Periodical indexes allow you to search for citations to articles in popular magazines and scholarly journals.
Indexes cover all sorts of subjects.
Starting with a general index will find articles about new trends, opinions, and information for the non-specialist. One you may be familiar with is called Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature. Libraries purchase some periodical indexes and allow their community to use them over the Web. To figure out what indexes are available and the subjects they cover look at your library's Web page. You could also ask a librarian at your school.