TIP: Books found at the CSULB University Library or any other university library are considered scholarly. Most books found at a university library will not be found at a public library. These books have been reviewed and selected by a librarian as an acceptable scholarly source.
TIP: Edited books may have 5-10 articles written by different authors. You can use and cite just one book article or the whole book depending on how you use the source.
TIP: Journal articles are typically 10-30 pages long. CSULB journals are available primarily online only. Full-text, that is, a high resolution copy of the article in PDF is the most common format for online journal articles.
How do I find journal articles?
Use the research databases links on the Library home page or from the link "Find Articles / Databases" at the top of this page.
TIP: Most CSULB professors require students to use only peer-reviewed journal articles.
What's the difference between a journal and a peer-reviewed journal?
Scholarly journals often seek to ensure the quality of the articles they publish by requiring submissions to pass through a rigorous peer review process. This means that articles published in scholarly journals have been written by scholars and then evaluated and approved by colleagues in that field of study. The peer review pocess helps ensure that the writing and research meet the minimum standards for the publication and the profession.
How can I tell which are peer-reviewed journals?
Depends on the database you use to find the journal articles. Most databases will have a little box on the search screen that once checked will only retreive peer-reviewed sources.
