Literature Reviews

Instructors will recommend you use scholarly journals because they are peer-reviewed. Peer-reviewed means other experts in the field have reviewed the article before publication in the journal.

You can find scholarly/peer-reviewed journals by searching the library's databases such as CINAHL, Ovid, PubMed, and Scopus. If you are looking for a specific journal you can search for it in the red box on the library home page.

Produced by experts or researchers in a specialized field or discipline.

• Purpose is to present new or unpublished research.
• Articles reviewed by experts for scholarly content or quality, or peer reviewed
• Written using formal language and structure: abstract, literature review, methodology, results, conclusion, possibly footnotes, endnotes and/or bibliography.
• May include tables or graphs to support research.

Designed for a broad segment of the population

• Articles written in informal tone and often unsigned
• Usually read for entertainment or to keep up with current events
• May have a bright cover with glossy pictures
• Lots of advertising

Provides information of use to a particular industry.

• Articles are not peer reviewed
• May have a bright cover
• No specific format
• Articles sometimes unsigned
• Advertising is used to appeal to those in the field