Library Resources for Writing Center Tutors: What is a Peer Reviewed Journal Article?

A search result for a peer reviewed academic journal article looks something like this. There will often be a graphic to the left of the entry that states so plainly. The title of the article is usually technical in nature. Below the title one can find the tell-tale signs of a peer reviewed journal article. Academic journals are typically identified by Volume and Issue number (as opposed to just a date). A volume constitutes a year worth of issues of the journal. So you will see (as in the entry above) "Vol. 54 Issue 2," or often "54(2)" or "54.2." Also note the page length. Scholarly articles are typically longer than magazine articles. The article above is "33p.," or 33 pages long. Good scholarly articles range from 10 to 40 pages in length. They are often accompanied by an abstract, or a summary of the article's argument or findings.