What is a peer-reviewed or scholarly article and how do I find them?

As far as peer-review goes, here’s a quick rundown of the process.

First, the author writes an article in their field. They then send it to the journal they want it published in. The journal gives the article to experts in the field (their peers) to look it over. The experts review the argument, methodology, and conclusions drawn. They’ll write comments and suggest edits to make sure the scholarship is a good representation of the field. The paper is sent back to the author for edits, the author makes the changes, and then sends the article to the journal for publication. Sometimes, the paper is not rigorous enough, so the journal rejects it.

So, why should you care about peer review?

1.) The quality and accuracy of the information presented in peer reviewed journals tends to be very high. This can help you evaluate if the research is good to use for your own paper.

2.) Just like you will need to do with your own research papers, peer reviewed articles will most often include a lengthy list of references the author has cited in the paper. You can use this list of references to find more articles about your topic.

3.) Most peer reviewed or scholarly articles will include a literature review. You can use this as an example when writing your own literature review or paper. The style of writing found in academic/peer reviewed papers is a good representation of what many of your instructors will require of you when you write your own papers.

That said, peer review can take a long time. From peer review to publication, it may be a year before the article is published. If you’re writing about a recent event, you may not find a peer reviewed article on your subject. The timeliness of your topic is something to keep in mind when doing research. You can locate peer reviewed articles by limiting your search results to academic/peer reviewed journals in library databases. For example, in the EBSCOhost family of databases (including LumenPlus), look for the Peer Reviewed check box or the Source Type menu in the column to the left of your search results. If you apply this limit to your search, your search results will only include articles from academic journals which will ensure that you are accessing some of the best quality resources on the topic.

Below is a video from the North Carolina State University Library that explains the peer-review process.