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Understanding peer-review: Types of peer-reviewed articles

A quick guide about the peer-review process and how to find peer-reviewed sources.

Original research or empirical articles

Review articles

These articles are reports of original research and are considered primary sources of information. They present hypotheses or research questions, as well as objectives, a literature review to provide context and background information, and results. The format is based on a logical structure presented in distinct sections, usually in this sequence:

  • Introduction: development of the problem under investigation and statement of the purpose of the article;

  • Method: description of the procedures to conduct the investigation;

  • Results: report the findings;

  • Discussion and conclusion: summary, interpretation, and implications of the results.

  • References: list of works cited in the article

Methods

There is a wide variety of methods that can be used in original research, and several studies use a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. Here are some of the common methods seen in original articles:

Review articles are critical evaluations of materials that have been already published. They contain a summary, discussion, or assessment of works on a specific area, and will clarify a problem related to the topic under discussion. They are considered secondary sources of information.

Common types of review articles are:

More about how article identification