Peer Review

Undergraduate Research Commons

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Aug 27, 2020 by Sociology

Bookmark

Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

The Undergraduate Research Commons (URC), a Bepress research portal curated by university librarians, is a portal showcasing published works authored by thousands of undergraduate students at institutions worldwide. The portal was built to provide greater visibility to exemplary student works that universities and colleges are publishing. You'll find only publications by universities and colleges here. The URC provides you with an Open Access Research Tool to access freely available peer-reviewed journal articles, capstone and honors theses, fieldwork and classroom projects, conference proceedings, and other undergraduate studies.

Type of Material:

Open (Access) Journal Article Portal

Recommended Uses:

Though this is not OER. OER is often associated with other open educational practices, and this site may be useful in encouraging students to publish their authentic projects. The student articles may be useful as model texts.

Technical Requirements:

Internet access and browser.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

1. To aid research work across all educational disciplines.

2. To get more indepth information in specific subject areas.

3. To compare past research information with current trends.

Target Student Population:

High School, College General Ed, College Lower Division, College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Analytical and research skills and basic library search skills.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

An excellent selection of open-access undergraduate journals.

Concerns:

It does not cover all disciplines and sometimes it is difficult to find what one is looking for.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

Good list of student publications for instructors to share with students.

Concerns:

The resources are open access but the bepress license is not OER; it can be linked to, but not adapted or remixed. There are no associated instructor resources.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

It is freely available and everything seems to work. The search engine has advanced options.

Concerns:

It is not visually appealing and is not engaging or interactive.

Other Issues and Comments:: The content should include authorship content on the map to give readers first hand information as to where the works are coming from.
Creative Commons: