Your professor may require you to use peer-reviewed articles for your assignment or project.
What is peer review?
Peer review is a process used by publishers or editors of academic or scholarly journals to ensure a high quality of scholarship. Articles submitted for publication are 'reviewed' or assessed by independent subject experts (individuals who are considered the 'peers' of the author of the article) to ensure they meet certain standards.
Peer reviewers provide feedback to the author(s) on one or more drafts of an article. Some articles go through multiple rounds of peer review. Once the article has been revised and resubmitted, it may then be published - but for top-ranked journals, the acceptance rate may be very low.
Why use peer-reviewed articles?
Peer review is a kind of quality control. While the system of peer review is not perfect, peer-reviewed articles are still considered the 'gold standard' of scholarly research.
Using these resources helps ensure you are using credible, authoritative information for your assignment or project.
How can I tell if my article is peer-reviewed?
Articles are typically peer-reviewed if the journal in which it is published is peer-reviewed.
However, if the article is:
it will almost always NOT be peer-reviewed; watch for these!
Check out this guide from University of Toronto Scarborough to learn more about peer review: https://guides.library.utoronto.ca/peer-review.