PS 3001 / PS 6550: Research Methods in Political Science: Tutorials for Using MTSU Library

Scholarly peer reviewed articles are included in many library databases. Use a research guide to find the best database for your subject or use the Scholarly Articles tab in the JEWL search box on the library homepage. You can also use the library's Databases A-Z tool to find a list of library databases by subject or discipline. Here is a sample search using the JEWL Search Scholarly Articles tab on the library home page. 

Please note:  There are many academic and scholarly journals that do not contain peer-reviewed articles.  Using the scholarly articles filter will give you a list of academic journal articles that are peer-reviewed and non-peer reviewed.  You must do the extra step of researching your specific journal to determine if it's peer-reviewed. 

1. Enter your keywords/topics. 

2. On the search results page, use the filters underneath the search bar at the top of the screen to limit your results:

• Select "Scholarly/Peer Reviewed/Academic"
• Select "Online (Full Text)" to view results from the online databases with full-text links to the article PDFs.  
• An optional "Publication Time" limit is also available. If the date options here don't match your need, open the "All filters" option on the left to see more date limits.

3. Every article in your search results will not necessarily be a primary research article. Read the article abstract and skim the article's section headings to determine if this is a primary research article.

The main purpose of a scholarly journal is to report on original research or experimentation in order to make such information available to the rest of the scholarly world.  Researchers continually add to scholarly conversations by answering new questions or challenging previous conclusions.

Common Characteristics:

• written by and for specialists or researchers in a particular discipline.
• usually narrow in focus with a detailed analysis of a topic.
• often contains original research or new findings.
• contains cited references.
• usually (but not always) peer reviewed. Peer reviewed articles go through a strict evaluation and approval process before they're published. Sometimes they are also called refereed or juried articles.

Note: Peer reviewed articles are not limited to science. All academic fields use a peer review process to ensure quality and accuracy.

Learn how to find a primary research article using our JEWL Search (length 2:18).

Learn about using Google Scholar to find sources for assignments, and also how to set up library links so you don't have to pay for articles.

Watch at YouTube (02:06)