| University Libraries
Reference materials are a broad set of resources that represent information that has, largely, been agreed upon. These sorts of sources are sometimes called encyclopedias, reference handbooks, dictionaries, and a host of others. These are not beyond critique, review, and updating (of course). But sometimes we just need something to say what something IS without too much fuss. A particular chemical compound, a specific place (and its names), a theory, a method, a test, and on and on and on.
It is important to note that the resources below represent a very very short list, with dozens more that can be part of this categorization and characterization. These are NOT PEER REVIEWED!!! That is a whole separate set of materials. While they can look similar at times, they are not the same at all.
Evaluating journal articles is tricky. One route is to take a closer look at the publication, the JOURNAL itself. The difference between a Journal and not-a-Journal can be hard to tell if you aren't very familiar with the publications involved.
Here are some examples of NOT-JOURNALS:
While all good publications in their own right, they do not engage in peer-review. One is a newspaper. Another is a trade publication. Another still is a magazine.
The resources above allow us to look to a third party to give us a less biased bit of information on the publication in question to make sure it really IS a peer-reviewed journal, and just how impactful it might be upon the wider field.
