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Undergraduate Nursing

Recommended nursing resources and services from the Dalhousie Libraries and beyond.

Key Health Sciences Databases

Other Useful Databases

What is Peer Reviewed Literature and Where to Find It?

What does "Peer reviewed" mean?

  • Peer reviewed literature is that which has been evaluated by scholars working in the field and found to meet an accepted standard of quality prior to publication. 

What does a peer reviewed paper look like?

  • Scholarly, peer reviewed articles typically have these characteristics
    • ​A structure that includes an introduction, methods, results, discussion/conclusion sections.
    • Citations and a bibliography
    • Author names, qualifications (degrees), affiliations (university where employed) and a statement on conflicts of interest, if any
  • ​The BEST, more authoritative source for whether or not a journal has peer reviewed content is the journal itself. Go directly to the journal's homepage. If you can't find the information, come to the Libraries for help.

Where to find peer reviewed sources?

  • Databases of scholarly research! Check the boxes above for suggestions. Some hold both peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed content, so you may have to use a filter (look for a check box). Come to the Libraries for help if needed!