Popular magazines like People, Sports Illustrated and Rolling Stone are probably not the best sources to use to find articles for research.

Other magazines -- such as Scientific American and The New Republic -- might be better sources of information for your assignment or essay. They are geared towards readers who, although not experts, are knowledgeable about the issues presented. Articles in these sources are generally more in-depth but still fairly easy to understand.

If your lecturer says you need to find scholarly information for your paper, you should choose a journal rather than a magazine. Journals are geared toward experts and researchers in the academic or professional community. An editorial board of respected scholars reviews all articles submitted to a journal. They decide if the article provides a noteworthy contribution to the field and should be published.

Here are two sample citations:
Magazine Article:
Anonymous "Building a great wall in cyberspace" Newsweek 135:6 (February 7, 2000) p49.

Journal Article:
Kern, Richard G. "Electronic literacies: language, culture, and power in online education." Modern Language Journal 84:1 (Spring 2000) p152-153.