Research 101: Understanding Peer Review

Peer Review Process

The chart pictured to the left is an example of what the peer review process can look like. The process itself is long and arduous, but results in high quality source material for research and studies.

First, writers submit their manuscript to the publishing journal or publishers for consideration.

Next, editors from the journal will send the manuscript to other scholars who work within a similar field as the writer. These scholars must also be qualified to review the manuscript. Most often, editors will send the manuscript to approximately three other scholars for review.

At this point, the editors will evaluate the reviews and decide to either accept or reject the manuscript. Often, the response will be a rejection or acceptance with contingent requirements that the author make revisions to the manuscript before publication. If this happens, the author must make revisions and then resubmit the manuscript for another round of reviews. Sometimes, the manuscript will be accepted at this point, but other times the manuscript may be sent back and then the author will need to resubmit the paper again. This process can occur multiple times, but will ensure that the information in the article or study is of the highest quality possible; since it has been reviewed (sometimes multiple times) by other scholars within the same or similar field of study.

However, because it is a scholarly work and has been reviewed so much, the language and writing can often be difficult to interpret. But don't worry, there is a simple way to read them and interpret the information they provide.

To understand how to read scholarly and peer reviewed articles, you must first understand the purpose of research. The purpose of research is to often find and then create new knowledge; to expand your own knowledge by reading what others have learned and discovered and then presenting to others your findings. Scholarly journals, and peer-reviewed within them are how knowledge is shared with others, even students like yourself. 

However, if you are inexperienced with research, you may find it intimidating, especially when you begin to look for resources to support your work. For many it can be hard to read these scholarly articles, whether it is due to the terminology used by the authors or the subject matter. It can be especially "dry and dull" reading, especially when you have multiple articles to go through and very little time to read them. But there is a simple way in which you can absorb the information from these sources, but first you should be aware of how most scholarly articles are structured.

Each scholarly article is usually broken into several parts: the abstract, the introduction, the body, the discussion, the conclusion, and finally the references/ bibliography.

Understanding what kind of information is found in each part can greatly assist in your research and understanding what is best to read and when. So, let's break down each section of the article in order and what kind of information you can find there:

• The Abstract- a brief summary of the whole article; including the main points and findings
• The Introduction-  the purpose of the study/ paper and the main question to be answered; basically, what is already known and what is to be found out.
  • Sometimes the Introduction can contain a Literature Review; which describes existing research on the topic that would frame how the author arrived at their question or topic.
• The Body- this is the "nitty- gritty" details about the study/ paper (this also happens to be where most people get lost, you can usually find the information you need for in other sections)
  • In the Body of the article you can often find the Methodology and the Results/ Data. The Methodology is how the research was performed; including subjects, testing conditions, controls, etc. The Results/ Data are the numbers and the outcome of the research; often presented visually with charts, graphs, and formulas.
• The Discussion- this is a kind of extended summary of the findings; it determines if the original thesis or question was proved or disproved or if anything unexpected arose during the research/ study
• The Conclusion- restates the findings and the results; meaning what was discovered and what further research needs to occur
• The References/ Bibliography- this, of course, is all of the previous research that the author used to formulate the study design and research questions; pretty much what has already been published on the topic. This is where you might be able to to find more research and resources on the topic.

No matter what type of scholarly article you find, most will follow this same type of structure. Understanding this structure can then help you locate the information you need without overloading yourself or burning out during research.

Now that we have covered the parts of a scholarly article, we will now take a look at a simple way to read these types of articles. Below is four simple steps to interpreting the information found within scholarly articles. If you follow these four steps, you will be able to gather the appropriate information that you can then use to support your own research and ideas:

1. Skim
2. Re-read
3. Interpret
4. Summarize

That's all, those are truly the four steps to reading difficult articles. We promise, though it seems unusually simple, that is all you really need to remember!

So, let's break it down...

1. Skim the article first.
   • Take a quick glance over the whole article, try and get the "big picture" by reading the title, keywords and abstract carefully. This will provide you with the major findings and why they matter. Don't worry about taking notes at this point, just focus on the headings and subheadings throughout the paper. Look at the publishing date as well, this could tell you if you need to find more relevant or current research for your topic. Be sure to make a mental note of any terms or parts of the article that you don't quite understand, so that you can do some further reading later.
2. Next, re-read the article, following the same process as step one.
   • However, this time, use your favorite active reading method; such as highlighting, writing notes in the margins (if you printed out the article), identifying the important concepts and make note of any words that you are unfamiliar with. By re-reading the article this way, you may find some new information that you didn't notice when you first skimmed it. This will also help you gain a better understanding of the article and it's information.
   • When re-reading try to ask yourself a few questions like:
     • What problem is the study trying to solve?
     • Are the findings well supported by evidence?
     • Are the findings unique and supported by other work in the field?
     • What was the sample size? Is it representative of the larger population?
     • Is the study repeatable?
     • What factors might affect the results?
   • Have you ever re-read a novel and were surprised by something you didn't catch the first time you read it? This is the same concept, just a bit smaller.
3. After you have re-read the article, try to interpret the information.
   • Examine any graphs and tables within the article carefully; try to interpret the data before reading any of the captions of the graphs and images. While you read the discussion and results, try to look for key issues and any new findings. Make sure that you have distinguished the main points of the article, if not go over the text again. You may have to read and re-read the article three or four times to fully understand the context and information, but don't worry or get discouraged by this. It's okay, the more you read it, the more you understand the information and the more you can effectively translate the information into your own writing. 
   • Want to know a secret for this step?
     • Give yourself time to read and re-read in order to absorb the information. Remember, research takes time, you're not going to be able to do it all in one go, you'll burn yourself out if you do. Take your time, space it all out if you have to. The best piece of advice that we, as you library staff, can give you is, if you have a hard time focusing or if you just find it hard in general; step away from it all and come back to it with fresh eyes and a clear mind. Trust us, give yourself breaks, clear your mind, then come back to it later refreshed; you'll find it easier to work with if you do.
4. The last step is to summarize it all.
   • Take notes while going through Steps 2 and 3; this helps improve your comprehension and helps you remember certain points. If you printed the article, highlight those key points, make notes in the margins, write out summaries on note cards or scrap paper. If you didn't print it out, use the comment or marker options found in many programs. This allows you to make notes on screen without changing the document.
   • Then you can use your notes to write out a summary of the article. This kind of summarizing allows you to paraphrase information without relying on the source material for details.
   • Be sure to make a note of quotes you want to use in your writing. Quotes can help emphasize your understanding or provide clarity on your topic while writing. Just make sure that you use quotes sparingly. You should only use quotes when you can't say a statement any better than the author did.
   • Make sure that you understand the information in the article before you start writing.
   • Don't feel discouraged, research is not meant to be easy, but just keep trying and eventually you will understand the information and then be able to effectively use it within your own writing and research!

If you follow these four steps to reading scholarly articles, you'll find it a bit easier to do research. You won't feel as overwhelmed with all the information or feel burnt out after reading a few articles. Remember to take your time, and go slow. Give yourself time to breathe and take breaks. Instructors often give you plenty of time to do research, so space it all out and don't try to do it all at once. 

And remember, research is all about learning something new, adding to an "academic conversation", and increasing your own understanding of topics. Research can be rewarding, all you have to do is give yourself time!

Now that you have a method, sometimes you may need to figure out when you need to read certain parts of a scholarly article.

That's right, we are going to give you a kind of cheat sheet to comprehending scholarly reading, so that you can get all of the information you need and still feel like you understood it.

When it comes to scholarly reading, keep these suggestions in mind for the types of readings you may encounter in your classes. These pertain more toward assigned article readings, rather than book readings, but the principle is still the same:

• For an Assigned Reading: read the Abstract, Introduction, Conclusion, Discussion, Results
• For an Essay Exam: read the Abstract, Introduction, Conclusion, Discussion, Results (read the article multiple times, so that you fully understand it)
• When Determining your Sources: just read the Abstract & Conclusion (you should be able to determine if it is a good source for your paper or not from these sections)
• When Finding your Citations: read the Abstract, Introduction, Conclusion, Discussion, Results (read article multiple times)
• When working on a Research Project/ Independent Study: read all parts; the Abstract, Introduction, Conclusion, Discussion, Results, Body, References (read article multiple times)

Do all of this and you'll have a much easier time conducting research during your college career. You will be able to comprehend the information and feel confident in your learning and research skills! Just remember to space it out over a few days to a week or so. You don't want to try and read a bunch of scholarly articles and write a paper over the course of a single day.