Skip to Main Content
Albert S. Cook Library

TSEM 190: Visions of Water (Siegel)

What is peer-review?

An article that is "peer-reviewed" refers to articles that have undergone a rigorous review process, often including revisions to the original manuscript, by peers in their discipline, before publication in a scholarly journal. Other ways to describe a peer-reviewed article include empirical studies, review articles, scholarly articles, academic articles, or research articles.

How can you tell?

  1. Check the journal home page. A quick Google search of the journal-title will allow you to locate most journal home pages, and the description of the journal will notify you if the journal content is peer-reviewed.
  2. Check the publication date, often peer-reviewed articles will have two dates, date of submission and date of acceptance. 
  3. Be careful - A peer-reviewed journal can contain non-peer reviewed articles such as brief news items, book reviews, or editorials. Always look over the content of the article to be sure.

What do we mean when we say "article"?

In higher education, the term "article" could refer to multiple sources of information. You are probably most familiar with newspaper or magazine articles. These can be excellent resources when you are looking for information on current events on general topics. You can find these in a general online search, or use one of Cook's news databases to search more broadly. Newspaper & Magazine articles are not peer-reviewed.

Cook Library also subscribes to trade magazines & professional publications where you can find articles specific to an industry or discipline. Again, these are not peer-reviewed, rather written by and for professionals in the filed. 

Many instructors and assignments require the inclusion of peer-reviewed articles that can only be found in scholarly journals. These articles are written by academic scholars to share new theories, research, and in-depth analysis within a particular field of study. These are harder to find on the open end, as most are published in subscription-based journals. Cook Library subscribes to research databases to provide you with access to this information.

You can find a full list of Cook Library Research Databases here and narrow them by subjects like anthropology, environmental sciences or women's studies.

Scholarly Articles

News Articles