Question

Are textbook solutions provided by students, or are the provided by author/publisher?

Answer 1

ANS.

We consider a textbook to be a book that:

• Is written for primarily students. Whilst the textbook may also be of interest to other audiences, such as researchers, the main audience should be students
• Supports a course: there must be courses being taught at multiple universities for which the textbook would be suitable. The textbook could either be the only textbook recommended for the course, or it could be a more supplementary textbook that would appear on a recommended reading list. A textbook is usually lent to students by a school to accompany a course the school is teaching. Sometimes, especially at university, students have to buy the textbooks they need themselves or borrow them from a library.Almost 80% of the textbook industry is dominated by five major publishers. And they're doing everything in their power to make sure that students keep buying new textbooks. To save money college students started buying used textbooks for cheaper or rented them from bookstores. But publishers took notice and started bundling new textbooks with special codes that restricted access. Forcing students to buy new textbooks at the full retail price.

• One study reported that 67% of students skip buying textbooks altogether because of rising prices and restrictive codes. And that's not the only thing publishers have done to get students to buy new textbooks. There used to be a new edition update every five years. But now the production cycle has been shortened to two or three years.

  New editions have reordered chapters or changes in page numbers, making it harder to use older editions. And they can cost up to $150 more. But students have some other options to consider if they want to avoid expensive textbooks. Some schools are starting to use open source educational materials instead of traditional textbooks. That way, students can access open licensed texts, digital media and other learning materials for a fraction of the cost of textbooks.

  Most textbooks are only published in printed format. However, some are now available online as electronic books.