ENGL105 - Scholarly Articles 101: Peer Review

Peer Review

Now we know the difference between scholarly sources and popular sources, but what does "peer-reviewed" mean? Are all scholarly sources peer-reviewed? Let's find out a little more...

Tips for finding peer-reviewed articles

• Most databases will have a "Peer-reviewed sources only" filter that you can select when searching 
• Locate the journal in which your article was published. Do a Google search or a search of the E-journals page of the library website for the name of the journal. This search will likely tell you if the journal is peer-reviewed or not. 
  • Some peer-reviewed journals will occasionally publish opinion pieces or reviews. Check the publication information for your source to make sure this is not the case for your article
• If you are still having doubts, visit the journal's website- check the "about" page or see if they have a review board listed.

An example of what a peer review filter might look like. This example comes from Articles +.