Teacher Education Resources

Which of these is a scholarly article?
Click on the article title to open each article. Then use the criteria above to determine which article is peer reviewed. Hover of the to see the answer.

An academic journal is a type of periodical that scholars use to share new research. Each issue of an academic journal contains new content, and may include editorials, opinion pieces, reviews of books or software, articles that review existing literature on a special topic, and articles that describe an original research project undertaken by the author.

The Peer Review process in academic journals helps ensure that quality of the research.

Peer reviewed articles may also be called refereed articles or scholarly articles.

The flowchart illustrates the lifecycle of a peer reviewed article.

Not sure if an article is peer reviewed?
Look for these clues:

Author. The author's credentials & institution should be listed. Authors of peer reviewed articles typically have graduate degrees and often work at a university.

Abstract. Many peer reviewed articles begin with an abstract -- a paragraph summarizing the research.

Audience. Peer reviewed articles are written for scholars, researchers, & students who are knowledgeable about the topic, and likely use specialized terminology.

Purpose. What is the purpose of the article? Does the author want to support findings of a research project, present a case study, make an argument that is supported by evidence or research, etc.?

References. Peer reviewed articles typically include a bibliography that cites many other peer reviewed sources.

Publication venue. Peer reviewed articles are published in academic journals. Each journal usually only publishes content that is related to a specific academic discipline or sub-discipline. 

1. Take the topic you're searching for and list some keywords that represent that topic.

• Example: If you hope to find research about the effectiveness of brain research based teaching methods on middle school students, you might search for the keywords brain research, teaching methods, middle school students

3. List some synonyms for those keywords. List some related terms.

• Synonyms are words that mean the same thing -  instead of brain research use brain or brain-based learning
• Related terms could be more specific -- instead of schools, use small schools
• They could be more general -- instead of middle school students, use middle school

4. Be prepared to filter your search results in the database.

• In ERIC, you can limit results to peer-reviewed articles and limit by publication date: