Criteria for Evaluating Articles
Articles can be evaluated by many different criteria.
Peer Review & Research Articles
Professors will often ask students to look for peer reviewed research articles. You can limit your search results in CINAHL Plus with Full Text to Peer Reviewed articles and Research articles. Many other databases also allow you to limit to Peer Review.
Levels of Evidence
Nursing and health research articles can be ranked according to the strength of their evidence. "Research article" is an inclusive term that includes all types of research and levels of evidence. Different types of research articles are at different "Levels of Evidence". For example, a Systematic Review is usually considered Level 1 evidence.
CINAHL Plus with Full Text allows you to limit your search results by Publication Type. Visit the CINAHL Plus with Full Text tab for more information.
Peer Review
Peer Review articles are reviewed by experts in their field before they are published. This means that if a scientist writes an article on stem cells, other experts on stem cells will review the article to make sure it’s of high enough quality to be published. The peer review (or referee) process insures that the research described in a journal's articles is sound and of high quality. Refereed and Peer Review are the same thing.
Some databases allow you to limit your search to Peer Reviewed or Refereed articles. Often, you can click on the Journal title and get information about the journal in a database, including if it is peer-reviewed.
You can also check to see if a journal is peer-reviewed using Ulrich's Periodicals Directory (UlrichsWeb), a directory of journals, magazines, news, and other periodically-released resources. Type the journal title in the search box (leave off A, The, An, etc. at the start of the tile) and either hit "Enter" or click on the search button (green magnifying glass).
Find your title in the search results and click on it to see the record. Look for “Refereed” and “Yes.” If you do not see “Refereed” in the Basic Description column, it is not. Refereed is the same as peer-reviewed.
Type of Publication: Research Article
Research Articles
You can limit your search result to Research articles using the Publication Type limiter.
- Research articles report on a study or experiment that uses investigational or experimental techniques.
- Research articles include an introduction, methodology, results, and discussion of results. The methodology will include data collection and subject selection.
- Whether or not an article is a Research article is the first step in evaluating an article. Research is a very broad category.
Strengths & Levels of Evidence
Nursing and health research studies can be evaluated and ranked according the strength of evidence they provide.
Levels of evidence can be represented by an evidence pyramid. The highest levels, or strongest evidence, are higher in the pyramid. The top of the pyramid has the strongest evidence, Level I evidence.
There is no single evidence pyramid that applies to all questions. The best available evidence varies based on the type of clinical question.
Evidence Pyramid
