Paul Meek Library FAQs

You can find peer reviewed articles in the library's PML Search. After you search, select "Peer Reviewed" under "Limit To" on the left side of your screen. 

You can also find peer-reviewed articles in our library databases. Ask a librarian to recommend one in your research area!

Your professor may ask you to include peer-reviewed (sometimes called scholarly or refereed) articles in your research. 

Peer-review is a way to ensure the quality of articles. These articles are the pinnacle of academic research, written and then reviewed by scientists, scholars, and researchers. Reviewers check an article for accuracy, journal appropriateness and relevance, methods, ethical standards, citations, evidence, data collection, and overall quality to make sure the article is good scholarship that advances new knowledge in the field. 

While this process generally guarantees accurate and relevant resources, you still need to use critical thinking skills when searching the library databases for peer-reviewed articles. Keep in mind that in some fields, progress and advancements in understanding can happen rapidly (within a few years), so some resources can be out of date. This is particularly true for medical and technological fields. 

Resources on the open web, such as blogs, magazines, news sites, and general webpages are not the same as peer-reviewed articles. For the most part, you will need to use the library resources to find peer-reviewed journal articles. 

Look for these signs that an article is peer-reviewed:

• References and citations to other articles
• Different sections including abstract, introduction, methodology, discussion, and conclusion
• Author is an expert in their field
• Includes some jargon, discipline-specific terminology, or technical language
• Audience is other scholars, researchers, and college students
• May include charts, graphs, and tables

Note: Not all items in a peer reviewed journal are actually reviewed. Journals sometimes include things like letters to the editor or news updates that are not peer reviewed. If you ever need more help on understanding or finding peer review, chat or text us for clarification!