and sequence of a world history course from 1400 offered at both two-year and four-year institutions. Suitable for both majors and non majors World History, Volume 2: from 1400 introduces students to a global perspective of history couched in an engaging narrative. Concepts and assessments help students think critically about the issues they encounter so they can broaden their perspective of global history. A special effort has been made to introduce and juxtapose people’s experiences of history for a rich and nuanced discussion. Primary source material represents the cultures being discussed from a firsthand perspective whenever possible. World History, Volume 2: from 1400 also includes the work of diverse and underrepresented scholars to ensure a full range of perspectives.

Note the tabs for dictionary and translations, too.

Medical Terminology is an OER that focuses on breaking down medical terms into their word parts, pronouncing medical terms, and learning the meaning of medical terms. This resource is targeted for health services students in the first year of their college programs.

Book Description: Printable study companion aligned with Medical Terminology, an open educational resource that focuses on breaking down medical terms into their word parts, pronouncing medical terms, and learning the meaning of medical terms. This resource is targeted for health services students in the first year of their college programs.

A Project Gutenberg online book. You can read it on line or download it to your computer. The most direct way to download the book is in HTML format. Check the list of options if you have an e-reader.

A fascinating look at some of the more bizarre names given to children during the 17th century in England. Among the names explored are "From-above", "Free-gift" & "More-fruit" for unexpected additions to families; "Humiliation", "Abstinence" & "Sorry-for-sin" to express those qualities considered to be virtues; and just the plain brilliant/weird/mean, such as, "Job-rakt-out-of-the-asshes" and "Dancell-Dallphebo-Marke-Antony-Dallery-Galleiy-Caesar".

Book Description: The BCcampus Open Education Virtual Lab and Science Resource Directory lists free science resources designed to support remote science education. This directory is updated as new resources are identified. Note that, while all resources in this directory are free, not all are open. Resources that carry Creative Commons or otherwise open licenses are clearly labelled.

Grammar essentials from beginner onward.

Full of great tutorials, this website provides everything from the basic parts of speech all the way to writing the Argumentative essay and using proper MLA format. This site also contains excellent powerpoints for teaching grammar (especially when it comes to teaching the comma).

Book Description: In first-year writing courses, it can often feel that we practice writing and research in a vacuum. Writing is about communication, and, if we do not feel that we have an audience, then it can seem like our writing has no purpose (even though practice of any kind will help us develop these skills). Heritages of Change: Curatorial Activism and First-Year Writing is a method for students to think about the social changes that were prevalent during the COVID years and remain important in their wake. Heritages of Change is a lens for thinking and writing about these ideas. Through curation and exhibition as an act of activism, students focus on a specific audience with whom they can communicate authentically about this dynamic world.

This textbook includes materials on listening, speaking, lexicogrammar, pragmatics, and pronunciation.

Lots of grammar exercises from beginner onward. Sign up for a free account

Book Description: Basic Hindi is an online, interactive, theme-based textbook for the true beginner of Hindi language. It promotes communicative, linguistic, and cultural competence. It has mixture of pedagogical approaches to fit all types of learning and teaching philosophies/styles to achieve intermediate low to mid ACTFL proficiency level within a semester.

Book Description: This online interactive theme-based open textbook is for beginner learners of the Khmer language. This book aims to provide a practical introduction to speaking, listening, and reading. By the end of this course, students will be at the B1 level of the Common Framework for Language and at the low intermediate level on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency scales. Basic Khmer is funded by the Open Educational Resources Program at Michigan State University.

Book Description: Basic Urdu is a theme-based, interactive open-source online textbook for the true novice learners of the Urdu language. The book uses mixed pedagogical approaches to language teaching to match diverse teaching and learning styles. It aims to help learners achieve intermediate low to mid-proficiency levels set by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).

Multiple books

Book Description: This is an open textbook on Beginner Arabic for undergraduate students who are taking Arabic in their first semester. It addresses letters and sounds of Arabic along with basic skills in reading, speaking and writing. The book can be used as a self-study resource or as the main textbook in beginning Arabic classes.

Book Description: This is an open textbook on Elementary Arabic for undergraduate students who are taking Arabic in their second semester. It addresses language structures in theme-based modules that cover the four language skills. The book can be used as a self-study resource or as the main textbook in beginning Arabic classes.

Book Description: This open textbook is designed for those who are learning Chinese as a second/foreign language in their first semester. It has eight chapters, covering topics including a brief introduction about the Chinese language, greetings, and self-introduction, hobbies, nationalities, family members and occupations, inviting friends to dinner, talking about food and beverage, making phone calls, and talking about classes and exams.

Book Description: This open textbook is designed for those who are learning Chinese as a second/foreign language in their second semester. It has six chapters, covering topics including describing school life, shopping in stores and online, transportation means, reporting weather and climates, ordering foods, and asking and giving directions.

Text for Intermediate Sign 220D. Sign Language II is designed for signers to enhance conversational expressive and receptive sign skills, to further develop fluidity, gestural expression and to expand vocabulary gleaned in Sign I to better communicate with Deaf, hard-of-hearing and non-verbal individuals. Signers will explore basic grammatical differences between American Sign Language (ASL), Signing Exact English (SEE) and Contact Signing aka Pidgin Signed English (PSE). Students will continue to develop an appreciation of Deaf Culture while further examining issues affecting the deaf and the history and evolution of signed languages through exploration of Deaf literature.

Introduction to Sign Languages is designed for beginners to communicate with deaf, hard of hearing and non-verbal individuals and develop an appreciation of the Deaf Culture while understanding the history of signed languages and issues affecting the deaf. Section 1: Course Expectations, Resources & More Section 2: Assignments, Assessments & Signed Presentations Section 3: Assigned ReadingSection 4: Learning to Sign Section 5: American Sign Language (ASL) Section 6: Fingerspelling Section 7: Signing Section 8: Bibliography

The Tutor Handbook guides readers through the foundational skills and theory needed to be an effective peer tutor. Informed by the College Reading and Learning Association's guidelines for tutor training, this handbook is a perfect accompaniment to the Association's Level I peer tutor certification course. Each chapter covers a foundational topic in peer tutoring, providing real-world examples, prompts for reflection, and exercises for practice.

OpenStax College Success is a comprehensive and contemporary resource that serves First Year Experience, Student Success, and College Transition courses. Developed with the support of hundreds of faculty and coordinators, the book addresses the evolving challenges and opportunities of today’s diverse students. Engagement, self-analysis, personal responsibility, and student support are reflected throughout the material. College Success also includes an array of student surveys and opinion polls, and OpenStax will regularly provide the results to adopting faculty.

Why Do I Have to Take This Course? A Guide to General Education helps students think about why they take General Education courses and what significance they have, individually and as a program as a whole. It allows students the time to contemplate connections, the potential reasons for developing certain learning outcomes and skills, and the applications to other courses as well as their professional and personal lives. General education is viewed through the lens of what John Lewis called "good, necessary trouble," expanding on how the liberal arts and sciences contribute to understanding and creating change in the world. Sections include stories, research, testimonies and reflections about student success, links to further readings, and activities.