how do i find books that are peer reviewed about a certain subject?

my subject is mental ill patients that self medicate because the health care failed

Answer

Hi Rebecca,

Thank you for contacting the library.

Peer-reviewed usually refers to scholarly journal articles.  Books do go through a review process, but are generally not clearly identified as peer-reviewed or not peer-reviewed. 

The large majority of books in the online library are considered academic/schoarly resources, but there are things you can look for to detemine if it will be a valuable resource. What are the author's credentials?  Is he/she affilitiated with an academic institution?  Does the book include a bibliography or footnotes citing other sources?  Does the work present any bias?  Does the book provide evidence and relevant information?

To find books in the Online Library. you can use the Library Search bar on the homepage.  Enter your keywords and select Just Electronic Books.  In this example, I searched self-medication hypothesis.  You may also want to try searching:

  • self-medication AND mental illness
  • self-medication AND mental disorder

The next screen will display your results. Click the details link for more info about the book or click the title to access and read the book.

If you need peer-reviewed articles, you can use the Library Search bar and select Just Journal Articles.

On the results page, click the Scholarly/Peer-Reviewed option on the left to narrow your results.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Sincerely,
Amanda Henderson
Reference Librarian

  • Last Updated Jul 26, 2017
  • Views 27
  • Answered By Amanda Henderson

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