What is a trade publication?
Some assessment tasks will specify to use articles from trade publications. So what does this mean?
Trade (or professional) publications are magazines, journals or newspapers written for a particular audience. They are NOT peer-reviewed and are not considered to be scholarly.
In general, a trade publication will have news, current events information, trends, or best practices for practitionersin that industry, trade or profession. Unlike scholarly journals, trade publications do not contain original research and are meant to be practical in nature. Their focus is on current trends and issues.
Advantages of trade publications
- Timely coverage of industry trends
- Sometimes contain short bibliographies (although many do not)
- Shorter articles that are informal and provide practical tips and tricks
Disadvantages of trade publications
- Not peer-reviewed, although author is usually aprofessional with expertise in theirfield
- Use of specialised terminology may limit readability
- Evidence drawn from personal experienceor common knowledge, rather thanrigorous research
- Articles may include personal opinions, or be biased insupport of an industry or company. They often include industry-related advertising.
Some examples of trade publications in the business area
In Business Source Ultimate database, you can limit your search to trade publications.
Do a search using your keywords, and under Limit your results, select Trade publications from the Publications type
Use this link to start your search fortrade publications inBusiness Source Ultimate:
Business Source Ultimate (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
