Also, keep in mind that periodicals are often not the only type of resource you should use in your research.  A magazine or journal article can never substitute to the background and in-depth information a book will provide.  So do not count out books for your research. 

You can also get good backgrounds and overviews of your topics with reference resources such as subject encyclopedias you can find on the reference shelves or in Gale Virtual Reference Library (Encyclopedia of Psychology, St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, Encyclopedia of Children, Television and the Media) and Hot Topic overview publications (CQ Researcher and Issues and Controversies databases).   To find such sources click on the Pro/Con & Reference tab on the Databases page come to the left side of the reference desk and ask the librarian to help you find such resources for you.

By contrast, a magazine article will not have as thorough research to provide a good, succinct background (let alone a magazine article could be less objective than a reference book entry).  And  journal articles are written in the spirit that such knowledge is already known by its readers.