Peer-reviewed articles, also known as scholarly or refereed articles:

• Are written by experts in the field.
• Are written for other researchers/scholars.
• Are reviewed by the scholar's peers to determine whether they are high-quality pieces of work.
• Use terms and language that are discipline-specific.
• Usually include in-text citations and a bibliography of cited sources.
• May include graphs, charts, etc., related to the topic.
• Are published by a professional organization or society, university, research center, or scholarly press.

They report original research projects that have been reviewed by other experts before they are accepted for publication, so you can reasonably be assured that they contain valid information. 

• They are usually fairly lengthy - most likely at least 7-10 pages
• The authors and their credentials should be identified, at least the company or university where the author is employed
• There is usually a list of References or Works Cited at the end of the paper, listing the sources that the authors used in their research

• Use a library database or the Library Search Box. 
  • Limit your search to only peer-reviewed or scholarly.
• Google Scholar is another option for searching for scholarly articles. 

Peer reviewed articles are found in scholarly journals.  The checklist below can help you determine if what you are looking at is peer reviewed or scholarly.

• Both kinds of journals and magazines can be useful sources of information.
• Popular magazines and newspapers are good for overviews, recent news, first-person accounts, and opinions about a topic.
• Scholarly journals, often called scientific or peer-reviewed journals, are good sources of actual studies or research conducted about a particular topic. They go through a process of review by experts, so the information is usually highly reliable.