Q. What are peer-reviewed articles? How do I find them?

Peer-reviewed articles (also called scholarly or academic journal articles) are articles which have been reviewed by a board of editors. These editorial boards are comprised of experts from their respective fields. More information on peer-reviewed articles can be found in our Research 101 guide.

Peer-reviewed articles generally have the following characteristics:

• authors are subject experts or researchers
• articles are usually long and written with subject-specific or technical language
• articles often include charts, graphs, or statistics
• topic targets a specific audience; usually other scholars in the field
• sources are cited in footnotes or lengthy bibliographies
• articles report on a study, research, or experimentation
• before chosen to publish, articles are peer-reviewed by an editorial board or other scholars in the field
• journals are published by a professional organization

How to access peer-reviewed articles:

1. Start at the library website: https://www.elac.edu/Explore/Library
2. Click on “Find Articles” then “Databases”
3. Using the “All Database Types” drop-down, select “Academic and Scholarly”
4. Select a database based on your research subject.
5. Login using your ACE account to access the database off-campus.
6. Type in your research subject or topic in the database and select "Search."
7. Make sure your article is labeled as an "academic journal," "peer-reviewed," or "scholarly."

The most commonly used databases with peer-reviewed articles include:

• EBSCO
• JSTOR
• ProQuest

Using the links provided will send you through the ELAC proxy, where you will login with your ACE account.

Library Database Username & Password (ACE):

• Username: Your username is the same as the Student ID number which starts with 88 or 90 and is a 9-digit number. For example, a student named John M. Smith with student ID number 881234567 and born on January 8, 19##, would have the following account information: Username: 881234567
• Password: Your password starts with "Elac" and is followed by the month and day of your birthday using this format ElacMMDD. Note that the "E" must be capitalized. In the example above, the student has a birthday of January 8 so their password would be: Password: Elac0108
• Note: Access is only for currently-enrolled ELAC students and faculty. If you're having trouble logging in, please review the student ACE account page and contact IT