Peer Review
A peer-reviewed or peer refereed journal or article is one in which a group of widely acknowledged experts in a field reviews the content for scholarly soundness and academic value.
You can limit your search results to peer-reviewed materials in many library databases:
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Is it scholarly & peer-reviewed?Handout that describes peer-review process, characteristics of a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal article, and demonstrates how to evaluate an article to determine if it is scholarly and peer-reviewed.
Scholarly, Trade, and Popular Sources
The table below shows which characteristics are more commonly associated with scholarly or popular sources. All of these types of sources can be appropriate for your research purposes, depending on your research question, but research assignments will often require you to consult primarily with scholarly materials.
| Scholarly | Trade | Popular | ||
| Authors: | Experts such as scientists, faculty, and historians |
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Generalists, including bloggers, staff writers, and journalists; not always attributed | |
| Examples: | Rural Sociology, ACM Computing Surveys, Curriculum Journal, The American Journal of Family Therapy, New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film; books from University presses such as Oxford University Press or University Press of Florida |
Adweek, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Design News, The Hollywood Reporter, Educational Week |
Wikipedia, CNN.com, About.com; People Magazine, USA Today; bestselling books; books from popular publishers like Penguin and Random House | |
| Focus: | Specific and in-depth | Specific field or industry | Broad overviews | |
| Language: | Dense; includes academic jargon | Specialized and/or technical language | Easier to read; defines specialized terms | |
| Format: | Almost always include: abstracts, literature reviews, methodologies, results, and conclusions | Varies | Varies | |
| Citations: | Include bibliographies, citations, and footnotes that follow a particular academic style guide | No formal citations included; may informally attribute sources in text | No formal citations included; may or may not informally attribute sources in text | |
| Before publication: | Evaluated by peers (other scholars) | Edited by in-house editors | Edited by in-house editors or not edited at all | |
| Audience: | Specialists in the subject area: students, professors and the author's peers |
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General readers; shouldn't require any special background | |
| Design: | Mostly text, with some tables and charts; very little photography; no advertising | Glossy images, attractive design; advertisements focused on products used in a specific industry | Glossy images, attractive design; photo illustrations and advertising are more common | |
| Purpose: | Communicating research findings; education | Technical and practical aspects in specific professional areas; professional development | Entertainment; news |
Primary and Secondary Sources
Primary sources
These are contemporary accounts of an event, written by someone who experienced or witnessed the event in question. These original documents (i.e., they are not about another document or account) are often diaries, letters, memoirs, journals, speeches, manuscripts, interviews and other such unpublished works. They may also include published pieces such as newspaper or magazine articles (as long as they are written soon after the fact and not as historical accounts), photographs, audio or video recordings, research reports in the natural or social sciences, or original literary or theatrical works.
Secondary Sources are one step removed from primary sources, though they often quote or otherwise use primary sources. They can cover the same topic, but add a layer of interpretation and analysis. Secondary sources can include:
- Most books about a topic.
- Analysis or interpretation of data.
- Scholarly or other articles about a topic, especially by people not directly involved.
- Documentaries (though they often include photos or video portions that can be considered primary sources).
When is a Primary Source a Secondary Source?
Whether something is a primary or secondary source often depends upon the topic and its use.
- A biology textbook would be considered a secondary source if in the field of biology, since it describes and interprets the science but makes no original contribution to it.
- On the other hand, if the topic is science education and the history of textbooks, textbooks could be used a primary sources to look at how they have changed over time.
