Select two periodicals relevant to your discipline and interests. One should be a scholarly journal and the other a trade publication.
I. Determine the following information for each periodical:
1) What group or organization publishes it?
2) How often is it published?
3) How long has it been published?
4) Does it take advertising, and if so, is the advertising only for other publications (new books, typically) or for various commercial products?
II. Note how many pages each of the two issues contains, and then for each of them break that total down into the number of pages devoted to each of the following categories. Also, for the first four categories, note how many of each type the issue contains:
1) Articles and essays longer than 800 words
2) Articles shorter than 800 words
3) Editorials and opinion pieces
4) Book reviews
5) Advertising (only if the entire page is devoted to it), including job announcements
6) Miscellaneous (letters to the editor, table of contents, and anything else that does not fit into the above categories)
III. Finally, identify what you consider to be the most interesting article or essay (not an editorial or review) of at least 800 words in each periodical. These two articles should be on related topics; that does not mean they have to be on the same topic, but you should be able to identify a topical connection between them, which means that you should be able to imagine a question to which they would both be relevant. It is not enough that they be in the same discipline.
At this point, you do not need to read every word of these articles; just read the opening paragraph or two (just enough so that you understand the focus), the closing paragraph, and skim the rest. Then give a 1-2 sentence summary of the topic, and write a further 1-2 sentences about why it interests you. Obviously, you need to do this twice, once for an article from each periodical.