ENGLISH 101: Evaluate Sources

Scholarly, peer-reviewed, or refereed are sometimes used interchangeably. Scholarly sources offer original research and are written by experts in a field for a specific audience of researchers and scholars. They can be journal articles, book chapters, or books. Scholarly sources are based on rigorous research and documentation and are deemed to be of high quality and credibility. By citing scholarly sources, you join the community of scholars and practice ethical and responsible research and writing.

1. Database Selection: Conduct your research in a database that offers scholarly or peer-reviewed content. Searching databases in your discipline is a great first choice.

2. Limit/Refine: Most databases offer the features to Refine your search results to scholarly / peer-reviewed sources. 

3. Article Type: Scholarly/peer-reviewed journals publish original research articles as well as other types of articles, such as reviews, commentary, report, letters, and obituary. Carefully read the article/article description to determine if it is an original research article. 

4. Check Source: You can check Ulrich's Periodicals Directory to determine if a journal is peer-reviewed. You can also directly go to a journal website to learn more about the nature and intent of the journal. 

Peer-review is a practice to ensure the quality, validity, and reliability of work before it is published. Peers are experts in the author's field of study. Peers make recommendations to the editor regarding suggestions for revisions before accepting an article for publication, or in some cases, rejection for publication. The process can be either single-blind review or double blind review. 

Watch this video and learn: Peer Review in 5 Minutes

Evaluate Information: Apply the CRAAP Test

Scholarly/peer-reviewed articles generally include the following:

Abstract: A summary of the article, subject of study, research hypothesis, methods, findings, and further questions.
Methods/Methodology: Where the author describes the research methods and tools: experiment, survey, data sources, etc.
Results/Findings: Where the author presents raw data/primary research.
Discussion/Analysis: Where the author analyzes the data, primary sources, and research.
Conclusion: Where the author draws conclusions based on the analysis.
References: List of references that author cited in the article.

The journal examples below provides two links: journal website and a topic or article in the journal. 

Journal of Virology -- "novel coronavirus" 

 Crime and Justice - "Crime and inflation in cross-national perspectives"

 Biological Psychology -- "Clever girl: Benevolent sexism and cardiovascular threat"

 The American Journal of Sports Medicine - "Is there a pathological gait associated with common soft tissue running injuries?" 

 Environmental Research -- "Wi-fi is an important threat to human health"