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NUR 3450 Mental Health Nursing

What are scholarly articles?

Scholarly or academic articles are written by and for a knowledgeable audience. Scholarly articles aim to be evidence-based, ethical, and nonbiased.

What does that actually look for an individual article?
  • Published by an academic journal--not a newspaper or popular magazine.
  • Written by academics, professors and experts. The author’s credentials are usually provided.
  • Peer reviewed. Scholarly journals only publish articles after they have gone through a peer-review process where other experts in the field confirm the accuracy of the research methodology and findings.
  • Use formal language, field-specific jargon, and advanced vocabulary
  • Include citations and references as evidence for claims made
  • No advertisements and few images
  • Often include data, charts, and graphs
  • Often found in library databases such as Academic Search Complete, PsycINFO, and ERIC

Click here for more information

Finding Peer Reviewed Articles

Scholarly or academic articles are peer-reviewed.

Peer-reviewed articles have gone through a rigorous screening and editing process that confirms the research meets certain standards.

You can find peer-reviewed articles in library databases in a number of ways, depending on the place you are searching. Look for the option to check a box before or after searching to filter to only peer-reviewed sources. 

Showing Peer-reviewed filter option in Spartan SearchPeer reviewed check box beneath ProQuest database search boxesPeer reviewed check box in EBSCO search results

When you are looking at an article in Spartan Search, the library's system to search across all databases, you will see a badge identifying the article if it is from a peer-reviewed journal. In other search results you can check if an article is peer reviewed by looking in the article's details or clicking on the journal title to learn more.

Spartan Search result. Says Peer Reviewed under article details.

If you aren't sure whether an article is peer reviewed, you can:

  • look up the journal information
  • find it in Spartan Search
  • ask a librarian

Note: Not every article published in a peer-reviewed journal will be a scholarly article. It could be a review of a book, an informational article, or something else entirely. Learn more about how to identify a scholarly article.