How do I plan a research strategy?

Find books: Books help you find background information. The length of a book allows an author to explore many different aspects of an idea. Sometimes you will want to use only a chapter. Scholarly books frequently combine the ideas of many people. Use books to identify established research and lengthy intellectual criticism of ideas.
Find magazines and journal articles: Magazines and journals give your topic a current perspective. Magazine articles communicate popular thought while journal articles are written by scholars. Most professors expect that you will work with scholarly journal articles. Use journal articles to get current, focused research.
Find reference sources: Reference sources verify biographical, geographical, and chronological facts. Dictionaries and encyclopedias can help give context to your ideas. Use statistics from reference sources to make strong arguments.
Find newspaper articles: Newspaper articles establish reliable, time sensitive perspectives. They record information which is unique to a specific community or location. Use newspapers to discover how people reacted to an event during a specific time period.
Find Internet sites: Internet sites help you find personal perspectives. Some sites provide reliable statistics, texts, and personal contacts. The Internet also brings localized information sources into reach. Always make sure your instructor approves of this type of format.