Introduction

We, the editors of this textbook, are excited to share this collection with you. You probably have noticed right away that this is by no means a traditional textbook, and not only because it is digital; this work also differs from many of the digital textbooks you may have encountered in other courses. The Commons: Tools for Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric, Second Edition, is an Open Educational Resource, or OER, textbook. OER textbooks operate outside of the usual publication model of textbook production, the main difference being that the material is open, and it is free to use.

Another defining feature of OER is content. Essays, stories, pictures, audio files, video clips, games, movies, music, art, the photos you snap with a smartphone, the contents of a voice memo you dictate and so much more are examples of intellectual property, ideas that originate from and can be attributed to the person or people who create them. In the United States and other countries, intellectual property is protected by copyright. Copyright protects the right to copy and distribute a piece of intellectual property; it also protects the ideas behind a piece, so that others can’t make a similar piece that reproduces a very similar version (also known as plagiarism), nor can they make changes or additions to the original without the express permission of the copyright holder (the altered piece is sometimes called a derivative work). There’s a lot more to intellectual property and copyright than this, but that’s enough to get the conversation started!

Open Educational Resources, such as this textbook, are part of a movement that works within copyright law to make resources accessible to copy and to edit, but with specific limitations upon when and how. The Commons: Tools for Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric, Second Edition, does this through a Creative Commons License. Not all OER texts use the same license (and as you read through this text, you’ll see that some of the pieces we include may use a different Open license or may be part of the public domain; more on that later). A Creative Commons license allows creators to share their creations with the world while also setting certain expectations for how it can be shared and used—for example, someone may share their photos with a license that says they can be used and modified freely by anyone, while an author may share their stories but only if they are given credit and if no changes are made. The content we’ve created for this text is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license, abbreviated as CC BY-NC 4.0. This license allows users to share our work and even to make changes to it to create a new work, as long as they give us credit (attribution) and don’t use the text to make a profit.

That can get complicated, but it’s much simpler than a traditional copyright. Usually to do any of those things, a person would need to contact the copyright holder and request specific permission; often, that permission comes with a monetary cost and many, many limitations. A Creative Commons license lets content creators give out those permissions up front. The Creative Commons organization has put together an excellent video made up of Creative Commons licensed images, video, and music, including a soundtrack made by Nine Inch Nails, explaining how it all works.

So, that’s a lot about how the content of an OER textbook can be used and shared—and while that’s also what enables us to share this work with you for free, what is perhaps even more important is what that allows us to do in terms of content and design. As long-time teachers of First Year Writing and as Writing Program Administrators, a problem that co-editors Jill and Dom have often run into when searching for textbooks for our classes is that it is hard to find one that really fits our courses. There are many, many great for-pay textbooks out there, but none are an ideal fit for the curriculum here at EKU. Traditional textbook editors design their books to fit many different programs at many schools across the country and across the world. The downside is that those books end up having a lot of extra content that students (or the University) pay for, or there will be content that’s missing that instructors need to add themselves (or students need a second book), or both!

The First Year Writing program at EKU chose to go with an OER textbook for economic reasons—to save you and the University money—and for reasons of fit: we wanted our textbook to really match our unique program and student population. To create this particular OER textbook, we searched through many already available texts—including essays, videos, blogs, book chapters, and more—to choose works that fit well with the assignments you’ll be completing in your first-semester, First Year Writing course. Some of the content we kept as-is, because it was a great match for our program; others, we’ve added to or changed, in compliance with the work’s license.

Some of the works included here are older works that are still highly relevant—these classics are now in the public domain, which means that their copyright has expired, and they can be used and published freely.

We have also reached out to faculty and graduate students at EKU who are experts in this field and who have experience teaching these classes and working with EKU students. We asked them to contribute additional content: the headnote to every outside text we included was written by someone at EKU. The tips and learning strategies, the critical reading strategies, and many other resources included in this textbook were designed and written by experienced faculty, staff, and students at EKU to help you to succeed in this course, and to prepare you to be confident, effective writers in your other courses, on the job, and in your personal writing and communication.

The content doesn’t stop there! Examples of EKU students’ work are another key component of this OER textbook that you will rarely find in a traditional textbook. These student contributions will be added to and updated, so we hope that you’ll share some of your own successful work with the editors after you have completed your First Year Writing course!

How to Use This e-Textbook—for Instructors

We’re excited to share this digital, open textbook with you for use in First Year Writing courses. Specifically designed to fit Eastern Kentucky University’s ENG 101 and ENG 101R, The Commons: Tools for Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric, Second Edition, includes readings chosen to fit with the English 101 assignment sequence and the program’s focus on critical reading and metacognition.

Each reading includes a headnote written by an EKU instructor or graduate student in the Master of Arts in English and Writing Professions. These headnotes are written with students in mind and include helpful information for practicing the critical reading strategy of previewing.

The Commons (2nd ed.) also includes guides for using other critical reading strategies; these strategies are linked to specific readings to use as models for practicing the strategies, but each strategy can be used productively with any of the other readings as well.

Critical Reading and Annotations

Several of the critical reading strategies involve making annotations. You may be used to asking students to mark directly on print texts for critical reading and other in-class activities. Working with a digital document presents multiple ways to handle annotation.

Most simply, you can ask students to use part of their print budget to print out copies of the readings they will be marking. You can also make copies with your instructor print budget. In both cases, be aware that you should not ask students to print the entire book, and to be selective about which reading activities would benefit from marking a print copy. There are other cost-effective and environmentally-friendly ways to conduct annotations, and we recommend using them whenever possible. Cost and environmental considerations aside, introducing students to these tools helps them build valuable digital literacy skills that will serve them well in their other classes and careers. Here are some that the editors suggest:

Online mark-up tools.

These tools allow students to share their annotations with one another and with their instructor, making them great for both individual and group work. There are several options; at EKU, Perusall and Hypothes.is are popular choices, and faculty in several departments have used them with great success.

If you’re interested in learning more, EKU’s Instructional Design Center has sponsored a session on Perusall presented by Cindy Hawks that you can view here.

PDF mark-up.

PDF readers such as Adobe Reader and Foxit allow users to highlight text and leave notes on files they have downloaded. Tablet users have even more software options, which allow for touch-typing and stylus use. Students will need to save regularly (not all of these programs have a reliable autosave), but these files can then be turned in through Canvas (our LMS) or included in an ePortfolio. Downloading and annotating is also the best approach in situations where students might not have a stable internet connection—the PDF files can be downloaded before class onto a laptop, tablet, or smartphone and then marked up in class using the app. If you want to see copies of students’ annotations in Canvas, they can upload their marked-up copies outside of class once they have internet access again.

Themes

The readings included in the textbook are listed by theme as well as by author. These themes include Appalachia, Artificial Intelligence, Classics, Cultural Awareness, Ecology, Gender, History, Literacy and Information Technology, Politics, and Pop Culture. Instructors can use the themes to give students some choices in their reading selections for writing assignments, such as by allowing students to select sources for their Synthesis essay from among certain themes.

Since The Commons is a digital textbook, we hope that you and your students will find the themes even more dynamic than thematic arrangements in a traditional print textbook. Several of the essays belong to multiple themes and by clicking on Themes in the table of contents, readers can find a hyperlinked list of texts that belong within each theme. Beyond helping to give you more flexibility as an instructor, the themes are also a pedagogical tool to help students see how sources can fit in into multiple conversations or arguments—a concept that pairs well with Synthesis, and that helps students prepare for projects such as a literature review that they may complete in ENG 102 or other research-focused courses.

Seeking Contributions

As you work with The Commons in your class, please look for ways that you or your students can contribute to future revised editions. Thanks to the Open Access and digital nature of the text, The Commons can be added to and changed in a more timely manner than is the case for traditional textbooks, something the editors and the First Year Writing program hope to take advantage of. The editors are always looking for:

• New or revised headnotes
• Resources or activities for developing critical reading and writing skills and strategies
• Other open-access resources that fit themes of the course and the textbook
• Samples of student wriitng that exemplify low-stakes or high-stakes writing assignments in the curriculum

If you or your students have created it and are willing to share it under an Open Access license, or have found it elsewhere with an OER-compatible license, please share it with the editors!

Please encourage students to submit writing for inclusion in the eBook. When a student’s piece is selected for inclusion, the editors will work with the student to make any final revisions and to draft a headnote discussing their invention, writing, and revision processes. All contributors of original content, instructors and students, will have a by-line in the text and will be able to list their work on a resume or vita. Consider including the possibility of submitting a work for publication as an incentive when assigning projects. Student contributions are not limited to only the major essays—outstanding low-stakes assignments have a place as well, and all contributions can be traditional alphabetic works or new media, such as audio or video projects.

Integrating the Textbook with Canvas: Design for Access

The Commons is a digital textbook, hosted through EKU’s Encompass e-publishing platform and Manifold, an open resource publishing platform, making it available to readers world-wide.

Although students can find the text themselves by navigating through Encompass, access is much easier if instructors include a direct link in their syllabus and on their Canvas pages. If using a reading as part of an assignment, consider including a hyperlink to the reading.

Thank you for the intellectual and emotional work that you put into each of your classes. We hope this open textbook supports you and your students as you work together!

How to Use This eTextbook—for Students

So. You’re in one of your first college classes, and you’ve been given a link to this textbook, which probably doesn’t look like any textbook you’ve seen before. It’s completely digital. It has been completely designed with you in mind. And—best of all— it’s completely free.

Of course, your instructor will give you more specifics but here’s an overview of how the textbook is organized.

First, you’ll find some information about the people who contributed to putting this together for you and some information about why we’ve chosen this kind of textbook: an Open Educational Resource. The most comprehensive definition of OER available today is provided by UNESCO:

Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.

Basically, that means that this textbook

• Is completely free for you—or anybody else—to use,
• Is based on materials that are freely available without copyright, and
• Can be remixed, adapted, used, or changed.

Then, you’ll find some resources to help you transition to college life, to EKU, to reading at the college level, what you’ll learn in this course, and some basics on college writing. Your instructor may assign these sections as required readings and use some of them during in-class activities, or they may leave it up to you to use these sections as you need them. Either way, these resources are here to support you not just in your first year writing class, but throughout your time at EKU. You’ll never lose access to this eBook—it will be available on the EKU Manifold Collection and you can download it—so we hope that you’ll make a lot of use of these resources.

Finally, the readings in this textbook are organized in alphabetical order by author's last name AND by theme. We chose themes that we thought would be most relevant to your life because they’re important to the EKU community. We are all people who live in this region; folks who care about the people, animals, and plants around us; and educators who care about you! We hope that reading these essays will not only give you the opportunity to become more efficient and deeper readers but also to learn more about what it means to be a person from or living in Eastern Kentucky today.

The themes we’ve focused on include:

Appalachia

Artificial Intelligence

Classics

Cultural Awareness

Ecology

Gender

History

Literacy and Information Technology

Politics

Pop Culture

Take a second now. What do you already know about these topics? With which ones are you most familiar? About which ones do you know only a little?

You can use the themes to find essays that give multiple perspectives on the topic. For example, by clicking on Themes in the table of contents and looking at Appalachia, you will find all the essays in the textbook about or set in Appalachia. Many of the essays have introductory paragraphs to help you understand where the author is coming from. When you practice these critical reading strategies, think about how you can also apply them in your other classes—they are included here to help you read well and to read with a purpose.

At the end of the book, we have included several samples of student-written essays. Students who have taken this class before you wrote these essays as part of an assignment and their instructors recommended them to be included in this edition of The Commons. It always helps to see a model of the kind of project you are working on. Perhaps the work you do this year will end up in a future version of The Commons. If you feel particularly proud of a piece of your work this semester, talk with your instructor about how to submit it to the textbook editors.

The creators of and contributors to this textbook have been teaching writing for a long time, so we know that some of you are excited about this class, some of you are dreading this class, and some of you just want to get it done. Whatever you are bringing to this class, we hope you find something to relate to in this open textbook and that it helps you meet your goals.

On Campus Resources at EKU for First- Year Students

At Eastern Kentucky University, we want you to be successful, to learn, to complete your degree, and to be healthy. Here are some resources to help get you there this semester.

Academic Affairs Syllabus Statements

EKU provides standard information about our most important university policies. At this link, you’ll find information about how you can get accommodations to make sure you succeed if you need support related to a medical condition, mental health, or learning disabilities. It also provides information about protections against discrimination as well as our expectations for academic integrity.

The Noel Studio for Academic Creativity

The Noel Studio for Academic Creativity provides support for students in any class that involves writing or communication. You can get one-on-one feedback on your writing in English 101 at any stage from brainstorming to organizing, drafting to revising, and learning the ropes for accepted page formatting and resource citation. Noel Studio consultants are undergraduate and graduate students trained to provide the best possible feedback and to support you as you complete your coursework. They provide consultations in person and online. You can call (859) 622-7330 or make an appointment online to make sure time is set aside for you.

In addition, your instructor might have your whole class visit the Studio for a workshop. If you’re assigned to create a visual project such as a presentation, a research poster, or an infographic, Noel Studio consultants are prepared to help with that too. The Noel Studio also has spaces for studying, individually or with a group.

The Student Success Center

Like the Noel Studio, the Student Success Center can provide one-on-one support for you in English 101 and many other disciplines, as well! You can call (859) 622-7861 or make an appointment for tutoring online.

In addition, the SSC can support your journey to successfully graduate with your degree with the Chellgren Success Series. These workshops, provided throughout the semester, focus on study skills, time management, choosing a major, metacognition, and other topics that develop you as a student and a person.

Eastern Kentucky University’s Libraries

The Crabbe Library, located right off University Drive across from the Ravine and just a short walk from Case, is truly the heart of campus.

EKU Libraries not only have some of the most beautiful buildings on campus but also the most helpful people. EKU Libraries are Here to Help! While the English 101 curriculum does not include research, the library still has plenty to offer you this semester:

• Popular books for reading and a beautiful space in the Grand Reading Room
• Movies for free!
• Plenty of space for studying
• Space available to reserve for small group study sessions or group meetings
• The Student Success Center and the Noel Studio spaces
• Education Abroad
• El Centro
• Laptop and other technology rentals
• A coffee shop
• Nursing mother’s lounge
• The Noel Reading Porch
• Events and activities through the year

Follow EKU Libraries on social media

Eastern Kentucky University’s Counseling Center

When you graduate with your degree from EKU, we want you to have learned everything from your classes that you possibly could but also more about yourself and the kind of person you want to be in the world. To do that, you need tools and support, and the EKU Counseling Center can provide support for you in the form of mental health workshops and individual counseling, free of charge. They work on a Rapid Access model, so you just call 859-622-1303 and usually someone can speak to you that same day. They also have online “feel better fast” workshops you can access on meditation, mindfulness, sleep, crisis management, study skills, test anxiety, and more.

Parrott, Jill, and Dominic Ashby, editors. The Commons: Tools for Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric. (2nd ed.), Eastern Kentucky University, 2026.