There are a number of available textbooks to support student learning in first-year seminars, but these resources can come at a considerable cost. To help reduce those costs, faculty and staff at SHSU have collaborated on an open educational resource (OER) to support students enrolled in UNIV 1101: Learning Frameworks. Open educational resources are publicly available to copy, use, and adapt by others. Most importantly, they are free to students.

Foundations for College Success was written to provide information and resources about learning strategies, study skills, and how to locate and engage with academic support to help you succeed as you transition to college. This resource also provides an opportunity for you to learn about course topics directly from experts at Sam Houston State University. Topics covered in this resource include the following:

Health & Wellness
Financial Literacy
Information Literacy
Memory
Critical Thinking
Reading Strategies
Math Strategies
Advising
Career Exploration

Complementary to 21L.001. A broad survey of texts; literary, philosophical, sociological; studied to trace the growth of secular humanism, the loss of a supernatural perspective upon human events, and changing conceptions of individual, social, and communal purpose. Stresses appreciation and analysis of texts that came to represent the common cultural possession of our time.

By utilizing this handout, instructors can guide students in mastering the art of writing compelling thesis statements and recognizing their essential components

Author: Brandi Morley, Claire Carly-Miles
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

This graphic organizer serves as a resource instructors can customize to guide students through specific annotations, such as analyzing the rhetorical situation or analyzing the author’s intention with specific word choices.

Author: Frances Santos
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

The following resource provides a blank worksheet instructors can customize to guide students through specific annotations, such as analyzing the rhetorical situation or analyzing the author’s intention with specific word choices. This resource illustrates how the worksheet might be used with two suggested readings. The first example features a nonfiction essay discussing the complex opinions around choosing disability through preimplantation genetic diagnosis. With this text, students will encounter questions about vocabulary, tone, argumentative reasoning, types of evidence, and more. The second example features an excerpt from the book The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea, which vividly recounts a desolate desert. In this example, students will analyze the purpose of devices such as allusions, diction, and imagery. An instructor has the option of using either example or customizing the blank worksheet to their own purposes.

Author: Frances Santos
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

Through this worksheet, students learn how to engage in close reading while evaluating the writer’s rhetorical choices regarding allusions, diction, and imagery.

Author: Frances Santos
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

Through this worksheet, students learn how to engage in close reading while analyzing the writer’s vocabulary, tone, and reasoning.

Author: Frances Santos
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

By posing provocative inquiries about local and state government, this worksheet is intended to ready students for abstract learning while guarding against conformity and encouraging critical thought. Specifically, students will be able to express their opinions on key concepts related to representative democracy, including elected officials, term limits, and the interconnectedness of state and federal politics

Author: Sharon Haigler
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

Propaganda is used in several ways as a persuasive technique. Designers and authors desire to sway the reader’s thinking in specific ways to perhaps make certain purchases, as is the case in retail advertising. Other authors would like to communicate certain ideas and persuade the readers to adopt their beliefs. Naïve or unaware readers may find themselves subject to being pressured into challenging their own deeply held beliefs by experts or authorities or by something heard on the news or read in a book.

The purpose of this worksheet is to sensitize readers to the various propaganda techniques used in media of various forms and to challenge the readers to screen incoming information through their belief systems. Specifically, students will practice matching various statements to propaganda techniques like straw man arguments, bandwagon appeals, half-truths, loaded words, and obfuscation.

Author: Sharon Haigler
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

Some words may not cause a particular emotional reaction whereas other words with similar meanings may fire up anger, joy, fear, or other emotions. Authors may choose to use more emotional words to convey a particular tone in their writing, and critical readers need to be aware of this literary device to maintain an objective view of the topic and not be subtly swayed by the author’s attitude.

In this worksheet, students will evaluate groups of words and identify the choice that suggests a more emotional response. The objective is for students to hone their ability to assess tone, connotation, and denotation through word choice.

Author: Sharon Haigler
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

This two-part unit provides instructors with materials to encourage student development of information literacy skills. The unit can be understood as supplemental materials for the OER textbook Informed Arguments: A Guide to Writing and Research with particular focus on the research aspect of writing and argumentation, or the materials could be useful on its own, for instructors who do not teach with the Informed Arguments textbook. It addresses, most specifically, how to find and evaluate source material. It covers things like types of sources, biases, peer-review processes, and other information literacy skills helpful for successful college writing. It includes 1) general instructor notes, 2) an online discussion activity, 3) a quiz about evaluation of sources, 4) a Research Journal (short essay) assignment, 5) a rubric for the short essay, and 6) a further information resource guide for faculty about information literacy and the college classroom.

Part 1: https://pressbooks.library.tamu.edu/engl1301/chapter/research-and-argumentation-teacher-facing-lesson/
Part 2: https://pressbooks.library.tamu.edu/engl1301/chapter/research-and-information-literacy-student-facing-assignment/

Author: Michael Gardin
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

This two-part unit provides instructors with materials to encourage student development of information literacy skills. The unit can be understood as supplemental materials for the OER textbook Informed Arguments: A Guide to Writing and Research with particular focus on the research aspect of writing and argumentation, or the materials could be useful on its own, for instructors who do not teach with the Informed Arguments textbook. It addresses, most specifically, how to find and evaluate source material. It covers things like types of sources, biases, peer-review processes, and other information literacy skills helpful for successful college writing. It includes 1) general instructor notes, 2) an online discussion activity, 3) a quiz about evaluation of sources, 4) a Research Journal (short essay) assignment, 5) a rubric for the short essay, and 6) a further information resource guide for faculty about information literacy and the college classroom.

Part 1: https://pressbooks.library.tamu.edu/engl1301/chapter/research-and-argumentation-teacher-facing-lesson/
Part 2: https://pressbooks.library.tamu.edu/engl1301/chapter/research-and-information-literacy-student-facing-assignment/

Author: Michael Gardin
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

Upon successful completion of this assignment, students will
- create a well-organized personal narrative essay that includes all the essential components of a story, such as an introduction, setting, characters, plot (rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution), and conclusion.
- apply descriptive writing techniques, including the use of vivid diction and dialogue, to paint a clear picture in the reader’s mind and maintain an authentic writer’s voice.
- evaluate the effectiveness of their drafting by seeking feedback from peers and revising for clarity, organization, tone, and audience awareness.

Author: Kimberly Stelly
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

Upon successful completion of this assignment, students will
- define and distinguish the various types of phrases and clauses.
- analyze sample texts to recognize and label what phrases and clauses are present.
- construct sentences that incorporate specific types of phrases and clauses.

Author: Pujarinee Mitra
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

Upon successful completion of this assignment, students will
- prepare for reading a text by analyzing its title through the 5W1H (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How) questioning technique.

Author: Christopher Manes
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

Upon successful completion of this lesson, students will
- analyze a text by completing a graphic organizer that identifies an author’s use of evidence and rhetorical devices.
- evaluate the impact of these devices on the target audience.

A PowerPoint lesson is included

Author: Brandi Morley
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

This handout serves as a tool for introducing students to textual analysis, encompassing its definition, objective, significance, various approaches, and considerations for analyzing text.

Authors: Brandi Morley, C. Anneke Snyder
Editor: Mary Landry
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

Upon successful completion of this lesson, students will
- review the steps in the writing process (Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Publishing).
- generate ideas about a topic using three prewriting strategies (Listing, Freewriting, Clustering).
- reflect and discuss the various prewriting strategies as well as their importance to the writing process.

A PowerPoint lesson is included.

Author: Brandi Morley
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

This handout provides definitions and examples of media propaganda techniques, including Name-Calling, Glittering Generalities, Transfer, Testimonials, Plain Folks, Card-Stacking, Bandwagon Appeals, Half-Truths, Loaded Words, Obfuscation, Straw Man Arguments, and Deliberate Manipulation.

Authors: Sharon Haigler, C. Anneke Snyder
Editor: Mary Landry
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

With this graphic organizer, students can delve into questions about role, audience, format, and topic (RAFT) as part of their exploration of audience and purpose. Specifically, working through the writing RAFT strategy can help a student understand their role as a writer and how to most effectively communicate their ideas.

Author: Brandi Morley
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso