1.) BREAK YOUR TOPIC INTO SEVERAL KEYWORDS AND CREATE SEARCH STRINGS (YOU WILL NEED TO CONSTRUCT MULTIPLE SEARCHES)
I wish to explore the scientific evidence for global warming.
Are other terms used? What about climate change?
Are you talking about historical changes or over the course of geological time?
Are you interested in varied policy viewpoints or simply data?
(Global warming OR climate change) AND political policy
(Global warming OR climate change) AND ancient earth
"Global temperature" AND measurement
2.) USE THE REFERENCE WORKS TAB TO FIND AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OR DICTIONARY ENTRY ON YOUR TOPIC
This will list citations for books and journal articles, as well as help you formulate your thesis.
3.) SEARCH THE LIBRARY CATALOGS WITH YOUR KEYWORDS
* pay attention to subject headings
4.) SEARCH THE DATABASES WITH YOUR KEYWORDS
* pay attention to subjects
5.) DEVELOP THESIS FROM COLLECTED SOURCES OR START PROCESS OVER AGAIN WITH NEW TOPIC