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Overwhelmed by the number of search results in GALILEO?
Try searching one of these subject-specific databases!
PE | English Language
PN | Literature (General)
PQ | French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Literature
PR | English Literature [British, Australian, Canadian, etc.]
PS | American Literature
PS | American Literature
PT | German, Dutch, Scandinavian, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, etc. Literature
PZ | Fiction and Juvenile Belles Lettres [Childrens', Young Adult, etc.]
"Peer review [is the] process whereby experts in a given field help judge the value of a relevant work or ideas that they were not part of creating. The primary function of peer review is gatekeeping--selecting the best from a pool of submissions. It also serves, however, as a source of constructive criticism, whereby expert feedback by peers can be taken into account to improve ideas, research proposals, and papers."
(Encyclopedia Britannica | "Peer Review")
Therefore, a scholarly (peer-reviewed) journal contains articles that have not only been written by experts in a particular field but have also been thoroughly reviewed, revised, and often reviewed (and revised) again by other experts in that same field until they've been accepted for publication. Through publication those scholarly (peer-reviewed) journal articles receive acknowledgement as now belonging to the knowledge-base for their specific fields of study.
For more detailed information, please see the table below, but scholarly (peer-reviewed) journals typically have the following features:
"GALILEO! GALILEO! GALILEO! GALILEO! GALILEO! Figaro! Magnifico!"
(Queen | "Bohemian Rhapsody")
After performing a search in GALILEO, make sure that you click on the checkbox to the left of the Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals option underneath Limit To on the left-hand side of the screen in order to filter out resources that haven't been peer-reviewed.
If you only want to search through resources that the TU Library currently has full text access to, make sure that you also click on the checkbox to the left of the Full Text option. Otherwise, some of the resources in your results list might be citations/abstracts that don't have the actual journal article attached to them.
And don't forget to get your citation(s) from GALILEO!
Google Scholar is another valuable option for researching scholarly (peer-reviewed) journal articles.
As your information literacy skills improve, you'll be better able to determine for yourself whether a resource that you come across has been peer reviewed or otherwise contains credible, worthwhile information--no matter how you might have stumbled upon it.
| Criteria | Scholarly Journal | Popular Magazine |
|---|---|---|
| Example |
 |
 |
| Content | In-depth, primary account of original findings written by the researcher(s); very specific information, with the goal of scholarly communication. | Secondary discussion of someone else's research; may include personal narrative or opinion; general information, purpose is to entertain or inform. |
| Author | Author's credentials are provided; usually a scholar or specialist with subject expertise. | Author is frequently a journalist paid to write articles, may or may not have subject expertise. |
| Audience | Scholars, researchers, and students. | General public; the interested non-specialist. |
| Language | Specialized terminology or jargon of the field; requires expertise in subject area. | Vocabulary in general usage; easily understandable to most readers. |
| Graphics | Graphs, charts, and tables; very few advertisements and photographs. | Graphs, charts and tables; lots of glossy advertisements and photographs. |
| Layout & Organization | Structured; includes the article abstract, goals and objectives, methodology, results (evidence), discussion, conclusion, and bibliography. | Informal; may include non-standard formatting. May not present supporting evidence or a conclusion. |
| Accountability | Articles are evaluated by peer-reviewers* or referees who are experts in the field; edited for content, format, and style. | Articles are evaluated by editorial staff, not experts in the field; edited for format and style. |
| References | Required. Quotes and facts are verifiable. | Rare. Little, if any, information about source materials is given. |
| Other Examples | Annals of Mathematics, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, History of Education Quarterly, Almost anything with Journal in the title. |
Time, Newsweek, The Nation, The Economist |
(Modified table from Tufts)
Moody, Eli. "Scholarly vs. Popular Periodicals." YouTube, uploaded by Vanderbilt University, 8 Sept. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysPDZGj3cRA.