The phrase peer-reviewed is used interchangeably with professional, scholarly, and academic, but they all refer to the same thing: an article that has undergone a specific publishing process called "peer-review". These articles are typically held to high standards for their quality of research and overall contribution to the knowledge of the topic being researched. Because of that, it can be difficult to read and understand these articles because of their audience and purpose.
This page includes information to help you understand why peer-reviewed articles are such a big deal, ways to identify that something is likely peer-reviewed, and how to read and understand a scholarly article.
Original research is done when the researchers are responsible for the entire process of coming up with a hypothesis, a means for testing the hypothesis, defending their hypothesis based on prior research, and gathering and analyzing the data, and explaining their findings. This is often done by scientists, doctors, college professors, or people working within a field of study.
The title is typically very clear about the article's content and uses accurate and professional language.
Remember that it is a summary, and this is going to give you an idea of what you can look for when you go through the article itself.
Most research articles have the same clearly outlined sections: Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. While they may be called different things, the results section is going to be the least accessible and is explained in the discussion. The literature review can be a visual distraction with all the references, but you will eventually mentally ignore the references as you read more scholarly literature.
It is easy to forget what you are researching and get pulled in multiple directions. Make sure you ar reading it from the perspective of how this informs your own research rather than focusing on their research.
This interactive image explains common elements of a scholarly article, including the abstract, introduction and conclusion.
Databases like the three highlighted below can be helpful when you come across concepts or jargon in peer-reviewed articles that you don't understand. Reference works like encyclopedias and dictionaries provide information that will help fill background gaps in your knowledge of a subject.
Articles from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference sources from all subject areas. Includes images, audio pronunciation files, maps, and data tables.
Collection of encyclopedias, dictionaries and topical content covering a variety of subject areas.
Articles from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and reference sources from all subject areas. Includes quotations, maps, and illustrations.
