You should only use scholarly articles for this research assignment.
Scholarly articles are found in journals, not magazines. They are written by experts for experts
But not everything in a journal is scholarly, such as:
See more information about recognizing scholarly articles in Types of Periodicals.
Some databases only contain (or index) journal articles. Therefore, you will not have to verify that articles are scholarly in those databases. Examples include:
If you search for articles using Discover, check the box for Scholarly Articles. It will automatically search for scholarly, peer-reviewed journals.
The search results will show the facet Peer-reviewed Journals is being used to filter the search results.
The Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory is a comprehensive international list of online and print journals, magazines, newspapers.
You may directly search the title of a "serial" publication in Ulrichsweb to be 100% certain that it is a scholarly journal.
Read the Basic Description for information on Serial Type/Content Type. It is a scholarly journal if it states:
Peer-reviewed journals are considered the most authoritative of scholarly journals. The articles are reviewed by experts who specialize in the same scholarly area as the author. A publication is "peer reviewed" if it states:
A trade journal may be reputable, but it is NOT a scholarly journal. Even if the word "journal" is in the name of a publication, it is NOT necessarily a scholarly journal.
A trade newspaper may be reputable, but it is not a scholarly journal.