Education (UNH Durham)

Scholarly (aka academic) articles are written by and for academics, researchers, and experts in the specific topic or broader subject area of the article.

Peer reviewed (aka refereed) articles are those which have been reviewed prior to publication by other experts in the topic of the article. Often reviewers are external (not members of the journal's editorial staff or board).

ERIC records indicate whether the article is from a journal or source that does peer review; see the Peer Reviewed field near the top of a record. Results can be filtered by peer review and/or Source Type: Academic Journals.

Check:

• the database record for the article, which sometimes indicates whether a journal uses peer review
• the journal website, especially under About Us or Information for Authors (Example)

Note: Not everything in a journal is peer reviewed; letters to the editor, book reviews, news items, and other short works without listed references are typically not peer reviewed the way more substantive articles are.

Reports original research or experimentation

• Empirical: uses data collected by the article's authors themselves or by others (for example, US Census data) (Example)

Critically surveys and analyzes the current state of published research on a particular topic; doesn't include original research

• Includes narrative literature reviews, systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-synthesis (Example)

Describes one or more theories, frameworks, models, etc. and tends not to include empirical data 

• May describe development of a theoretical approach, compare theories, or discuss issues surrounding a theory (Example)

Comments on or offers a perspective or opinion on a topic; doesn't require original research

• May appear as an article in a column, editorial, letter to the editor, etc. (Example)

Results in the library search box will indicate whether online access is available.

Click on the Find Full Text @ UNH link in the database record to see how to get a copy of the article: whether online, in print or from another library.

If the UNH Library doesn't have the article you want, request it through Interlibrary Loan.

Request PDF copies of articles and book chapters that the UNH Library owns in print or on microform. Requested documents will generally be available within two business days.