For your literature review assignments, your professors may require that you use "peer-reviewed" articles. An article that has undergone scrutiny by other scholars and researchers is described as a peer-reviewed article.
Many databases provide a search limiter that helps you eliminate publications such as magazines, newspapers, and trade journals. Look for a limiter option such as this:
The following resources will help you better understand the significance of peer-review, and how to identify peer-reviewed articles.
Peer-Reviewed vs. Trade Journals vs. Popular Articles: What's the difference? (graphic)
Identifying Types of Articles: Explained (video)
Peer Review in Three Minutes: What is peer review? (video)
Ulrichsweb: How can I identify whether a journal is peer-reviewed? Search for a magazine or journal by title. If it is identified with a referee shirt, it is a refereed publication, and most articles in the publication will be peer-reviewed.
For better keyword searches and use of limiters/filters, tap the image for the full APA PsycInfo search reference guide.:
What is "Backward Citation Searching?" |
What is "Forward Citation Searching?" |
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The list of works cited by an author gives you a picture of the thinking and research up to the time the article was published. It takes you back in time, telling you what sources, and theories have influenced the author's work. This may also help you identify key authors in a field. Looking at the reference list of sources cited by an author is called "bibliographic mining," "cited reference searching," or "backward citation searching."
The sources from Thao's reference list How Can I Do This?As you read and article, note citations of interest as you read, and scan the article reference list for authors and articles that interest you. You may search for specific articles and authors using a database or try Research@UWW |
Citation searching can take you forward in time from the article you begin with. This is sometimes referred to as "forward citation searching." This may help you assess the importance of an article to subsequent - or more current - research in a field. Look for "Cited by" links (Google Scholar) and "Times cited" (EBSCOhost-ERIC) links in your search results.
The Cited Article The Citing Articles A word of caution: Keep in mind that a citing author may reference an earlier study for many reasons. The citing author may be supporting or refuting arguments in the original research article. |
