Built Environment

In academic writing, it is essential to support your discussions and arguments with reliable, published sources. Personal opinions such as 'I believe...' are not sufficient on their own: you must back up your claims with credible evidence from academic literature.

This evidence is usually published as an academic journal article. These sources are typically found in academic databases and, in some cases, through platforms like Google Scholar. Using these resources ensures you access high-quality, relevant information. The Library provides these databases in collaboration with your lecturers and academic staff, helping you find the most appropriate materials for your subject area.

So it is important that you understand why you need to use these sources, develop your skills and knowledge of how research is published, and which resources are most applicable to your subject areas.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

It is important to scan key journals in your subject area to keep up to date. The Articles in Press feature displays the most current articles before they have been officially given a volume and issue number. When you have selected a journal, Articles in Press appears on the left, just below the journal cover image.

In the course of searching these specialist resources, you may find articles that we do not have access to in our Library collection. If this happens, we can get the articles for you through our Document Supply Service.

This link is the information about how to use the Document Supply Service at Sheffield Hallam.

• Document Supply Service