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Finding Journals and Articles

A guide to finding journals and articles .

What are Articles and Why Should I Care?

Articles are shorter works, usually between 1 and 35 pages, that are about a specific topic.  Use articles to: 

  • support your argument in a research paper
  • learn who is doing research in your area
  • stay up-to-date with the most current research.

Types of Articles

There are many different type of articles. What type you need depends on the type of research you're doing. The most common types are:

  • Scholarly articles. Scholarly articles peer reviewed and typically primary source documents. That means they consist of accounts of research written by the researchers who performed the research.
  • Review articles. Review articles are secondary sources: they are accounts of research done by others. Typically, they consolidate research done by many researchers in the field to provide a snapshot of the current state of knowledge in that field. Review articles may be peer reviewed or not.
  • News articles. News articles are seldom peer reviewed and are always secondary sources. They can be accounts of current research or reviews. The difference between news articles and scholarly or review articles is the intended audience: news articles are written for non-experts in the field, so they are are accessible to students learning about a topic
  • Conference papers. Conference papers are published records of presentations given at professional or academic conferences. Conference papers tend to cover the most current research. Often, they discuss research that is ongoing or not yet completed. They are usually primary sources, but are not as rigorously peer reviewed as scholarly articles.
  • Book reviews. Book reviews are just what it says: a review of a recently published book, usually by an expert in the field. Book reviews ar good for identifying relevant books, but are not usually not used in research.

How do I know if an article is scholarly or peer reviewed?

Topics

Answer

A scholarly article is a piece of original research written by an expert in the field and published in an academic journal. Scholarly articles go through a process called peer review.

Peer review is a process where an article is evaluated by other experts in the field who either recommend that the article be accepted for publication or rejected because it does not meet the standards of the journal.

To determine whether or not an article is scholarly and peer reviewed, consider the following factors:

  • Is it published in a peer reviewed journal? You can type the name of the journal into any search engine and learn about the submission process to see if it is peer reviewed. Additionally, if you use the library search or a database to find articles, they will usually indicate if it is from a peer reviewed journal.
  • Is the author or authors experts in the field? An article will usually indicate which university or organization an author is affiliated with. If you type the author's name and organization into a search engine, you can find out what their qualifications are.
  • Does the paper uses headings like "methods," "results," "discussion," and "conclusion?" This indicates the authors have done original, empirical research.
  • Is there a bibliography/works cited/reference list? A scholarly article will always cite numerous sources. Most of these references will be to other scholarly articles.
  • Does it have charts, maps, surveys and/or words like "experiment," "sample size," or "investigation" in the abstract? These visuals and words indicate an original research study.

It is important to note that not all articles published in peer reviewed journals are peer reviewed. To learn more about the difference between primary research articles (which are peer reviewed) and secondary sources (not necessarily peer reviewed), view this FAQ on primary research.

Watch the video below for more information on identifying scholarly articles.