Video: Smarter than the Filter: Finding the Research Article Among the Imposters

If you're looking for scholarly research articles, you may know to select the "Peer Review" filter in article databases. But this strategy will still return many types of articles published in peer-reviewed journals that are not original research articles. This video identifies and describes the most common of these "imposters" so you can find the research article you need.

• Transcript

  [MUSIC PLAYING] So you've got a research assignment, and you need to use five peer-reviewed research articles. Knowing what to do, you pull up your favorite library database, enter your search terms, and even click the Peer Review filter and ta-da. There it is-- the perfect article, right on your topic-- not too long, and written in accessible language. Job done. That was easy, but maybe too easy.

  The disappointing truth is that the Peer Review button is not the easy button of our academic dreams. There are many imposter articles that the search filter cannot detect. A little peek behind the scenes can help us understand what this Peer Review button can do and what it can't, and how those impostors are able to slip through the filter and end up in our results list.

  Your favorite database is a search engine for millions of articles, and each of these articles was just one of many published in that issue of its journal, magazine, or newspaper. Academic journals use the peer review process to screen and vet the research articles they publish. Magazines and newspapers do not.

  When you click Peer Review, the database will hide results from the publications that do not do peer review, and the results you are left with are typically academic journals. But these journals publish more than research articles. Similar to magazines or newspapers, scholarly journals contain an array of content, such as interviews, book reviews, and opinion pieces, in addition to research articles, which is what you're looking for.

  Sometimes these may look like a research article, when in reality, it is one of these other types of sources, or in this case, an impostor. So what is the real identity of these impostor articles? Here are a few common ones.

  Literature reviews are scholarly sources and peer-reviewed. However, these are summaries of scholarly research on a topic. In most cases, they are not considered an original research study. Depending on the requirements of your assignment, these may or may not be allowed, so ask your professor.

  Book reviews-- these describe or critically analyze a book in relation to research already performed in the field. These are easier to recognize because they are very short and include basic information about the book, like the title, number of pages, and price.

  Editorials and opinion pieces-- these are opinion-based articles often written by the editor, contributors, or readers of a journal.

  Interviews or Q&A-- these are recorded conversations with someone who is usually an expert on a topic. All of these publications have a purpose in scholarly research, but are liable to be an imposter when you are searching for the research articles you need.

  So remember, the imposters are good enough to get past the Peer Review filter, but not you. For help identifying various sources in scholarly publications or finding research articles, ask a librarian.