Peer Review Editorial Process

This short video (3:03 min) describes the Peer Review Process and was made at Wayne State University Libraries.  At the end of this video, the local system named Summon is described - at the NU Libraries NUSearch has similar function and features so give it a try!  

Graphic Summary of the Peer Review Process, the editorial process used by scholarly journals, scholarly books, and other types of scholarly sources.

Journalistic Editorial Process

Reputable journalists use the ethical principles described in the video below (2:55 min) when collecting evidence and writing news stories - whether distributed in print, online, podcast, or other format, whether in short or long format.  Video produced by the Ethical Journalism Network (UK).

Accuracy, Independence, Impartiality, Humanity, Accountability

To view captions click on the CC button at lower right of the video image (CC button is visibile when video is expanded to full screen).

The Information Cycle described above helps us understand how different types of sources can contribute to our knowledge.  News sources focus on presenting facts and confirm their facts by consulting sources - often people - who are involved or impacted.  Scholarly publications present the results of original research and carefully position themselves within ongoing scholarly conversations through extensive bibliographies of previously published sources.  Primary sources are best described by this quote from the Library of Congress (Getting Started with Primary Sources)

"Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects that were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts that retell, analyze, or interpret events, usually at a distance of time or place."

This Primary & Secondary Sources guide suggests that other subject disciplines, in addition to History, also have primary sources and provides examples.  What would be the "raw material" of research in Anthropology?  Or Literature (in any language)?  Or in one of the many Science fields?

When starting your research, working backwards through the types of sources illustrated in the Information Cycle can be extremely powerful.  Starting with Reference Works can help by building your knowledge of of a topic or event by discussing specific concepts, events, people, organizations, and dates, as well as providing terminology used by experts to discuss the topic.  With this grounding you can often narrow a broad topic statement to a more specific research question.  Many reference sources also include bibliographies with each entry which can jump start your search for substantial and cite-able sources, often scholarly/peer-reviewed sources.

Page Guide
Start with Reference Works | Focus Question | Scholarly Works |
Popular Works | Who is Left Out? | Primary Sources | Activity

Start with Reference Works

EXAMPLE TOPIC:  Welfare reform implemented by the Clinton Administration in 1996 and mentioned in the speech by Elaine Brown (2007). 

Examine at least one of the following 4 entries found in reference works.  Can you identify one or more of the characteristics of information provided in  reference works named above that makes them useful when starting a research project?  Are there significant differences in how these entries address the topic?

1)  Haskins, Ron. "Welfare Reform Act of 1996." In The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History. : Oxford University Press, 2012. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199754618.001.0001/acref-9780199754618-e-0550.

OR

2)  Lens, Vicki. "Welfare Reform." In The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Business, Labor, and Economic History. : Oxford University Press, 2013. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199738816.001.0001/acref-9780199738816-e-559.

OR

3)  Bryner, Gary, and Ryan Martin. "Innovation in Social Policy: Evaluating State Efforts to Reform Welfare, Promote Work, and Help Low-Income Families." In Handbook of Families & Poverty,  edited by Crane, D. Russell., and Tim B. Heaton, 2-21. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2008. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412976596.n1.

OR

4)  Schram, Sanford F. "Neoliberalizing the Welfare State: Marketizing Social Policy/Disciplining Clients." In The SAGE Handbook of Neoliberalism,  edited by Cahill, Damien, Melinda Cooper, and Martijn Konings, 308-22. 55 City Road, London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2018. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526416001.n25.

These entries were found searching the keywords 'welfare reform' using the following:

Sage Reference and Academic Books This link opens in a new window
An online collection of subject encyclopedias and handbooks covering a wide-variety of subjects in the social sciences. Particularly strong for handbook coverage.

Search for Scholarly Sources

In addition to gleaning citations from the bibliography of any reference entry you read, run keyword searches using more specific search terms in a subject database.  Look for the ARTICLES page on the subject guide most pertinent to your topic.  With interdisciplinary topics, there may be more than one relevant subject guide.  A few are linked here but ask for suggestions - or explore the subject listing of guides - to find others.

Search for Popular Sources

Depending upon your subject area and topic, News sources are often considered popular. [For some subject areas and topics, news sources may be primary sources - historical research is a prominent example.]  A wide variety of magazines, blogs, podcasts, and such are considered popular sources as their editorial process is much closer to that of journalists than to peer review.  Indicators of popular sources:

• Look to see who authored the article - journalists often have subject expertise (sports, economics, international events, etc.) but are their credentials prominent (degrees conferred indicating extensive study/training)
• Who do you imagine is the primary audience for a particular article?  Or the publication it appears in? 
  • This can be indicated by the type of language used (easily understood, everyday language vs. more technical or specialized language). 
  • If you can see the ads in the publication these are a terrific indicator of the primary audience for a publication as advertisers don't waste their money on ads in publications that won't reach their market!!
• What types of sources are cited to support the article content or argument?
• Are there other characteristics named on this chart which you can identify through this relatively superficial review of the search results? 
  • Of course, reading the entire article is the best process for evaluating its content and importance to your research - but we're working on some of the quick to identify indicators.

Who is Left Out?

While peer review is the gold standard for quality in academic/scholarly publishing, and journalists often maintain high ethical standards in the course of their reporting, all these systems are human and can lead to bias.  How can you adjust or incorporate other views among your search results?

Just a few examples of databases created to address such gaps / absences:

• Access World News - get out of the US-centric world view!  Also, many regional US newspapers are included which could help you get away from the big city perspective
• Alternative Press Index - search alternative, left, and radical journals, newspapers, and magazines
• Ethnic Newswatch - search community newspapers - "community" may be defined by race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual identity, etc.
• GenderWatch - search publications that focus on how gender impacts a broad spectrum of subject areas (both scholarly and popular publications included)

Primary Sources

Are primary sources going to be helpful to investigating your research question?

Newspapers, government reports, legislative debates, diaries, correspondence: these are just a few of the possible primary sources. Choosing among - seeking out any of these - will be dependent upon your research question and the scope of the work you doing.  NU Libraries provides access to many databases of digitized primary source material which may be appropriate for your research.  Finding primary sources at other institutions may also be necessary.  But start here first and consult with a faculty advisor and your subject librarian!!

Explore this page linking to Primary Source databases relevant to Gender & Sexuality Studies.

ACTIVITY

Elaine Brown mentioned many other topics in her speech in addition to welfare reform of the Clinton Administration.  Her position with the Black Panther Party and its role in social change.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and his role in the civil rights movement of the 1950s-60s as well as his tragic assassination.  The "three-strikes" criminal sentencing reforms, also during the Clinton presidency.

1. Using one of the reference works collections linked above, can you locate useful entries pertinent to one of these issues?
2. Using the FIND ARTICLES tab on one of the subject guides linked above, select a subject database to search for scholarly/peer reviewed articles

• Is there a mix of source types in the database you chose?  Can you tell which of your search results in that database are scholarly, vs. popular, articles?