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Built Environment

What are journals?

This is an image of journals.

What are journals?

There are two main types of Academic Journals or Scholarly Journals. 

Also known as: Academic Journals, Scholarly Journals, Trade Publications or Professional Magazines.

Academic Journals

  • Academic journals are written for a range of readers with different levels of experience and background knowledge.
  • Regular publications containing articles written by researchers and professionals about their research.
  • Amongst the most reliable sources.
  • Contains reports and updates on research in particular subject areas, conference reports, book reviews, opinions etc.

Journals contain articles.

Articles are a rich source of primary and secondary information and can be written in a variety of different styles. The choice of terminology can range from common, technical, medical and specialist depending on the intended audience. You may find a term in an article that you have not read before or a process that you need more information about to help you understand the article fully.

Trade Publications/ Professional Magazines

  • Contain general purpose daily news and opinions by experts and non-experts, often having a significant political bias.
  • Magazine aimed at professionals in a particular industry, with news, job adverts, product reviews and advice for that industry.

Where can you find them?

Most journal articles are available online in Library Search but some are still available in physical formats in the libraries. You can find these on Level 2 of the Adsetts Library.

Start to explore journals

You can keep up to date with news and developments in your subject area by scanning key journals.

The Library subscribes to lots of journals and this list is here to show you the variety of journal titles. Next step is for you to add browse and take a look to see where you want to begin your reading using Browse eJournals or Library Search!

Use Browse eJournals to keep up to date with your favourite journals

Use Browse eJournals to browse by subject area and view the table of contents and then go to the full text.

You can search using the keyword construction to find all the journals with construction in the title.  You can also browse by subject for example Engineering and Technology.

Balance up academic journals with professional and industry publications

The Built Environment industry has a number of well established professional publications and trade magazines written for construction and property professionals.

Here are a few examples within the Built Environment and there will be more in Library Search. Trade magazines or publications tend not to be included in Browze eJournals.

See the bigger picture: use your professional bodies, organisations and websites

Professional bodies, organisations and websites are incredibly useful sources of information!

If you are new to a subject, taking a look at the professional body can be a way to help you move into your academic studies. The information tends to be tailored to your profession and can indicate key areas of interest, key issues and hot topics! 

Take a look around the organisations website today to see what is happening in your industry. This is a really quick way to get connected to your profession!

Here are a range of such organisations related to the Built Environment:

What is a database?

A database is an online resource that contains information that can be searched.

Databases vary in content for example they can cover multiple subjects or be subject specific. There may be a selection criteria linked to the inclusion of information in the database.

The databases we have in the Library collection cover academic subjects and include advanced search options. For example, it can be easier in a database to limit to a specific article type, combine sets and have more field searching options available to you than within Library Search.

Where to begin?

Consider what information you need (primary articles, review articles, literature reviews) and choose the most relevant databases for searching.

Many of the databases are subject specific and contain journal articles from a range of journals. The key databases for the built environment are listed below and include information about each to help you decide which to search.

Journals databases that cover multiple subjects

These databases cover a range of different subjects which may be relevant to your topic.

Construction and Civil Engineering

You'll find most of the articles you need for your assignments by searching in Library Search.

However if you need to take a more in-depth approach to research, you may find these key journal databases useful.

Real estate

You'll find most of the articles you need for your assignments by searching in Library Search.

However if you need to take a more in-depth approach to research, you may find these key journal databases useful.

Environmental sciences

You'll find most of the articles you need for your assignments by searching in Library Search.

However if you need to take a more in-depth approach to research, you may find these key journal databases useful.