Published Research FAQ

The terms are essentially interchangeable, except that peer-reviewed articles have gone through a professional review process. Scholars publish articles that do not require peer review or validation. More often than not, the terms refer to the editorial process involved in verifying the research described in the article.

Research in medicine, science, criminal justice, business, and economics is published in peer reviewed journals. Academics live by the rule “publish or perish”; publication is often a requirement to keep their jobs.

Once a researcher submits a paper for publication, the journal editor forwards the work to an advisory board of professionals in that field.  If the advisors approve the research methods and discussion of results, the paper is published.  The peer review process may take several months to a year, but this is still considered current research.

Peer review and peer critique is also a teaching method whereby you contribute feedback to classmates on their works in progress.  It is modeled after the editorial process, although it is more concerned with revision than with verification of research findings.

Scholarly content is being published online; this can be difficult to verify for purposes for some resources or assignments. Journals and organizations are moving towards the online, open content model, but this is not consistent across industries.

If you think you have a published research article from an online journal and you need a second opinion, contact your instructor or ask a librarian (jdemack@westwood.edu).

When the assignment requires scholarly or peer-reviewed journals, you may use one of the Westwood Online Library databases listed below. Reach the database links through any course via Student Resources > Westwood Online Library.

Once you identify the layout of a published article, they are quite easy to read. Research articles follow the publication style of the American Psychological Association (APA), which has a quite rigorous system for preparing documents. While each study may have variables, here are the most common sections of a research article and their purpose:

• Abstract. The purpose of an abstract is to present a brief synopsis of the entire article for quick scanning. It would include every point, including findings and conclusions.
• Introduction. The introduction may serve a variety of purposes, but it would certainly set out a statement of the problem, the author’s hypothesis or research question. The hypothesis may be in its own section.
• Literature Review. A very high-level overview of published research, the purpose of a literature review is to demonstrate the author’s credibility through research into scholarly content in this field. This is written for peers and may be difficult to read. On the other hand, this is a great place to identify other experts on your topic.
• Methods. The research design section details how the researcher intended to prove, back-up or test the theory, hypothesis or claim. It would include information about the sample, units of analysis and the nuts and bolts of the experiment; this disclosure helps to ensure integrity in the research process.
• Results. What the researcher actually collected or gathered may be eye-opening. It may include a statement on the reliability or validity of results. Response rate is a good example; a researcher may say that 1,000 questionnaires were mailed, and 499 were returned, netting a response rate of just less than 50%.
• Discussion / Conclusions. This is the section that will be most useful, interesting and readable. The researcher would circle back to the hypothesis and describe what was learned, proven or tested. Additional areas for study might be indicated as well as other lessons learned.
• References. Complete citations to all sources in APA format.
• Appendices. (optional) This can vary from a survey form used to gather data to tables illustrating data.

Next: How do I use information from a research article in my essay or project?

Published Research FAQ, Westwood College Library, 7/24/09