Peer Review

La Referencia: Latin America's Open Science/Open Access Repositories Network

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Apr 16, 2019 by Sociology

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

La Referencia hosts a Latin American network of open access repositories from universities and research institutions located in nine countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, and Peru). The site provides access to openly licensed scientific articles generated in institutions of higher education and scientific research. Site services include search and advanced search functions, resource links, exporting capability, and citation generator. Users are able to assess openly licensed content from digital libraries, institutional and subject repositories, and journals.

Type of Material:

Collection
Learning object repository
Reference material
Open educational resources

Recommended Uses:

In-class
Homework
Individual assignment
Team assignment

Technical Requirements:

Internet Explorer or applicable browser
Web browser translation tool (site and resources published in native languages)
Document viewer (viewing and downloading reports)

Identify Major Learning Goals:

The student will be able to develop information literacy/competency using secondary sources.
The student will be able to evaluate the use of data in research.
The student will be able to read, analyze, and evaluate research results.

Target Student Population:

College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professionals.

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Basic computer and web browsing operations.
Introduction to Information Literacy/Competency.
Introduction to Research Methods.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: Learners use basic and advance search tools to explore scientific research from repositories and journals. Quality varies by article/resource.
Concerns:: Collection limited to openly accessible research from participating data providers.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: This sites provides open access to research in Latin America. It is self-directed and is a comprehensive repository of research data on diverse topics.
Concerns:: Students must have basic information literacy/competency and research skills for searching and interpreting secondary sources to ensure progression and efficiency of learning. Students must be proficient in Spanish or able to use a web translator.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

It appears easy to use for Spanish-speaking users.

Concerns:

Research articles are published in native languages.
Multilingual instructions explaining how to access and use a web browser translation tool to access materials would be helpful for first-time users.
No instructions for downloading or exporting resources.

Other Issues and Comments:: Effective teaching tool for information literacy/competency and research methods.
Creative Commons: