Look for these common characteristics to help you identify scholarly or peer reviewed articles.
| Characteristics Peer Reviewed Articles | Look for |
|---|---|
| Written for professional audience | Specialized or technical language |
| Authors are experts | Author(s) name and credentials (often affiliated with universities or research institutes) |
| Published in peer reviewed journal | The publication or source title, then google it to see if it is peer reviewed |
| Describe original research or analysis | Discussion of research methods (varies by discipline) and findings |
| References included | Footnotes or a bibliography at the end of the article |
Examples of peer reviewed articles:
Kross, E., Verduyn, P., Demiralp, E., Park, J., Lee, D.S., Lin, N., Shablack, H., Jonides, J., & Ybarra, O. (2013). Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being in young adults. PLoS One, 8(8), e69841. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069841 [link to article]
Kivland, C. (2014). Becoming a force in the zone: Hedonopolitics, masculinity, and the quest for respect on Haiti's street. Cultural Anthropology, 29(4), 672-698. https://doi.org/10.14506/ca29.4.05 [link to article]
You can search for peer reviewed articles in Summon or in a specific article database. In most databases, you can limit your results to scholarly or peer reviewed articles.
For a more in-depth look at how to search for articles, check out the "Find Articles" sections of this guide, beginning with Find Articles: Summon Basics.