Evaluating Sources

What are Academic Papers?

• Written by experts
• Original research
• Reviewed by experts

Professors refer to academic papers as:

• Peer-reviewed Journals
• Scholarly Journals
• Refereed Journals

When newspapers cite academic papers, they usually call them study or research.

What does Peer-Reviewed mean?

Peer-Reviewed is an editing process used to assess the quality and accuracy of research articles. Since experts write academic papers, the people who review them are other experts.

How do I use SIFT to identify peer-reviewed journals?

Use the Investigate the source step to determine if an article is peer-reviewed.

Strategies you can use:

• Just Add Wikipedia: look for either the journal name or publisher on Wikipedia
• Control + F: Once you find the Wikipedia article use CTRL+F to find words like: peer-reviewed, scholarly, academic.