Many times in classes you will be asked to locate ‘scholarly sources.’ This can mean many different things to different disciplines. In the context of this sources, you will be asked to locate and use peer reviewed materials. So, what is peer review?

Broadly speaking, peer reviewed articles are evaluated by practitioners or scholars in the same field as the author. In practice, peer review is a process as much as it is a signifier; peer reviewed articles undergo rigorous vetting by experts in a discipline or subdiscipline over the course of months or years.

Peer review is not infallible; articles can be retracted after publication, but the remain the most reputable of sources.

So, where can you find peer reviewed resources at MHC?

Start at the LITS Homepage and navigate to the E-Resources A-Z Page, your gateway to peer reviewed resources at MHC.

There are two primary databases that index peer reviewed articles in the sciences:

Yes, you can use Google Scholar in your research. Yes, you will find peer reviewed articles in your Google Scholar searches, however, it does not provide the same curated experience that Science Direct and Web of Science do. When using Google Scholar, be sure to check your settings to ensure access to materials held in the Mount Holyoke College Library:

No matter where you search when undertaking research, DO NOT PAY FOR ARTICLES. Keep track of interesting citations and request them via interlibrary loan:

Participating in the scholarly conversation is exhilarating; with that privilege comes the responsibility of properly citing the articles, books, and papers you used to support your arguments. In this class, you will use the Ecological Society of America citation style. Here’s how to cite those materials:




Books
Brady, N. and R. Weil. 2002. The Nature and Properties of Soils. 13 edition. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
 
Book Sections
Bradshaw, A. D. 1987. Restoration: an acid test for ecology. Pages 25-29 in W. R.Jordan, M. E. Gilpin, and D. Aber, editors. Restoration ecology: a synthetic approach to ecological research. Cambridge University Press, New York.
 
Journal Articles
Burgin, A. J., P. M. Groffman, and D. N. Lewis. 2010. Factors Regulating Denitrificationin a Riparian Wetland. Soil Science Society of America Journal 74:1826.
 
In the text of the report, literature should be cited as (author date)."Nitrogen is an important nutrient for plant growth (Raven et al.2012)."
 
At the end of the report, list references in alphabetical order with the following format.Always indent the second line of the references.