Research Guides: English for Academic Purposes: Zhang (Fall 2025) Gaze Into Space

Video Module: Source Genres

Source Genres Slide Deck
Slides for this presentation, with transcript in slide notes.
Activity
Complete this module after watching the video "Source Genres".

Background Information

Credo Reference
Online collection of dictionaries, encyclopedias, biographical sources, quotations, bilingual dictionaries, and measurement conversions covering topics from the arts to the sciences.
CQ Press Electronic Library
CQ Press Electronic Library (CQEL) is a reference resource for research in American government, politics, history, public policy, and current affairs. Titles included are: CQ Almanac, Congress and the Nation, Guide to Congress, Guide to U.S. Elections, Guide to the Supreme Court, Guide to Political Campaigns in America, Guide to the Presidency, Historic Documents Series, Political Handbook of the World, Politics in America, Supreme Court Yearbook, Vital Statistics on American Politics and Washington Information Directory.
Oxford Reference Online
Provides full-text access to dictionaries, language reference, Islamic studies and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press.

Searching Tips

Peer Reviewed

If a journal is peer reviewed (or refereed) or scholarly, its contents are reviewed and selected by a panel of experts (an authors' peers or recognized researchers in the field) . If the article meets strict guidelines, it may be accepted for publication. Peer reviewed journals hold more credibility and weight in academic circles than material taken from popular magazines.

How to Check if a Journal is Peer-Reviewed

To find out if a journal is peer-reviewed, try the following:

Journal's Website
Go to the journal's website and look for a link to information about the journal, instructions for authors, or submitting an article, where you will find information about the peer review process at the journal.
Ulrichsweb is an easy to search source of detailed information on more than 300,000 journals of all types: academic and scholarly journals, e-journals, peer-reviewed titles, popular magazines, newspapers, newsletters. Enter the title of the journal.

[Ulrichsweb likes to have the exact title - no shortcuts. Otherwise it may not locate the journal correctly].

Note the 'Refereed' symbol.

Hint: A common mistake is to think that Ulrichsweb will provide you with the articles from the journal. This is not the case! It is a great resource letting you know all about the journal, but not the contents of the journal.

Find Peer-Reviewed Articles in Databases

Most databases allow you to limit to peer reviewed, either by selecting an option before searching, or from the results screen.

For example, EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) allows users to limit to peer reviewed/scholarly articles from the result screen. It is said all journals indexed in the Web of Science, ScienceDirect are scholarly and peer-reviewed!

English for Academic Purposes