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Find Articles - Peer Reviewed
1. What is a peer reviewed article?
- A peer-reviewed article is one that has been reviewed by a body of “peers:” experts in the same field as the writer.
- Peer-reviewed articles are sometimes called “refereed” and are published in scholarly or academic journals. (Look at this web page for ways to identify whether a publication is a scholarly journal or popular magazine.)
2. How do I determine if an online article is peer-reviewed?
- Look for some or most of these characteristics to determine if an online article is scholarly:
- Author's Credentials -- Often listed at end of article, tell colleges attended, degrees earned, university affiliations, etc.
- Parenthetical references -- i.e. (Jones, 1993), and/or footnotes
- Bibliography or Works Cited at the end of article
- Basic sections of a research paper (abstract, method, discussion, etc.)
- Tables, charts, or graphs -- Usually show the results of a study or the methods used to calculate results.
- Length -- While longer does not necessarily imply scholarly or "better," short one or two page articles are not often scholarly.
- Many databases include options to limit your search to Peer-reviewed, scholarly or academic journals. [an error occurred while processing this directive] is one of the best places to start if you are not sure what database to use. It covers all academic areas and has a box you can check to limit to peer-reviewed articles. (Look under “limit your results” on the basic search screen.)
