Abstract: This paper concerns linear parts of minimal resolutions of finitely generated modules over commutative local, or graded rings. The focus is on the linearity defect of a module, which marks the point after which the linear part of its minimal resolution is acyclic. The results established track the change in this invariant under some standard operations in commutative algebra. As one of the applications, it is proved that a local ring is Koszul if and only if it admits a Koszul module that is also an Ulrich module. An injective analogue of the linearity defect is introduced and studied. The main results express this new invariant in terms of linearity defects of free resolutions, and relate it to other ring theoretic and homological invariants of the module.