While journals and the library's databases do contain empirical and review articles, they also contain some other items that are NOT empirical and review articles. You will come across these while searching the library's databases.
Unless otherwise specified by your professor, do not use the following:
When in doubt about whether a source is acceptable, be sure to ask your professor!
You can search for empirical articles in the Library's databases, such as APA PsycINFO.
Note that the Library's databases have more than just empirical articles! To help with searching, APA PsycInfo has a limiter for Methodology, which you can use to select "Empirical Study." This limiter is located at the bottom of the search page, under Limit Your Results.
In Library databases without a methodology limit, try adding the search term empirical. If you are not having luck, try adding a search term that refers to an empirical study. For example, qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods.
Remember that you must make the final determination if an article is empirical or not. If you have questions, please check with your professor.
Video Transcript (Word Document): "What's an Empirical Article"
Video Credit: Georgia State University Library
As mentioned in the video above, there are two types of scholarly articles -- empirical and review.
Articles that either interpret or analyze original research studies/articles are considered review articles. A literature review (the entire article is a review of the literature), systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-synthesis are examples of review articles.
