Subject Guides: Research and Writing: Home

Finding Peer-Reviewed Sources

Some assignments will require that you use only "peer reviewed" or "refereed" sources. This means that the writing has been reviewed and vetted by others in the same occupation/research field.

There are several ways to see if a source is peer reviewed: look up the journal in which the article is published using Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory; or, go to the journal's website.

Some databases, including the library's catalogue, will allow you to limit your search results by Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals. Please be advised that this is not a perfect process, and some non-peer reviewed sources may still present themselves. It is up to you to double-check.

Search in Ulrich's to find out whether a journal is peer reviewed.

Library Tutorials

See our useful tutorials for help crafting a thesis statement, crafting a research topic, identifying key concepts & keywords, finding primary sources, how to cite, and more.

U of A Libraries Foundational Tutorials
These tutorials provide an overview of each step in the process of writing a paper including finding topic ideas, different types of information sources, locating and evaluating relevant information and citing appropriately to avoid plagiarism.

Thesis Help

Purdue OWL: Creating a Thesis Statement
See Purdue University's tips for writing a thesis statement, as well as examples.