Student Publication Options and Permissions Overview

As part of Victorian Poetry and Poetics, students in British Victorian Poetry courses at the undergraduate and graduate level at West Texas A&M University serve as editorial partners in a semester-long digital humanities project. They research poets, create Hypothesis annotations, and draft editorial introductions that contribute to the anthology’s evolving scholarly apparatus. Because this is a public-facing OER with open licensing (CC BY-SA-NC), students complete a short permissions instrument to indicate how their work may be published, attributed, and reused.

This page summarizes the ethical framework, publication options, and permissions structure used in this course, and is intended to model a transparent, FERPA-aware approach to student-authored OER for other instructors.

Pedagogical Rationale

This project reflects disciplinary expectations in literary studies, digital humanities, and public-facing scholarship. Students learn not only long-form academic writing but also the craft of short-form scholarly writing, a critical editorial skill set used across the humanities.

Why Short-Form Scholarly Writing Matters

Annotations are a distinctive mode of scholarly communication. Unlike essays, which develop an argument across pages, annotations distill interpretive insight into just a few purposeful sentences. Strong annotations require students to:

• make every word count,

• write with clarity and precision,

• communicate interpretive depth without over-explaining,

• and craft audience-aware commentary that supports, guides, and contextualizes a reader’s experience.

This mirrors real editorial work, where space is limited but insight is expected. These skills also translate far beyond the classroom—into digital humanities, publishing, pedagogy, editing, humanities outreach, public scholarship, and other collaborative academic and professional spaces.

In short: writing strong annotations trains students to be purposeful, detail-oriented, and audience-aware, hallmarks of excellent academic and professional writing.

Professional Value for Graduate Students (and Undergraduates Considering Graduate School)

Students pursuing graduate study or thinking about professional academic paths benefit especially from this kind of project. Graduate programs routinely receive outstanding seminar papers as writing samples—that is the baseline, not the differentiator. What stands out is a project that demonstrates additional editorial, digital, and public-facing competencies.

Across literary studies, innovative digital projects shape the scholarly landscape:

• The William Blake Archive creates fully edited digital editions integrating image, transcription, and scholarly commentary.

• Dino Felluga’s BRANCH (Britain, Representation, and Nineteenth-Century History) models collaborative, peer-reviewed digital scholarship.

• The Dickinson Electronic Archives and COVE (Central Online Victorian Educator) support collaborative editorial and pedagogical work.

Students in our courses are not expected to replicate these large-scale projects. Instead, this course provides a first, meaningful step toward understanding the practices behind them: collaborative editing, rigorous annotation, digital publication, and audience-aware scholarly communication.

While this project does not replace the long-form academic essay as a writing sample, it offers the kind of distinctive, public-facing work that can strengthen a cover letter, teaching philosophy, or statement of purpose, and that may encourage a busy committee reader to take a closer look at the student’s dossier.

Students leave the course having produced a real, published editorial contribution (if they choose to publish), demonstrating clarity of thought, precision of writing, and engagement in the future of literary studies.

Publication Requirements by Course Level

Graduate Students 

Graduate students are required to publish their editorial work publicly in the open-access anthology. This aligns with the professional expectations of graduate study and the course’s learning outcomes regarding scholarly communication, digital humanities practice, and public engagement.

However, graduate students may choose to publish under a pseudonym, just as undergraduates may. Safety, privacy, and personal circumstances vary, and students do not need to disclose why they prefer to use a pseudonym—only that they do. The only requirement is that the pseudonym be professional in tone and consistent with academic standards.

Undergraduate Students 

Undergraduate students may choose whether their work appears:

• Publicly in the main anthology,
• Publicly under a pseudonym,
• Privately, for grading only.

Choosing private, pseudonymous, or anonymous participation carries no penalty and adheres to the privacy and agency framework outlined in the syllabus and WTClass materials.

Authorship, Names, and Attribution

Only names appear with student work. All students—graduate and undergraduate—have the option to:

• publish under their real name or

• publish under a pseudonym.

Students choosing pseudonyms need not provide any explanation. Students may use pseudonyms for any portion of the project: annotations, introductions, or contextual work. No identifying information other than the chosen name appears in the public anthology or in public Hypothesis annotations.

Students retain copyright. Their decision to publish grants permission for display under the anthology’s CC BY-SA-NC license. Students may request to revise or remove published work at any time.

Where Private Work Lives

Undergraduates who choose private publication:

• submit full materials through WTClass for grading, and

• do not have their work added to the public-facing anthology.

For in-class editorial presentations:

• private work is uploaded in a password-protected document inside the anthology,

• only enrolled students receive the password via WTClass,

• and immediately after the presentation, the document is deleted and the password changed.

This process facilitates the learning experience for all students while protecting privacy.

Hypothesis Annotation Groups

The course uses two Hypothesis groups:

1. Private Class Group 

   • All students annotate here for reading responses and annotation practice.

   • These annotations are visible only within the course.

   • Undergraduates selecting private publication may keep all annotations in this private group.

2. Public Annotation Group

   • Graduate students publish polished annotations here (using real names or pseudonyms).

   • Undergraduates may publish here only if they opt into public publication.

Authorship displays according to the attribution preference chosen in the permissions form.

IRB / Ethical Research Statement

This project constitutes standard instructional activity and does not qualify as human subjects research. IRB review is not required. The permissions instrument documents student choices about publication, attribution, and reuse within normal pedagogical practice.

Permission to Reuse Student Work

Students separately indicate whether their work may be reused in:

• future iterations of the course,

• instructional demonstrations,

• workshops or conference presentations,

• or explanatory materials about the anthology.

Reuse permission is voluntary, revocable, and distinct from publication this semester.

Process Timeline

This timeline reflects the sequence described in the syllabus and WTClass modules:

1. Week 1: Students complete the Qualtrics permissions form.

2. Weeks 2–5: Annotation skills developed in the private Hypothesis group.

3. Weeks 4–10: Editorial introductions and contextual notes drafted.

4. Week 10: Students confirm publication and attribution choices (real name, pseudonym, or anonymous).

5. Weeks 11–14: Final editorial work prepared for public or private placement.

6. Final Weeks:

   • Public work added to Pressbooks and to the Public Hypothesis group.

   • Private presentation documents posted temporarily and removed after use.

About the Qualtrics Permissions Instrument

At the beginning of the semester, all students complete a short Qualtrics form that records their preferences for how their editorial work may be published and attributed in this anthology. Because the project involves optional public-facing scholarship, the instrument provides a clear, FERPA-aware way for students to indicate:

• whether they wish to publish their work publicly or keep it private (undergraduates only),

• whether their work should appear under their real name, a pseudonym, or anonymously,

• what pseudonym they would like used (if applicable), and

• whether they grant permission for their work to be reused in future course iterations or instructional materials.

The form ensures that students retain full agency over how their work appears and how it may be used, regardless of course level. All students—including graduate students who are required to publish—have the option to use a professional pseudonym without needing to provide any explanation. The instrument simply documents each student’s choices so that the publication process remains ethical, transparent, and aligned with the privacy guidelines outlined in the syllabus and course materials.

The instrument collects:

• Course level

• Publication preference (UG only): public, pseudonymous, anonymous, or private

• Attribution preference: real name, pseudonym, or anonymous

• Pseudonym (if applicable)