HHP242 - Searching for peer-reviewed articles

 

by Tina Hovekamp

 

I. Making the distinction between magazines vs journals

 

  vs.

 

Popular magazines and scholarly journals have different purposes and different audiences.

In case you are confused about the distinction between magazines versus journals, here are some clues you can use to determine the type of a publication you are dealing with:

Popular Magazine                                                           Scholarly Journals

geared to laymen, nonprofessionals                            geared to researchers, professionals

articles written by staff, sometimes unsigned              articles written by researchers and experts

discuss current events, issues of general interest        report primary research results

no bibliographies at the end of articles                         bibliographies at the end of articles

advertisements                                                          no advertisements

color pictures                                                             statistical tables, diagrams

 

II. Making the distinction between original research vs report/review articles

bluesquare.gif (59 bytes)   Original research articles include operational methodology, which means a procedure reported in enough detail to be followed like a recipe by other researches, and an analysis and discussion of data gathered by the researcher(s)/author(s) of the articles.  Original research articles nearly always follow a standard format which includes:

Abstract
Introduction or Literature Review

Methods

Results

Discussion/Conclusion
Bibliography/References

bluesquare.gif (59 bytes)   Review/report articles are different from original research articles, providing overviews or reports on different topics and synthesizing information gathered from other, sometimes original research sources.  Although these articles may be considered "research" articles, they are however reports based on other scientists' original publications .

 

Now compare example 1 vs. example 2

III. Locating articles

Go to the COCC Library web page.  Under Articles & more selecte either a subject area or  click on "All databases."  Some of the databases you may want to use are Academic Search Premier or Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. These databases provide  full text access to periodical articles (magazines and journals).

Database Search Hints

  • type in what you consider "key" words for your topic - the more words you type in,the more you restrict your results! 

  • use * to locate endings to words, if necessary - e.g. adolescen* will retrieve adolescence, adolescent, adolescents.

  • from the drop down menu select the "field" you want to search - e.g. Subject Terms

  • select the appropriate connectors, AND, OR, or NOT, from the next drop down menu.

  • Limit your search to "Scholarly Publications/Peer Reviewed."  You may also limit your results to to "Full Text", if you
    are interested in getting only those articles available full-text through this database.

        EXAMPLE:

  • full text articles may be e-mailed, downloaded, or printed from the screen.

  • other articles may be located in the COCC or may be ordered via inter-library loan.

 

Still having questions or need help?  Call me (Tina) at 383-7295 or email me at thovekamp@cocc.edu