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Finding, Reading & Evaluating Scholarly Sources

This guide provides information on distinguishing scholarly articles from other type of articles, the different types of scholarly articles, how to find scholarly articles, and more

Finding Scholarly/ Peer Reviewed Articles in the Library

OneSearch in the TCSPP Library,  as well as most library databases, allow you to limit results to peer reviewed journals only. In OneSearch you can use the filter on the left after you perform a search:

You can also start your search using the Peer Reviewed tab in One Search.

In almost any library database, you can also check the "Limit to: Peer Reviewed" box, usually found under the main search box. Here's an example in ProQuest PsycINFO:

Another option if you want to confirm a journal is peer-reviewed is to search the Icon of a padlock Ulrichsweb periodicals directory for the title of the journal. If you see this icon icon of a referee jersey , the journal is refereed (peer-reviewed).You can find Ulrichsweb in the library under Databases A-Z

Finding Scholarly / Peer Reviewed Articles on the Web

Google Scholar is the easiest way to find scholarly and peer reviewed literature on the web.

Google Scholar  is search engine that provides links to full-text articles to which the University Library System subscribes or to articles made freely available by the publisher. Google Scholar also provides articles from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and scholarly articles posted on the web. In addition, many articles are available full text when connected to the TCSPP Library. Finally, Google Scholar provides citations along with abstracts of the article if it is protected by copyright.

 

Pros of using Google Scholar:

  • Ease of use; similar features of Google web search
  • Search by cited feature
  • Ranking of results
  • Citation information provided
  • Search vast array of information; technical reports, preprints, societal publications, conference proceedings
  • Full-text if available
  • Allows you to save both citations and articles to read later.

Cons of using Google Scholar

  • Full-text often not available 
  • Google Scholar's coverage is is wide-ranging but not comprehensive. It can be a research source, but should not be the only source you use.
  • Uneven coverage in social sciences, better for hard sciences
  • No limiter for just peer-reviewed publications
  • Few options to limit or narrow search results. For more search options, and more precise searching, use a library database.