Skip to Main Content

Communication Sciences & Disorders

Find journal articles, books, videos, maps and more on communication disorders, audiology, and speech-language pathology.

Educational Topics

Medical and Psychology Topics

Finding Journal Articles at MSU Guide

See our Journal Articles guide to learn more about finding articles for your research.

Anatomy of a Scholarly Article

What is a Peer-Reviewed Journal?

What is a “peer-reviewed” journal?

  • Submissions are usually reviewed by professionals, such as professors, research scientists, or other scholars
  • The scholarly professionals or “peers” have qualifications and interests similar to the authors
  • Acceptance for publication is usually selective
  • An editorial board may manage the journal, its contents, and the review process
  • The journal is often searchable in prominent indexes within the discipline

Common elements of a scholarly or “peer-reviewed” journal article

Abstract – What is this article about? The abstract is a concise summary.

Introduction – What is the key problem, issue, or question?

Method – How will the author investigate the problem? With a laboratory test? Or a survey? Or another type of study?

Results – Research findings, including observations, statistics, graphs, etc.

Discussion / Conclusion – What did the author learn? What did the study prove? What questions are still unanswered?

References – What other scholarly articles did the author consult when conducting this research and writing this article?

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
.