Scholarly vs Popular Sources: The Basics
Popular sources, such as newspapers, news sites, and magazines, are written by journalists or others for general readers. Examples include Time Magazine, CNN, New York Times, and Politico.
Scholarly, or academic, sources are written for the academic community, including experts and students, on topics that are based on research. Examples include AJN: American Journal of Nursing, International Journal of Exercise Science, and Early Childhood Education Journal.
Click on the Peer-Reviewed Articles tab to learn about a specific type of scholarly sources.
If you use the Library Search box, a tool that allows you to search a majority of the library's physical and electronic resources using one simple search box, just click in the box next to Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) to limit to scholarly sources!
Peer-reviewed journals are scholarly journals that publish articles only after they have passed through a strict review process.
When an author submits an article to a peer-reviewed journal, the journal editors send it out to other experts in the same field (the author's peers) to get their opinion on the quality of the research and methodology.
You can search for articles from peer-reviewed journals in many library databases.
If you use the Library Search box, a tool that allows you to search a majority of the library's physical and electronic resources using one simple search box, just click in the box next to Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed).
In the ProQuest databases, the Peer reviewed option is below the search box.