How to Start Your Research

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 if a publication is peer-reviewed?

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: a date of submission and a date of acceptance. 
3. Be careful: a peer-reviewed journal can contain non-peer reviewed articles such as brief news items, short communications, or editorials. Always look over the content of the article to be sure.

Always remember to keep track of your information sources. Copy pasting the URL for the article is sometimes not enough!

Make note of the article authors, journal title, and article title, so you can be sure to find the article again. You will also need these pieces of information for a citation.

If you are using an EBSCO database, you can save the Permalink. The Permalink will always take you back to the article. See the screenshot below on where to locate the Permalink in Cook OneSearch.