So your professor asked you to limit your research to peer-reviewed articles. What does this mean?
Generally speaking, the question of peer review most commonly arises when talking about the journal literature, but is also relevant for books as well. Peer review is the process by which research is assessed for quality, relevancy, and accuracy. In a peer-reviewed, or refereed journal, each manuscript submitted to the publisher is first reviewed (usually) anonymously by a group of experts - peers in the same field of study. These reviewers assess the quality of the research, the accuracy of the findings, and the relevancy of the research to the journal or profession.
Peer review is like quality control. You should be able to trust the scholarship of the research because the publication has been vetted by a group of experts.
All of the journal citation databases provided by the library include peer-reviewed journals. Not sure which journal database to use for your research? Need help limiting your search results to scholarly materials? We're here to help. Call or email the library for more information. To learn more about the search features of specific databases, see the library guide on that resource.
How do articles get peer reviewed? What role does peer review play in scholarly research and publication?
NCSU Libraries. (2014, April. 1). Peer review in three minutes [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOCQZ7QnoN0&t=1s