Monday, September 19, 2016

Video: What is a peer reviewed article?

Click on the following link to view a narrated PowerPoint presentation on what "peer review" is, what a peer-reviewed journal might include in its content, and what a peer-reviewed article looks like.

Tutorial Link: http://www.screencast.com/t/E9zqSVBqtOd (Click on the "Play" arrow to start the video.)

You need headphones to hear the audio or click on the "cc" button to view the closed captions. You can also click on the forward arrow to skip to the next slide when necessary. Adobe Flash player is required.

Related post: Video: Finding Peer Reviewed Articles in EBSCOhost.
Related post: Parts of a Journal Article



Peer-Reviewed Article Checklist

Other useful postings:

Checklist - Here are some things to look for when attempting to determine if an article you have found is peer-reviewed:

  1. If you used EBSCOhost did you limit your search to "Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals?" If you used ProQuest, did you limit your search to "Scholarly journals, including peer-reviewed?"
  2. Does it have more than one author listed? Although some peer-reviewed articles may have a single author it is more common for there to be multiple authors - original research takes a lot of workers!
  3. Are the authors' affiliations provided at the beginning or end of the article? Their affiliation is where they work, typically a University or research institution.
  4. Is the article more than 2 pages in length? You may find some peer-reviewed articles that are 3-5 pages, but it is not uncommon for them to be much longer.
  5. Does the article include an abstract written by the authors? This should appear at the beginning.
  6. Does the abstract include indicator words such as “the present study …. examined …measured … identified ...results indicated?” All of these tell you that this is a report on original research.
  7. If you open the article does it have sections for an introduction, methods, results, discussion?
  8. Are there illustrations? Research results are frequently reported with charts, graphs, tables, drawings and photographs of specimens.
  9. At the end or the beginning, does it include the dates when the article was submitted and accepted for publication?
  10. Are there lots of references at the end of the article? It is not uncommon for peer-reviewed articles to have several pages of references.

Video: Finding Peer Reviewed Articles in EBSCOhost

Purpose: This demo shows you how to search for peer reviewed articles in EBSCOhost's Academic Search Premier database.
Length: 5 minutes
File format: Video (mp4) -13.5MB (Needs Adobe Flash Player)
Required: Headphones or speakers to hear the audio
Related post: Video: What is a peer reviewed article?.
Related Post: Parts of a Journal Article

Start the video below and click the button in the lower right corner to view in full size.






y.y.

Types of Periodicals


Types of Periodicals
Finding More Information about a Specific Periodical/Source Title
Example 1:
  • If the title is available through EBSCO, look at the publication page. Psychology & health (You will see that this is a peer-reviewed academic journal published bimonthly by a UK publisher.)
  • To find more information about the title, you can click on the "Publisher URL" link or search the internet and find the homepage of this title. (You may find out that actually this journal is published 12 times a year now. EBSCO's record reflects the journal's old frequency. It is the Official Journal of the European Health Psychology Society and is indexed in Medline. You can also find more about the aim & scope as well as its peer-review policies.)
Example 2:
  • Another example is Psychology & Marketing. You can find this title using CBC Journal Finder.
    • Clicking the link to the database name "ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry" will lead you to the "Publication Information" page of this journal in ProQuest.
  • Click on "show all" and then the publisher "website" URL to go to the journal homepage, where you can find the "About this Journal" section on the lower left side menu.
  • Click on the "Overview" link and you will find the Aims & Scope, etc. of this title.

For more information:
  • IRIS Tutorial: Types of Periodicals (A tutorial for W.A. Community College students.)
  • Minute Module: What's A Journal?
    This is a two-minute tutorial created by the Pennsylvania State University library which "explains the fundamental differences between journal, magazines, and newspapers, including what's being written and who's writing it." Click on the above link to go to PSU library's web page and double-click on "What's A Journal" to start the module.

updated 10/17/2012  y.y.

links updated 5/21/2013 cs

Parts of a Journal Article

Parts of a Research/Scholarly Journal Article - APA Style
Adapted from Chapter 2, section 1-13 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th Edition
Journal articles usually are reports of empirical studies, review articles, or theoretical articles. Reports of empirical studies are reports of origina/primary research. Sometimes they appear in the "Research", or "Original Articles", or "Research Articles" section of a journal. These articles typically have the following parts:
1. Title
A simple summary of the main idea of the paper. It should identify the main topic, the variables or theoretical issues under investigation and the relationship between them. (For example, the word "Outbound" would NOT be a title for a research journal article because it is not clear what the topic of the article is, but it may be a title for a magazine or newspaper article.)

2. Name of Author(s) and Institutional Affiliation
Affiliations tell you which institution(s)/organization(s) that the author(s) belong to and it is usually where the research was conducted. It is common to have multiple authors who have collaborated on the research and the writing of the paper.
3. AbstractA brief, non-evaluative, comprehensive summary of the contents of the article.
4. IntroductionUsually the introduction describes
  • What is the problem and how importance it is
  • What have other researchers found out about the problem before (review of the relevant literature)
  • What are the hypotheses and objectives of the study
  • What are the research design and how is the design influenced by the hopotheses
  • what are the theoretical and practical implications of the study
5. MethodDescribes in detail how the study was conducted. Enables the reader to evaluate the appropriateness of the methods used in the study and the reliability and validity of the results. Method usually includes the following subsections:
  • Participants
  • Materials
  • Procedure
6. ResultsSummarizes the data collected and the statistical treatment of the data. A brief statement of the main results or findings followed by a report in sufficient detail to jusfify the conclusions. It is common to find figures and tables in this section.
7. DiscussionEvaluates and interprets the implications of the results, espeically with respect to the original hypothesis. Includes a clear statement of the support or non-support for the original hypothesis.


8. References
Lists works cited in the text of the article. Intended to get credit to the work of previous researchers and document statements made about literature. (Note: This part is almost always included at the end of a research article.)

Examples of Research/Scientific Journal Articles
Example 1: Bréban, S., Chappard, C., Jaffré, C., & Benhamou, C.. (2010). Login to Proquest to construct this search: Hypoleptinaemia in extreme body mass models: The case of international rugby players. Journal