A peer reviewed journal article is an article that has been reviewed and chosen for publication by the author's professional peers. These peers are scholars in the field, who sit on the editorial board of a journal which is usually published by a professional organization or a university press. Peer reviewed articles can also be known as scholarly or refereed articles. 

Note, however, that just because an article is published in a peer-reviewed journal, does not guarantee that it is a work of quality scholarship.

See the Sokal Affair for more info.

View Sokal's article.

Finding books and articles on your topic is just one step in the research process.

After locating a books and articles appropriate to your topic you should evaluate them to determine whether they are suitable to use for your research project. The following tutorial provides access to pages telling you how to do just that.