Q. What exactly is a peer reviewed article?

Peer-reviewed articles are published in journals that first send articles to be analyzed by external reviewers before they agree to publish them. These reviewers are experts in their field, and they verify that an article used appropriate research methods and sound analysis of results and generally can be trusted. Peer-reviewed journals differ from popular magazines, whose editors select articles based on popular appeal.

You may find this short video helpful, called "Peer Review in 3 Minutes" on YouTube: https://youtu.be/rOCQZ7QnoN0. The library also has a longer tutorial called, "What Sources Can I Use?", http://library.bloomu.edu/tutorial-2018/sources/ (7 minutes) that you may find helpful too. Let us know if you have additional questions through Ask Us.