Peer-Reviewed Sources

The most-respected scholarly journals are peer-reviewed, which means that experts in their field other than the author and editor check out each article before it can be published. It’s their responsibility to help guarantee that new material is presented in the context of what is already known, that the methods the researcher used are the right ones, and that the article contributes to the field.

For those reasons, peer-reviewed articles are more likely to be credible. Peer-reviewed journal articles are the official scholarly record, which means that if it’s an important development in research, it will probably turn up in a journal article eventually.

Here‘s a longer explanation of the peer review process, which concludes that it is good but not perfect.

Parts of a Scholarly Article

The articles you use for your assignments must also be relevant to your research question—not just credible. Reading specific parts of an article can help save you time as you decide whether an article is relevant.

How to Read a Journal Article

Scholarly history articles have four basic sections:

• Title – Scholarly article titles are usually descriptive and can help you decide if the content will be applicable to your topic.
• Abstract – The abstract functions like a summary of the article. It will provide an explanation of the article’s purpose, scope, and any research methods or results.
• Introduction – This section will go into detail about the main thesis, hypothesis, and importance of the research in the article.
• Headings – Review the section headings to help you decide which parts of the article you want to focus on reading.
• Results* – Find out the main findings of the author’s research.
• Conclusion – Before reading the entire article, it is helpful to know the results of the research or analysis to make reading easier.
• Read the Text – You can now review the full text of the article as a well-informed reader. Make notes, highlight, and look up any unfamiliar words or terminology.

Sources are cited throughout the article and a bibliography is included at the end.