Q. What are peer reviewed journal articles and how do I find them?

A peer reviewed or scholarly article is one that is checked over by a group of experts before publication. Most scholarly articles are:

• written by experts
• accompanied by references
• written in a formal or technical style
• published by a university or association

You can use use Scout to find articles from peer reviewed journals. First, search for your topic, then use the limiters on the left side of the page to narrow your results (under Refine your results, select Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals).

You can also go directly to the Libraries' 300+ databases for online access to articles and other content. Some general, multi-disciplinary resources you may want to start with are:

Academic Search Premier

Academic OneFile

JSTOR

Research Library Complete

While searching, keep an eye out for limiters or check boxes that say scholarly, academic, or peer reviewed.

If you're unsure if a journal is peer reviewed, you can use a database like Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory to check. 

If you aren't finding what you need or need help determining if a journal is peer reviewed, please let us know. We're happy to help.