Writing Textbook In-Progress

     Every textbook is flawed in some way or another, and even the good ones cost far too much. As a student, I was always outraged at the high price of textbooks and disappointed at the end of the semester when I went to sell back the books I never used or that were total junk. Over the years, I've been writing handouts to provide my students with information that textbooks didn't provide, examples that would help them add to their writing toolbox, and basic information that I really wish someone had taught to me when I was starting out in my college career. I've also tried to write them with long-term usefulness in mind; I want the things students learn and receive in my classes to help them with all of their work in other courses as well as the real world.
     A few semesters ago after being assigned a $125 textbook for a class by a school, I decided to explore alternative options for students since, well, $125 is way too much to expect students to pay for a textbook they may never use after a class is done, especially a textbook that was mandated and about which I had no input whatsoever. So, in my spare time between grading papers and preparing for class, I've been compiling and expanding on those handouts that I had already been tweaking and improving since I started teaching writing classes.
     Below is a link to the textbook in-progress. My goal is for it to contain enough information to really benefit students, but not so much information that it's overwhelming or that it would be under-utilized in my own class. I also want a hard-copy to cost less than twenty dollars. I've looked around at some self-publishing sites, and it looks like that second goal won't be a problem at all.
     Like I said before, it's a work in-progress, but as with everything I create for teaching, you can feel free to pillage materials that you like; just leave a comment to let me know that it's going to good use. One day, I hope to make the "base model" available to instructors and allow them to add in material that applies more directly to their classes so that they too can create a book that is specifically catered to their class and students and that is available for much less than the average textbook.
     Enjoy! The formatting got a little weird translating from PDF into Google Docs, but the content is there. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.

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