Periodicals: Trade / Professional Journals

Trade or Professional journals are written for an audience of professionals in the field. They sometimes look a lot like scholarly articles.

General Characteristics

• Authors are specialists in a certain field or industry.
• Authors often mention sources, but rarely formally cite them in bibliographies
• Intended audience includes people in the industry or people seeking employment in the industry.
• There is no peer review process.
• Articles give practical information to people in an industry.
• Some illustrations are included, usually charts, graphs, etc.
• Authors use jargon of the industry.

When to use

• When you want to find information about practical application of an idea within a profession.
• When you need business information.
• When you need to see what the most important or current issues are in a profession.