This section explains exactly how we’d like you to set up your chapter documents. Follow these steps to get from a blank page to a structured document that you can confidently add content to. These steps are not about drafting original content yet; we’ll start covering writing topics in the next unit.

For a reminder of how the different chapter elements work in practice, review the Example Chapter for the Open Curriculum Development Project [Website]. This is where you’re heading!

Use Shared Files and Folders

Use your shared Google Folder for all of your work on this project so that we can easily find it and it’s accessible to your entire team.

We’ve noticed that some authors need to draft in a private document. We don’t recommend this practice. But if this is you, and you need privacy to write, please move your work into the chapter document in your shared folder on a regular basis.

Start With Your Chapter Outline

You put a lot of work into planning and refining your outline. Now you will put it to use as you draft your chapter. It has all the required and optional chapter elements that you made decisions about in Unit 4. Starting from your chapter outline will ensure that you are using these chapter elements consistently across chapters and between authors. This will help your chapter meet a Learner Focus criteria for success: Chapter is well organized and reads as a unified text.

Once you have selected the chapter you will draft, create a new document in {Course #} Author Folder. The file name of your document is {Course #} Chapter #. Copy and paste the chapter outline into your new chapter doc. We recommend that you copy over the entire chapter outline at once so that nothing gets lost in transit.

Your very first step is to apply structured headings to the outline you just pasted into the chapter doc. Since your outline is already a numbered list, you’ll be able to apply styles to all headings of the same level with a single click. The video below will show you how.

• Chapter Title gets Heading 1.
• Your chapter section titles get Heading 2.
• Your subsection titles get Heading 3.
• Your sub-subsection titles get Heading 4.
• We recommend avoiding H5s and above. If you have any of these in your outline, you will probably revise them into bulleted lists, boxes, or regular paragraphs.

Using structured headings helps you align your chapter draft with your outline. It populates the outline panel on the left side of Google Docs so you can easily move around in your chapter without a lot of scrolling. And it makes your work accessible to people who use screen readers. Do not skip this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wcEevuK-_M

Your headers will have numbers in front of them that came along when you pasted from your outline. You can keep these if they help you navigate your chapter draft. If they are distracting, it’s OK to delete them. We will make sure that chapters and sections are numbered correctly when your manuscript is imported into Pressbooks.

Some of your chapter sections already have content under them. For example, your one-sentence argument belongs under Chapter Overview, your Chapter Learning Objectives can become a bulleted list under that heading, and your Key Terms can become a bulleted list under that heading. You have a head start! Eventually, all headers will have text underneath them.

We will return to required chapter elements in Unit 8. For now we will focus on reusing content from your background scan (in the next section), and drafting original content (in the next unit).

Adapt Relevant Content from Background Scan Materials

You reviewed the background scan that our Research Consultant prepared for your project at the beginning of the Accelerator. Now that you’re drafting a chapter, the moment has arrived to adapt existing openly licensed content. You do not have to reinvent the wheel! We estimate that you will use 2-4 openly licensed sources per chapter (your mileage may vary, of course).

As we discussed in Unit 2, adapting open content requires a significant shift in mindset. As academics, we have learned indelible lessons about plagiarism. However, copying, pasting, and editing openly licensed work is not plagiarism because the content creator has given you permission to do so, as long as you provide attribution back to the original source. The Attribution Style Guide [Website] shows you exactly how to write your attributions and the Project Manager can check your work.

If you move background scan materials and attributions into your chapter doc first, under the relevant headings, you will clarify the scope of the original content you will need to write. There are three things to think about while you move open content into your chapter draft, and we recommend that you go in the order of the list below.

1. Formatting. To keep your chapter easy to read, you will want to have all the formatting match your Google Doc formatting. One way to do this is to paste without formatting (keyboard shortcut: control-shift-V). If you paste without formatting, you will need to compare your version closely with the original and put back any formatting you stripped away, such as links, italics, or headers.
2. Attributing. Use the Attribution Style Guide [Website] to write an attribution for the open content you just pasted. The attribution goes in the “Licenses and Attributions” H3 section at the end of the H2 section you’re working in.
3. Adapting. Once you’ve done the first two steps in this list, go ahead and start adapting (we talk about exactly how to do this in the next section of this unit). Briefly note the modifications in your attribution statement at the end of the H2 section. This helps downstream users understand the difference between your version and the original content.

Just like we tell students about citations: write your attributions right away so that you don’t have an emergency later. This will help your chapter meet one of our Representation of Diverse Voices criteria for success: Chapter includes accurate citations and attribution statements.

Keep formatting to a minimum for now. That means organizing content under structured headers and not much else. The reason is that you are going to do a lot of revising before the end of this year, and you may lose the time you put into making your Google Doc look a certain way. If you want to look ahead to how your final Year 1 draft will be formatted, visit the Chaptre Self-Review list in Unit 10 to read about the following formatting options:

• Headers
• Epigraphs
• Blockquotes
• Blue boxes: start with an H3 header and can include figures
• Golden boxes: no header, no figures
• Features: full-page with a shaded background in print edition; start with an H3 header and can include figures

Add Figure Placeholders in Your Chapter Draft

Purposeful and inclusive multimedia figures help students to see themselves reflected in your textbook. In Unit 4, we discussed including at least one figure per chapter section to support diverse ways of sharing knowledge and communicating meaning.

Incorporating figures into the drafting process can be challenging and time-consuming. We recommend budgeting time to search for openly licensed images and other media that will serve your chapter. Then stick to your budget. After inserting a figure into your chapter doc, do not take time to clean up the formatting or make it look good. These figures can be placeholders: as long as they are generally in place, add a figure caption and call it good for now. Keep writing! You will clean up alignment and accessibility features when you complete your first chapter draft in Unit 8.

In the early drafting stage, figure captions serve the purpose of capturing one or two sentences about why the media is important. As you get a stronger sense of a figure’s purpose while you develop your chapter draft, you can add more details to the figure caption, including a question to students that invites them to apply your claim or inquiry about the image to their own experience or to develop their own analysis.

The Open Images FAQ page [Website] lists repositories where you can search for openly licensed images, with an emphasis on representation of diverse humans. For complex images such as charts, infographics, or diagrams, talk to the Project Manager about a media development request.

Use the Licenses and Attributions subsection at the end of each chapter section to note, at minimum, a link to where the figure came from. If you know you won’t use it in the final draft, it’s OK to not write full attribution statements for now.

Identify Content Gaps in your Chapter Draft

At this point, you may find that you are missing specific content or voices in your chapter. You will fill these gaps with original work, which we cover in the next unit. This is where your own expertise and perspective on the discipline and chapter topics will shine.

You don’t have to do all of this work yourself, however. You and the Project Manager can discuss recruiting additional authors or other types of content creators in order to bring in authentic representation of expertise or lived experience. Perhaps you have a great idea for a data table, infographic, or illustration for multiple means of representation. Or you may want to have additional contributors write a chapter section, design a recurring chapter element, sit for a video interview, etc. We will support you to meet our Representation of Diverse Voices criteria for success: Chapter includes diverse images, voices, viewpoints, or perspectives.

The Project Manager will help you reach out to new contributors so that we make sure they understand what it means to contribute to an openly licensed work. The Project Manager also coordinates creating a statement of work, making contracts, and managing invoices and payments.

This project’s Research Consultant can help you fill the gaps! Here are examples of questions that they can help you with:

• Can you help me do a scan of openly licensed resources in [discipline]?
• Can you find me original or recent research on [narrow topic]?
• Can you help me find a datapoint, table, or chart on [narrow topic]?
• What is the license on this resource? How can I use it?
• Can you help me find another version or edition of this content?
• Can you find me openly licensed images of [topic]?
• How do I attribute this resource?
• What if this resource is “all rights reserved” copyright, and I want to ask for permission or include some of it under fair use?

Licenses and Attributions for Logistics of Your First Chapter Draft

Open content, original

“Logistics of Your First Chapter Draft” by Open Oregon Educational Resources is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Open content, shared previously

“Start With Your Chapter Outline” is adapted from From Outline to First Draft by Stephanie Lenox for Chemeketa Press, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Research Consultant sidebar is adapted from OER Research Consultant Support by Michaela Willi Hooper, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Figure Y1 6.2. “Video Guide: How to Copy Your Outline into the Chapter Draft” by Stephanie Lenox for Chemeketa Press is licensed under CC BY NC SA 4.0.

Figure Y1 6.3. “Deck cupcake party” by Chona Kasinger from Disabled and Here is licensed under CC BY NC SA 4.0.