Q. How do I find scholarly, refereed, or peer-reviewed articles?

Peer-reviewed articles can be found in peer-reviewed journals. Peer-reviewed journals (also known as academic, scholarly, or refereed) are a type of periodical written with the following characteristics: 

• written scholars in a particular field in order to move the discipline forward
• subjected to a process of review by other experts in that same field to judge whether the research, arguments, or conclusions drawn from the research are sound
• usually present results of original research
• usually written and signed by experts
• may include charts, graphs and tables, and may be written in complex language for other experts in the field
• usually appear in periodicals with titles that include the words “Journal” or “Quarterly”
• include a bibliography
• advertisements will be specific to the field in question. 

Peer-reviewed journals should not be confused with other periodicals like magazines or newspapers which are written by journalists for the general public. 

Databases

Peer-reviewed articles are available in many of the LSSC research databases. Go to Databases A-Z. Select a database and login. Then check the box that says peer-reviewed, academic, or refereed. Many of LSSC's databases contain peer-reviewed articles, but not all of them do. Read the information about the databases found by hovering over the "i" icon next to the database's name.

General Databases

The databases below contain thousands of articles on a wide range of topics.

• Academic Search Complete
• Academic OneFile
• JSTOR

Education Databases

The databases below contain articles on a wide range of topics in the field of education.

• Education Source
• Educator's Reference Complete
• ERIC

Health or Medicine Databases

The databases below contain articles on a wide range of topics in the fields of health, medicine, nursing, and allied health.

• Health & Wellness Resource Center
• Health Reference Center Academic
• CINAHL
• MEDLINE with Full Text

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a tool by Google that searches specifically for peer-reviewed and other scholarly sources. In many cases, accessing the retrieved sources is limited to subscribers or require a large fee. Do not pay for any scholarly sources. Instead, contact a librarian for assistance.

Google Scholar can be set up to search Lake-Sumter State College databases for articles. For instructions, consult the specific FAQ linked below.

Please contact one of our Librarians in person or through our Ask a Librarian if you have questions.