Scholarly articles. Peer-reviewed articles. Professional articles. Academic articles. During your college days, you will hear professors use these terms. Are they different? No. They're different terms for the same thing. Where do you find these? Databases!
When you begin looking for articles via our databases, be sure to look at the categories. We've categorized all our databases to help you quickly find the right ones for your research. Our categories are:
NOTE: If you are off-campus and accessing a database from one of the links above, you will need to log in using your username and password (last name and last four digits of your student ID, example: smith1234 or clinton-dix1234).
Scholarly Journals promote scholarship and research. They report on academic study in a subject, are written and reviewed by experts, and provide references. The quality of scholarly publications rests on a board of experts, or peers, who review article submissions and determine what is published in their journal. Most established journals are careful about quality control, but there have been some recent, for-profit publications that claim to be scholarly, but may not use a rigorous criteria for publication. Our database companies choose publications based on accuracy, authority, and reputation. If you conducting a regular Google search, this may be harder to determine.
Popular Magazines are intended for the general public. They entertain, sell advertising space, and promote a particular viewpoint. While magazines may not be appropriate for all research assignments, magazines and newspapers may be fine sources for many topic papers dealing with social phenomena or more current events. Always check your assignment to determine whether popular periodicals, magazines and newspapers, may be used.
Keep in mind that some bias may exist in articles from even the most authoritative journals, magazines, and newspapers, because authors write from a point of view. Different publications have different editorial policies that may lean towards a political or philosophical position. That doesn’t make the publication good or bad; rather it is important for the researcher to recognize where the bias lies, and to assess any information they encounter carefully.
Peer-review, in its simplest terms, is when an expert reviews the research report of another expert.
Here's how it works in terms of journals that are available on library databases:
An expert or team of experts in a subject will conduct research. They will write about their research and conclusions. This process often includes descriptions of the research methods they used. The paper may also include a brief review of other articles on the subject, or a Literature Review. When the researcher(s) has finished their paper, they will submit to a journal that publishes new research in a subject. A Peer-Reviewed Journal is one where submissions are reviewed by a team of experts. These experts will review the paper, the conclusions, the sources used, and the research methods used (if applicable). If the reviewers find that the complete work meets or exceeds the standards for research in the field, and the findings result in new insights into the subject, the article will be published in the journal.
Using databases for your research has several advantages:
Every databases offer tutorials to help you use the site; just look for the HELP tab. There are several video tutorials available as well on our Database Video Tutorials guide.