Academic & Library Terms

Academic Journal - A journal that is scholarly in nature where articles within a specific academic discipline are published. You can search across our collection in the E-journals A-Z search. 

Call number - A unique string of letters and numbers that represents the location of a print book in the library. You can find the call number of a book in the catalog and on the spine of the book. 

Catalog - A searchable collection of books, articles, and more available in our libraries. At the University of Iowa, our catalog is called InfoHawk+. 

Credibility - 

Database - In Libraries a tool that indexes journal articles and other information sources so researchers can find articles on a particular topic. There are skills for searching databases efficiently and your librarian can help you choose the best database for your information need and show you ways to get the information you need faster.

Editing - A process of checking the factual content, logical structure and language of an article. Articles published on blogs or social media are often not editied as rigorously as as articles in more traditional online or print publications.

Journal Article - A type of scholarly source that is published in a peer-reviewed academic journal or periodical that can be found in library databases that the UI Libraries subscribes to. 

Peer Review - A process used by scholarly journals and academic book publishers where experts review and check an author's work to verify it meets academic criteria. Peer review is typically used with articles reporting the results of experimentation or analysis that produce results that can be checked or replicated. Peer reviewers often focus on whether research methods are sound, conclusions are consistent with results and other factors related to the quality of the research. Peer review is not the same thing as editing.

Peer reviewed articles are normally published in scholarly or academic journals, but those journals might also publish articles that do not go through peer review. In casual usage, people may refer to scholarly/academic journals as "peer reviewed journals" even though some articles in them may not go through peer review. Also, many databases might have a "peer review" limit that usually applies to the journal rather than individual articles. It can be a fine way to limit your results to more academic content, but there are other criteria to can help you determine the scholarliness of an article.

Popular Sources - Non-scholarly sources or pieces of information written by someone, such as a professional journalist, for the general public, like a magazine or newspaper article. 

Scholarly - Written by and for scholars. Students are scholars, too. Scholarly publications are used to share research findings, give details of the research process so other scholars can try to recreate the results and allow scholars to discuss their research. Instructors may want you to use scholarly sources rather than news or other publications that summarize research for a general audience.

Subject Guides - Online guides on a specific subject, discipline, or created for a specific course that are often created by librarians for students, faculty, and other library visitors. These guides can be used to find databases, articles, books, and other library resources on the guide's subject. 

Subject Librarian - A librarian who builds collections for a specific subject area or discipline. A subject librarian can also help you find more information on a topic in their specific subject area.