KH4350: Professional Development(Fall 2022)

What is peer-reviewed?

• For academic journals, peer review means that it was written and reviewed by experts before being published. This helps ensure the quality of the article.

What is an empirical article?

• This means that the authors of the article are the ones who conducted the study, and they are reporting on the study that they conducted.
• You will always see a methodology section which is usually but not always labeled as such. The methodology section will detail how the study was done. A good empirical article will give you enough detail that you could do the same study in the same way if you wanted to replicate it.

A literature review is not empirical

• You've probably done a book review at some point in your life. A literature review is also a review, but instead of reviewing one book, a literature review covers a lot of different articles in one paper.  In many disciplines the articles being reviewed are empirical. So, even though the literature review is not empirical, it can sometimes help you find empirical articles. Don't forget to look over the reference list at the end to get a sense of this.
• A systematic review is an exception. A systematic review is not human subject research, but it is research about studies in the field and is considered empirical. If the review is systematic, it will say so, and it will have a methodology section. 

Use a library database with a filter/checkbox for peer reviewed/scholarly.

OR

Check the journal's website. You'll sometimes see it under About or under Author Guidelines.