Peer Review - what is it, and how do I find peer reviewed articles?

Newspapers:  Provide very current information about events, people, or places at the time they are published. However, due to journalistic standards of objectivity, news reporting will not always take a “big picture” approach or contain information about larger trends, instead opting to focus mainly on the facts relevant to the specifics of the story. 

Magazines: Articles are geared toward the general public and include those written on diverse topics of popular interest and current events. The articles are written by journalists or staff writers, have colorful photos and lots of ads. Most articles are short, ranging from 1-4 pages and do not have bibliographies or reference lists included. For more information about the difference between magazines and scholarly journals, see the "Scholarly vs. Popular" table under the  What Is Peer Review? tab above for more information.

Academic Journal Articles: EBSCO, one of the UAS database vendors, gives us a clear understanding of the difference between Academic Journals and Scholarly/Peer Reviewed journals:

• Academic Journals: EBSCO defines academic journals as journals that publish articles which carry footnotes and bibliographies, and whose intended audience is comprised of some kind of research community.  It is a broad classification that includes both "peer-reviewed" journals as well as journals that are not "peer-reviewed" but intended for an academic audience.
• Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals: Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals are journals that are intended for an academic audience and are peer-reviewed.

For an in-depth discussion of Peer Review, click on the tab above called "What is Peer Review?" and find out.

Thank you to the librarians at the Mildred E. Sawyer Library at Suffolk University Boston for agreeing to share the content of their Research Guide on this topic. Your help was invaluable!