It's important to recognize the differences in types of publications. Three broad categories are Scholarly, Trade, and Popular periodicals. This PowerPoint walks through the primary differences between the types of publications.
Review this chart from the SMSU Library website. In one clear chart, differences in types of publications are highlighted.
Periodical = a publication published at regular intervals. This is a broader term than magazine, journal, trade publication, or newspaper. It includes all of the genres that are highlighted in the Power Point and the chart.
If you're not familiar with distinguishing genres in your search results, watch this short video to see ways to identify genres within the databases. After you start the video, click the box in the lower right-hand corner to enlarge the video.
If you are unable to view the video (or prefer a written version), the transcript is available here: