Read Me File

Open Access Discussion Session geared towards a Psychology Graduate Research Methods Course 
VTechWorks record: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/64937 

Addressing: Why are open research practices, open access, and author rights important to Psychology graduate students? How might tools and resources related to these impact choices graduate students may make in research design, research practice and documentation, and venues for sharing research results?

This session included a pre-class reading assignment and an in-class session with discussion and hands-on activities. The topics of focus were: open research practices, open access, and selecting publication venues for sharing research. These topics were discussed in the context of authorship as experienced by students in undergraduate and graduate programs, including course papers, theses and dissertations, conference presentations, and journal article publishing. Discussions were based on three readings completed prior to the in-class session that covered aspects of: open access, peer review, and open research practices. The class also discussed evaluation criteria to use when selecting a publication venue.
Audience: Graduate Students in a graduate Psychology Research Methods course at Virginia Tech, Spring 2016
Timeframe: 75 minutes

Materials in this OER Package: 
●	READ ME description
●	Lesson Plan
●	Pre-Class Reading Assignment - licensed for reuse as CC BY 4.0
○	Announcement posted on class course site with links to articles
●	In-Class Handout - licensed for reuse as CC BY 4.0

Learning Objectives:
●	Following this session’s pre-assignment and in-class session, students will be able to:
○	Define open access as it relates to scholarly publishing
○	Describe characteristics of open research practices
○	Identify copyrights and author rights considerations for graduate students (such as decisions related to theses/dissertations)
○	List considerations for authors when selecting a publication venue
○	Use multiple sources to learn more about a journal to consider its quality and suitability as a publication venue
○	Describe characteristics to review when evaluating a journal for its quality and suitability as a publication venue
○	Describe where to look for a journal’s copyright or author rights policies
○	List two methods of support for open access author fees
○	Review a journal and identify its: open access status; relevance to one’s topic; history and reputation; and area of focus within a discipline

Assessment: in-class discussion; no written or submitted assessment
This read me file is licensed by its author, Virginia Pannabecker as: CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/