When you cite Time magazine, you have one report or account, with no references. The Time article is very likely factual and accurate, but no primary research has been done. Most research papers should not be based on news reports, product reviews, and industry developments, which is exactly what you will find in trade press and magazines. You should write your paper on human resources, for example, using many more articles from the scholarly Human Resources Management , than from HRMagazine . In addition, you can use the references at the end of each scholarly article to find more information for your own paper or research project.
Journals are specialized, scholarly publications written by authorities in the field.
They usually include bibliographies. Students in college and graduate level courses should be using scholarly journals. Referred journals are journals where the quality of the articles is maintained by a review process by experts prior to publication. Professional magazines fall in between magazines and journals, with articles written by experts but intended less to advance the field than to report on developments of interest. Examples are American Banker, National Underwriter and Pharmaceutical Executive.