What is peer review and how do I find peer-reviewed articles?

my professor keeps saying we need "peer-reviewed sources" for our research paper and I kinda nodded along in class but now I'm at the library website and I have NO idea what I'm looking for. Help??

What even IS peer review? Like, who are these "peers" and why do they get to review stuff? And how do I know if an article I find is peer-reviewed or not? I found this really good article on Google Scholar but theres no badge that says "PEER REVIEWED" on it.

Also, is peer review the same as "scholarly" or "academic"? I thought all library stuff was scholarly?? I'm so lost. If someone could explain this like I'm five, I would be so grateful. I have to find 5 peer-reviewed sources by Friday and I haven't even started. Send help!

Marya okay so:

• Peer reviewed = experts checked it before publication
• Scholarly = written BY academics FOR academics
• All peer reviewed is scholarly but NOT all scholarly is peer reviewed (some journals just have an editor decide)

Also pro tip: library databases usually have a checkbox that says "peer reviewed" or "scholarly journals" USE THAT. It filters out the random magazine articles.