ENGL 102 - Critical Thinking and Literary Analysis - Ramos

Scholarly journals are published by scholars--people who have the highest college degree in their field--for other scholars to read. Before the article is published, it undergoes a process of peer review, during which *other* scholar specialists (the author's peers) review the article and make suggestions for improvement. It's a strenuous process, so when something is published in a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal, it is considered by college professors to be extremely reliable. Watch the video below on Understanding Peer Review.

Here are some clues/characteristics of peer-reviewed articles (but not all!)...

• They have an abstract, a summary of the article at the beginning or in the details
• They are very long in page number, often 5-40 pages
• They have a long list of citations or references at the end of the paper.
• They may include charts or graphs--no colorful advertisements or photographs.
• They may have a DOI number (digital object identifier) assigned to them
• They have section headings like...
  • Introduction [Strategic reading tip: Read this section to start!]
  • Methodology
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion  [Strategic reading tip: Read this section to start!]

Understanding Peer Review Video (1:43) via LMU Library Youtube

Use one of the following database:

- ProQuest

On the Advanced Search screen, put a check in the box that says "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" or "Peer reviewed," like this...