When you search the library databases, you will want to apply some criteria that will limit your results.  For example

• Limit by date

  • Limit to the most recent 5-10 years to find the most current research

• Limit by source type

  • In most databases you can select which source types appear in your results. Select "academic journals" or similar as your inclusion criterion, to eliminate other types of sources such as books or dissertations

• Limit by methodology

  • In PsycInfo database, you can select quantitative or qualitative as your inclusion criterion from the "Methodology" section

• Limit to “peer review” 

  • Some database allow you to select "peer review as your inclusion criterion. Check the peer review box to increase the chances of finding appropriate scholarly articles. Peer review is a type of quality control that's meant to improve the quality of articles published in a journal. Experts in the field read manuscripts before publication to verify that the research aligns with established discipline standards. 

  • Keep in mind that even within a peer reviewed journal, there can be different types of scholarly articles published. Using "peer reviewed" as an inclusion criterion is great, but that alone will not guarantee that your results will be research articles. Journals will be considered peer reviewed if the research articles they include undergo a peer review process, but there can be other non-research type articles in those journals as well. 

Types of scholarly articles 

• Research articles – original, empirical research studies
• Review articles– these critically evaluate existing studies – usually the phrase "literature review" will appear in the title or in the abstract. Review articles are great because they can lead you to relevant research articles (cited in their reference list).
• Book Reviews – can lead you to valuable sources but not appropriate to cite in most research papers.
• Editorials, Commentary – these are opinion pieces and not appropriate to cite in a research paper in most cases.
• Theoretical articles – not empirical, their purpose is to contribute to the theoretical foundations of specific fields of study. “Theoretical framework” or “theoretical model” may appear in the title or abstract.

How to identify a research article

• Look for the telltale signs of a research article, including the following sections:
  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Literature review
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • References
• In the title or abstract look for terms such as: empirical, experiment, research, study
• In the abstract or the methods section, look for a description of the study participants: population, sample, subjects
• In the abstract or methods section, look for a description of the study methodology and means of data collection and look out for words such as: qualitative, quantitative, randomized control, interviews, surveys, questionnaires, etc.