What is a trade journal?
A trade journal (sometimes called a professional journal or trade publication) is a kind of magazine written for people who work in a particular profession (teachers, architects, engineers, nurses, etc.). Trade journals often (but not always) have the name of the profession in their title.
How hard are trade journals to read? What are they good for?
Since trade journal articles are written for people in a profession, they assume some specialized knowledge. However, they are usually not as difficult, specific, or long as peer-reviewed articles (also called "scholarly articles") in academic journals.
The articles are often meant to let readers know, in ordinary language, how something important (a theory, invention, trend, or law, for instance) will affect them as members of their profession.
How do I find a trade publication article?
Find a database that is relevant to the field you're interested in by visiting the Hostos Library A-Z Database page. Once you have selected a database, you may filter your results by source type, magazine or trade publications.
Databases have source type filters for trade journals which allow you to narrow your search to this specific resource type. Our first strategy is for databases which refer to trade publications as "trade publications." The image below illustrates what this may look like.
Databases have source type filters for trade journals which allow you to narrow your search to this specific resource type. Our second strategy is for databases which refer to trade publications as "magazines." The image below illustrates what this may look like.
