There are a few misconceptions about peer reviewed research that learners have when beginning a doctoral program. Many learners believe things such as the following:

• A published research article is the final word on a subject.
• Published research is without shortcomings and limitations.
• All published articles are of equal quality.
• All authors are experts on the subject they are researching.
• All journal publication opportunities are benevolent.

With these misconceptions in mind, describe how you currently perceive scholarly literature. How have your perceptions changed given the information presented in your textbook on this topic? How do you know if the research is objective, accurate, authoritative, current, and relevant? How comfortable are you with critiquing research? What is peer-review and how it is relevant to the integrity of scholarly literature?