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Scholarly sources

Peer reviewed articles

How do I find peer reviewed articles?

Many search tools allow you to narrow your results to peer reviewed or scholarly articles. For example in the Library catalogue you can limit results by Peer-reviewed Journals.

How can I be sure an article is peer reviewed?

We recommend you use Ulrichsweb: Global Serials Directory. It is available from the Library's list of databases. Enter the name of the Journal your article is in into the search box. If the journal is peer reviewed you will see a refereed (peer reviewed) symbol next to the journal title.

Evaluating information

Edited books

Edited books contain chapters usually written by different authors who are experts in their field. They are considered scholarly and can be used in assignments but be aware of the date of statistics and other evidence used in them.

How to identify an edited book

An edited book displays the editor's name instead of an author's name on the front of the book and title page. Next to their name will be the words 'editor' or 'edited by'. A reference to an edited book will show the editor's name in the author field or after the title followed by 'ed' or 'edited by'.   For example:

Barnett, T, Bierbaum, N, Harrex, S, Hosking, R & Tulloch, G (eds) 2006, London was full of rooms, Lythrum Press, Adelaide.

Chapters from an edited book may have:

  • different authors some of which may be the editors
  • the authors name listed on the contents page or at the beginning of each chapter
  • no authors listed

If you use one chapter from an edited book the reference would look like this:

Abbott, S 2010, ‘High concept thrills and chills: the horror blockbuster’, in I Conrich (ed.), Horror zone: the cultural experience of contemporary horror cinema, I.B. Tauris, London, pp. 27–44.

Don't forget to check the referencing website to see how you reference an edited book.

Passing the CRAAP test

Click on the + symbol to learn more about evaluating the resources you find before you use them in your assignments.