This Guide provides links to some of the magazines and trade journals in our online collection.  If you don't see a magazine or trade journal that you are interested in, please search for the title in your college's FInd Articles Here search box. Choose Advanced Search. In the drop-down menu on the right, choose Journal Title/Source - SO and enter the name of the magazine or trade journal you are searching for on the left.  Hit search.

• Are written for a wide audience to be informative, enticing, easy to read, and relaxing
• Are able to be rich in graphics using lots of photos, illustrations, infographics, or charts which is great for visual learners
• Support lifelong learning, which is important for self-development, employability and developing a broader worldview
• Allow you to explore a topic to see if it interests you or expand your understanding of a known passion
• Can provide you with practical information such as how to do something, the best tools for a task, or where to find resources
• Enhances job knowledge via trade journals which convey practitioner focused information in an easy-to-read manner.
• Exposes you to the vocabulary and jargon of a field which could help you when applying for a job.
• Informs of you leading issues, employers, and challenges in a field and may provide you with sources of continuing education.

from Berkeley City College Library

Your professors will generally require you to use scholarly, peer-reviewed articles for your research.  Scholarly journals and datasets are published by publishers, universities, societies, or associations. Scholars write articles for these journals that present the results of original research and experimentation or provide technical or professional information. The articles usually go through a peer-review evaluation process before being published, during which other scholars in the same field review and provide feedback about the articles' quality, accuracy, relevance to scholarship in the field, validity of research methodology and procedures, and more. 

Popular sources such as magazines and trade journals are not typically used in academic research but are instead used to keep informed about what is happening in a profession or academic field, to be entertained, to pursue a personal interest, and to be generally informed.  There are some exceptions.  For example, a historical researcher interested in what was published at the time, may reference newspapers, magazines, or trade journals.  To complicate matters, you cannot always rely on the title of the publication to let you know what kind of a publication it is.  For example, Library Journal is really a trade magazine for library professionals that does not contain scholarly material, and Geological Magazine is a peer-reviewed journal that does contain scholarly articles.  You can learn more about the differences between "scholarly" and "popular" sources below. 

The magazines and trade journals selected are intended to represent a diversity of interests, degree programs, and backgrounds.  The fact that a magazine or journal is listed or is absent is not an indication of endorsement or preference or lack thereof.