FW 315: Icthyology

Figuring out if information is peer-reviewed takes some thought. While there are always exceptions,  most peer reviewed articles have certain characteristics. Here are a few things to look for to help you evaluate the articles you find:
    * Where did you find the article?  It can be difficult to find peer reviewed materials using regular web search engines like Google.  You're more likely to find peer reviewed materials searching in the library's subscription databases .
    * Where was it published? In something with a title like "Journal of..." or in something more familiar, like USA Today or The Economist?  Familar, "popular" magazines and newspapers are not peer-reviewed.
    * What does it look like? While the format for peer reviewed articles varies somewhat in different disciplines, peer reviewed articles will almost always have many, many citations used throughout the article, with a long list of the sources cited at the end.  Articles published in science and social science fields will normally have specific, labelled sections like an abstract, an introduction, the methodology used, the results discovered, and a discussion and/or conclusion section.
    * Who wrote it? Peer reviewed articles are frequently written collaboratively, meaning they have more than one author.  Also, you should be able to find the authors' affiliation somewhere on the article, meaning the university or research institute where they work.  If there's no author given at all, it's definitely not peer reviewed.
If you ever have questions about whether or not an article has been peer reviewed, you can always ask your instructor or a librarian for help.