Guides: NSM 202: The Scientific Enterprise: Databases & Journals

What Does Peer Reviewed Mean?

An article is considered "peer-reviewed" if it has been reviewed by scholars and professionals within the field of study for the article. This process involves reviewing how the article was written and the research involved. The review process involves an extensive exchange between the review panel and the author(s), and the article can only be considered for publication in a scholarly journal once it has been approved.

Ask yourself the following questions about the article you are viewing to determine if it is peer-reviewed:

Does the article contain an abstract?
Does the article contain a full bibliography?
Are the author(s') credentials easily identified?
Does the journal contain little to no advertising?
Is the language of the article intended for an informed
audience?
Is the article lengthy?
Does the journal description include the words "peer-reviewed" or "editorial process"?

Finding Peer-Reviewed Articles

Many of our databases make the process of locating peer-reviewed information very easy for us by providing a "peer-reviewed" search filter on the search screen. This search filter is automatically selected in our EBSCO databases.

Peer-Reviewed Sources
Use this information sheet for criteria to look for in a peer-reviewed article.

A-Z Library Databases
View the A-Z list of over 100 library databases.

An important part of reading and understanding articles published in the popular press is knowing how to find advanced research on this particular topic. This involves search in Library Databases such as Academic Search Complete, MEDLINE, and BioOne for specific peer-reviewed articles related to the topic. Use scholarly articles to check the quality and validity of the information you are reading in popular press media and to explore further.

Scientific research published in scholarly journals are often referred to as Peer-Reviewed or Scholarly Articles. Our library databases can help you find this information!

Book Interlibrary Loan Request
Can't find the article or book you're looking for at Gordon? Fill out the Interlibrary Loan request form and we'll track the article or book down for you!

TIPS FOR SEARCHING IN LIBRARY DATABASES

Start the initial search process with 2-3 keywords. Review the results and pull out a handful articles that are most relevant to your topic. Scan those articles for additional keywords or terminology that you might use to expand your search. Using the example on the "Getting Started" tab we might use the following keywords: immunotherapy AND cancer AND checkpoint inhibitors.
Sort your search results by Date Newest so the most current information on a subject is at the top of your results.
Use the "Cited by" or "Cited References" features contained in many library databases to view a list of resources that have cited the particular article currently being viewed in their own work or are contained within the Reference list of the current article being viewed.
Do not limit your search to just one database. Instead look at a variety of databases both subject specific and interdisciplinary to make sure you are viewing the full scope of literature published on your topic.

BEST BET DATABASES
Start your search with these library databases!

Medline
Created by the United States National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE is an authoritative bibliographic database containing citations and abstracts for biomedical and health journals used by health care professionals, nurses, clinicians and researchers.
PubMed Central
A free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine.

OTHER HELPFUL DATABASES

OneFile: Environmental Studies and Policy
Search a subset of Gale Academic OneFile journals and Delmar reference titles covering environmental issues and policies, including diverse perspectives from the scientific community, governmental policy makers, as well as corporate interests.

Formerly called Environmental Studies and Policy Collection
OneFile: Health and Medicine
More than 2,500 full-text periodicals, reference books, pamphlets, and hundreds of videos demonstrating medical procedures and live surgeries. Includes nursing and allied health journals, as well as personal health information sources.

Formerly called Health Reference Center Academic
JSTOR
A collection of core scholarly journals, many going back to the first volume. Emphasis is on back issue coverage. JSTOR also has an extensive collection of primary sources.

1. Abstract

An abstract is a summary of the article and will show you what the article is about and how it will be written. If there are many complicated subject-specific words in the abstract, the article will be just as hard to read.

2. Read the Conclusion

This is where the author will repeat all of their ideas and their findings. Some authors even use this section to compare their study to others and future questions to explore.

3. Read the Introduction

This is where the author will lay out their plan for the article and describe the background research that already exists about the topic.

4. Read the First Sentence of Every Paragraph

These are called topic sentences, and will usually introduce the idea for the paragraph that follows. You can make sure that the paragraph has information relevant to your topic.

5. Read the Entire Article

Now you can read the rest of the article that is relevant to your research.

Journals

Jenks Library has many journals available in print and online related to topics in vaccination, gene therapy, immunology, genomics, and more. Use BrowZine to browse for available Biological Science journals.