If your professor says you need to find scholarly information for your paper, you should choose a journal rather than a popular 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.

Magazines—such as Harpers, Scientific American and The New Republic—are also good sources of information for your paper. 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.

Popular magazines like People, Sports Illustrated and Rolling Stone are almost never appropriate for a college-level research project.