For many of your assignments, you will be expected to use articles from peer reviewed, scholarly journals. Scholarly articles are written by researchers or experts in the field in order to share the results of their original research or analysis with other researchers and students.
Peer reviewed articles are scholarly articles which have been reviewed and accepted by other experts in the field prior to being published. They are the most credible sources you can find and contain verifiable sources for the facts, ideas, and methodology presented in the article. The level of authority and credibility of the research in a scholarly, peer reviewed article improves the quality of your paper or research project. They are thoroughly researched, and you can often use the reference list at the end of an article to find other useful sources. You can limit your search to peer reviewed articles in the databases as well as in OneSearch.
Many journal databases allow you to limit your search to articles in peer reviewed journals. When searching for articles using OneSearch, you will often be provided with peer-reviewed information on the article as well.
Original Research - The most common type of journal manuscript used to publish full reports of data from research. It may be called an Original Article, Research Article, Research, or just Article, depending on the journal. It includes full Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion sections.
Review Articles - Provide a comprehensive summary of research on a certain topic, and a perspective on the state of the field and where it is heading. They are often written by leaders in a particular discipline after invitation from the editors of a journal. Reviews are often widely read (for example, by researchers looking for a full introduction to a field) and highly cited. Reviews commonly cite approximately 100 primary research articles.
Case Studies - These articles report specific instances of interesting phenomena. Often used in medicine to report the occurrence of previously unknown or emerging pathologies.
Short reports or Letters - Communicate brief reports of data from original research that editors believe will be interesting to many researchers, and that will likely stimulate further research in the field. As they are relatively short and useful for scientists with results that are time sensitive. This format often has strict length limits, so some experimental details may not be published until the authors write a full Original Research manuscript. These papers are also sometimes called Brief communications.
Methodologies or Methods - Present a new experimental method, test or procedure. The method described may either be completely new, or may offer a better version of an existing method. The article should describe a demonstrable advance on what is currently available.
From:Types of journal articles. (2021). Springer.com. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
See the video below for an overview of different types of scholarly articles from Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries.