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Database Searching

An introduction to basic and advanced database searches

Peer Review in 3 Minutes

 

Peer Review in Three Minutes Courtesy of NCSU Libraries / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US                                                                                                   

Peer Reviewed Articles

Some journal articles are peer reviewed (also known as Refereed).  Peer reviewed articles carry more authority than other articles because their content has been reviewed by subject experts prior to publication.  Databases allow you to limit your search to peer reviewed materials, or as in the example below, by a refereed article.  By doing so, you assure that the resources you are using are reliable and acceptable for scholarly work.

 

In Gale's Health and Wellness Resource Center database just below the search box are options for limiting your search.  Instead of the term peer-reviewed, the term refereed publications is used.  Check refereed publications to limit your search to peer-reviewed materials.

 

You may not always have the option to limit your results to peer reviewed articles on the first screen.  You might need to do an advanced search or complete a search and then select peer reviewed on the results screen.

 

Image of advanced search page with arrows pointing to advanced search and peer reviewed options on the page.