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Science Research: Peer-Reviewed Articles

Guide for all science courses: biology, chemistry, environmental science, geology, oceanography, meteorology, and physics

Finding Peer-Reviewed Articles

What is peer-review?

Peer-review articles refers to academic articles that have been reviewed by two other experts in the same field. Academic articles are written by professional scholars, with the intended audience of other academics in their fields, as well as students in that field.

How can I find peer-reviewed articles?

Search for your topic in the library catalog. Then select "Peer-reviewed Journals" from the filters. Most academic databases also have a "Peer-Review" filter.

Screenshot of library catalog. The term "4-point bending test" is in the search box. An arrow points to the filters, where "Peer-reviewed Journals" is selected.

Analyzing Peer-Reviewed Articles

Analyzing Peer-Reviewed Articles.
About Peer-Reviewed Articles​. Peer-reviewed articles tend to be much longer than typical news or web articles. They are often up to 20-30 pages, or more. Break the article into parts, rather than reading start to finish. It is rare to find a relevant peer-reviewed article on the first try. Try to find a few articles before moving on to analysis.Research is a cycle. You may need to go back to searching. Try different search terms. Need help finding a peer-reviewed article? Ask a librarian for assistance!
An abstract summarizes the main points of the article. Read this first to ensure the article is relevant to your research.
If the abstract seems relevant, then read the Introduction and Conclusion. These sections will introduce the ideas and summarize the main findings of the article.
If the abstract, introduction, and conclusion seem relevant to the topic, read the full article in its entirety. ​ ​ Depending on your research question, some sections like Methodology or Results/Findings may be more relevant than others.
The References, Works Cited, or Bibliography page is a good place to look for more information on your topic, or if the article is close to the topic, but not quite the right fit. This is the research done by the authors of the article.
Retracing the author's research is an advanced search strategy is called citation chasing. Look for the next article by searching the article title at sunymaritime.edu/library. Or ask a librarian to help locate the article through Inter-Library Loan.

Finding and Using Peer-Reviewed Book Reviews

Finding and Using Peer-Reviewed Book Reviews
About Peer-Reviewed Book Reviews. Peer-reviewed book reviews appear in peer-reviewed journals within an academic discipline. ​ These are different than consumer book reviews that might appear on retail sites or in trade publications like Publisher's Weekly or Library Journal. ​ A peer-reviewed book review summarizes the main points of the author and offers a critical analysis of it. It can include limitations of the work, and context for how this work fits in with the rest of scholarship on the subject. ​ Need help finding a peer-reviewed book review? Ask a librarian for assistance!
Using Peer-Reviewed Book Reviews. A review is not a replacement for reading the text. However, they can be helpful for determining if a book is applicable to the research or not.​ Book reviews can be useful for building a literature review or annotated bibliography. ​ The author of the review is different than the author of the book. Carefully examine the review to attribute the thoughts to the correct person.
Peer-reviewed book reviews are denoted in the library catalog by the term "Review" and by the Peer-Reviewed icon.
Peer-reviewed book reviews can be searched in the library catalog by selected "Peer-reviewed Journals" under Availability and "Reviews" under Material Type.
Click on the "Available Online" link to access the review.
In this example, the citation for the book is at the top, and the author of the review is at the bottom. This placement may vary from journal to journal
A citation for the review is available from the library catalog. This is different than the citation for the book.

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