My Information Skills

You have been asked to write a report, and your lecturer has told you to include peer-reviewed articles from scholarly journals.

• Peer-reviewed refers to journal articles that are examined and assessed by experts in the same field before the article is published . These experts decide that the content is correct and acceptable. Sometimes they ask for modifications or corrections to be made The article is then published.
  Peer-reviewed, refereed and juried journals all refer to the same thing.
   
• Scholarly journals contain articles written by academics or researchers who have expertise in the field in the form of formal education or experience. Articles written for scholarly journals are often reports on original research or theory.
  Scholarly journals are sometimes called academic journals.

How can you tell if the journal contains peer-reviewed articles?

Peer-reviewed journals have statements or instructions to authors which are usually found in the first few pages, or at the back of the journal.

Some of the library's databases such as EBSCO Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre (ANZRC) allow you to limit your search results to peer-reviewed journals only. This is shown below. (Login is required to access the database)

In the Basic Search screen select "Peer Reviewed" as one of your limiters.

In the Results Screen you will see that the results come from Academic Journals.

Need a visual?  Watch this quick video from the North Carolina State University Libraries on Peer Review: