Most books are not "peer reviewed" in the same manner that journal articles are. If your lecturer or supervisor has told you that you must use peer reviewed sources, they often mean that you should use journal articles - you should confirm with them that it is OK to use books or book chapters in your assessment task.
Peer review essentially means that a written work has been evaluated by people (the author's peers) with knowledge in the same field who have verified the sources and information found within that particular work. With journal articles this is a formalised process and journals promote the fact that their articles have been through this review process.
With books, the process of fact-checking and verifying sources is usually done by the publisher and (when applicable) the editor, and generally not by a panel of peers. It is not a formalised peer review process.
Most books in the Library's collection are academic or scholarly works appropriate for use by university students, but it is important to evaluate the information you find to make sure it is of good quality. This includes:
- checking the author's credentials and any affiliations with academic institutions or organisations
- considering the publishing company - are they respected?
- checking the bibliographies and reference lists, and
- critically evaluating the text for bias, evidence and relevancy.
The Library has a handout about evaluating information sources linked below that might help you analyse the information that you find.
