Library Homepage: Understanding Scholarly/Academic Research: Peer Review & Relevance

What is peer-reviewed content?

articles that are peer-reviewed undergo a rigorous review process conducted by experts in the field of the article or journal topic
lengthy articles, presenting findings of a research study
the study contains references in the form of a literature review
not all articles in a peer-reviewed journal are peer-reviewed e.g. editorials, opinion pieces
an article or a journal can be peer-reviewed

What may not be peer-reviewed content?

links to content in Google or Google Scholar (or other online tools) websites, books (paper or electronic)

What is not peer-reviewed content?

Wikipedia entries (also not credible), editorials, newspaper articles, popular magazine articles, opinion pieces
article or journal titles with the word review in them (unless the journal record says peer-reviewed)
dissertations and theses are supervised by scholars, but are considered student works - always obtain permission from your instructor or chair to use student works in your own research. e.g. dissertation or literature review

Is This Article Relevant?

Ask yourself these questions to see if the content is relevant to your project

what is the thesis of the work?
what is the central question of the work?
what is the research methodology and instrument for gathering data/evidence? eg. interviews, questionnaire?
are the conclusions or results relevant?
can the data be used to make statements across populations (scholarly, academic research)?
are the results specific to a population (hospital study or limited by the institution and therefore credible but not scholarly)?
did the researchers involve their peers or did they publish without peer-review?