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Literature and Writing

Open Textbooks

Open Textbook Collections

 

  • Ebooks Directory
  • Searchable by keyword or topic.
  • HathiTrust
  • A collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world, including many of the great philosophy texts.
  • Project Gutenberg
  • Project Gutenberg offers thousands of free ebooks. Books can be searched by title or by category.
  • Open Library searches a variety of sources for print and online books. Many ebooks are freely available for online reading or download.

Multimedia

  • YouTube
    • Search YouTube by keyterms and try filtering by channel or “Creative Commons” license (these videos are specifically labeled for reuse).
    • Some good channels:

 

Ebooks in the Library

The CSUSM University Library has an extensive collection of ebooks on a variety of topics. To find what’s available:
  • Go to the University Library homepage
  • Choose “Books and More”
  • Enter keywords and search
  • Use the limiters to narrow by “Full Text Online” to ensure all results can be accessed directly from your computer
  • Limit by “Books” to filter out journals and media

 

Journal Articles

Consider including journal articles as required or supplemental reading for your courses. Search through our literature and writing databases for articles. Just be sure to direct students to the article by permalink (or static URL) rather than posting the PDF directly in your Cougar Course. This will ensure two things: 1) that we are complying with copyright and publisher restrictions, and 2) that our journal usage is counted (this allows us to justify maintaining our subscriptions).

This page provides examples illustrating how to find permalinks in the Library’s databases.

Please contact your librarian if you are still unsure of how to find the permalink.

 

 

Open Courseware

Merlot – Humanities

Merlot (Multimedia Education Resource for Learning and Online Teaching) is a compilation of freely available resources for use in higher education, hosted by the California State Universities.
  • MIT Open Courseware
    Offers an extensive series of online courses. Courses generally include lecture videos, assignments, exams, and more. Check the Topic: Humanities>Subtopic: Literature to find a large number of subdivisions.
  • Open Yale Courses
    These courses provide syllabi and video lectures on a variety of topics.
  • Courses via video and related materials.
  • Literature courses, via Open Culture list of free online courses
  •  Journalism courses, via Open Culture list of free online courses

Other Open Educational Resources

Other CSUSM Library Resources

More information about finding and using library resources can be found on the Literature & Writing Research Guide.

 

Suggestions

Have a good idea for a free resource? Tell us about it! Email your subject specialist.