quick guide to peer review - accessibility document€¦ · web viewpeer reviewed articles are...

Monash University Library

Quick Guide to Peer Review

Use this document as an alternative to the online interactive tutorial

Table of ContentsQuick Guide to Peer Review............................................................................1

Screen 1 – Quick Guide to Peer Review......................................................2Screen 2 – Introduction.................................................................................3Screen 3 – Reasons to use peer reviewed articles.......................................4Screen 4 – Why use peer reviewed articles?................................................6Screen 5 – Where to find peer reviewed content..........................................7Screen 6 – Where to find peer reviewed content..........................................8Screen 7 – How to identify peer reviewed articles – Common features........9Screen 8 – How to identify peer reviewed articles – Structure....................13Screen 9 – How to identify peer reviewed articles – Example....................14Screen 10 – How to identify peer reviewed articles – Ulrichsweb...............15Screen 11 – Quick guide to peer review.....................................................16Screen 12 – Quick guide to peer review.....................................................17

Monash University, Clayton Campus, Wellington Road, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, AustraliaTelephone +61 3 9902 6000 Facsimile +61 3 9905 4007www.lib.monash.edu.au

File name: captivate-simulations-storyboard-template.dot 1


Screen 1 – Quick Guide to Peer Review

Image of text caption

Information caption: This tutorial provides a basic explanation of what peer review is, why it matters, and how to recognise peer reviewed sources.

The tutorial will take around 10 minutes to complete.

Instruction to user: Click NEXT to begin.




Screen 2 – Introduction

Image of a large question mark

Information caption: What is peer review?

In many academic fields, especially the sciences, you may be expected to refer to “peer reviewed” articles (sometimes called “refereed” articles) in your writing and research.

But what does it mean that an article is “peer reviewed”? Why does it matter?




Screen 3 – Reasons to use peer reviewed articles

Image of text caption and three buttons

Instruction to user: Why might you be expected to use peer reviewed articles in academic writing? Click to select:

There are three buttons below this caption which allow the user to select a response.

1. Peer reviewed articles are always up to date.

Feedback caption: Not necessarily.

Peer reviewed articles should be up-to-date when they’re published, but aren’t updated after that. Unless they were published very recently, they may not reflect the latest research.

It can also be difficult to find peer reviewed articles about recent events, as the peer review process can take months or even years!

2. Peer reviewed articles are more reliable than other sources.

Feedback caption: That’s right! Peer reviewed articles are considered more reliable than most sources of information, because they are evaluated by established researchers in the field before publication.




These reviewers consider the quality of the writing and the underlying research, as well as the impact the research will have on the field. Will it be useful, important or interesting to other researchers?

Image of three researchers deliberating:

3. Peer reviewed articles provide a lot of detail

Feedback caption: Peer reviewed articles are often very detailed, but this isn’t the main reason you’re expected to use them.




Screen 4 – Why use peer reviewed articles?

Image of an editor at a desk, with a large pile of rejected papers

Information caption: If the reviewers don’t think an article is good enough, they can suggest that the author make changes and resubmit it, or recommend the article be rejected entirely.

Prestigious publications can be very selective - some reject more than 90% of submissions! When an article is accepted, it’s usually after revisions suggested by the reviewers.




Screen 5 – Where to find peer reviewed content

Image of a text caption and several buttons

Instruction to user: Based on what we just learned, is content from these sources likely to be peer reviewed?

1. Newspapers2. Science magazines3. Documentaries4. Wikipedia

Next to each option there are buttons which allow the user to select “Yes” or “No”.

Answers:

Newspapers: No.Science magazines: No.Documentaries: No.Wikipedia: No.

Feedback caption: Content is not normally peer reviewed in any of these sources.




Screen 6 – Where to find peer reviewed content

Image of three text captions

Information caption: Content from newspapers, magazines, documentaries and Wikipedia isn’t normally peer reviewed. So where can you find peer reviewed articles?

Peer reviewed articles are usually found in “academic” or “scholarly” journals and conference proceedings.

You can find these sources using the Library’s Search tool and databases:

Search: http://monash.edu/library/searchDatabases A-Z: http://guides.lib.monash.edu/databases



http://guides.lib.monash.edu/databases

http://monash.edu/library/search


Screen 7 – How to identify peer reviewed articles – Common features

Image of six buttons and an area for additional information to be displayed

Information caption: Is there a way to tell if an article is peer reviewed or not?

Most peer reviewed articles follow certain conventions. If an article doesn’t meet most or all of these criteria, it’s probably not peer reviewed:

PurposeAuthorshipReferencesLanguageStructureContext

Each item displays additional information when clicked:

Purpose: Peer reviewed articles are written by researchers for the benefit of others in their field.

They are aimed at an expert audience, and seek to inform rather than to entertain or sell a product.




Image of three researchers side by side:

Authorship: Peer reviewed articles provide author details, including the author’s affiliation with a university or other research institution.

Image of an example article:

The image contains the following text:

"Impact of peer review on information accuracyJohn Smith, Monash UniversityClaire Claremont, University of Elsewhere"

The text is formatted to resemble a journal article. The names and universities of the authors are highlighted.

References: Peer reviewed articles use citations to support what they say, and include a reference list. The way citations are formatted varies between publications.

Image of an example citation and reference:




The image shows two sections of text. The first reads:

"...The major barriers to implementation have been identified as accurate implantation of the P ions (Johnson & Ng 2009)..."

The citation (Johnson & Ng 2009) is highlighted.

The second reads:

"References:Johnson, A & Ng, Y 2009 'Limits on P implantation in a silicon lattice', Journal of Hypothetical Studies, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 235-248."

All the words following "References:" are highlighted.

Language: Peer reviewed articles aim to be precise and objective. They use formal language and avoid terms which are vague, subjective, or irrelevant.

Image contrasting two sentences:

The image shows two sentences: "We saw dozens of cockies with beautiful plumage" versus "We observed 58 sulphur-crested cockatoos." Under each sentence are captions pointing to specific words.




In the first sentence, the word “dozens” is labelled “vague”, the word “cockies” labelled “informal”, and the words “beautiful plumage” labelled “subjective” and “irrelevant”.

In the second sentence, the number "58" is labelled "precise", and the words "sulphur-crested cockatoos" are labelled "formal".

Structure: Peer reviewed articles are usually divided into sections, with an abstract and a conclusion.

Image showing an article’s structure

The image shows article divided into sections. A caption points to the first section and reads "Abstract: Appears at the start of the article and provides a summary of the entire paper." Another caption points to a section near the end and reads "Conclusion: appears near the end of the article and sums up its findings."

Context: Think about whether something is likely to peer reviewed based on context and your own knowledge. Is it plausible that a post on someone’s personal blog was checked by eminent researchers before it was published?

Image showing a blog post




Screen 8 – How to identify peer reviewed articles – Structure

Image of an example article and accompanying caption

The article is two pages long. At the top of the first page is the title “Online learning and student engagement: a survey of Australian university graduates”. Beneath that are the names of the authors in smaller text. Beneath the authors is the body of the article in even smaller text. It is displayed in two columns, and the text is broken into sections with headings.

Information caption: This article is fictional, but has similar structure and appearance to a real journal article. Note how the text is divided into sections.

Journal articles may include tables, diagrams and other images in addition to text, and are usually several pages long.

Journal articles usually use plain fonts and formatting with minimal colour.




Screen 9 – How to identify peer reviewed articles – Example

Image shows text and several buttons

Instruction to user: We learned earlier that newspaper articles are not peer reviewed. How could you tell, based on the features we just described?

Below the question are buttons for each of the features, which display feedback when clicked:

PurposeFeedback caption: Newspapers are aimed at the general public, not at experts.

AuthorshipFeedback caption: Newspaper articles usually give the writer’s name, but no affiliation.

ReferencesFeedback caption: Newspapers rarely use citations or provide reference lists.

LanguageFeedback caption: Newspapers often use language which is informal, subjective, or imprecise.

StructureFeedback caption: Newspaper articles aren’t normally divided into sections.




ContextFeedback caption: Newspaper articles may be about events that happened yesterday. Is that enough time for them to be reviewed before publication?

Screen 10 – How to identify peer reviewed articles – Ulrichsweb

Image of the library’s databases page

Information caption: If you’re not sure…

You can check if a journal contains peer reviewed articles by looking it up in a directory called Ulrichsweb.

Ulrichsweb is available through the Library’s databases page and contains information about journals and other periodicals. Journals that include peer reviewed articles are marked as “refereed” in Ulrichsweb.

Databases A-Z: http://guides.lib.monash.edu/databases

Ulrichsweb is under “U”.





Screen 11 – Quick guide to peer reviewImage of summary caption

Information caption: This concludes the tutorial. In this activity, you have learned that:

Peer reviewed articles are considered more reliable than other sources of information, because they are evaluated by experts before publication

Peer reviewed articles are usually found in “academic” or “scholarly” journals

You can identify sources which are not peer reviewed by looking at their purpose, author information, use of references, use of language, structure, and context

You can use Ulrichsweb to check if a journal includes peer reviewed articles

You can find peer reviewed articles using Search and the databases




Screen 12 – Quick guide to peer review

Image of text caption with links to other resources

Information caption: We hope that you found this activity useful.

For further information on library resources click the links to the right of the screen.

Visit the library information point for further advice.

Instruction to user: To view this tutorial again click the RESTART button.

Links:

Library home page (http://monash.edu/library/)

Databases (http://guides.lib.monash.edu/databases)

Library Guides (http://guides.lib.monash.edu/)

ask.monash (https://monash.custhelp.com/app/answers/list)



https://monash.custhelp.com/app/answers/list

http://guides.lib.monash.edu/


http://monash.edu/library/

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